www.americanhungarianfederation.org / hungary1956.com AMSz Híradó, January 2014 |
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AHF Headlines 01/17/2014 - AHF releases statement in connection with Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearings of US Ambassador to Hungary designate Colleen Bradley Bell. “[we] welcome the nomination of Ambassador-Designate Bell. We trust that she will take concrete steps to change the perception of a lack of evenhandedness and a double standard in the treatment of Hungary...” AHF President Frank Koszorus and Paul Kamenar, members of AHF's International Affairs Committee, met briefly with Ms. Bradley Bell following the hearings. They discussed the need for even handedeness in the treatment of Hungary and other issues including the need to protect human and minority rights of ethnic Hungarian and other communities in neighboring countries. [Read more] and watch the hearing in full. Pártatlanságot kérnek az amerikai magyarok Colleen Bell nagykövettől. [tovább] Amerikai magyar szervezetek Colleen Bell jelöléséről... Maximilian Teleki, az Amerikai Magyar Koalíció és Koszorús Ferenc, az Amerikai Magyar Szövetség elnöke is üdvözölte csütörtökön Colleen Bell budapesti amerikai nagyköveti jelölését. [tovább] 1/15/2014 - Stop Cyanide Mining in Verespatak! In 2009, PBS Television presented a documentary film on the planned open pit cyanide gold mine at Verespatak in Transylvania, now called Rosia Montana. In 2014, the Unitarian Church of Transylvania produced a English-language video entitled "Life over Gold - a Unitarian stand for Roşia Montană." [Read more] about Rosia Montana and view both videos. 11/25/2013 - Romania council votes to revoke the Knight's Order of the "Star of Romania" from hero of the Romanian Revolution, Bishop László Tőkés. AHF writes to the US Helsinki Commission on this latest anti-Hungarian measure: "The Federation respectfully and strongly urges you to publicly on behalf of the Helsinki Commission raise Romania’s most recent anti-Hungarian phenomenon." [read more] 11/25/2013 - AHF participates in drafting Central and East European Coalition (CEEC) Fall 2013 Policy Paper. It includes language on minority rights: "...support the equitable and prompt restitution of properties – including private, communal, and church properties – that had been illegally confiscated by governments of CEE, from ethnic minorities and the populations at large." [read more] 10/24/2013 - AHF Executive Chairman delivers multimedia presentation entitled "Reflections on the 1956 Hungarian Revolution" for the Shepherd Center World Affairs Series coordinated by A. Ross Johnson, Wilson Center Senior Scholar, Hoover Institution Research Fellow, and former Director of Radio Free Europe. Bryan Dawson, whose mother was wounded in the Freedom Fight, discussed the roots of the conflict and Polish-Hungarian sympathies, Hungary's history and national character that contributed to the uprising, and the Revolution's impacts internationally. 10/18/2013 - 1956-2013: AHF hosts reception in Honor of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution at the National Press Club on October 18, 2013. Guest speakers included Ferenc Kumin, Deputy State Secretary for International Communications. AHF speakers, Frank Koszorus and Bryan Dawson, urged an end to partisanship and politically motivated criticism of Hungary. [read more] 10/4/2013 - On Sunday September 29, opposition demonstrators erected and destroyed a styrofoam statue of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, imitating the toppling of statue of Stalin on October 23, 1956. AHF issues statement. Reasonable people, including both political opponents and supporters of the Prime Minister, can surely agree that comparing the democratically elected prime minister to the mass murderer Stalin is so incomprehensible that it requires no comment -- it is a primitive falsification of history at its worst. [read more] 6/19/2013 - AHF submits memorandum to US Helsinki Commission in follow up to both the Congressional letter to Secretary John Kerry requesting that the “State Department vigorously engage the Romanian government to end the travesty of justice which it has perpetuated by failing to fully restitute properties illegally confiscated from religious denominations after 1945" and AHF's April 25th meeting with the Commission during which AHF expressed its deep concern about threats to democracy and human rights arising from discriminatory actions and policies affecting members of the Hungarian minority in some of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. [read more] 6/14/2013 - Representatives Andy Harris (R-MD), Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), Chris Smith (R-NJ) and David Royce (R-OH) and 17 other Representatives submitted a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry requesting that the“State Department vigorously engage the Romanian government to end the travesty of justice which it has perpetuated by failing to fully restitute propertiesillegally confiscated from religious denominations after 1945.” The letter also asks Secretary Kerry to focus the State Department’s attention on the upcoming legal proceeding against Attila Markó, Tamás Marosán and Silviu Clim. [read more] 5/20/2013 - AHF welcomes the unveiling of statues of Count Janos Esterhazy, hero of the Holocaust, in Budapest and Kassa (now Kosice after annexation). AHF has long called for Esterhazy's exoneration, despite strong opposition from Slovak nationalists, and recently published key documents from Simon Wiesenthal, Yad Veshem, and historians Dr. Magda Ádám, Amb. Géza Jeszenszky, and Dr. István Deák that attest to his principled stand and actions to save Jews during World War II and protect the Hungarian minority in Slovakia. Heti Valasz article and videos are also shown of the ceremonies held in Budapest and Slovakia and the nationalist disruptions there. [read more] 5/10/2013 - AHF publishes documents supporting the exoneration of Count János Esterházy (the only member of the Slovak Parliament in 1942 who voted against expelling the Jews, he was convicted on trumped up charges and died in a communist prison). The documents attest to his principled stand and actions to save Jews during World War II and protect the Hungarian minority in Slovakia, and includes letters from Simon Wiesenthal, Yad Veshem, and historians Dr. Magda Ádám, Amb. Géza Jeszenszky and Dr. István Deák, Professor Emeritus from Columbia University.
