Past Abstracts
1,037 abstracts found
The Role of Violence in the American (1776) and the Hungarian (1849) Declarations of Independence
History/Political ScienceFormer analyzers of the American and the Hungarian Declarations of Independence rarely observed the role violence and the description of violent actions played in the rhetorical argumentation of the two declarations. In the American document great emphasis had been laid on the violent actions of the “foreign mercenaries”, the “merciless Indian savages”, and the slaves who revolted against their American masters. According to the argumentation of the American declaration all these violent groups were in the service of the tyrannical king of Britain to deprive the Americans from their well-deserved freedom. One can find very similar reasoning in the Hungarian declaration as well. According to it, the Habsburg rulers of Hungary were trying to deprive the Hungarians from their ancient liberties by the help of a foreign army, and the national minority groups of Hungary, the members of which committed violent and inhuman actions very similar to the brutal deeds of the above mentioned enemies of American liberty. The authors of the original drafts of the two declarations (Thomas Jefferson and Lajos Kossuth) used very similar language to describe the violent actions of their adversaries. I think that this topic fits into the theme of this year’s conference, since it deals with the interaction of Hungarians and others on two different levels. On the one hand it studies the interaction of Hungarians and the national minority groups during the War of Independence in 1848-1849, and on the other, it also deals with the impact of the American Declaration of Independence on its Hungarian counterpart.
Type of presentation: paper
Type of presentation: paper
The Rupture in French-Hungarian Relations, 1896-1914
History/Political ScienceBetween 1896 and 1914, a rupture in Hungarian-French relations occurred that ultimately manifested itself in the Treaty of Trianon. My paper throws new light on the genesis of this rupture, possibly the most important turning point in recent Hungarian history.
At the turn of the twentieth century, relations between Hungary and France appeared to favor rapprochement. The 1896 Millennium celebration in Budapest reawakened French interest in Hungary. The French had long admired the Hungarians who led the 1848 Revolution, and Madame Adams' “Friends of Hungary” salon, popular in the 1880s, revived in the late 1890s with prominent new members. In Hungary, the Francophile Independence Party, which won the most votes in the January 1905 elections, promoted the idea that Hungary deserved more independence from Austria. Independents wanted a Hungarian note-issuing bank, tariff independence, and more control over the Hungarian army. Dissatisfaction with the Triple Alliance was openly expressed in Budapest. Deputy Gábor Ugron, a leader of the Francophile wing of the Independence Party, discussed with French Minister of Foreign Affairs Theophile Delcassé the possibility of turning “the dual monarchy of the Hapsburgs in the direction of France and Russia.” The French, who viewed Hungary as the 'weak link' in the Triple Alliance, saw an opportunity to draw Hungary into the French sphere of influence.
How did relations between Hungary and France, so promising at the beginning of the century, end so disastrously in World War I and in the treaties thereafter?
At the turn of the twentieth century, relations between Hungary and France appeared to favor rapprochement. The 1896 Millennium celebration in Budapest reawakened French interest in Hungary. The French had long admired the Hungarians who led the 1848 Revolution, and Madame Adams' “Friends of Hungary” salon, popular in the 1880s, revived in the late 1890s with prominent new members. In Hungary, the Francophile Independence Party, which won the most votes in the January 1905 elections, promoted the idea that Hungary deserved more independence from Austria. Independents wanted a Hungarian note-issuing bank, tariff independence, and more control over the Hungarian army. Dissatisfaction with the Triple Alliance was openly expressed in Budapest. Deputy Gábor Ugron, a leader of the Francophile wing of the Independence Party, discussed with French Minister of Foreign Affairs Theophile Delcassé the possibility of turning “the dual monarchy of the Hapsburgs in the direction of France and Russia.” The French, who viewed Hungary as the 'weak link' in the Triple Alliance, saw an opportunity to draw Hungary into the French sphere of influence.
How did relations between Hungary and France, so promising at the beginning of the century, end so disastrously in World War I and in the treaties thereafter?
