Bethlen Almanac 1998 (Ligonier)

The Hungarian Reformed Federation of America

The Return of the Holy Crown

During a recent Capitol Hill ceremony, Árpád Göncz, President of the Republic of Hungary, commemorated the 20th anniversary of the return of the Hungarian Holy Crown of St. Stephen to Hungary (on January 6, 1978), with the presentation of a replica of the Crown at the Statuary Hall of the United States Congress. President George Dózsa, Secretary Endre Csornán and Treasurer Suzanne S. Virgulák, represented the Federation at the ceremony.

The Holy Crown’s unexpected tenure with the United States marked a unique chapter in its history. In 1945, at the end of the second World War, the Crown (safeguarded from the Soviet troops) was seized by the US Army in Augsburg, Germany. Although the Hungarian national treasure was initially sheltered in Wiesbaden (in the American zone) it was later transferred to the United States Gold Reserve at Fort Knox, Kentucky. With the subsequent communist coup in ’47, the intensifying tension of the Cold War, and the ’56 uprising, events in Hungary conspired against an expeditious return of the Crown until the presidency of Jimmy

The Replica of the Hungarian Holy Crown of St. Stephen at the U.S. Congress.

L. to r.: Senator Sarbanes,Senator Lugar,Secretary of State Cyrus Vance and Arpad Göncz, President of the Republic of Hungary.

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