Verhovayak Lapja, 1947 (30. évfolyam, 1-24. szám)

1947 / Verhovay Journal

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MESSAGE FROM HUNGARY

•— Mine. Tildy’s Address at the Hungarian Relief Banquet in Pittsburgh. —

(Hungary’s First Lady is an extemporaneous speaker. She does not use any notes, nor are any copies of her addresses available. Thus, the reporter trying to reproduce her address must rely pn his notes which cannot be complete as lime. Tildy’s rapid delivery would task even an experienced stenographer. Nor is it possible to the beauty and versatility of style which is Mrqe. Tildy’s special asset as a public speaker. A great deal, therefore, must be left to the imagination of the reader. With these reservations we present the following digest of the address of Hungary’s First Lady.)

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”1 brought you a message from the Hungarian soil, from the forests and meadows, the cities and villages of the old country . . . 1 brought you a message front the flowers whose scent even is different from that of the flowers of America ... I brought you a message from the water that tastes differently than any other water ... I brought you a message from the wind, from the clouds, from the rain and the sunshine of Hungary ... I brought you a message from the Hungarian people \^ho, surviving an undescribable catastrophe, are now attempting to create a new country in which happiness, freedom and a human existence shall be assured to all willing to work for a better future ...”

“You have helped us a great deal, especially during the last two years. And here, in Pittsburgh, even those have helped who had been born in this country and not in Hungary. Long ago I have heard about the marvellous work done in this great city by the second generation descendants of immigrant Hungarians a).id I planned to take this opportunity to express my deep gratitude for the generosity of the young people in this area. I feel, however, that for this I owe thanks, also, to the older generation, for if you wouldn’t have retained in your hearts a deep 'ove for your native country, you would not have been able to rear your children in the love of the nation of which they descended. You cannot imagine how happy those children are who, through your efforts, now have decent clothes for the first time in many years. I bring you their gratitude. 1 also thank you in behalf of my husband who is the first citizen of that country. And, finally, I thank you in my own behalf, for as a mother, I suffer in my own heart with every fatherless and mctherless child in Hungary.”

What is news at home?

‘I have come because I want to talk to you. I have come to bring you the news about the old home. I know how much you want to know what happened to your homes and lands, your friends and relatives, and now I would like to share it all with you, talking to you as to my brothers and sisters and old friends whom I have known ever since my childhood . . .”

“I wouldn’t have enough teays to tell you of all the sufferings we had to endure, and you wouldn’t have enough tears to hear me were I to describe to you the long years of the war, the last eight months during which Hungary was turned into a battlefield and the last two months of the siege of Budapest . . . How a desert became of the richest and most beautiful lands . . . How Hungary’s bridges were destroyed, from the largest, most important ones down to the

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attending a party when a very unimportant writer came up to him and belittled himself to the author. He admitted that he was a poor writer, a hack, and shouldn’t even be included in the great man’s company. The author listened patiently for five minutes, then said, “Why do you make yourself so small? You were never that big.”

Two spinsters (sisters) were sitting at home, having a quiet evening-, when one of them looked up from the paper she was reading a n d commentated, “There’s an article here telling of the death of a woman’s third husband. She has had all of them cremated,” “Isn’t that life for you?” said the other sister. “Some of us poor women can’t get even one husband while others have husbands to burn.”

Here’s one about insurance: The hillbilly who had been sold an insurance policy received in the mail a few weeks later a form to fill out. As he puzzled over one question in particular bis wife asked him if she could help. “Mebbe ye can,” he mused thoughtfully. “They want to know if there js any insanity in the family. “Of course not,” she replied, “just put ‘NO’ in that box.”

“But how about Uncle Zeke?” he pointed out. “He’s in an insane asylum, you know.” “Oh, ye don’t count him,” she said. “He’s crazy.” The form finally was filled out and sent to the home office. A few years later the hillbilly died. In a week or two the insurance company’s regular request for payment of the premium came through. The hillbilly’s daughter had to read it to her mother. “Well, you sitright down,” her mother directed her, “and tell those insurance people that we can’t afford to keep up the payments any longer since paw died.”

This looks like I’ve come to the end of my rope (literally speaking) so until next issue we of the So. Side Branch here in Chicago wish all you readers and Yerhovay members the best of every day living. We’ll see you lucky participants at the So. Beírd Bowling tournament where further relationships of good will and fraternal eomraderie will be cemented! Sounds like the bricklayers’ by-law for organization! Until then may the Sun of peace and happiness keep beaming down on all, now and for many years to come.

Fraternally,

Paul Kun, 727 E. 92 St.

Chicago 19, 111. Branch 37

last little wooden bridge which was only used by the farmers for crossing the creeks when driving their old fashioned carts out to their land . . . How the nation was pillajged and robbed of all machinery, cattle, furniture and every possession . . . How the people of Budapest lived for two months in the cellars . . . how babies were born and died in the darkness . . . And how, when they finally emerged from the cellars, they faced the complete destruction of their city, their homes and all their possessions... In those terrible days the lethargy of despair gripped our hearts and we felt the hour had come of which once the Hungarian poet wrote: ‘A nation is swallowed by the grave . . ”

“The first two months following the liberation of Hungary elapsed in utter desperation. Then came the first signs of life as Americans of Hungarian descent reached across the ocean to help us. Other nations, too, helped, especially the Swedish, and even Ireland. Words cannot describe what those gifts meant at the time when there was no milk, no sugar, no clothing for the children, when there was hardly anything at all to eat and infant mortality reached fifty percent.”

“You know, however, that the Hungarians never were beggars. As soon as they had received only as much help as to save them from starvation, they shook off lethargy and prayed: ‘Thou hast helped us, oh Lord, and we beseech Thee to keep on helping us, but, from now on, we want to help ourselves, too ...!’”