The Sad Recent Past and Uncertain Future of the Szeklers of Transylvania
Language/LiteratureThe peace treaty after WWI aimed to break up the Austro-Hungarian Empire to its constituent nations, but somehow the traditionally Hungarian Transylvania was attached to Romania, and suddenly in 1920 the ethnic Hungarians there – Szeklers, as they are known— found themselves in minority in Romania. They were not only dispossessed of their country but their identity; nationalist policies were soon put into practice to force assimilation with the majority. This process only intensified under rule of the communist dictator Ceaucescu who –in contrast to the generally multicultural Soviet Union –wanted to abolish ethnic cultures in the guise of “proletarian internationalism”. The cultural shock of the Hungarian community in Transylvania was vividly dramatized in their poetry already starting in the 1920’, but it reached its high point under the particularly repressive Ceaucescu regime. Hungarian poets all through history were regarded as beacons leading the nation in adverse situations, and it was only natural that the struggle for ethnic cultural survival forced this special role on the poets of Transylvania. Paul Sohar proposes to give voice to three of these poets in his translation from books already published or about to come out, quoting Sándor Kányádi from Dancing Embers (Twisted Spoon Press, 2002), In Contemporary Tense (Iniquity Press, 2014) and Behind God’s Back (Ragged Sky Press, 2016), Géza Szőcs from Liberty, Rats and Sandpaper (Iniquity Press, 2017) and Arpád Farkas from Tunnels in the Snow (Magyar Naplo, 2018). In effect, the talk will explore history and future prospects through the eyes of poets who live in Transylvania.
The Secret Influence of Kodály on the Baby-Toddler Music Industry in the United States
Music/FolkloreSince 1960, Katinka Daniel and other Hungarian-trained music educators promoted the pedagogical approach of Zoltán Kodály as a cornerstone of K-5 music education in the United States. Starting in 1964, Kodály protégé and Hungarian innovator, Katalin Forrai, adapted Kodály’s teachings to preschool education. Although Forrai is known internationally as founder of the field of early childhood music education, the Kodály concept that was so central to her teachings has never been widely used in formal U.S. preschools. It is a secret, however, that Kodály’s handprint can be heavily traced to another form of preschool education in the U.S. – stand-alone baby-toddler music classes. In the 2000’s, baby-toddler music enrichment exploded in popularity as the children’s activity industry became one of the fastest growing sectors of the U.S. market. Only a handful of unique, local programs are explicitly Kodály-based, such as NYC’s “Yo Re Mi,” a Kodály toddler music curriculum that integrates yoga. On the other hand, the major U.S. providers of baby-toddler music classes map histories that are culturally distinct from Hungary. For example, Kindermusik (NC-incorporated) claims genesis in the German music education system, while Music Together (NJ-headquartered) is said to be the product of a Princeton University research lab. But detailed study of their pedagogies reveals strong Hungarian influence – with shared foundational practices such as singing high-quality folk music in the children’s mother tongue. This paper explores how the Kodály concept in U.S. baby-toddler music programs may be the secret behind their impressive profits and musical excellence.
The Shabrak and the Mounted Warrior
Cultural Studies/ArtsMy presentation at the 2019 AHEA conference (Csorba, M.: ‘Haute Couture in Ornamented Fur, Skin and Felt in Iron Age Burials’) surveyed the cache of organic material recovered from five frozen tombs (K I – V) dating from the fourth to the third century BCE at Pazyryk, in the Altai region of Southern Siberia. In this paper, I highlight specific commodities and motifs preserved in Pazyryk burials to demonstrate the kaleidoscopic but still selective nature of cross-cultural exchange with coeval neighbors extending beyond the Siberian grasslands into dynastic China and Achaemenid Persia. A prime example, highlighted by American scholar Karen Rubinson, is evidenced by an equestrian commodity -- the shabrak or saddle blanket—preserved in K5 in multiple versions with differing ornamentation and in materials of nomadic felt and exotic oriental silk. Further, the later appearance of the shabrak with its fleece construction on the Magyar puszta illustrates the tenacity of an element immanent to the csikósi lifestyle, while its subsequent spread among cavalry across Europe is arguably a more current case of cross-cultural pollination. Lastly, I use the insightful analysis of John Haskins, together with the authoritative parsing of the Ős legend of St. Ladislav by Helmut Nickel to link a narrative scene involving a mounted warrior represented on a felt wall hanging in K5 with an enigmatic scene on an ancient gold plaque in Peter the Great’s Siberian collection, elements of which later surface in the medieval folk ballad of Ana Molnár.
