Hungarian Heritage Review, 1990 (19. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1990-02-01 / 2. szám
THE “JUSTICE FOR HUNGARY” OCEAN FLIGHT: THE TRIANON SYNDROME IN IMMIGRANT HUNGARIAN SOCIETY PART II- by -Dr. N. F. Drciszigcr III The scheme that was eventually devised to achieve this objective was the plan of a non-stop flight from North America to Hungary. The undertaking may have been seen as a deed that would coincidentally correct the image of incompetence that some Hungarians felt that the Kossuth statue episode bestowed on them. The central protagonist of the ocean flight story was to be a certain Sándor Magyar. Magyar received his training as a pilot during World War I in Hungary. After the war, he spent some time in Germany. It was there that he proved that he was a man of much bravado, and almost lost his life in doing this. What happened was that on one day Magyar learned that a well-known Hungarian actress was involved in the shooting of some outdoor scenes for a film near the airfield where Magyar was working. Anxious to make a good impression on the starlet, Magyar borrowed a small, reputedly rather unreliable plane from the airfield and, with a bouquet of flowers in his hands, took to the air. His intention was to throw the flowers to the film star, but something went wrong with Magyar’s plane, and he had to crashland in a cemetery. After recovering from the injuries suffered as a result of this adventure, Magyar emigrated to Canada. He spent a few years in southern Saskatchewan, working on farms during the agricultural season, and spending much of the rest of the year in Regina. In 1928 Magyar left the Canadian West and settled in the industrial town of Windsor, Ontario. It was here that he became a friend of the local Hungarian Calvinist minister Jenó Molnár. Rózsa was an intelligent, energetic woman who did much to help Hungarian immigrants in Windsor, especially members of her husband’s congregation. She was a recent arrival from Hungary. Presumably, she sympathised with other recent arrivals such as Magyar, who often found it difficult to find employment and must have felt despondent at times. It may have at a time when Magyar was particularly dispirited and felt quite helpless that Rózsa suggested to him that he should do something extraordinary, such as repeating and bettering Charles Lindbergh’s feat, by flying across the Atlantic; not to Paris, but all the way to Budapest. Apparently, the idea that this deed should be used to call attention to the injustice of the Treaty of Trianon was also the brainchild of this woman. To implement the plan, a campaign to collect money for a plane was started. In Windsor, one of its early promoters was the Reverend Molnár, Rózsa’s husband. One of the first people to contribute to the campaign was an unemployed member of Molnár’s congregation. István Rimaszombathy. He gave $30, probably all or most of his savings. Soon, the campaign expanded. Postcards were printed and were sent to prospective supporters of the venture, as well as to influential political figures in many countries. In distant parts of the continent campaign workers were recruited to manage the appeal in their respective regions. In the United States, the cause of the ocean flight was endorsed by Géza Berkó, an influential newspaperman. Berko’s own paper, the Amerikai Magyar Népszava / American Hungarian People’s Voice/, actively supported the appeal. Yet, not enough money was coming in. By 1930, economic conditions for most immigrants, and especially newcomers, had become so bad that many people were not in a position to give more than what the postcards cost; and some people not even that much. The campaign stalled, and the flight had to be postponed. IV The campaign to collect money for the planned ocean flight was not the only major Hungarian-Canadian collective undertaking of the late 1920s. As has been mentioned in the introduction to- continued next page 26 HUNGARIAN HERITAGE REVIEW FEBRUARY 1990
