Verhovayak Lapja, 1947 (30. évfolyam, 1-24. szám)
1947 / Verhovay Journal
VOL. XXX. FEBRUARY 26. 1947 51 • NO. 4 Pittsburghers Ship 5,000 Lbs. of Shoes and Clothing To Hungary Five thousand pounds of shoes and clothing in barrels and bales, ready to be shipped to Hungary, and some of the members of Pittsburgh Chapter 117 of the American Hungarian Relief, Inc., are shown on this picture taken in the downstairs hall of the Verhovay Building. For good measure, a bunch of unpacked shoes are placed in front of the huge bales, indicating that more shipments are to follow. Gay Banes, Atty., President of Chapter 117, is seen standing at the extreme right with Mrs. Margaret Beres, a Home Office employee, one of the faithful workers of the chapter. Sitting on top of a bale are Mrs. Mary “Manci” Kurjack (Home Office) and Johnnie “Dirk” Fulop; and resting on two barrels are the Misses Margaret Evans, Corresponding Secretary .Sarah “Sári” Masztics and Helen Erdeky, also a Home Office trio. Standing near the entrance are Bill Kohut, Secretary of Chapter 117, John Sabo Supreme Auditor, Henry Rettmann editor and Julius Lenart, now Treasurer of the Chapter and Home Office cashier. A similar picture of the “Bundles for Hungary” with Corresponding Secretary Sari Masztics seated alone in the, middle was published with a story of this chapter’s fine work in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. -A few minutes after the photo-reporter had taken this picture, the truck arrived. It’s a pity a picture hadn’t been taken of Banes, Kohut, Sabo and Lenart. volunteer loaders (not affiliated with the teamsters’ union), after they had loaded the truck! However, the Home Office was glad to furnish the sogp and water needed to eliminate the last traces of dust that marked the closing of the first chapter of the 600,000 Shoes For Hungary Movement. The Bowling Tournament Messenger America’s bowling alleys are blistering from the heat generated by the swiftly rolling balls of feverishly practicing Verhovay bowlers whose eyes, from now on to the end of May, whenever not fixed in hypnotic trance on the tottering pins, will be turned toward Verhovay’s biggest city in the Hoosier State. And there* will be no letdown until the arrival of the great days of the Verhovay National Bowling Tournament, to be held on May 30, 3t and June 1, at the Waters Bowling Alleys, 922 South Main Street, South Bend, Ind. The great and even greaterto-be Verhovay branch in the hometown of the famous Notre Dame University, 132, headed by President Stephen Nyers and Manager Frank Wukovits, Local Organizer, national champion of both 60th anniversary membership contests, will be the host to the ballbearing guests from all parts of the Verhovay territory. Judging from the great number of inquiries, the Tournament will serve as the occasion of the greatest National Convention of Verhovay Youth in the history of the Association . . . Already the first registrations have staggered in, anxious to beat the deadline two months ahead. A cordial welcome is extended to these early birds to whom full credit is given for defying the greatest of all Hungarian national traditions, that of doing everything in the last minute, or preferably, a day or two after deadline. For the information of the rest of the teams, deadline is April 14, 1947, and that means April 14 (fourteen) and not 15,16, 20 or any day during May. According to a curious superstition prevailing among the folks of Hungarian descent, it is bad luck to do anything before deadline date, a-nd it seems that this superstition is determined to survive all proofs to the contrary. However, bowling being a scientific sport, its practicioners should indulge in action rather than superstition, because they ought to know from experience that no contortions and wigglings of the posterior can change the course of the ball once it has hit the floor and started on its journey toward the kidney of the head pin — or the gutter. So, please, act early and save yourself from the necessity of apologetic contortions to which late-comers always resort in the naive assumption that apology is a substitute for punctuality . . . (Maybe, this is meant not only for bowlers . . . ?!) The Rules and Regulations of the Tournament and other pertinent information had been published in the January issues of the Journal. Anyone in need of the data contained therein, will be sent an extra copy upon request. Since then no further information has been received excepting one item. There is an addition to paragraph 16 of the Rules and Regulations the original text of which reads: “Me- Continued on page 2 WE PROTEST! On