Magyar Egyház, 1957 (36. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1957-04-01 / 4. szám

12

MAGYAR EGYHÁZ

Chaplaincy To Hungarian Escapees

BY THE REV. CHARLES DAROCY

I served as Reformed Chaplain on the U.S.N.S. LeRoy Eltinge which brought more than 1700 Hungarian escapees to America. Church World Service assigned me to this responsibility. In the course of the work I came to learn more of the Hungarian escapee problem and the attitude underlying our work with them through the international agencies.

I was flown to Europe on the Military Air Transport Service. The Air Force, following the tradition of armed forces from time immemorial, specializes in producing people who give you a run around. Our plane was grounded in Lajes Field, the Azores Islands, allegedly for a few hours. The few hours dragged into two days. In all this time conflicting reports were issued, and we finally talked ourselves on an unheated cargo carrier which completed the trip to Rhein-Main air field. Other chaplains who served before me had similar experiences. In short, the kind of bungling and inefficiency, plus just plain lying, that are forbidden in civilian airlines are the order of the day when the Air Force is concerned, because in military life no one is ever responsible for anything!

After a short stay in Europe I was on my way to Bremerhaven to board the ship. It had sailed on Saturday January 19th, and I flew to London by TWA, then went to Dover by train. The following morning I went out to meet the Eltinge on the pilot boat. The Hungarian travelers were very amazed to find their Protestant minister board by way of the ship’s ladder. Less than an hour later our first worship service was held, with over two hundred persons in attendance.

According to Church World Service there were to be at least 500 Protestants on the ship. In reality there were less than 350. Because of a riot against Jewish people in Salzburg two shipments of Jews were rushed to board ship and those who had originally been sheduled to sail were held for a later date. Church World Service sponsored 300 people. Among them there were some 30 Roman Catholics (through mixed marriages) and at least 10 Jews. The Lutheran World Service sponsored over 50 people. Since the CWS total included a number of Baptists, Methodists and Seventh Day Adventists, the Reformed total was only about 280 people.

It was immediately evident that the Protestant and Roman Catholic people were on the very best of terms. The priest assigned to the ship, the Reverend Stephen Varga, of Gary, Indiana, was a very affable individual. He was extremely cooperative and proved to be a wonderful traveling companion. We spent much time in organizing parties for the children and adults on board and in maintaining question and answer sessions about American life.

The ship’s civilian crew was very much interested in making the trip as comfortable as possible. Its chaplian, Otto Schneider, a Navy officer, had served on the first trip in December and was more or less familiar with the problems that we were to encounter. He gave us his full cooperation.

The first characteristic of the Hungarians was their great desire to be away from Europe and to enter the mainstream of American life as soon as possible. Since many of them possessed technical skills greatly in demand there was little question in my mind that they would begin life in America with good jobs and suitable housing.

Then they were extremely anxious to learn English. Many were surprised to hear that in America they could freely speak in Hungarian and not fear reprisals. Their knowledge of Hungarian church life in America was very sketchy, but most expressed interest in entering Hungarian parishes once they were settled.

It is unfortunate that the Hungarians on board ship were divided along religious lines. The Jewish group used the Yiddish tongue as often as the Hungarian. The Jews stayed in their own groups, while the others aboard ship mixed together very well. A Kosher kitchen was set up for the convenience of the Jewish travelers. This arrangement worked out very well and was another indication of the interest of the ship’s captain in the welfare of all the escapees.

On the second day out we encountered rough seas. The poor escapees, most of whom had never seen a body of water larger than the Balaton, became very very seasick. The colored crewmen learned a few words and ran down the halls shouting “Menni hányni.” The passengers promptly complied, for most of them carried their little paper bags around with them for these frequent emergencies.

For about five days nearly everyone was sick. One of the reasons was the strange food, which was excellent by American standards, but too sweet for the Hungarians. Near the end of the trip the Steward allowed the Hungarian men to prepare paprikás krumpli, which all the travelers ate with delight. They only regretted that this wonderful idea hadn’t occured earlier.

The Hungarians were extremely honest and well behaved. There was no stealing at all. There was no fighting or drinking. I remembered the time when I traveled on troop ships during the Second World War and couldn’t help thinking of the gambling and stealing that marked our trips. The crew was well disciplined and stood watch on regular posts. The crewmen were completely unarmed, and only wore helmet liners bearing the Military Police markings.

I spent much time in counselling the Protestant travelers. In the ten days aboard ship I prepared the initial processing forms for nearly 300 people. They were extremely courteous and helpful. I couldn’t help wondering how they would change in the hustle and bustle of modem American life.

The Hungarians spoke a lot of the work of our agencies in Austria. Many had met Rev. Arpad Beretz and appreciated his helpfulness. Unfortunately the Church World Service staff includes too few Hungar-