Magyar News, 1998. szeptember-1999. augusztus (9. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1998-12-01 / 4. szám

country of my ancestors and will pass tills knowledge on to my children. Since our public schools in the U.S. do not teach about Hungarian history, I hope that other Hungarian-Americans will pass on the knowledge of our history and culture to our children and grandchildren, so that it will not be forgottea I found organizations, books, and websites to be the most helpful. Good Luck! BOOKS: Öt Évszázad Címerei by Nyulásziné Straub Éva (published 1987). A book on coat-of-arms issued in the Austro-Hungarian empire. Magyarország Családai by Iván Nagy. A book of Hungarian genealogical tables and nobility. ORGANIZATIONS: Hungarian / American Friendship Society (they helped me obtain some maps and translations). Family Tree Genealogical Research Bureau Federation of East European Family History Societies (they have an informa­tive website, which allowed me to obtain information on Hungarian genealogical research).National Archives and Records Administration (they maintain immigra­tion and naturalization records) WEBSITES: http://www.familytree.hu (genealog­ical research company) http://www.family-tree.com (An­other genealogical research company that offers free information on the internet) http://worldgenweb.ora (You can search for your last name, or get sugges­tions for research on this page) http://www.heraldica.org/topics/na tional/hungary.htm (This website has a good section on Hungarian heraldry) If you are interested in classical Herend products, please give us a call at 203-377-0569 and leave your number. We will have the party, who is selling these beauti­ful pieces, get in touch with you. The collection has many different sets, and and place settings for twelve. If you are truly interested do not miss this one time only opportunity. About f iftysix to fiftysixers An interesting gathering took place in Wallingford. Dr. Csaba Léránth with his wife, Emese, generously opened their home to accomadate this event. To make sure that the people were in proper physical con­dition they served a most delicious, gourmet bean soup (bab leves) that could be put on the top of the list of Hungarian dishes. The arriv­ing guests also went an extra mile and provided other goodies, includ­ing matching drinks to round out the Hungarian style feast. A young man, Attila Szakolczay, was the centerpoint of this meeting. He is assistant principal of the Berzsenyi High School in Budapest. He is a historian, the era of his research is the 1956 Revolution. Attila is a member of an organization that devotes itself to collecting docu­ments and all facts of how the Revolution happened, also the period that followed. He did not experience personally the Revolution. As one scanned through the audience, one came to an interesting con­clusion; all the people sitting there were part of the Revolution, or at least they experienced it first hand. Many of them did not stay long enough to live through the aftermath. Therefore, the speaker’s selec­tion of this time after Nov. 4th was well chosen. Surprisingly, a per­son who did not live through it, did an outstanding job with his research. Attila talked about the time that followed the November 4th invasion by the Soviet forces. He pointed out that the Soviets tried to save face because they were confronting Revolutionary Councils, they were confronting Workers’ Councils and not foreign troops. They tried to show a friendly face but when it didn’t go their way, they opened fire and demolished anything that was holding them back. Attila brought out some of the lighter side of the fight. The Soviet command sent a couple of tanks to the Köztársaság tér where there was heavy shooting going on. As the two Soviet tanks turned the cor­ner, they saw a Soviet tank shooting at a building on the square. They immediately lined up with it and opened a devastating fire. When it was over the Soviets dismounted their tank to find out that the origi­nal tank was in the possession of the Freedom Fighters and they were firing at the building of the Communist Party. Quite a surprise! After the lecture many questions were asked. Most of them were con­centrating on people who were in higher positions during the Communist regime. They wanted to know if it was true that many of these not only survived, but after the change they were able to estab­lish new and good positions. Just about the same happened to the secret police and the law enforcement members. One of the most amazing pieces of information Attila gave out was about the schools, especially about the high schools. He was answer­ing a question of how they are teaching the 1956 Revolution in the schools. The two components are: every school decides on its own how to present this historical event; then anybody could write a text­book, find a publisher and sell it to whichever school wants it. So there is no set curriculum about it. Well it is a very discouraging situation. The audience was very appre­ciative for the outstanding lecture, but at the same time they were very upset to learn about the unsolved problems and the way the historic event of the Hungarian people is being passed on to the future gener­ations. Thanks to the HCSC and its president Dr. Balázs Somogyi for orga­nizing this valuable lecture. J.F.B. Page 7

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