The Eighth Tribe, 1976 (3. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1976-12-01 / 12. szám
Page 6 THE EIGHTH TRIBE December, 1976 Remembering Hungary in 1956 and America in 1976 For Freedom’s Sake during 1976 OCTOBER 23, CAMP KILMER AREA, NEW JERSEY, U.S.A. The twentieth anniversary of the freedom fight in Hungary observance was arranged for during America’s Bicentennial year, under the sponsorship of some churches and organizations together with The Committee to Commemorate the American and Hungarian Revolutions (1776-1956). There were about twenty-five hundred people in attendance—the program commencing at 6:00 p.m. with remarks by Karoly Oláh, following which the American national anthem was sung by the audience. Stephen Vajtay extended greetings and commented on the 200th anniversary of successfully-achieved American independence; he pointed out that the famed slogan “Give me liberty or give me death,” exemplified contrasts between our two countries—America, for one obtained the positive goal stated expressly, but that for Hungary, only the negative result came about. Mr. Vajtay related portions from the last few 1956 broadcasts from Budapest that went out to the “people of the world” in which help was requested through the extension of “brotherly hands.” Further, it was mentioned that the events which followed thereafter crushed the attempt, and “within two weeks, some 20,000 freedom fighters had been killed plus 40,000 others taken captive for placement into prisoner camps in Russia and Siberia (possibly elsewhere also)—many, if not most, never heard from again.” The Rutgers University Women’s Chorale, consisting of 36 members, directed by Dr. David Drinkwater next performed selected Hungarian compositions as follows: “Come, Sleep” by Robert Starr; “Egy Magyar Népdal” (“A Magyar Folk Song”) by Zoltán Kodály; and Bela Bartok’s “Folyogás” (“Flowing Stream)—the latter was sung in Hungarian, which brought on such enthusiastic response from the audience that an encore resulted in their singing (and swaying in unison) to a lilting college melody entitled “On the Banks of the Old Raritan.” Their assistant conductor also touched the hearts of the assemblage with his parting words spoken in Hungarian “Isten Áldd Meg a Magyart!” (“God Bless the Magyars”). U. S. Congressman Edward Patten next addressed the audience, particularly mentioning his own memories of some of the Hungarian refugees that With this issue The Eighth Tribe begins the presentations of a completely new summary and interpretation of Hungarian History. — The Editor — THE MAGYARS IN HISTORY by S. B. Vardy, Ph.D. Professor of History INTRODUCTION With this attempt to write a new synthesis of the history of the Magyars, the author is trying to achieve two distinct goals. First, he is trying to summarize their history on the basis of the most recent research by some of the top historians, archeologists and linguists throughout the world. Second, he is attempting to expand the scope of most earlier works on Hungarian history that have appeared in English. In line with the requirements of traditional historiography, these works have generally placed much emphasis on political, dynastic and diplomatic affairs, and have less to say about the life, culture and customs of the people at large. Even so, a few of these are worthy scholarly histories (e.g. Kosáry, Sinor, Macartney). But now they are out of print. And even if they were not, the time for a fresh synthesis has arrived. In writing this synthesis, the author has allocated somewhat more than customary attention to the proto-history of the Magyars, which is the period before the conquest of the Carpathian Basin by Prince Árpád and his followers at the end of the ninth century. He did this largely for two reasons: First, because in recent years scholars have uncovered an unusual amount of new material, which altered considerably our notions about Magyars origins; and second, because the past decade or so has produced an unparalleled popular interest in Magyar proto-history. The latter, at least on the popular level, is undoubtedly due to the theory of the alleged Sumerian origins of the Magyars; a theory which — irrespective of its scholarly merit — can no longer be simply ignored in a popular summary. The author lias tried to express his views about Magyar history in a language and form that is hopefully understood by the non-professional. For this reason, he divided his work into numerous short chapters, each of which concentrates on a specific problem in Magyar history. And while the non-Magyar citizens of the Hungarian State were not forgotten, the emphasis was placed on the history of the Magyars. It is for this reason that the term “Magyar” and not “Hungarian” was used; a usage that will prevent a common confusion in Magyar history. Having been a multinational state through much of its existence (although less so during the Middle Ages), the term “Hungarian” had often been used in the past to refer also to the non-Magyar speaking citizens of the Hungarian state, and consequently its meaning is not always clear. — 1
