Amerikai Magyar Szó, 1981. július-december (35. évfolyam, 27-50. szám)

1981-09-17 / 35. szám

AMERIKAI MAGYAR SZÓ Thursday, Sep. 17. 1981. 2. THIS IN THE DAILY NEWS? WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT SO? áTHEIST GOVERNMENT ‘HELPS VS’ Hungary’s Jewish community « BUDAPEST — Geza Seifert was among a group of Jews being led down to the Danube to be shot one day in 1945 when a Soviet artillery round blew a leg off one of their nazi captors. “The other guards were so frightened they just ran off,’’ he said recently, “and we were free." Such memories shape the views of many of Hunga­ry ’s 100,000 Jews toward the present Soviet-controlled :ommunist government. “The government we had before the war (the pro- Hitler regime of Miklós Horthy) took away 600,000 innocent people in the name of God,” said Seifert, secretary-general of the Central Board of Hungarian Jews. “Now we have an atheist government that doesn’t recognize God. But (this) government helps us.” AMONG OTHER THINGS, the government helps support the only rabbinical institute in Eastern Europe. Institute Director Candor Scheiber was a young rabbi when his parents "died in Nazi camps in the mid- 1940s. V The building housing tje institute, which celebrated its 100th anniversary in P978, was taken by the Nazis the first day they entered Budapest in 1944. The building was used 'is a processing center for Jews being shipped off to concentration camps. \ “Twenty thousand Jews majrched through this build­ing to their deaths,” Rabbi Scheiber said inan interview in his institute office. < The pre-war years lacked the terror of the Holocaust. But Rabbi Scheiber said, “Horthy was a forerunner of Hitler, so you can imagine the situation of Jews in the Horthy regime.” An 1894 law prohibiting religious discrimination was repealed in 1938 under Horthy, and Jews faced widespread anti-Semitism that included quotas restricting their numbers in universities. THE QUOTAS are gone now. And the present government, according to Seifert, is enforcipg laws against anti-Semitism. He pointed with satisfaction to the case of a country newspaper editor He said was dismissed from his job within 24 hours of Jews complaining about a poem in the paper they found to be offensive. 'He said he visited the government’s Office of Reli­gious Affairs in Moscow in 1979. “I was told that we can train as many rabbis (at the institute) as Russian Jewry needs,” he said. CURRENTLY, the institute has four students from the Soviet Union, two from Bulgaria, two from Czecho­slovakia and 10 from Hungary. The institute maintains a library of 150,000 volumes, and Rabbi Scheiber looks after a collection of rare religious books dating back hundreds of years. In addition, last year he published a coffee-table- book size codex of Jewish folklore. Selling for the equivalent of nearly a week’s pay for the average Hungarian worker, the book's printing of 10,000 copies sold out within four weeks, the rabbi said. While Jews are less than one percent of Hungary’s population, the sales of Rabbi Scheiber’s book — as well as the packed synagogues — are indications that many Jews who survived the past are taking advantage of the opportunity to practice their faith. “For Hungarian Jews," Seifert said, “life is very calm, very good.” — William J. Mitchell Bigger bang, fewer bucks The hard facts of fiscal life have forced upon President Reagan the difficult but necessary decision to reduce defense spending. Like the President, we are appalled at the sad state of disrepair into which the nation’s military forces have fallen. But we’re also concerned that the administration seems to be acting on the belief that deficiencies in the armed forces can be cured simply by throwing money at them—the way liberals tossed dough at social problems. It won’t work. In the first place, some of the stoutest and most ardent advocates of increased defense spending question whether contractors and their suppliers can digest the kind of rapid expansion in weapons procurement the White House envisioned. A too-rapid military buildup could lead to production bottlenecks, delivery delays and cost overruns—the perennial bane of the Pentagon. There are other questions about the defense spending the administration ought to be asking. How much of the money will be eaten up by the gold-plating and obsession with gadgetry for which military planners are notorious? How good is interservice coordination and coopera­tion in developing weapons systems? It seems senseless for the Army to be spending billions on a costly, vulnerable tank-busting helicopter at the same time the Air Force, for parochial reasons, is trying to kill off the A-10—a far better and less expensive ground-support weapon. Finally, it would be a good idea for the President to reexamine the whole basis on which the defense budget was prepared. The notion that 3% or 5% or 7% “real growth” is the proper measure of whether the U.S. is meeting its security needs strikes us as putting the cart in front of the horse. Defense spending should be determined by the nation’s vital national in terests and global commitments, not the other way around. Let us learn Hungarian TRAVELING UTAZÁS How do you like Buda­pest I Hungary]? What impressions have you got of Hungary? What do you like most? What did you like most? Budapest is a very nice city, especially its surroundings arc lovely. I’m greatly enjoying my stay here. I was impressed to see how much building is being done in and around the city. I V streets are clean, the people are well- dressed, and seem contented. '.he shops arc full of goods and customers. • he variety is great, and some of the goods seem to be first-rate.' I cannot compare with pre-war Hungary, but it is now a growing, lirnspcrous country by any standards. Hogy tetszik (tcccikj Budapest [Magyar- ország]? Milyen benyomásokat szerzett Magyar- országról ? Mi tetszik (léceik) leginkább? Mi tetszett (leccclt) leginkább? Budapest nagyon szép város, különösen a fekvése gyönyörű. Nagyon élvezem az itt­létet. Megkapott, mennyi ház épül a városban és körülötte. Az utcák (uccák) tiszták, az emberek jól öltözöttek, és meg­elégedettnek látsza­nak (láccanak). Az üzletek tele vannak áruval és vásárlóval. A választék nagy, és némelyik áru igazán elsőrendűnek látszik (láccik). Nem tudok összehason­lítást tenni a háború előtti Magyarország­gal, de ma fejlődó, virágzó ország, bármi­lyen mércével mérve. The laboring class must, like any other, stand up for its rights or be content to see them trampled underfoot. The strength given it by organization is its only effectual defense a- gainst the else unchecked tyranny of capital greedy for profit and reckless of other rights. The power developed by combinations (trusts) may be abused like any other power but labor is helpless and a prey without it. Horace Greely, Apr. 4. 1859. AMERIKAI V MAGYAR SZO USPS 023-980 ISSN 0194-7990 Published weekly, e*c. last week in July and 1st 2 weeks in August by Hungarian Word Inc. Inc. 130 E 16 St. New York. N.Y. 10003. Ent.as 2nd Class Matter, Dec. 31. 1952 under the Act of March. 21.1879, at the P.O. of New York, N.Y. Szerkeszti a Szerkesztő Bizottság Előfizetési árak New Yorkban, az Egyesült Államokban egy évre $ 18.- félévre 9 10.- Kanadaban és minden más külföldi ország­ban egy évre $ 20.- félévre $ 12.- Postnjastert Send address changes to Hungarian Word, Inc. 130 E 16 St. New York, N:Y. 10003. The HUGO GELLERT TESTIMONIAL SOUVENIR JOURNAL contains illustrations and an in-depth assessment of the artist’s life and work. Copies are available for $ 2.00 each. Add 7 5 cents for postage For orders, please make checks or money orders payable to the HUGO GELLERT TESTIMONIAL COMMITTEE 130 E 16 St. New York,NY 10003. BKSMB Barnámat one billion and one , ONE BILLION AND TWO, ONE BILLION AND THREE, L £TC 1

Next

/
  • Layout
  • Zoom
  • Rotation
Thumbnails
Contents