The Shape(s) of Author-ity: Storytelling and Leadership Development
Education/Social SciencesAlthough he never studied writing, Kurt Vonnegut wrote a thesis for anthropology focused on the shapes of stories. Essentially, he argued, there are roughly 6-8 kinds of plots. Understanding the shape of these plots helps us to understand ourselves and others better. Additionally, research shows practitioners and educators can leverage storytelling as a tool for leadership development.
As the workshop is geared towards educators and leaders of all disciplines and backgrounds, participants will engage in brief, guided writing activities to connect narrative form with their own leadership identity and practice. By the end, attendees will be able to identify common narrative shapes (storytelling techniques), analyze how personal and cultural stories—particularly cross-cultural stories bridging Hungarian and American contexts—can influence leadership development, and craft a concise personal leadership narrative. The session concludes with a short reflective survey.
As the workshop is geared towards educators and leaders of all disciplines and backgrounds, participants will engage in brief, guided writing activities to connect narrative form with their own leadership identity and practice. By the end, attendees will be able to identify common narrative shapes (storytelling techniques), analyze how personal and cultural stories—particularly cross-cultural stories bridging Hungarian and American contexts—can influence leadership development, and craft a concise personal leadership narrative. The session concludes with a short reflective survey.
The Smithsonian Folklife Festival
Music/FolkloreThe Hungarian Heritage: Roots to Revival program at the 2013 Smithsonian Folklife Festival will highlight the vitality of Hungary’s cultural heritage in these areas. It will bring to the National Mall in Washington highly skilled masters and apprentices from rural Central Europe who maintain the traditional knowledge acquired in their native environments. The Festival program will also bring musicians, dancers, and artisans from more urban settings who have revived many of these older traditions to make them part of their daily lives.
The Hungarian Heritage program will provide a one-of-a-kind opportunity to experience the rich and authentic traditions of Magyars, to better understand the significance of the Hungarian folk revival movement, and to serve as a meeting place for folk aficionados from around the world.
The Hungarian Heritage program is produced by the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage in partnership with the Balassi Institute, Budapest.
The Hungarian Heritage program will provide a one-of-a-kind opportunity to experience the rich and authentic traditions of Magyars, to better understand the significance of the Hungarian folk revival movement, and to serve as a meeting place for folk aficionados from around the world.
The Hungarian Heritage program is produced by the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage in partnership with the Balassi Institute, Budapest.
The Social Impacts of Dementia
Science/EconomicsIf we compare the American and the Hungarian population we will find a huge difference between the size of their populations, but if we concentrate on the social challenges, then we will discover many similarities. Unquestionably, the growing number of people who live with dementia in both countries, is one of these common challenges. Dementia is much more than forgetting things periodically; as the years pass a significant number of neurons die in the cerebral cortex, in the hippocampus and in the limbic system. With the failure of the nerve impulses, a patient not only experiences deepening memory loss, but also develops several behavioral disorders. These symptoms gradually exclude the patient from general society as well as their smaller communities. Meanwhile, the family members can feel helpless and do not know what they could do with their loved one. They typically respond poorly to the unpleasant situations arising from dementia. Due to a lack of support and recognition from communities, family members may feel ashamed. In many cases, they separate from their own communities and no longer will be able to contribute to their society. In this paper, I am going to present suitable alternatives for family members to reduce the negative social impacts of dementia in both countries.
The Status of Small Farming and Village Development in Kalotaszentkirály
Science/EconomicsIn the Transylvanian villages, state farms and collective farms were disbanded after the fall of Ceausescu. Village lands were returned to their original owners. As recently as 2004, small farming appeared to be viable, but villagers were worried that the rules of the European Union would complicate their lives and be harmful to their prospects. Would Transylvanians, by heavy investment of labor and low investment of other inputs, be able to grow locally, market locally and eat locally?
On the example of Kalotaszentkirály in the Hungarian folk cultural region called Kalotaszeg, the answer appears to be ‘no’. The European Union’s rules for the dairy industry do not allow for the collecting of the milk from individual households at a central point. Nor can the meat from livestock be marketed. Slaughter facilities have closed down. Nor can animals be sold freely from one farmer to another. Small farming has collapsed. In May 2010, I shall visit the village once more to investigate how local people are adjusting to the new economic realities.
On the example of Kalotaszentkirály in the Hungarian folk cultural region called Kalotaszeg, the answer appears to be ‘no’. The European Union’s rules for the dairy industry do not allow for the collecting of the milk from individual households at a central point. Nor can the meat from livestock be marketed. Slaughter facilities have closed down. Nor can animals be sold freely from one farmer to another. Small farming has collapsed. In May 2010, I shall visit the village once more to investigate how local people are adjusting to the new economic realities.
