Hungarian Studies Newsletter, 1980 (8. évfolyam, 23-26. szám)

1980 / 26. szám

ARTICLES and PAPERS (Continued)

Esterhaz, the first Hungarian settlement in Canada, and the problems that arose from the interplay between the desperate situation of the Hungarian pioneers in the midst of the Depression and the complete resolve of the government to reduce expenses. Other components of the tragedy included superficiality, human greed, and administrative bungling. Some of the consequences for the people of Esterhaz were a mix-up of their land rights and straight loss of money. For the government, the episode constituted an object lesson for the introduction of more effective settlement regulations. □

Religion and Church in Hungary is the title of the 16th and 17th HIS Press Service releases, dated February and June 1980. (For description of HIS, see HSN no. 12, p.7.) The first release discusses basic characteristics of Hungarian church politics by presenting Party views as expressed by Imre Miklós, head of the State Office for Church Affairs, as against those of the Roman Catholic Church. In the views of the Party, the churches to some extent, are still considered as representing an earlier social order. Though separation of state and church are official policy, the state “demand(s) from the Church a positive contribution in the development of socialism,” promoting moral and ideological values which would strengthen the present social order, and maintaining international relations to avert war and support the “cooperation of progressive forces” on an international scale. The topic is discussed under three headings: Role of the Church in Socialist Society; Religious Freedom; and Possibilities for the development of Future Church-State Relations.

The second release concerns itself with Pope John Paul M’s letter to the bishops, priests, members of religious orders, and laity of Hungary calling for new emphasis in catechetical instruction. From a legal point of view, the situation of the

MEETINGS

A CENTRAL AND EAST EUROPEAN STUDIES WORKSHOP,

organized by the Central and East European Studies Association of Canada, took place on June 4-5,1980 in conjunction with the 1980 meetings of the Learned Societies Conference at the U. of Quebec in Montreal. A session on Hungarian and Hungarian Canadian Historiography was chaired by R. Blumstock (McMaster U.), and contained papers from J.Bak (U. of British Columbia) On National Consciousness and Popular Nationalism Among Hungarians (1867-1956)-, from L. László (Concordia U.) on The Role of the Christian Churches in the Rescue of the Budapest Jews\ and from N.F. Drelsziger (Royal Military Coll.) on The Impact of the Great Depression in Immigrant Ethics: Some Aspects of the Hungarian Canadian Experience. In his paper Dreisziger says that the Great Depression had traumatic and long-lasting effects on the lives of immigrants. Thousands of them forced to try their luck in western regions of Canada, changing the demographic distribution of Hungarian Canadians rapidly between 1929 and 1939. The same events dramatically influenced life-styles. The newly arrived were hardest hit. Most of them had to try various occupations, had to postpone reunion with their families left behind in Europe, and live under uncertain conditions until World War 11 when conditions changed for the better. The spread of radical ideologies was accompanied by a corresponding though less drastic decline in the influence of the churches. The rift caused by these developments was not to heal for a long time. The session on

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Roman Catholic Church in Hungary can be considered as normal, nevertheless negotiations to date have succeeded in regulating personnel matters only. The solution to a number of pastoral problems still remains unsolved. The letter of Pope John Paul concerns pastoral care. The significance of the letter is evident from relevant discussions held in Budapest by Archbishop Poggi, and from the fact that the text of the letter was published in three of Hungary’s Catholic publications. □

Kapotsy, Béla. “A Dialogue of Comfort and Today’s Hungarians,” Thomas More Gazette 1:1(1980)39-44.

The author reviews five articles written about More’s A Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation (see HSN no. 19/20, p.5.). These articles were written in Hungarian since 1940 and represented an attempt to close a gap of neglect. Stephen Ullmann’s “Mórus Tamás Dialógusa a magyar-török háborúról" [Thomas More’s Dialogue about the Hungarian- Turkish War] appeared in the Archivum Philologicum, no. 2(1940)255-259. The Mérleg, a review magazine published in Vienna, no. 1(1978)2-3, carried a brief commemorative note barely mentioning the Dialogue. László Cs. Szabó wrote an article for the Katolikus Szemle (Rome), no.2(1978)113-124, entitled “Szabadság a börtöncellában” [Freedom in the Prison Cell] in which he emphasizes More’s concern about Christian Hungary. The author himself has written an essay “Szent Mórus Tama's és a magyarok" [St. Thomas More and the Hungarians] in the 1979 literary annual of Katolikus Magyarok Vasárnapja (Youngstown, Ohio), pp. 100-105. Finally, Éva Paleta’s “Mit Írsz te ott, Tamás?” [What Do You Write There, Thomas?] Teológia (Budapest), no.1(1979)45- 48, is reviewed stressing the universal acclaim accorded to More on the occasion of his quincentennial and for his concern about the Turkish threat to Hungary.

The author is assist, prof, at Hunter Coll., CUNY. □

Germans In North American was chaired by M. L. Kovács (U.

of Regina) and contained, among others, a paper by Katherine Stenger-Frey (Montreal) on the Danube Swabians, a People with Portable Roots. The paper is based on a book of the same title (forthcoming). She speaks of two phases of immigration of Danube Swabians, one preceding World War II, and the other following it. In the first instance, the objective was to get rich quickly and return home; in the second instance, there was no home to which to return. The paper describes some social values held by the Swabian community, such as work, and follows the changes content work has experienced in time. It also describes the evolution of ethnic organizations from the Swabish-German Association of 1929 to the Danube Swabian Alliance of 1960, and the Swabian House in Montreal. (We appreciate the information on this paper, which was provided by M.L. Kovács.) A third group of papers, presented in a session on Hungarian Language and Literature, was chaired by L. László (Concordia U.). In it K. McRobbie (U. of Manitoba) presented a paper on Some Artistic Strategies and Social Themes in the Work of Four Leading Younger Hungarian Poets Today; and Zita McRobbie (Winnipeg) spoke of A Case of Rule Simplification in the Speech of Hungarian-English Bilingual Children. □

The Fourth Annual Duquesne U. History Forum took place at Pittsburgh in October 1980. Some 250 scholars from seven countries participated in and nearly 1,500 persons attended the discussions. The main theme was the relationship between Christian and Islamic civilizations. Papers presented on

NO. 26, WINTER 1980-1981, HUNGARIAN STUDIES NEW5LETTER