Washington Hungarian Ball, May 2006 |
5/20/2006 - The Washington May Hungarian Ball - A very special evening benefitting the Hungarian Scouts of Washington and AHF's 1956 Fund! The phenomenal New York Continental Band and a performance by local scouts made for a very special evening. In what hopes to be an annual revival of the famed Hungarian Ball in Washington, the gala, black-tie affair raised funds to support the Hungarian Scouts of Washington, D.C., and a series of events commemorating the 50th anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution and the Hungarian historical communities living in the countries neighboring Hungary. AHF's National Secretary and Ball Committee Chair, Erika Fedor, welcomed guests and thanked the committee for the hard work in outting such a beautiful program together. Istvan Fedor, AHF President, gave his opening remarks and called attention to the need for unity and national representation and AHF's proud history as the nation's oldest Hungarian-American umbrella organization. Karoly Dan, Cultural Attache at the Hungarian Embassy in Washington, DC, addressed the audience and read a letter from Hungarian Ambassador Simonyi. AHF Assoc. President Frank Koszorus delivered a keynote address focused on the implications of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution and asked the community to join AHF to take concrete steps in righting some of the wrongs resulting from repurcussions against Hungarians in Rumania and elsewhere in the Carpathian Basin as a result of the fear that democratic revolt would spread. He specifically called attention to: "the Rumanian government’s virtual liquidation of the Hungarian-language Bolyai University in Rumania. Nobel Laureates and Wolf Prize Laureates recently called upon Rumania to take “immediate steps” to “re-establish the public Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca/Kolozsvar.” What a fitting commemoration of 1956 righting such wrongs extending back decades would be. It would also be a fitting tribute to the memory of thousands of unsung heroes who did not compromise but sacrificed their lives for the cause of liberty fifty years ago. Romania has rejected this request. Our Federation is committed to see the end of discrimination in Romania and the respect for human and minority rights, including autonomy. " Koszorus remarked. AHF Executive Committee Chair and member of AHF's 1956 Committee, Bryan Dawson-Szilagyi, gave a presentation on upcoming AHF events across the country related to the commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. He called for volunteers to help ensure a fitting 50th Jubilee. Events include:
The night included a raffle of numerous unique and valuable items (donors can be seen in the right column) and ended with dancing the night away. This is the first of many Hungarian Balls to come - If you would like to serve on the AHF Ball Committee, please let us know! Contact Erika Fedor at efedor55@cs.com Additional Photos (click for larger image) Sign up for the AHF mailing list. Your information is not shared! |
BÁLBIZOTTSÁG / BALL COMMITTEE
Tiszteletbeli Védnökök / Honorary Committee
AHF would like to express its sincere gratitude to the following Patrons, Sponsors, Donors, and Raffle Sponsors whose support helped make the event possible: PATRONS: SPONSORS: DONORS: RAFFLE SPONSORS: The Magyar Cserkészszövetség, the primary national Scouting organization of Hungary, was founded in 1912, and became a member of the World Organization of the Scout Movement in 1990. The coeducational Magyar Cserkészszövetség has 7,198 members as of 2004. Scouting in Hungary is maintained through Magyar Cserkészet Tanácsa, the Council of Hungarian Scouting. There are two associations in this national federation, Magyar Cserkészszövetség, the Hungarian Scout Association, and Magyar Cserkészcsapatok Szövetsége. Also serving Hungarian Scouts is Magyar Cserkészlány Szövetség, the Association of Hungarian Girl Guides. Hungarian Scouting was founded in 1909 under Austria-Hungary, and the first Scout group in the dual monarchy, MCA-1912 HAS, was founded in Budapest in 1910. Scouting started in the separate nation of Hungary in 1919, at the end of World War I, when Austria and Hungary were divided. In 1920, the magazine Magyar Cserkész ("Hungarian Scout") was first published. Hungary was a founding member of the World Scout Bureau in 1922 and later was a founding member of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, WAGGGS, which was in fact established in Parád, Hungary, in 1928. In 1924, at the World Scout Jamboree in Copenhagen, Hungarian Scouts attending their first jamboree came third in the competition of the nations, behind British and American Scouts. They were especially good at water sports. The first Hungarian National Jamboree in 1926 had 10,000 participants. Hungary hosted the fourth World Jamboree in 1933 at the royal forest of Gödöllo, outside Budapest, in which 26,000 Scouts from 54 nations camped together. The camp chief was Teleki Pál, the member of the International Committee who later became Prime Minister of Hungary. This was the first time there was a Jamboree subcamp for Scouts taking part in aviation. To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the fourth World Jamboree, the Hungarian Scout Association hosted a fourth World Jamboree Memorial Camp at Bélapátfalva, Hungary in 1993. After World War II, the Külföldi Magyar Cserkészszövetség started operating in the displaced persons camps in Germany and Austria in 1948 as the Teleki Pál Scout Association, renamed in 1948 as the Hungarian Scout Association. Scouting was well organized and popular in Hungary until it was officially abolished by the Communist regime in 1948, but remained nascent underground... [read more on Wikipedia] |
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