the day of the signing of the Peace Treaty with Hungary, February 10, 1947, Monday, the NEW YORK TIMES carried an advertisement of the American Hungarian Federation, paid for by the donations of American Hungarians for the Peace Fund of the A. H. F., containing the full text of a memorandum presented in behalf of Americans of Hungarian descent united in the American Hungarian Federation, . to the Secretary of State. The text of the memorandum, as reprinted in the New York Times, follows: By proclaiming the Four Freedoms and the principles of the Atlantic Charter, the Government of the United States has outlined for this nation and for all the peace-loving nations of the world those foundations on which after victory, lasting peace and a better world shall be built. Then hv insisting upon the “unconditional surrender” of our enemies, the Government of the United States — the strongest single power in the world — has excluded the possibility of a negotiated peace and thus assumed the major responsibility for the application of its own principles and ideals in the peace settlement. We, Americans of Hungarian origin, united in the American Hungarian Federation, have loyally adhered to our American principles and have whole-heartedly supported the war effort in order to contribute our full share to the realization of lasting peace based on justice and decency. The text of the Peace '1 reaty with Hungary has now become final and we are able to pass judgement on the question, how far have our fundamental principles been applied in the treaty governing the future fate of the land of our origin: Hungary. After serious consideration of the text of the treaty, already signed by Mr. Byrnes, we are painfully impressed by the fact that* none of the American principles has found a correct application in the Hungarian Treaty. PERSECUTION OF MINORITIES. We particularly grieve over the complete denial of basic human rights to the Hungarian minorities. The process of their inhuman extermination is right now in full operation in ( zechoslovakia, and if condoned by our Government, may serve as a precedent for further extermination of Hungarian minorities in Rumania and Yugoslavia. Persecution of innocent persons on a purely racial basis was the worst Nazi principle against which humanity had to be defended. We cannot overlook this internatio»-al crime if it is practiced by an Allied Nation. The generally accepted ethnic principle and the right of selfdetermination of all nations have again been disregarded in the present Peace Treaty. Although the evil consequences resulting from the neglect of these principles have become obvious after the first World War. more than three million Hungarians — half of them living in the border territory contiguous with Hungary — again have been placed against their wish under foreign domination. False ethnographic data supplied by Mr. Benes in 1919 to the Paris Peace Conference were the original cause of the grievous error. Instead of correcting now the Hungarian border-line in conformity with the justified wishes of the interested people, the Hungarian population is being adjusted to excessive Czechoslovak territorial ambitions by utterly inhuman processes. THE CONSEQUENCES OF RUSSIAN OCCUPATION. The much too densely populated territory of warravaged Hungary has been subjected by the Russian power of occupation to systematic looting, economic enslavement, political oppression and to unheard of moral degradation. According to the Armistice for Hungary, with the cessation of hostilities, the American representative on the Allied Control Commission obtained equal rights with the representatives of the other two Great Powers, but failed to exercise them. The Hungarian people, at the elections held in Novemger, 1945 have fully carried out the conditions laid down in the Yalta Agreement for economic and political aid to be given to them by the Great Powers. Nevertheless, no substantial aid has been forthcoming. This very moment that unhappy country is Inin g swept by a new wave of terrorism aimed at the liquidation of freely elected representatives of the Hungarian people and at the elimination from public life of all the friends of the Western Democracies. Left to herself, Hungary is obviously unable to avoid the mortal danger: complete sovietization and final incorporation into the Soviet orbit. The Hungarian people are deserving of assistance. They were and are the victims of their geographic situation, which exposes them without adequate defenses both to German and Russian imperialisms. They have been used as pawns by varying policies of Continued an page 2
