Verhovayak Lapja, 1945 (28. évfolyam, 1-52. szám)
1945 / Verhovay Journal
Page 4 Verhovay Journal Journal of the Verhovay Fraternal Insurance Ass’n OFFICE OF PUBLICATION 8502 West Jefferson Ave. Detroit 17, Mich. PUBLISHED SEMI-MONTHLY BY THE Verhovay Fraternal Insurance Association Managing Editor: JOHN BENCZE Editor: COLOMAN REVESZ Editor’s Office: 345 FOURTH AVENUE ROOM 805 PITTSBURGH 22, PA. All articles and changes of address should be sent to the VERHOVAY FRATERNAL INSURANCE ASSOCIATION 345 FOURTH AVENUE, PITTSBURGH 22, PA. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: United States and Canada _____________________$1.00 a year Foreign Countries ___________________________$1.50 a year ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT: P. O. BOX 7, WOOLSEY STATION — LONG ISLAND CITY 5, N. Y. Entered as Second Class Matter at the Post Office at Detroit, Michigan under the Act of March 3, 1879. THE PRESENT AND FUTURE OF HUNGARY ARMISTICE SIGNED. The London radio announced on the 21st of January, 1945, that an armistice treaty has been signed between the Allied Powers and the Debrecen government of Hungary. Heavy fighting is still going on in the Transdanubian part of Hungary, but hostilities have ceased in the rest of the country which has been liberated by the Soviet armies. Americans of Hungarian birth have waited for a long time for this development. They hoped that Hungary would be spared the ravages of war and that the speedy advance of the Russian armies would save the soil of Hungary from becoming a battlefield. It did happen that way in Rumania where the Nazis decided to withdraw as soon as the Soviet army threatened their lines of communications. They gave up Bucharest without a struggle, thereby saving the people of the great Balkan Metropolis the agony that became the lot of the population of Budapest. It was here that the Nazis made their stand, prolonging the war for the people of Hungary for an almost unendurable length of time, causing the destruction of the beautiful capital and an unestimable loss of lives. Death strikes undiscriminately in a land that has been turned into a battlefield. Just recently the sad news came that Bishop Emery Revesz, spiritual leader of the Hungarian Anti-Nazi Movement, was killed in a battle between Germans and Russians at Debrecen. Previously, Bishop Révész had been arrested by the Nazis and later given limited freedom. He was restrained from preaching. How the middleaged church-man got into the battle, is not known. His death means a great loss to Protestant Hungarians and brings sorrow to our land, too. For in him our Supreme Secretary, Mr. Coloman Revesz, has lost his elder brother. Since Bishop Révész was an eminent personality of national importance, his being killed in action was reported through international channels. But for every important person there are millions of unimportant people whose fate remains in obscurity until the immediate family finds ways and means of communicating with their relatives in this country. And the unexplained death of such an important person seems to indicate that a great many of .American- Hungarian families will receive sad news as soon as lines of communications are restored. Then sad days will come to Americans of Hungarian origin and all the sympathy and understanding of second and third generation immigrants will be needed to help sustain them in their grief . WAR DAMAGES The Hungarian signers of the armistice treaty agreed that Hungary pay 300 million dollars for war-damages, 200 millions to be paid to Russia and 100 millions to be paid to Jugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. This amount is to be paid within six years. We are accustomed to figure in billions in our great and rich country and have little idea how much money 300 million dollars may be for a small nation. This amount represents 2Vz times the annual peace-time budget of the Hungarian nation. Taxation always was very heavy in Hungary and the normal tax-load was carried with utmost difficulty by the people. The addition of 60 million dollars per annum will1 increase the poverty of the people of Hungary, already carried to the extreme by the pillage of the Nazi occupants. War damages are to be paid in goods produced by Hungary: cattle, fruit, grain, machinery and ships. We are not sure whether Hungary has been left anything approaching that amount or whether Hungarian production will be able to cope with that task. But Hungary has done it before. It was obliged to pay war-damages after the first world war, and besides the Finnish people, it was the only nation that has kept up with the payments. Even though Hungary was forced into this war and wardamage payments should be demanded of those forcing her into it by the point of gun, we are. confident, nevertheless, that Hungary will live up to its obligations which its representatives have accepted. SURRENDER OF ARMAMENT. Hungary is to surrender all of its armaments to the Allied nations. We would like to point out that a similar provision of the Treaty of Trianon has resulted in the defenselessness of Hungary. How could Hungary be expected to make a stand against the Nazis when the right to prepare for such an effort has been denied to her? We hope and pray that this will be the last war. Nevertheless, even Allied leaders declare that a standing army is necessary for upholding the peace. How is a defenseless country supposed to contribute to the upholding of peace? We are certain that the Hungarian people will surrender their weapons readily. The use of weapons has brought them nothing but destruction. Yet, no nation should be deprived of its meatns of defense. However, another provision of the treaty amends this deficiency in some measure. EIGHT DIVISIONS TO FIGHT. Hungary agreed to set up eight divisions to participate with the Soviet armies in their fight against the Nazis. Little Hungary has lost the prime of its man-power on the various battlefields of the present conflict. This provision of the treaty means that Hungary is not yet going to have peace. It will have to suffer still more loss of blood and more loss of lives. Nevertheless, we are certain