Magyar News, 1994. szeptember-1995. augusztus (5. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1995-05-01 / 9. szám

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entertainment and a showing of a documentary. It drew so many people that they couldn’t accommodate all of them. So now they organized a repeat with some changes. This time they also had an enthusiastic crowd to fill the hall. They showed the documentary Searching for Wordin Avenue. For entertainment Kristina Beres, accompanied by Michael Karpilov, sang songs both in Hungarian and in English. Kristina also performed as a little child in the film.

Kristina Beres

It is a good feeling to have so many events going on in our community that once had the second largest Hungarian population in America. We also had the annual Pork Supper at Holy Trinity with Gypsy Joe providing music and at the Longshore Inn the Pannónia American Hungarian Club held the 42nd annual Cafe Budapest dinner dance with the music by Budapest Melodies Orchestra.

MEMORIES

came back to many of our readers. They were responding with letters, phone calls and personally to the article on Little Hungary. That was the place where couples first met, got engaged and had many good times. We appreciate that they are telling us. We would like to learn more about the Westend so please come forward. Also if you have photographs depicting the once Hungarian community let us take a look at them, probably make copies for future use.

MARCH 15TH IS OUR CELEBRATION

The Hungarian spring is as beautiful as the fall in New England. As a child this was the first time we could go to the school commemorating celebration without an overcoat. The most beautiful spring in Hungarian history was in 1848: the dawn of the age of reforms with youthful enthusiasm promising a civil society in Hungary.

During the past one and a half century every year the glorious events of the fight for freedom were remembered. At this time let me talk about what made 1848 special in Hungarian history. Only the 1956 Revolution can be compared to it. It represented the unity of brotherhood of the Hungarian people regardless of age, ideology or national origin. The fight for freedom united the rebellious Petőfi, the reformer Kossuth, the conservative Széchényi, the Serb Damjanich, the Polish Bern, the Austrian Poltenberg,

The Jewish Thán Mór, also the young Irinyi and the elderly Görgey, as well as Batthyány the aristocrat,

Jókai the nobleman and Táncsics the proletár.

This unity was what made the events of 1848 unique. We can learn from it today. Hungarians scattered around the world should have a feeling of solidarity more than ever before. One third of them live outside the borders of Hungary. Everywhere, from Canada to Tierra del Fuego, from Greenland to Australia we can find Hungarians. They are in greatest numbers around the neighboring seven countries. Wouldn ’ t it be wonderful if in 150 years our great grandchildren could remember us from our great deeds helping each other throughout the world? If they could remember a nation of 15 million, holding each other’s hand and not each other’s throat?

I am proud to report that we can already witness the evidence of this solidarity. The Hungarians scattered around the world are bound together by a strong alliance. The

World Federation of Hungarians brought together the three families of the nation: those in the mother country, those living in the Carpathian basin, and those in the diaspora. Supporting each other and strengthening the feeling of kinship.

The Community of Hungarian Friends (MBK) sent a satellite dish antenna to a remote village in Transylvania so they could receive the programs of Duna Televízió. The Hungarian Cultural Society of Connecticut (HCSC), the William Penn Association, the Hungarian Reformed Federation, the Hungarian-American Association and other organizations are sending tractors to small villages in the same region so they could work efficiently on their repossessed land. The American Council of the World Federation of Hungarians sent medicine and baby food valued at several hundred thousand dollars to the refugees of the Balkan war in Hungary. The New York based organization, Hungarian Gift of Lives sent hospital equipment to four cities from decommissioned American military hospitals in Europe. They also made possible the open heart surgery of more than 30 Hungarian children. The American-Hungarian physicians are collecting medicine for Hungarians in the Ukraine. Our churches are accepting responsibility for the tuition of Hungarian students in Transylvania. The solidarity is working among the Hungarian organizations. Churches, civic leaders and the American Council of World Federation of Hungarians are keeping alive the unity, solidarity and fellowship. March 15th in 1995 should mean for us this steadfast cooperation and brotherhood.

Let me give you a last idea! Let us imagine that there is a sign on a tractor or a television antenna in a remote village: THIS IS A PRESENT FROM OUR SISTERS AND BROTHERS WHO LI VE AROUND FAIRFIELD IN CONNECTICUT, USA.

László Papp New Canaan, CT László Papp, Father Rakaczki and Joseph Balogh.

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