Calvin Synod Herald, 1999 (99. évfolyam, 2-4. szám - 100. évfolyam, 9-12. szám)
1999-05-01 / 3. szám
CALVIN SYNOD HERALD- 7 -AMERIKAI MAGYAR REFORMÁTUSOK LAPJA An Important Letter This letter follows the announcement of an American Hungarian Congress to be held on September 24, 25 and 26, 1999 in the Meadowland Conference Center in Hackensack, N.J. The assembly will be a commemorative event of the first Congress of this kind, held in Buffalo, New York in 1929, which was called by leaders of the church and heads of fraternal and civic societies. The rapid growth of the American Hungarian community made the meeting a necessity. The 914 delegates, almost 100 clergymen of all faiths among them, faced the major issues of those days: Organizing for collective actions and programs of importance to the Hungarian American people. 70 years passed since the Buffalo meeting. Founders of our churches and societies have gone to their reward... Today, we speak of the third and fourth generation Hungarian Americans. The Hungarian neighborhoods are almost completely absorbed by the population change. But, in spite of all the changes, such thing still abide, as the desire of cultural identity, and the appreciation of our heritage and roots. One of the challenges Anniversaries Spark Celebration The American Hungarian Foundation (AHF) is planning to celebrate its 45th anniversary in a big way. So big that it will take three days and encompass two other anniversaries significant to the American Hungarian community. “The Hungarian Spark in America: A Celebration of Anniversaries” will be held in New Brunswick, NJ May 21st to 23rd, 1999. In addition to the AHF’s anniversary, the event will also mark the 40th anniversary of the Hungarian studies program at Rutgers University and the 10th anniversary of the AHF’s Hungarian Heritage Center. The weekend will kick off Friday, May 21, with a VIP reception at the Hungarian Heritage Center. The next morning, an “Academic and Alumni Breakfast” will be had at the Cenof the September meeting will be to deal with the question of identity as American-Hungarians and what role we play in the places and events of modern times. Emphasis is being laid on the presence and participation of the English-speaking, American-born generations, who will meet in the morning hours separately, but parallel to the Hungarian-speaking sessions. This letter is an invitation to you as one of the keepers of the community of the English-speaking, Americanborn Hungarians to attend the September Congress. We are asking your help in identifying the topics that, in your opinion, should be addressed at the English-speaking section of the conference. Please identify 5 to 10 of them. Your reply will be forwarded to the committee that will make up the final agenda. As a retired pastor, with some time at hand, I volunteered to approach leaders of our churches and societies to get input to the agenda. May I count on your participation? With Fraternal Greetings, Rt. Rev. Imre Bertalan, D.D. ter. Those invited will include students, alumni, faculty and administrators from Hungarian studies programs at Rutgers and other colleges. Later that evening, the AHF will host a gala dinner at the Hyatt during which it will present its George Washington Award to Árpád Göncz, president of Hungary. The weekend will conclude Sunday, May 23, with the formal and public opening of “The Hungarian Spark in America” exhibition. Hungary Joins Western Alliance INDEPENDENCE, MO - At the site where NATO was born, Hungary, along with Poland and the Czech Republic, became an official member of the alliance of Western nations. The joining ceremony took place TRIANON - 79 yeARs Laccr... Continued from Page 6 litical behavior is not, however, reciprocated by Serbs, Romanians and Slovaks, proving Tacitus' dictum: "We hate those whom we have hurt." Dreams of returning to pre-Trianon borders were more active in the Horthy era, and viewed with a certain understanding at the time. As the U.S. ambassador to Hungary, J.F. Montgomery, wrote: "If Japan had defeated us and made Canada and Mexico her satellites, and given Texas to the latter and most of New England to the former, and had annexed California and Oregon, something similar to Hungary 'Nem, nem, soha' (No, no never!) would probably appeared in our flower beds, on our mountain slopes and would have burned in our hearts." Some may say that it is easy to pass harsh judgement on the Trianon Treaty of 1920 in hindsight, but many recognized the catastrophe early on. Although French foreign policy more than any other was responsible for the destruction of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, French writers and public figures did not hesitate to condemn Trianon. In 1923, De La Reveliere in his book on Central Europe wrote: "The Magyars occupy a citadel in the center of the Danubian Basin... At Trianon an act of injustice has been perpetrated deliberately. An old oak tree has been replaced by striplings of mixed foliage, left without props to sustain them". (S.Sisa: "Spirit of Hungary") March 12, 1999 at the Harry S. Truman Library in Independence, MO, a site where in 1949 President Truman announced the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Secretary of State Madeline Albright hosted the ceremony, which was attended by the foreign ministers of three nations: Janos Martonyi (Hungary), Bronislaw Geremek (Poland) and Jan Kavan (Czech Republic). Representatives of Hungarian and other ethnic organizations also attended the ceremony. Much credit has been given to the ethnic community for promoting the inclusion of the former Eastern Bloc nations into the Western alliance. In her remarks, Mrs. Albright welcomed the three new member nations.