A nation arises.

Encouraged by the brothers’ hands the nation arose and went to work. It started in the fields where new hope was given to the Hungarian people by the land-reform. Before the war, the greater pajrt of Hungary consisted of large estates. And regardless of how diligently and ably a man worked, he could not purchase land. Many of those who realized that they would never be able to acquire some land of their own, came to America and here they proved what Hungarians can accomplish. For those whom the old country let go, became an asset to this great country by their marvellous productivity. I have spoken with innumerable Americans, other than Hungarians, and they all agree in praising the Hungarian worker .. . And now that I have had an opportunity to get acquainted with this country and to express my own as well as my nation’s gratitude to the United States, I am proud to declare that the Hungarians, too, had a share in what this country is today.”

“Of course, under the circumstances, i|t was impos.(b!(2 to develop a perfect system for the distribution of lands. This problem could have been solved smoothly had the former leaders of the country approached it in times of peace and prosperity, with an understanding of the crying needs of the landless Hungarians. But they had missed the historic opportunity and, thus, it fell upon us to tackle this great task amidst the ruins of a wartorn country. Naturally, the solution could not be a perfect one, and, in many instances, the in-;

nocent had to suffer with the guilty. I still believe, however, that no one could have done a better job under the conditions. In fact, it should be realized that after the conclusion of the war, when the entire country was laid bare, with none of the machinery, nor any of the cattle left, the large .estates would have remained completely paralyzed. But the little man, when his dream came true and he was given his tiny piece of land, went to work with such heroism which, in my estimation, has not been matched anywhere in thhe world.”

"I have seen some of these new small land-owners work their fields without tools and cattle... I have seen men kneel on the soil plowing their land with an ax ... I have seem women whose husbands were prisoners of war in foreign lands, yoking themself.es to their ploughs breaking the hardened soil . .

“And here I have to say a word of unreserved praise for the Hungarian women in the country . . . Their accomplishments defy description. Under the most impossible conditions they produced providing food not only for themselves but, also, for the starving people in the cities.. They shared their produce and displayed marvellous . ingenuity in providing ways and means for producing the necessities of living. It is due to their untiring efforts that today there are more fowls on the markets of Hungary than ever before . . . We can thank them for surviving stai^ation and that shortages are being alleviated to an ever increasing extent . . . Indeed, when their husbands will return from captivity and ask_them how they had managed during the long years of their absence, these women may proudly point at their accomplishments . .

“It is often heard that the little people who had been given land, are shiftless. Many accuse them of having no love for their country, nor any faith in God. I don’t agree. If they did not display a great deal of enthusiasm for their country, they had a reason in that their country has never given them anything. But now that it has proven itself as their own country by giving them at least a little land of their own, they will be able to feel for their country like those did who had enjoyed all the privileges while the common people had to comply with all the demands . . . And if some of these people never went to church, they had a reason for that, too... The Hungarian peasant is proud and shy . . . He would have been ashamed to enter the House of God barefooted and in rags . . . But give him time and when he will have shoes and a decent suit to wear, he will go to church. Because the Hungarians have learned a bitter lesson in this war. They have learned that mail works, but the blessing comes from God and if God’s ^blessing is withheld, his work will be of no avail . . . These people now work with enthusiasm and devotion on the little land that their beloved country has given, them, and they will go to church’ to ask the Lord to bless their laborsv..”

Hungary’s laborer wears

a crown of glory.

• g,: .

“And as the country folk startcd to work with their bare hands i saving the nation from starvat.on, so did the industrial workers in the cities. The war left the factories in ruins with only a few, useless remnants of machinery . . . There was no management yet, but the workers returned and started to work. No one told them what to do, neither did they ask who, if anyone, would pay them for their work. On their own free will, with their bare hands, they cleared the factories and rebuilt machines from the wreck . .

“It is due to their ingenuity and untiring devotion that the i former Ferencz József bridge, now called the Liberty bridge, has been completely rebuilt between Buda and Pest ... It is due to their labors that trains are running today in Hungary. True, there still ?.re no windows in the cars, but they run.”

‘Industrial production in Hungary today approaches prewar levels. Of course, a great part of production goes toward reparations. But, it is no use complaining . . . the Hungarian people know that they have to meet their obligations.”

“We want to build a new and happy country, but we will never succeed if we think only of the difficulties facing us. Whining, complaining drains one’s energies. We will not look backwards but forwards. We attend to our task rather than our trouj bles, and try to do it by honest work knowing that the blessing of God rests upon all honest ef: forts.”

‘ But let there be no mistake about it: the task was undescribably difficult. Up to this day 1 cannot understand how the workers of Hungary managed to toil without clothing or food throughout the heat of the summer and the bitter cold of the winter . . . And whenever I recall how everything was accomplished, 1 see the Hungarian laborer wearing a crown of glory . . .”

Hard work for very little . . .

“Then came stabilization. It seemed impossible to attempt the creating of a new currency at the time when Hungary had no resources at all. There were many who told my húsba,nd that it is economic suicide to issue a new currency based on only 18% reserves, But he only smiled and said “I didn’t know we had as much as 18%!” And his faith was justified, for right after the new currency was issued, all the gold of the Hungarian National Bank that was taken to Germany by the Nazis, was returned intact to Hungary.”

"The people of Hungary still work very hard for very little, but they feel that this sacrifice will not be in vain, for a prosperous future will reward them for these times of heroic self-denial. Only as much money is printed as is warranted by the volume of production. As a result, there is very little as yet, because due to the improvised state of the nation, national production still is very low. And, therefore, everybody has to work exceedingly hard and satisfy himself with very little in return for his efforts.”

"We are doing our utmost to develop confidence, human dignity

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Brandt 37 ~ Chicago South Side