Suggested Books & Articles T. Zane Reeves: "Shoes Along the Danube." Based on a true story, this amazing book follows the lives of two extended Hungarian families, the Rézlers and the Földes, one gentile and the other Jewish, through three decades. The story begins in pre-World War II Budapest, as increasing fascism and anti-Semitism lead Hungary to become an ally of Germany. In 1944, Germany invades Hungary to exterminate Europe’s last remaining group of Jews at the infamous Auschwitz death camp. The story builds through the siege of Budapest, the Russian occupation of Hungary, and separation by exile. It includes the story of Col. Ferenc Koszorus and the battle against Nazi forces. Buy [his books] and other products on the AHF Amazon Store Through an American Lens, Hungary, 1938: Photographs of Margaret Bourke-White. AHFs' Freedom Circle Member, Dr. Katalin Kadar Lynn, recently discovered a treasure trove of mostly unpublished photographs taken during a month-long trip to Hungary in 1938 by Life Magazine's most renowned photojournalist, Margaret Bourke-White. The photographs not only furnish us with a look at pre-WWII Hungary and its people, but because Bourke-White took unsentimental portraits of the major political figures in Hungary, from the far right to the far left, Communists, Fascists, Socialists, Social Democrats, Smallholders, as well as the primary government officials, it provides us with an insight into these individuals and history provides us with the consequences of their actions. Purchase this book on [read more] Hungary in World War II: Caught in the Cauldron by Deborah Cornelius, Fordham University Press, New York, 2011. Csaba Zoltani writes: "Deborah Cornelius’ Hungary in World War II: Caught in the Cauldron (Fordham University Press, New York 2011) gives an excellent overview of the events leading up to and the horrendous events of World War II in Hungary. The effect of the Treaty of Trianon, that without plebiscites, truncated Hungary and deprived it of its natural resources and forced a sizeable portion of its population to live under alien jurisdiction, set the political and sociological climate in Hungary from the 1920's on. Cornelius gives an excellent overview of the readjustment that expressed itself in the politics and led to the belief that revision of the treaty was only possible through German intervention." [read more] Buy it now on AHF's Amazon Store! New Zsuzsa Hanto, book published: "Kitiltott Családok" (Banished families. Communist repression of "class enemies" in Hungary) Hantó Zsuzsa az elszenvedok és visszaemlékezok emlékeit is magában foglaló könyv történész szerzoje nem kevesebbre vállalkozik, mint az 1950-ben és 1951-ben vidékrol és Budapestrol a kommunista rezsin által kitelepített, kitiltott családok szenvedéseit, megpróbáltatásait, nem egyszer pusztulását mutatja be. [tovább] AHF Store on More member books on AHF's Amazon Store: Miles Lambert-Gocs: "Tokaji Wine: Fame, Fate, Tradition: A Journey into Tokaji Wine History." Wine Spectator called it "the most comprehensive reference book on Tokaji available in the English language." [read more] and Buy his books now on the AHF Amazon Store "The Porcelain Figurine" (A Porcelánbaba) by Eva Mecs.[read more] and Buy her book now on the AHF Amazon Store Kitty Gogins: "My flag Grew Stars" by [Read more] about the book or purchase the book on Lapossy, Susanna (Zsuzsanna): Order now at Simpa Books Professor Peter Hargitai's Daughter of the Revolution: A Novel (2006 - A story of a brave freedom fighter - a 14 year-old girl) [read more] Rebecca McEldowney's "Soul of Flesh: A Novel of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution" Dr. Katalin Kadar Lynn's "Tibor Eckhardt in His Own Words: An Autobiography" [ >> GO to the AHF News Archive] |
Do you give to charity? As tax-time rolls around again, please join and consider a tax-deductible donation to AHF! The Federation has been serving the community for over a century. Please join and support your AHF, an all-volunteer, non-partisan, non-profit 501(C)(3), charitable and educational organization. Your support is tax deductible! Events and Cultural News New York City Please join members of the United Choir of Dunaúváros for a choral show, John Asquith, Coach for the Welsh National Opera, Cardiff for his dramatic reading of János Arany’s ballad The Bards of Wales, and other special guests as we honor the composer’s 70th birthday and the U.S Premiere of his cantata The Bards of Wales. Please RSVP for the reception here Looking Back: AHF History Szelmenc:
