The Eighth Tribe, 1977 (4. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1977-02-01 / 2. szám
February, 1977 THE EIGHTH TRIBE Page 5 A REVIEW OF — “Fifty Hungarian Years” HISTORICAL DOCUMENTARY FILM BY LAJOS FÜRY At 20th Anniversary Commemoration of Hungary’s 1956 Fight for Freedom Hungarian American Citizens Club, Woodbridge, N.J., Oct. 31, 1976 A personal introduction to this threehour long film, compiled by Lajos Fiiry, producer and writer, indicated that the documentary was “created out of some of Hungary’s REAL history” as clipped from “approximately one billion feet of films” which he and some associates had viewed from collections at the Library of Congress, Washington, D. C. During his preliminary talk, Mr. Fiiry also recounted to the gathering a poignant tale which began at the time of the Hungarian Revolt in 1956 about a certain little girl by the name of Magyar Julika. Her parents were poor and about the only plaything she had was a rag doll that was tied onto a broomstick — at night, she would sleep cuddled up with it. Unfortunately, both her mother and father were killed during the ensuing retaliation, and she was cared for spontaneously by freedom fighters. The couple who raised her later on traveled from Salzburg to eventually Schenectady, New York. There, within a relatively short period, Julika became Americanized — she now had a room of her very own and the rag doll was stored away in the basement, replaced by newer toys. One night, however, when her parents had a baby sitter, she went down to the basement, found her old rag doll and began hugging it, rocking with it, while crying about memories of by-gone times. Mr. Fiiry said that he believed many freedom fighters or Hungarian refugees also have some kind of security symbol such as would be analogous to the old rag doll of Julika, and offered the opinion that perhaps this film might depict some memories of Hungarian history, tradition, or culture which could be symbolically considered as representing nostalgic remembrances about the past. The fifty years portrayed in the film range from early scenes of outfitted Hungarian huszars in military review by Francis Joseph and other dignitaries; then, Crown Prince Ferdinand and his wife prior to their assasination at Sarajevo, as well as the subsequent funeral cortege; World War I mobilization of troops; Francis Joseph’s death; coronation of the new king in 1916; the hunger and critical period in aftermath of the armistice in 1918; the Chrysanthemum Revolt with work and THE MAGYARS IN HISTORY by S. B. Vardy, Ph.D. Professor of History — continued — Chapter II WHERE DID THEY COME FROM? (The Origins of the Magyars) The origins of nations are usually obscure and difficult to unravel. In many ways their life is similar to the life of biological organisms, in that they all have a beginning, a normal lifetime, and they all have an end. That this is so is best demonstrated by the fact that few, if any, of the nations of contemporary Europe were in existence in the present form at the time of the beginning of the Christian Era. And conversely, most of the nations of that period have ceased to exist since — largely by being absorbed into the body of new nations. The life of a nation may also be compared to that of a river. A river almost always starts from several sources; and not until the merging of several streams and rivulets does it finally assume the recognizable form of a river, which further downstream may emerge as one of the major arteries of our planet — only to lose itself still further down its course in the immense waters of the oceans of the world. And so it is with nations. They too originate from a great number of sources. These sources — like tributaries along the course of a river — also join and merge into the main body of the nation at various junctures of its historical evolution. And thus, the nation is shaped and moulded through much of its history, until finally — having fulfilled its mission — it too is absorbed by newly emerging or more viable nations, and thus loses itself in the ocean of humanity. If it is difficult to unravel the origins of nations in general, it is perhaps even more difficult in case of the Magyars. The reason for this is that their national roots are lost not only in the distance of time, but also in the vastness of space. The lands which they once controlled and used to occupy are far away from their present homeland. Thus, scholars who are searching for the roots of the Magyars are faced with the additional problem of having to trace the wanderings of the Magyar ancestors (pre- or proto-Magyars), and of having to untangle the multitude of interminglings of the nations who were constantly on the move on the great Eurasian Plane. 9
