Hungarian Studies Newsletter, 1998 (15. évfolyam, 51-54. szám)

1998 / 53-54. szám

Albert Tezla in 1987 under the title ‘"Valahol túl, meseországban”: Az amerikás magyarok 1895-1920 ISomewhere Beyond Storyland: The American Hungarians 1895-19201. The original collection was published by Europa Book Publishers of Budapest in Hungarian and brought together the documents which provide an accurate portrait of Hungarians who settled in the United States during the last decade of the 19th and first two decades of the 20th century. Tezla's collection is based on the sources of this time period, including newspapers, personal correspondence, political debates, the text of laws, legal court documents, consular and embassy reports, travelogues, the records of Hungarian American church schools, and the English-language textbooks of the time. He effectively presents the frequently trying existence of the immigrants through these sources from the moment of their departure from their home village to their settlement in their new home in the United States. The documents also describe the American assimilation of the second generation, and the Hungarian peasants who became miners, and workers in the steel industry, it describes the hard life of workers shoveling iron ore and debris in these smelting plants and on the railroads, with the daily physical hazards and hardships of these occupations. They built “Hungarian-America," the ethnic Hungarian churches, institutions, and organizations as well as the Hungarian language newspapers. For more than half a century their geographically dispersed settlements survived. However, the more recent historical changes, and the momentum of natural assimilation, have more or less eliminated these settlements from the map of the United States. It is up to us to preserve their memory for the next generation. Tezla does this in superb fashion. lulianna Puskás

Várdy, Steven Béla. ATTILA. Introduced by Arthur M. Schlesinger, )r. |World Leaders Past and Present Series). New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1991. Pp. 112. $18.95.

Attila s name is known through much of the contemporary world. In the English-speaking lands he is remembered primarily as a barbarian, who is mentioned in one breath with such modern-day orchestrators of mass murder as Hitler and Stalin. In Hungarian lore, however, Attila was always a great ruler, the embodiment of the heroic and noble in the age of the barbarian invasions. Which of these contradictory views is correct?

In trying to answer this question, the author examined the relevant sources (Byzantine, Gothic, Italian, French, German, Hungarian, etc.) and came up with a portrait of Attila that is hardly different from those of any of the other great empire builders who preceded or followed him. Be they in the "civilized" category, such as Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Charlemagne, and Napoleon, or in the "barbarian” category, such as Genghis Khan, Tamerlane, or Attila himself - these rulers all displayed identical characteristics and aspirations.

Like most of his fellow conquerors, Attila was driven by a “divine mission" to unify the world under his command. In the course of his wars of conquest many innocent people died. But they did so as accidental victims of war, and not as a result of a conscious policy of extermination. Not even Attilas most dedicated enemies could ever accuse him of having singled out a nation or people for extermination. As a matter of fact, Attila’s huge empire was a multinational and multi-religious state, where one's origins made no difference, and where only one's innate capabilities counted.

To the Hungarians, however, Attila represents much more. Even though most scholars now reject the formerly widespread view of

BOOKS (Continued)

the Hunnic origins of the Hungarians, on the popular level he is still viewed as the embodiment of a great period of their alleged history; an age when the morally uncorrupted sons of the Great Eurasian Plain challenged and humiliated the morally depraved rulers of the two Roman Empires.

Wallenberg, Raoul. LETTERS AND DISPATCHES, 1924-1944.

Trans. By Kjcrsti Board. New York: Arcade Publishing, 1995. Dist. By Little, Brown and Co. Pp. ix+286 pp. ISBN 1-55970-275-3, $12.95 paper.

The letters and dispatches of Raoul Wallenberg, one of the greatest heroes of the Holocaust, were published to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of his disappearance. Although the facts of Wallenberg’s fate are still inconclusive, Soviet authorities maintain he died of a heart attack in 1947 at Moscow's Lubyanka Prison.

This volume, introduced by Wallenberg's cousins Gitté and Gustaf, provides readers the opportunity to examine the life and work of Raoul Wallenberg in his own words, in personal letters, and diplomatic documents. Combining written records from three sources and from three languages he used in correspondence, the reader is taken through three distinct sections of the book. The first portion covers correspondence chiefly between Wallenberg and his paternal grandfather, Gustaf Oscar Wallenberg. The earliest letter in this section dates from 1924 and the last one is dated February 28, 1944.

The next section of the book is introduced by Per Anger, the Swedish diplomat who served with Wallenberg in Budapest. Per Anger's essay contains perspectives on King Gustav V of Sweden, Regent Miklós Horthy, Adolf Eichmann, the International Red Cross, and the Hungarian Arrow Cross. Anger described Wallenberg as a “clever negotiator and organizer, unconventional, extraordinarily inventive, coolheaded, and something of a go-getter...well grounded in Hungarian affairs...a great idealist and a warm human being.”

The book’s third section includes copies of letters from Raoul Wallenberg to his mother, the late Majvon Dardel. Constituting the final documents in this volume, they were written from Budapest between July 16 and December 8, 1944. He writes that food is scarce in Budapest and that Russian occupation is imminent. The day Wallenberg wrote this letter the Soviet siege of Budapest began.

The book includes a chart of the Wallenberg family dating one century prior to Raoul's birth on August 4, 1912 and covering the generation following his life. Photographs show Wallenberg’s early life in Sweden, his years of study in America, and his work in Budapest.

Letters and Dispatches 1924-1944 is recommended to all English-language specialists and generalists interested in the relation of the United States, Hungary, Sweden, and the USSR during WWII. All readers will be inspired by Wallenberg’s character development. As Congressman Tom Lantos, saved through the efforts of Raoul Wallenberg states on the cover of the book, "Raoul Wallenberg is one of the truly heroic figures of the Holocaust, a shining light...showing that one person with conviction and courage could stand up to the most vicious evil and triumph.”

Ruth G. Biro

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NO. 53-54, AUTUMN-WINTER, 1998-99, HUNGARIAN STUDIES NEWSLETTER