Magyar News, 1999. szeptember-2000. augusztus (10. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2000-05-01 / 9. szám
Susan László soloist and István Stubendek choir director Preperations are made before the performance and Vienna. Within the Slovak Republic, the choir faithfully visits different towns and villages in regions inhabited by Hungarian people. It is a great pleasure having the honor to celebrate the two thousandth anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ, and in the mean time the one thousandth anniversary of the foundation of the Hungarian State. We do it here together with our Hungarian contemporaries living in the United States. ” Naturally the two national anthems were at the top of the program. Also "My country, 'tis of Thee" was an interesting choice. As the text goes: "... sweet land of liberty of thee I sing: ” Then it ends with: “Protect us by thy might, Great God, our King. ” This just about concluded the message that Rt. Reverend Dr. Géza Erdélyi gave. He talked about the quarter million Protestant Hungarians who had lived along the southern border of Czechoszlovakia. Now that Slovakia became an independent country many things have changed. The most evident change is that the Ukrán took the eastern part. With this the number of Hungarian protestants was reduced to 150 thousand. The Catholics and Evangelicans round this figure out to 600 thousand. The support for the Hungarian congregations is very low because in their area the unemployment is a dangerous 40%. But the motto is: “Our church is constructive, full Members of the Choir with the Kakas family in Fairfield, CT. of hope and not desperation.” Under the baton of István Stubendek the Concordia Choir gave an excellent performance. The soloist of the highly trained Susan László brought the,audience to their feet. So did Gyöngyi Écsi's solo, who ontwo occasions sang ancient religious hymns in a folk style presentation. In between Katalin Stubendek recited a poem written by Sándor Kányádi: “Vannak vidékek. ” The last songs were folk music written by Lajos Bárdos. The “Szózat” closed the beautiful event. The choir spent three short days in our area and generous members of the Hungarian community invited them as house guests during their stay. These lucky ones had doubled their joy having such lovely visitors. We thank Rev. Béla Póznán and his volunteers for organizing this event also many thanks to the Norwalk congregation and their Pastor Rev. Judit Mayer. The Concordia Choir will tour the United States. We wish them a lot of success. Csaba Téglás, now a “semi-retired city planning consultant,” describes a number of the horrors he lias lived through: the Nazi occupation of Hungary, the siege of Budapest, the “liberation” by the Red Army, the Stalinist takeover of Hungary, and the Revolution of 1956. Writing in a veiy clear style, the author shows both the terrors he experienced and some more humorous episodes, such as his shrewd black-market dealings as a young boy immediately after the war. Téglás escaped into Austria a month after the beginning of the 1956 Revolution, emigrating to Canada and then finally to the United States. Unfortunately for the reader (but luckily for the author), Téglás did not live in post-1956 Hungary and provides only glimpses of life there through his visits. Nevertheless, this slim volume offers an interesting view of life under both Fascist and Communist dictatorships, although for a limited time period. John A. Drobaicki, York Coll. Lib., CUNY This book was published by the Eastern European Studies at Texas A&M University in 1998. <3(sX£ü[P!!MáLü I Call Steve Miko AMSCO. Tel:203-331 -0466 Page 3
