William Penn Life, 1988 (23. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1988-04-01 / 4. szám

April 1988, William Penn Life, Page 3

A willingness to contribute

An historic look at the Rákóczi Aid Association of Bridgeport, Connecticut

"Our greatest strength is not found solely in our financial statements, but rather in the character of our membership and how soundly they believe in fraternal ideas and a demonstration of a willingness to contribute of their time and talents for this cause rather than being just a recipient

from the RÁKÓCZI SZEMLE

December 1953

In 1955, the Rákóczi Aid Association and the Verhovay Aid Association merged to form the William Penn Association. As this month would have marked the Rakoczi’s 100th anniversary, we felt it appropriate to take a look at the specific history of this great Hungarian fraternal organization.

By Steven Bela Vardy

The history of the Rákóczi Aid Association of Bridgeport, Conn., is basically similar to that of the Verhovay, except that it began two years later. Founded on April 10, 1888 by 18 Hungarian immigrants with a capital of $7.50, the goal of the Rákóczi Association was the same as those of all other contemporary fraternals: to help the sick, the crippled, the unemployed, the widows, and the orphans.

One difference between the Rákóczi and most other fraternals was that it was much more tolerant toward the non-Magyars and the generally distrusted educated persons among the immigrants.

Consequently, we can find the learned among its leaders much before they were permitted leadership positions within most other fraternals.

The Rákóczi Association’s first president was Janos Hevesi, and its first secretary István Rimaszecsi- Molnar. They were followed by many others under whose leadership the Rákóczi fought to emerge from the ranks of the many scores of local sick-benefit societies.

Initially the growth of the Rákóczi was very slow. Not until 1907 was it ready to establish the office of General Secretary that was held for the next 11 years by Vince Troll (1907-1918). This change in office leadership also signalled a change in the direction of growth and territorial expansion.

In 1908 the Rákóczi had only eight branches, all of which were located in Connecticut. In that year, however, it was decided to expand to Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey and Delaware. At the same time it was also decided to establish juvenile branches.

After this the growth of the Rákóczi was rather rapid, and by 1918, when the great Joseph Vasas took over as the Rakoczi’s National Secretary (1918-1954), the number of branches had increased to 36.

This change in central leadership coincided with the climax of World War I, which imposed considerable emotional, psychological, and material hardships on the Rákóczi Association. Being that the Rákóczi

was one of the most patriotic of all Hungarian-American fraternal associations, its leaders invested a great deal of money in Hungarian war bonds. All of this was unfortunately lost after the war. And this loss came at a time when the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918-1919 resulted in the deaths of 112 members of the Rákóczi Association.

It was only with much hard work and dedication that the Rákóczi managed to survive. This successful weathering of the post-war crisis was the result, to a large degree, of the fact that the Rákóczi Association was the first among major Hungarian- American fraternal societies to switch over to an age-based premium system in 1915.

The 36-years between 1918 and 1954 (which was soon followed by the Rakoczi’s merger with the Verhovay) has been viewed by many as the "Age of Joseph Vasas.”

While the presidents of the Rákóczi Association came and went (although Steven Varga presided for two decades between 1927 and 1947), Vasas represented nearly four decades of permanence and strength unequalled in the history of any other Hungarian-American fraternal association.

He was primarily responsible for building the Rákóczi Association from a relatively modest regional fraternal with a membership of about 8,000 with assets of about $185,000 into the second largest Hungarian-American fraternal association with a total membership of more than 25,000 with assets in excess of $5,800,000 by the year 1950.

One of the high points in the history of the Rákóczi Aid Association was the celebration of the

society’s golden jubilee in 1938, which was commemorated with a major memorial publication. In addition to many other tributes to the achievements of the organization and its multitude of members, this volume also contains the Rákóczi Association’s first 50 years of history as summarized by Joseph Vasas himself.

During the interwar years, the Rákóczi Association experienced a number of challenges connected partially with a changeover to a more rationalized form of premium payments (1922), with a keener competition for new members among the various Hungarian-American fraternal societies, with the economic hardship imposed by the Great Depression (1929 and onwards), and also with the political disagreements that existed between the mainline leadership of the Rákóczi and others who supported the left-leaning orientation of the New York-based newspaper Uj Előre (New Forward) around 1930-1931.

But under the leadership of Joseph Vasas and Steven Varga, all of these difficulties were overcome, and the Rákóczi Aid Association continued to prosper. This was true in spite of the constant competition with other Hungarian-American fraternal associations based in New England.

During World War II, similarly to the Verhovay Aid Association, the Rákóczi Aid Association also faced the delicate problem of demonstrating its members’ patriotic loyalties to the United States of America, while at the same time trying to defend the good name of Hungary and the Hungarian people.

Its approach to this problem was in many ways similar to the approach taken by the Verhovay Association, in that Hungary was shown to be the "unwilling satellite” of its powerful neighbor, Germany, and the Hungarian people as basically victims to Nazi suppression.

After World War II the Rákóczi Aid Association was also involved in the American Hungarian Relief Fund, and it likewise organized numerous drives to aid war-tom Hungary and the multitudes of Hungarian refugees in Central Europe.

It was an effort which drew its strength from the Rákóczi members’ immeasurable fraternal spirit and their heartfelt desire to ease the burden of their Hungarian brethren. In many respects, it was this spirit upon which the Rákóczi Aid Association was founded and upon which it flourished even during difficult times.

The merger with the Verhovay Aid Association was a question that had been explored by the leadership of the Rákóczi Aid Association at least as many times as by the Verhovay leadership ever since the 1920s.

Yet, not until the 1950s were the economic and psychological pressures strong enough to compell the leaders of both organizations to sit down and to work out a mutually satisfactory agreement.

That historic agreement came in 1955, when the two largest Hungarian-American fraternal associations merged into the newly created William Penn Fraternal Association.

Just before the merger took place, several of the Rakoczi’s greatest leaders retired, leaving the reins of leadership of the new society to the next generation. Retiring at this time were the Rakoczi’s last president, Albert Kocsis, its longtime secretary Joseph Vasas and its national treasurer Stephen Kundrath.

The remaining leaders of the Rákóczi took positions of leadership within the new fraternal. Louis Varga was elected National Vice President, Albert J. Stelkovics was elected the first National Secretary and Julius Somogyi was elected as the first National Treasurer of the William Penn Fraternal Association.

Members of the Rákóczi Board elected to the William Penn’s first Board of Directors were Stephen Bencze, Gabor Czemai, Michael Faczan, Andrew Fejes, László Fishbein, Joseph Kormondy, Frank Magyary, and Alex Moldovanyi.

These men carried the great fraternal spirit instilled in them by their predecessors in the Rákóczi and used it to forge an even stronger society with their Verhovay brethren. Their spirit lives on.