The Hungarian Student, 1957 (1. évfolyam, 2-8. szám)
1957 / 2. szám
Hungarian Student Newsletter 5 ACTIVITIES OF LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS Our Berkeley, California group has been busy discussing with American students the significance and historical importance of the Hungarian Revolution. In this they have received their chief support from the fraternities. The situation of youth in Hungary was described in radio and television press conferences. Furthermore, the Berkeley center has obtained four scholarships for Hungarian students at local colleges and universities and has successfully placed fellow refugees in jobs. Contacts with other East-European exile groups have also been established. Fellow Hungarian students in San Diego, California, have successfully financed four new scholarships by organizing a collection campaign among American students. Fifteen more scholarships are expected to result from the proceeds of a large garden party which will be held shortly. AH these activities were reviewed in an illustrated feature article in one of the largest local newspapers. The Champaign, Illinois group observed March 15th Freedom Day with a beautiful celebration. A second festival was held on March 20th. Articles written on Hungarian affairs have appeared regularly in the local press. Language students at Elmhurst College, Elmhurst, 111. were successful in placing an article in a Chicago newspaper. Our Ames, Iowa, colleagues are conducting extensive statewide lecture and orientation tours at their own expense. Brunswick, Maine, students have also established connections with the local press. In Hanover, New Hampshire, our friends are planning a tour of the state during the coming spring vacation. The Hungarian problem and the theory of Communism are the subjects of lectures by fellow Hungarian students at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, N. M. In addition to a stirring ceremony on March 15th, they have been telling about our country’s plight on the radio, in newspapers, and on tours of neighboring states. The significance of our greatest national holiday, March 15th, was explained in an article written by our group in Geneva, N. Y., which appeared in the local papers. Students from various colleges and universities in New York City have been lecturing regularly in the city’s schools. They took an active part in planning the March 15th mass demonstration organized by the Freedom Fighters Association (Nemzetőr). They are busy looking for more scholarships. Our Boston, Mass, friends held a meeting at the local student center on March 15th. An article on our national holiday was sent to more than 20 newspapers throughout the country. Oklahoma students are concerned with solving one of the most serious problems of Hungarian refugee students: scholarships. New scholarships are anticipated at Pittsburgh, Pa., too, thanks to the efforts of our group there. This group has assumed the financial and technical responsibility for printing the English-Hungarian grammar book referred to in an earlier article. In a series of articles, one of our American daily newspapers reported the history of the Hungarian fight for freedom and analyzed the heroic spirit which preserved the Hungarian people’s opposition to Soviet power. The facts given in these articles came out of the writer’s own experience and he faithfully described what he saw and heard to the readers of the free world. On December 13th when the last of his series of articles appeared, he quoted an English diplomat: “These are a people who must be especially beloved by God.” (New York World-Telegram and Sun, December 13, 1956, p. 1.) The secret strength of the Hungarian freedom fighters, and its source, could not have been expressed LAST MINUTE NOTES... One of the leaders of the Hungarian refugee students in Canada has been interviewed by members of our organizational committee about Hungarian student life in Canada. In our next issue we will report on the interview and on the opinion of our Canadian friends regarding liaison between Hungarian students in North and South America. * * * On March 29th AHSA representatives visited 96 students who are participating in an English-language course at St. Michael’s College in Vermont. The students were told about AHSA activities and the operation of the UFHS international headquarters in Cologne, Germany, and were asked to join our association when they begin their regular college studies. * * * Our international headquarters (Cologne, Germany) plans to hold a world student meeting in Paris in July. This meeting will take place at the same time as the Moscow congress of Communist student associations (Vlth World Youth and Students’ Festival). We hope that the World University Service and COSEC will participate in our meeting and help in its planning. more beautifully or more stirringly. The knowledge that our brethren there have undergone a bloodbath makes us heartsick, yet we find one fundamental truth in this distress, a truth that encourages us in the darkness and uncertainty and fills our hearts with hope in spite of the days of hopelessness : namely, that God loves the Hungarian people in an extraordinary way. The truth is that He loves them so much that He can draw many sacrifices from their souls. The Holy Scripture speaks of those whom God visits with crosses, with burdens and tribulations. And why? Because He loves them. The greatness and magnanimity of a people show up in the (continued on p. 6) Death or Dedication? Fr. Sabbas Kilian, O.F.M., S.T.D., Ph. D.