that the Hungarian soldiers will make a good showing. They will be happy Jo help liberate their country from the Nazis. Just recently we learned that the officers of the Ludovika Academy — the West Point of Hungary — have denied in body the oath of allegiance to the Nazi-Szalasi government. They were arrested and imprisoned. Released now, they will proudly carry the flag of liberty to every town and village that is still under Nazi domination. WAR-PRISONERS TO BE RELEASED. All prisoners of war are to be released immediately and all Germans to be interned. Joyously the- Hungarians will carry out this order. During the first world war Hungarians treated their prisoners of war more kindly than any other European nation. Most of them were distributed among families and were accepted as members of these families. It could not have been different now, since Hungarians never hated the British, the Americans, nor the Russians. On the other hand, it will be their pleasure to turn the tables against the Nazis who with their arrogance have humiliated and abused the Hungarian people beyond description. PRE-WAR BORDERS RESTORED. The most significant provision I of the armistice treaty is the one which restores the pre-war I borders of Hungary. Truth] fully, we feared that Hungary V erhovay J onrnal would have to lose some more territory. Naturally, the authors of the treaty could not go into the merits of the Trianon treáty.' Rectification of its glaring injustices could not be affected during the two decades following the first World War. But by refraining from further dissecting Hungary the representatives of the Allied Powers gave recognition to the fact that Hungary was dragged into this war against the will of the people. Both Rumania and Finland had to accept territorial losses but for Hungary the status-quo was restored in spite of the fervent expectaions of Hungary’s neighbors who expected to emerge from this war with additional gains at the expense of Hungary. Hungary, deprived of twothirds of its territory and population, once before proved its ability to live with dignity and progressively under limited conditions. Now, Hungary gets another chance to demonstrate its vitality. Undoubtedly, the provisional Hungarian government in Debrecen succeeded in gaining the confidence of the Allied governments. CIVIL GOVERNMENT The governing of Hungary will be left in the hands of the Hungarian civilian authorities which are obliged to cooperate with the Allied Committee which is to be seated in Budapest. Hungarians will be glad to cooperate with the Allies who will be in position to gain firsthand information as to the honesty of the Hungarian government in its efforts to establish a democratic way of life in Hungary. RUSSIA HUNGARY’S NEIGHBOR. In a seperate agreement with Soviet Russia, Czechoslovakia ceded Ruthenia to Russia. Previously, the territory ' North of Ruthenia belonged to Poland which for many centuries has been Hungary’s friendly neighbor. This situation has changed completely. Poland will have no common border with Hungary and by taking over Ruthenia, Russia extends its territory over the Carpathian mountains into former Hungary and becomes its immediate neighbor. This devel-January 31, 1945 opment exposes Hungary to Russia and puts it under Russian influence. Only the future can show the results of this change j but it is rather difficult not to feel apprehensive of the complications that may arise. THE FUTURE OF HUNGARY Only by superhuman strength and by unlimited self-sacrifice can Hungary cope with the task that lies before its people. We only hope that peace-conferences which are to follow the. war, will modify the provisions of this treaty in some measure. Little Hungary, impoverished by Nazi occupation and ravaged by the war that destroyed most of its possessions, bled white. on many battlefields, is a bankrupt nation. It cannot possibly pay and rebuild at the same time. And it cannot pay unless it has rebuilt all that is now in ruins. It has to cope with a political •situation which is in no ways more favorable than the one thrust upon it by the Treaty of Trianon. It will need internal peace and external help However, we hope that Hungary will prove its true greatness under these circumstances. We are quite certain that Hungary will spare the Allied Nations the disappointment that resulted from the liberation of Belgium, Greece, Rumania and Jugoslavia. The Hungarian people — we hope — will act differently. They will not engage in a civil war, internal strife, fratricide, which somehow seemed to make futile the liberation of these other countries, which cost the Allies so much blood and sacrifice. Hungary will nut fight but work. It will not revolt but rebuild. It will serve proof to the Allies that Hungary is the most important bastion of Western culture and Christian civilization in Central-Europe and, thereby, it will assure itself of a worthy place among the civilized nations of the world and a potent voice in the making of decisions pertaining to the future set-up of Central Europe. Deeply conscious of the desperate plight of the Hungarian people, Americans of Hungarian descent will readily give them all material and moral support in order that the American way of life may be transplanted to Hungary. OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT------ A REQUEST ----Several copies of each and every issue of the Verhovay Journal are kept on files in the Home Office for future reference. Arranging this file, we found ourselves in a rather embarrassing situation for it developed that we had completely run out of some issues. We believe that some of our readers may have kept their copies and, therefore, we appeal to our readers to kindly mail to the Home Office any copies of the following issues: January 13, 1944 March 30, 1944 January 27, 1944 April 27, 1944 February 24, 1944 December 27, 1944 March 10, 1944 Postage will be cheerfully refunded by the Home Office. Please, look through your files and if you find any of the above copies, send them IMMEDIATELY to the Verhovay F. I. Association, 345 Fourth Avenue, Pittsburgh 22, Pa. Your cooperation will be sincerely appreciated.
