William Penn Life, 2016 (51. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2016-05-01 / 5. szám
Tibor's Take jit HlNAl ■ A rusting metal Cross of Lorraine (above) marks the burial grounds of a dozen or so men of Csőt Hungary, who lost their lives fighting on the Eastern Front during World War I. Could Kadi Ignác, killed in the Great War (right), or any of the men named Kadi listed on Csót's war memorial (left, below) be related to my great-grandmother? of the accounts available to American audiences focus on America's short-but bloody (see note at end)~involvement in the waning months of the Great War. Finally, language complicates our historical understanding of Hungary's experience in World War I as well. Generally speaking, for both the Western and Eastern fronts, the historical narratives available to American audiences focus on the experiences of English-speaking soldiers, be they Canadian, British, Australian or American. I'm sure that there are many interesting and powerful accounts of the Hungarian experience of World War I, but they are simply not translated into English. Still, the little bit that is available to us Americans still pokes through the decades-if you travel there. Many towns and villages throughout Hungary have a memorial to commemorate the war dead. Most are somber and muted, not like the triumphant monuments found here in the United States. For example, in my ancestral village of Csőt, there are two memorials. The first is a simple sheet of granite with the names of the fallen etched into its face. The second, for the dead of the First World War alone, is a plot of land with a dozen or so headstones. In the center of the plot is a rusty metal Cross of Lorraine, standing about 15 feet tall. What struck me the most were the names, because it was personal. My great-grandmother's last name was Kádi. As you can see from the photos, there were many Kádi's that died in both the first and the second world wars. I couldn't help but think, had these wars never happened, how many relatives would have been in the village to welcome their American cousins? Instead of a few dozen, could it have been several hundreds of descendants of the lost generations of Hungarian men? I felt a sense of gratitude for the good fortune of my great-grandfather, who was able to come to America in 1913. Otherwise, it's possible — maybe even probable — that his name would have joined the others on the face of that granite memorial. Next Month: I continue my Take on the First World War. NOTE: About 116,000 American military personnel died during World War I, compared to over 405,000 deaths in World War II. But, considering that America's effective involvement in World War I was constrained to April-November 1918, while our involvement in World War II lasted for four years, the rate ofU.S. deaths per day was nearly the same for both wars. Éljen az Amerikai-Magyar, Tibor II Tibor Check, Jr., is a member of Branch 28 and an attorney working in Washington, D.C. When he can, Tibor hosts "The Souvenirs of Hungary” radio program on WKTL-FM 90.7, Struthers, Ohio, on Saturdays from noon to 1:30 p.m. William Penn Life 0 May 2016 0 7
