Hungarian Studies Newsletter, 1979 (7. évfolyam, 19-22. szám)
1979 / 22. szám
under Hungarian authority with its own elected legislature, was short-lived, yet proved important for ideological reasons: the Czechoslovak regime was to be continually reproached with the loss of autonomy and its guarantee of national liberty granted by the Hungarians in 1918. The negotiations in May of 1919 were concerned with the guarantee of a “Russian State” within the Czech-Slovak Republic. The Entente, particularly the French, also favored a large Czechoslovak State to provide access to Romania, a potential ally. The author is a research fellow at the Ukrainian Research Institute, Harvard U. D Magocsi, Paul R. and Bohdan Strumins’kyj, “The First Carpatho-Ruthenian Printed Book.” Harvard Library Bulletin 25(1977), pp. 292-309. interest in studies related to Subcarpathian Rus’ or Carpatho-Ruthenia is increasing, the more relevant source material is available in U.S. libraries than in the Ukraine. A copy of the first printed book intended forCarpatho-Ruthenians (Cathecism for the Instruction of the Hungarian- Ruthenian People) is in the Harvard collection. It was published in Nagyszombat (Trnava) in 1698. Magocsi analyzes the text and gives a useful review placed into the proper historical context. After 1526 the area became a center of contention between the Habsburgs and the Transylvanian princes who each claimed sovereignty over Hungary. The two political forces and Rome vied for the loyalty of the churches. The princes were opposed to Roman control, supported the Orthodox Church, and refused to allow the Ruthenian Uniate Church to become subordinated to the pro-Habsburg Roman Catholic prelates. Its survival threatened, the Uniate Church chose a strong and competent leader, Bishop Joseph de Camillis, a Greek who had studied in Rome, and who later became a monk in the Order of St. Basil the Great. While nominally subject to the Bishop of Eger, de Camillis was able to both maintain his autonomy and to improve theJegal position of his clergy. He also sought to raise the educational level of the priests, and composed the cathecism reviewed by Magocsi, and a Primer in Church Slavonic (1699). Q Patrias, Carmela, “The Kanadai Magyar Újság and the Politics of the Hungarian Elite, 1928-1938,” Occasional Papers in Ethnic and immigration Studies, the Multicultural History Society of Ontario, 1978. (43 Oueen’s Park Crescent East, Toronto, Ont. M5S 2C3.) The author examines the role and policies of the Kanadai Magyar Újság as a key to the “ethnic elite's perception of Canadian society and the place of the immigrant group within it,” from 1928 to 1938. The original purpose of instructing the new immigrantson the laws, customs, and possibilities of their new home, as well as of providing a cultural continuum that would enable the immigrants to preserve their language and culture, was never given up, although it evolved with changed circumstances. Generally, the paper advocated settlement in the west where Hungarian communities had been established and could be maintained. With the outbreak of World War II, the paper did attempt to resolve conflicting loyalties: urging support of the Canadian war effort, it sought to minimize the extent to Hungary’s cooperation with the Axis. “No systematic treatment of political ideology” emerges; the paper was vehemently anti-communist and mildly pro-fascist, but supported the Canadian governmentand urged loyalty to the British Empire and its policies. “The key.. .to reconciling these seemingly contradictory influences and attitudes lies in the Ujság’s primary concern with the creation of a strong, unified Hungarian community in Canada which would preserve its separate Hungarian identity.” CH Sakmyster, Thomas L. "Miklós Horthy, Hungary, and the Coming of the European Crisis,1923-41,” East Central Europe III, pp. 220-232. Horthy’s options in the 1930s were limited, yet his personal qualities and particularly his commitment to the revision of the Trianon treaty and his strong anti-communism narrowed these choices even more and forced him, almost against his will, to drift toward ever closer ties with Germany. The early and preferred route would have been pro-English neutrality. But, because England could not or would not give any positive support, and because Hilter promised and partially delivered some territories, Horthy was drawn closer to the Germans. However, Horthy refused to approve of Hitler’s plans for Czechoslovakia and he refused transit rights to the Germans in their plans to invade Poland. The government, moreover, officially welcomed the fleeing Polish troops. In the delicate maneuverings required to keep Hungary neutral and pro-British with the ever-increasing German pressure, a more flexible politician was needed. Horthy’s refusal to consider postponing the treaty revision question as much as his anti-communism swept Hungary into war. The declaration, triggered by a bombing of a northern Hungarian city by planes “identified” as Soviet, was in keeping with Horthy’s somewhat anachronistic responses to acts he considered insulting to the nation. It must be noted that Horthy’s dedication to treaty revision was supported by many of his countrymen and more flexibility might have been possible only had the borders been drawn more equitably in 1920, and had fewer Magyars been living outside of Hungary’s borders. O (Continued on Page 6) NOTICED, BUT NOT REVIEWED The inclusion of writings in this column does not preclude their review in a later issue, as space permits. Dreisziger, N.F., “The Growth of Hungarian Settlement in Central Canada, 1921-1931,” a paper presented at the Second Banff Conference of the Central and East European Studies Association. (See HSN no. 21, p. 2) “Watson Kirkconnell and the Cultural Credibility Gap between Immigrants and the Native-Born in Canada.” In Ethnic Canadians: Culture and Education. Ed. Martin L. Kovács. Magocsi, Paul R. “The Problem on National Affiliation among the Rusyns (Ruthenians) of Yugoslavia.” Europa Ethnica 34 (1977) pp. 5-8. Agnes Vardy, “The Image of the Turks in Jókai’s Historical Novels and Short Stories,” a paper presented at the Fourth International Congress of Southeast European Studies in Ankara, Turkey, 1979. Stephen B. Vardy, The Image of the Turks in the Twentieth- Century Hungarian Historiography,” a paper presented in the same congress. Reich, Emil Hungarian Literature: Historical and Critical Survey. New York: Arno Press, 1979. Tanslation and Translators: An International Directory and Guide. New York: R.R. Bowker, 1979. Radnóti, Miklós, Forced March (Selected poems) Manchester: Carcanet New Press Ltd., 1979. NO. 22, WINTER 1979-1980, HUNGARIAN STUDIES NEWSLETTER 5