The Story of Andrew Stephen Grove – Mover of Intel Corporation and Pillar of Silicon Valley
Science/EconomicsGrove was born András István Gróf in Budapest, Hungary in 1936. He is a science pioneer in the semiconductor industry, businessman, engineer, manager, and author. He escaped from Communist-controlled Hungary in 1956 and moved to the US where he finished his education. He earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the City College of New York in 1960 (graduated No.1 in class) and a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of CA, Berkeley in 1963. After graduation, he worked for 5 years at Fairchild Semiconductor where he researched integrated circuits that eventually led to the microcomputer revolution in the 1970’s. In 1968 Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore (of Moore’s law fame) founded Intel and Andrew Grove joined them as the company’s first employee. He has been with Intel ever since, serving in various capacities including president in 1979, its CEO in 1987 and its Chairman and CEO in 1997. In 2004 he switched to being a senior advisor and lecturer at Stanford University.
Grove is credited with having transformed Intel from a maker of memory chips into a most dominant producer of microprocessors, with close to 100 000 employees. During his career, Intel became the model for Silicon Valley. Silicon Valley became the model for the world. And Grove became Time’s Man of the Year (1997) - an icon of the promise of American life.
His main slogan in approaching business, that is “Only the Paranoid Survive” grew out of his difficult life experiences. Other relatively new managerial concepts such as “strategic inflection point”, “constructive confrontation”, “knowledge power trumps position power” and the “devil is in the details” are also attributed to Grove’s innovative leadership style. These ideas guided him in making Intel’s death –defying climb to dominate the market for the world’s most important product in our digital information age. It can be safely said without hesitation that he is the best role model we have for doing business in the 21st century.
Grove is credited with having transformed Intel from a maker of memory chips into a most dominant producer of microprocessors, with close to 100 000 employees. During his career, Intel became the model for Silicon Valley. Silicon Valley became the model for the world. And Grove became Time’s Man of the Year (1997) - an icon of the promise of American life.
His main slogan in approaching business, that is “Only the Paranoid Survive” grew out of his difficult life experiences. Other relatively new managerial concepts such as “strategic inflection point”, “constructive confrontation”, “knowledge power trumps position power” and the “devil is in the details” are also attributed to Grove’s innovative leadership style. These ideas guided him in making Intel’s death –defying climb to dominate the market for the world’s most important product in our digital information age. It can be safely said without hesitation that he is the best role model we have for doing business in the 21st century.
The Story of Theodore von Kármán – Pioneer in Aviation and Pathfinder in Space
Science/EconomicsSzőlőskislaki Kármán Tódor (1881-1963) was a Hungarian American aerospace engineer and physicist, who was active in aeronautics, astronautics and mechanics of fluids and solids.
He is responsible for many key advances in aerodynamics with focus on supersonics and hypersonic air flow. He studied mechanical engineering at the Royal Joseph Technical University (today Műegyetem). After graduation in 1902, he joined Ludwig Prandtl at the University of Göttingen, receiving his doctorate there in 1908. He taught first at Göttingen, and later at Aachen. He interrupted his teaching with service in the Austro-Hungarian army (1915-1918).
Apprehensive about developments in Europe, in 1930 he accepted the directorship of GALCIT in Pasadena, CA and emigrated to the US. In 1936 he helped found the Aerojet Company to manufacture rocket motors. Today, Aerojet is the largest rocket company in the world. In 1944 he and others from GALCIT founded the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which today is a NASA laboratory whose main mission is robotic exploration of our solar system. Kármán officially left GALCIT in 1945, and became a consultant to the US military, with the rank of general. At age 81 von Kármán was the recipient of the first National Medal of Science, bestowed in a White House ceremony by President John F. Kennedy. He has authored six books, hundreds of scientific papers and received more than 30 honorary doctor degrees.
He is responsible for many key advances in aerodynamics with focus on supersonics and hypersonic air flow. He studied mechanical engineering at the Royal Joseph Technical University (today Műegyetem). After graduation in 1902, he joined Ludwig Prandtl at the University of Göttingen, receiving his doctorate there in 1908. He taught first at Göttingen, and later at Aachen. He interrupted his teaching with service in the Austro-Hungarian army (1915-1918).
