Hungarian American Coalition News, 2003 (12. évfolyam, 1-2. szám)
2003 / 2. szám
Rozália Kóka, folklorist and storyteller, expert on the culture and history of the dispersed Székely community from Bukovina Dr. Ilona Kovács of Hungary’s Széchenyi National Library, who is currently expanding the library’s Hungarian-American archives as a Fulbright Scholar at Rutgers University Dr. Erzsébet Kiss, Professor of Ethics at Duke University, addressing the ethical aspects of majority-minority relations. Eszti Pigniczky, leader of the folklore ensemble of the Hungarian Scout Troop of Cleveland, OH. Popularly known as Itt-Ott (Here and There), the MBK conference - held every year since 1967 - includes discussions with guests from Hungary and the Carpathian Basin and Hungarian-American leaders; music and cultural programs; children’s activities; and familystyle picnics and campfire at the nearby lake. This year, leaders also organized parallel English-language workshops for non-Hungarian speakers. The Magyar Baráti Közösség is an organizational member of the Hungarian American Coalition. In addition to the annual Itt-Ott conference, MBK publishes a semi-annual journal, runs a scholarship fund, and raises funds to support church and community life in Hungarian villages in Transylvania. For more information, please contact Dr. Balázs Somogyi, MBK President, at balazssomogyi@aol.com. Update on Church Property Restitution in Romania Test Case: The Hungarian Reformed Kollégium in Cluj The Hungarian American community has followed the bewildering church property restitution process in Romania with growing concern. The story of a wellknown Hungarian secondary school, the Kolozsvár (Cluj) Reformed Kollégium, indicates that even official decisions to return property are not enough to constitute actual restitution. The Kollégium campus is a five-building complex, connected by walkways and playgrounds. The reestablishment of this historic school in 1990 received widespread and much-needed support from the Hungarian-American community at large. Years of procedural wrangling followed, during which the local authorities even collected property taxes from the Reformed Church District for a building it owned but was not permitted to occupy. As pressure intensified for action on the church restitution issue, many Coalition members participated in a letter-writing campaign urging Prime Minister Nastase to act in this long-standing dispute. The oldest building of the complex was finally “turned over” to the school in December of 2002. While this building is in deplorable condition, faculty and students worked through Christmas vacation to get it ready for the students in January 2003. However, Cluj authorities were unwilling to either register the Hungarian Reformed Church District as the legal owner, or to vacate the building completely of its various rent-paying occupants. Thus, although the 260 Kollégium students were able to occupy the second and Newsletter Editor: János Szekeres, Graphic Designer: Ajna Pfenninberger We are grateful to all those who contributed articles or information to this Newsletter “Nothing printed here is to be construed as an attempt to aid or hinder the passage of any legislation before the Congress of the United States.” third floors of the school building, the ground floor has continued to house a clinic and cafeteria, neither of which has a legal right to be there. In addition, the restitution of the second and newer school building, long claimed by the Church District, has been effectively prevented by local authorities who instituted legal action against the government decision for restitution. That building remains occupied by the Romanian Sincai School. HUNGARIAN WRITERS AND ARTISTS IN SLOVAKIA RECEIVE POSONIUM AWARDS Seven Hungarian writers and two artists received the Posonium Literary and Fine Arts Awards in Bratislava, Slovakia, on June 9, 2003. The Posonium Awards, a project of the Hungarian American Coalition, were founded by Edith and John Lauer to give long-overdue recognition to Hungarian writers and artists for outstanding contributions to the literature, art, and cultural heritage of the Hungarian minority in Slovakia. The Fine Arts awards are sponsored by György Mátyásfalvi, Budapest businessman. Since the establishment of the awards in 2000, a committee of respected writers has selected the winners in several categories of achievement. The 2003 Grand Prize was awarded to Lajos Grendel for The Magic of Facts, a study of writer Miklós Mészöly. Lifetime Achievement Awards were given to László Dobos, writer, essayist and founder of literary institutions; Judit Mayer, translator and publisher; and György Dénes, poet and editor. The Posonium Fine Arts Lifetime Achievement Award was granted to János Nagy, sculptor, and József Nagy, painter and graphic artist. September 2003 - Hungarian American Coalition - 3
