Magyar News, 2001. szeptember-2002. augusztus (12. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2002-01-01 / 5. szám
Magyar News —^ I HAVE A PEACEFUL NEW YEAR | Voivodina on the Table Where Hungarians have the only choice to be Hungarians We American Hungarians are trying to help the Hungarians in Voivodina to achieve their goal. Joseph Bollyky took an appreciated step to organize a group to meet with Congressman Shays. Participating were L. Joseph Bollyky, Béla Lipták Hungarian Lobby, László Hámos Hungarian Human Rights Foundation, Margaret Bollyky, Zsuzsa Simándy and Joseph Kata Hungarian Cultural Society of Connecticut, Joseph F. Balogh AHHA and Magyar News. Mr. Bollyky introduced the group and outlined the purpose of our visit. Then Professor Lipták gave a historical background to the Hungarian problem. László Hámos President of HHRF went into specifics about the situation in Voivodina, laying out well researched facts. Others added their supporting note and remarks. Congressman Christopher Shays also received printed materials not just on Voivodina but on Transylvania too. Everybody was very impressed of how Congressman Shays showed interest of the problem and showed how carefully he weighed what was said, and his remarks showed his deep concern. As a follow-up he sent a letter to all of us. I would like to show a few lines from it:”Thank you for taking the time to meet with me in my Bridgeport office on November 9, 2001. I appreciated the opportunity to listen to your concerns about the status of Vojvodina, Yugoslavia. I will meet with Congressman Tom Lantos to discuss cosponsoring legislation that will support restoring the autonomy for the Province of Vojvodina. ” We Hungarians all thank Congressman Christopher Shays for his consideration and help, also for his decisions on policies of the United States of America. ABOUT VOIVODINA The name Voivodina recently has been around frequently. So what is it, and what’s so important about it? Voivodina, or as the Hungarians called it “Vajdaság” for almost a thousand years. It really is the southern part of the Great Hungarian Plains, between the Danube and the Tisza rivers, where the two merge. It is a fertile land and was considered the breadbasket of Hungary. Why isn’t it part of Hungary any more? Well after WWI in France the League of Nations decided on the Trianon Treaty accepting the forceful French plan. Unfortunately President Wilson, who attended the preparation of the Treaty, had At the meeting: László Hámos, Zsuzsa Simándy, Joseph Kata, Margit Bollyky, L.Joseph Bollyky, Congressman Christopher Shays, Béla Lipták, Peter Józsa, and Joseph F. Balogh to return to the United States and left the decision making in the hands of the French. The treaty wasn’t favored by the USA and was never ratified. Only accepted by the other participating members. The Trianon Treaty took away 75% of the Hungarian land and 66% of the population, handing it out to the neighboring countries. With this France made sure that it was not threatened any more by the Germans who might be joining forces with Hungary. They definitely knew what they were doing. As a result , among other areas, Voivodina with a Hungarian population of 350,000-400,000 became part of Yugoslavia. The people living in these areas were never asked if they want to change countries. One day they woke up to find out that they are no longer in Hungary, but they are citizens, in this case, of a Slavic country. There were properties cut in half by the new border or in some cases the line between the two countries cut right through the middle of the kitchen. A generation later the nazi Germany in the hope to recruit Hungary to their side in the war, redrew the borders and with this Voivodina became part of Hungary again. Not for long. After WWII everything went back to the way the Trianon Treaty marked it out. It is probably complicated and confusing for Americans, who are put through the melting pot, to understand why these people, Hungarians, do not blend in with the ruling structure. People came to the States by their own will. They made the decision and they wanted to come. On the other hand those Hungarians who are now living in Hungary’s neighboring countries never made a move, they never wanted the change, they felt insulted and occupied, oppressed by an other country. It is definately not an American experience! In Voivodina the Hungarian “minorities” with for other different language speaking ethnic groups in Yugoslavia received autonomous status in 1974, providing a moderate amount of local selfgovernment. This was eliminated in 1989 both for Voivodina and Kosovo by Milosevic. The Hungarians want to have the autonomous status back. My personal remark might shed a little bit different light on this privilege. Many years ago on an assignment I spent some time in Yugoslavia. Naturally I was curious about how the Hungarians were treated. In Novisad (Újvidék) I stopped by at the Hungarian Publishing Company. It was a pleasant event. The receptionist and the editors all spoke Hungarian. They gave me a short briefing and as it was customary I was introduced to the director. I started talking in Hungarian. Well, the director didn’t speak any Hungarian. He suggested German. I asked one of the editors to translate. I made it short and said good-by. With a few editors we went out for a coffee. That’s when I learned that the “boss” takes the material home and has an outside group of Serbians who know Hungarian study it and recommend the future of the publications. The opinion was that it is better then nothing. This time let us hope for the best in Voivodina. Joseph F. Balogh Page 1