Apprehensive about developments in Europe, in 1930 he accepted the directorship of GALCIT in Pasadena, CA and emigrated to the US. In 1936 he helped found the Aerojet Company to manufacture rocket motors. Today, Aerojet is the largest rocket company in the world. In 1944 he and others from GALCIT founded the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which today is a NASA laboratory whose main mission is robotic exploration of our solar system. Kármán officially left GALCIT in 1945, and became a consultant to the US military, with the rank of general. At age 81 von Kármán was the recipient of the first National Medal of Science, bestowed in a White House ceremony by President John F. Kennedy. He has authored six books, hundreds of scientific papers and received more than 30 honorary doctor degrees.
The struggle of Hungarian émigré groups for the release of Hungarian prisoners. The history of the „White Book”
History/Political ScienceIn 1950, a book was published in Bad Wörishofen, Germany, entitled
White Book concerning the status of Hungarian Prisoners of War illegally retained by the Soviet Union and Hungarian civilian persons forcedly deported by the Soviet authorities. The book was published by the Prisoner of War Service of the Hungarian Veterans, but the author of the volume was Rezső Palásthy, who spent three years in Soviet captivity. The book provides detailed data on the number of Hungarians who were taken into Soviet captivity. It also includes the recollections of German prisoners who returned to West Germany about the Hungarian prisoners. Until the fall of Communism, this was practically the only publication on the fate of prisoners of war and civilians who had been deported to Soviet captivity. The volume was published not only in Hungarian, but also in many other languages, including 2,000 copies in English, and President Harry S. Truman also received a copy. With the publication of this book, Hungarian émigré groups joined the efforts of the United States and the United Nations to free Hungarian prisoners in Soviet camps. In my presentation, I would like to talk about the creation and significance of this special work, and I would also like to pay tribute to its author, Rezső Palásthy, whom I had the pleasure of meeting in person.
White Book concerning the status of Hungarian Prisoners of War illegally retained by the Soviet Union and Hungarian civilian persons forcedly deported by the Soviet authorities. The book was published by the Prisoner of War Service of the Hungarian Veterans, but the author of the volume was Rezső Palásthy, who spent three years in Soviet captivity. The book provides detailed data on the number of Hungarians who were taken into Soviet captivity. It also includes the recollections of German prisoners who returned to West Germany about the Hungarian prisoners. Until the fall of Communism, this was practically the only publication on the fate of prisoners of war and civilians who had been deported to Soviet captivity. The volume was published not only in Hungarian, but also in many other languages, including 2,000 copies in English, and President Harry S. Truman also received a copy. With the publication of this book, Hungarian émigré groups joined the efforts of the United States and the United Nations to free Hungarian prisoners in Soviet camps. In my presentation, I would like to talk about the creation and significance of this special work, and I would also like to pay tribute to its author, Rezső Palásthy, whom I had the pleasure of meeting in person.
The Transfer of Hungarian Subcarpathia to the Ukrainian SSR of the Soviet Union in 1945
History/Political ScienceBetter known as Ruthenia, this region, Kárpátalja (Subcarpathia) in Hungarian, had been part of the Hungarian kingdom since its foundation in 1000 until 1919. As a result of the defeat and collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918, the revolutionary Hungarian government gave Kárpátlalja autonomy and named it Ruszka Kraina. The Allied victors, however, awarded Ruthenia to Czechoslovakia at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. The loss of Ruthenia, along with the other territories that were taken from Hungary by the peacemakers, was accepted under duress by Hungary when its representatives signed the Peace Treaty of Trianon on June 4, 1920. The Hungarian government’s revisionism, which called for the reconstitution of historic Hungary, included the return of Ruthenia. The opportunity to recover Ruthenia from Czecho-Slovakia with German help came in 1938 and 1939. At that time the possibility of acquiring the same territory came to the consideration of Soviet foreign policy makers as well, most importantly, to Stalin. The Soviet dictator, however, waited for the right conditions to take over the contested land. The lukewarm, then hostile, foreign policy of Hungary towards the Soviet Union during this period, which culminated in Hungary’s entrance into the war against the USSR on Germany’s side, sealed the fate of Ruthenia. Upon Hungary’s defeat Ruthenia became a de facto part of the Soviet Union late in 1944 and de jure in 1945.
The Transformation of Budapest Fashion and Retailing over a Century
Cultural Studies/ArtsBudapest from its beginnings in Buda around the early 19th century until the early 1950s. It aims to bring to light that even though today Budapest does not register as an important European fashion center, before World War II, its fashion consumption and retail scene were significant. The development of its fashion industry infrastructure and the fact that by the turn of the 20th century it was the fifth most recognized fashion city in Europe after Paris, London, Vienna and Berlin, was a crucial component of Hungary’s modernization process. This paper contends that Budapest’s fashion industry momentum was intended to demonstrate that Budapest was a true equal of Vienna, its co-capital in the Austro-Hungarian Empire that existed from 1867 to 1918. It also argues that Hungarian fashion deliberately followed French fashion to culturally and visually distance itself from Austria’s influence. It discusses how in this effort the Hungarian retail scene began to flourish from the 1910s onward and describes the critical retail institutions in Budapest that were mostly established by the Jewish minority. In closing, it addresses the ideological and economic reasons Budapest’s robust fashion scene disappeared after the Communist takeover of Hungary in 1948.
The Trauma of Expatriation in Márai and Hemingway
Cultural Studies/ArtsThis paper seeks to offer an understanding of the controversial narrative representation of expatriation in the works of Sándor Márai and Ernest Hemingway. Although there is no evidence yet that two authors ever met in person, their portrayal of living abroad for an extended period of time is surprisingly similar, as is the way they conducted and ended their lives. Sharpening the focus on transnationality by juxtaposing Márai’s American and European experiences with those of Hemingway, I shall investigate in depth Amerika délibáb (Márai) along with In Our Time (Hemingway) to explore their shared interest in the traumatic aspects of identity construction abroad and whether minorities could ever be treated as integral and representative parts of a foreign society. The current study (which will appear in my upcoming book) delves into the expansive ways literature by immigrants negotiates diasporic spaces to create “imagined communities” where estrangement and engagement coexist. The works of the two main authors of my research mirror the misfortunes of their native societies in the twentieth century, hence their own expatriation. Interestingly, however, both authors also highlight their restlessness in their new “homes”. Hemingway (who moved from America to France and back) and Márai (who moved from Hungary to Italy and then America) depict living uncomfortably in a space between two worlds, one perhaps dead and the other struggling to be born. Such themes as ambiguity, assimilation, sentimentality, homesickness, and divided loyalties appear in the texts under scrutiny. The complex way identity is negotiated by immigrants writing about their home abroad experience plays a central role in my study, as do tensions concerning language and belongingness in the struggle for home. The main methodologies to be utilized include psychoanalysis, gender studies, and social history.
The Treaty of Trianon and the Consequences of Dictated Terms
History/Political ScienceOn the 100th Anniversary of the Treaty of Trianon (1920) this event will also be remembered and analyzed in Pécs at the 2020 Conference of the American Hungarian Educators Association. In his keynote, Professor András Ludányi will reflect on the historical background of this event and on the demographic, cultural, economic and political consequences for Hungarians and for East-Central Europe as a whole. His analysis will compare the major phases of the consequences during the inter-war nationalist period, the Stalinist and post-Stalinist communist period and the present phase since regime change in 1989-91. While the studies of Teleki Pál, Szász Zsombor and C.A. Macartney provide much of the background, the recent analyses of Bárdi Nándor, Szarka László, Schöpflin György and Kántor Zoltán have much more to say about the consequences. To what extent have these different periods really mattered? In a world of transnational corporate interests can loyalties to the EU change our relations to existing states and nations? The intent of this keynote is not to rehash the past but to provoke a re-thinking about the entire region’s interests and future.
The U.S. Higher Education Community’s Response to October 1956: the Emergency Program to Aid Hungarian Students in the U.S., 1956-1958
History/Political ScienceThe October 1956 Revolution in Hungary created a wave of émigrés in the Hungarian global diaspora. Of the more than 80,000 who arrived in the U.S., approximately 2,000 were university students. The U.S. academic community was sympathetic to their plight and concerned with their welfare. University leadership, faculty, and students were anxious to assist these students not only with humanitarian aid, but to use their position within universities assist the Hungarian students to continue their education. My paper will explore this response, and elaborate on the efforts of U.S. higher education institutions, national academic organizations, and scholarship agencies to aid the Hungarian university students who found themselves at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey. The paper will discuss the collection and distribution of scholarship funds, efforts to negotiate admission into U.S. universities, and the creation of support networks and counseling services for these students’ unique needs.
The long-term impact of this assistance was great, as many of these students later became active members of U.S. academia. These efforts were not solely a humanitarian matter, but also a question of preserving and advancing the intellectual knowledge and skills that the Hungarians brought with them. This is significant, as ultimately the presence of Hungarian refugee scholars and students added a cultural richness and wealth of human talent to U.S. higher education institutions. The paper will also discuss efforts to document and preserve the impact of these scholars on U.S. higher education and scholarship.
The long-term impact of this assistance was great, as many of these students later became active members of U.S. academia. These efforts were not solely a humanitarian matter, but also a question of preserving and advancing the intellectual knowledge and skills that the Hungarians brought with them. This is significant, as ultimately the presence of Hungarian refugee scholars and students added a cultural richness and wealth of human talent to U.S. higher education institutions. The paper will also discuss efforts to document and preserve the impact of these scholars on U.S. higher education and scholarship.
The Unknown Tibor Eckhardt: Politician, Statesman, Cold War Intelligence Operative
History/Political ScienceThe complex life and activities of Tibor Eckhardt have been a subject of my research and publication for over a decade. My book on the American years of Tibor Eckhardt published in 2009 will in 2013 be followed by an expanded biography of Eckhardt's American and Hungarian years as well as a recounting of his activities and collaboration with American intelligence during the height of the Cold War. This presentation will introduce the unknown side of Eckhardt's activities developed from archival material classified until recently.
The US vs. Britain: Traces of the Alabama affair (1867) in the Historical Collections Department of the University of Pécs
History/Political ScienceDuring the politically turbulent late 1860s, Austro-Hungarian policymakers desperately sought allies. Between 1867 and 1871, the Monarchy was weakened militarily, economically, and socially, struggling to recover after its defeat at Sadowa. Seeking support, Austria-Hungary turned to Great Britain, which was also searching for a continental partner. Count Rudolf Apponyi, Hungary-born and Austria-Hungary's ambassador to London until 1871, played a key role in personal diplomacy between the two powers. Meanwhile, Britain faced domestic challenges like the Irish question and the fallout of the American Civil War. One lingering issue was the damage caused by the Alabama, a British-built Confederate warship. The United States demanded unprecedented compensation for Union losses, a dispute resolved through arbitration. Archival material from Austria-Hungary’s Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv (HHStA) in Vienna, sheds light on this period and its foreign relations. Historian János Lutter copied and preserved key documents from 1867–1871, many of which would have been lost. These unpublished records, housed at the University of Pécs Historical Collections Department, provide crucial insights into Apponyi's diplomatic efforts and how the Alabama case influenced European diplomacy. In my presentation I aim to show, that the archive material is surprisingly rich for those, who are interested in old Hungarian foreign relations. The archival evidence reveals how the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy navigated international challenges, seeking relevance in a rapidly changing world while grappling with internal and external pressures.
The Value of International Experiences in Higher Education: A Model for Institutions and Faculty
Education/Social SciencesThe present paper is based on academic experiences, discussions as well as feedback from higher educational and diplomatic entities both in Hungary and the US. It provides a model for turning one’s international exchange experience to various types of community values. For entities of internationalization (foundations, universities, GOs and NGOs) that support faculty engagement abroad, beyond the individual researcher’s and educator's increase of expertise and network, certainly efficiency and the disseminated impact are equally relevant factors in their efforts to facilitate global internationalization and its goals. I wish to share the experience of the last decade as a Fulbright alumna, reaching out for greater utilization of that experience than expected, and affecting the complex internationalization processes of two universities. Seven areas are investigated: increased-value professional knowledge based on transatlantic teaching and research; networking for colleagues and students; developing institutional partnerships; value transfer (sharing and adopting North-American cultural and citizenship values with Hungarian students and faculty); acquiring management skills and introducing them to HEI managements; as an alumna, supporting others in applying for mobility and promoting the value of international exchange experiences; and finally, creating alumni-network and such network-based research projects, one of which focused on the engagement of disadvantaged student pools, a topic related to “Future students.” Getting faculty engaged in such process-type mobility experiences is an academic commitment that I have found essential in the current Hungarian (and global) HE arena. My presentation focuses on the extended role and responsibility of HEIs and individual faculty opportunities in that context.