A Most Painful Division... Although brother and sister have lived in the same village all their lives, Maria Ivan and her brother, Arpad, have been able to hug each other only twice in the past 53 years. As a result of a post-World War II treaty, a barbed wire fence marking borders has divided them. The Soviets constructed the border at the end of World War II. To prevent people from seeing each other, they then built a 20-foot high wood plank fence through the village, a little "Berlin Wall." In 2005, the border was opened at last. However, problems continue. AHF Members' Corner Featured Members Featured members are selected at random. AHF members come from all walks of life and from different religious and political backgrounds. They join AHF because they believe in working together for common causes and on issues that unite, not divide. This section provides the public a small glimpse at the broad cross section of the community AHF represents. AHF is an all-volunteer, non-partisan, 501(c)(3) non-profit educational and charitable organziation serving the community since 1906! Join and Support Us! The Honorable Helen M. (Ilona or "Ili") Szablya (pronounced Sub-yuh, and appropriately meaning "sabre," matching her strong, tireless advocacy for the community) is the Honorary Consul of the Republic of Hungary for the States of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho based in Seattle. Born and raised in Budapest, Hungary, she is an award-winning author, columnist, translator, lecturer, and former publisher of Hungary International, a newsletter for Americans about business in Hungary. She has two university degrees, speaks six languages, and lived in five countries under seven different political systems. The number of her English language publications exceeds 700, many of which won awards. Szablya Consultants, Inc. is her translation and consulting agency. Two of her latest books include, "The Fall of the Red Star" (a story of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution through the eyes of an "illegal" boy scout troop), and "My Only Choice: Hungary 1942-1956," the story of her own pursuit of freedom as lived through the coming of age journey of a seven year old little girl who becomes a woman and mother in Hungary. [Read more about Helen] and [purchase her books] on AHF's Amazon Store! Paul Sohar made his way as a young student refugee from Hungary to the US where he abandoned his formal education with a BA degree in philosophy with chemistry as his minor. The latter subject turned out to be the basis of his daytime job with a drug company while he hoped to pursue his literary interests. He would go on to not only publish his own poetry, but to translate into English the works of great Hungarian and Transylvanian poets. January 2013 saw the publication of a collection of Faludy poems in his translation: "Silver Pirouettes" by The Write Deal publisher as an e-book. [read more]. “From the eyes and mind of an innocent but precocious young teen, Helen Szablya, paints a picture of how the inconceivable became reality. Hungary, as the playground of tyrants in the 1940's, is depicted in its inability to withstand fascism or communism. A personal account, as engrossing as fiction but true, this book serves the lessons of history irresistibly on a silver tray.” - Annette Lantos-Tilleman-Dick, Daughter of the late Congressman Tom Lantos. Purchase the book on AHF's Amazon Store! "Freedom Dance" re-tells the inspiring story of a Hungarian-born artist named Edward Hilbert who (with his newly wedded wife, Judy) made a dangerous escape from occupied Hungary in 1956 during the violent Hungarian Revolution, taking refuge in the land of Edward's dreams: America! This remarkable story of faith and courage, uniquely animated, can be yours for only $20. [Read more] about this unique film by AHF member and Grammy-nominated filmmaker Steven Fischer or [Click here] to place your order with your credit card or PayPal account. If you would like to pay by check, [email] the producer for details. Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. A new two volume work by the former Polish ambassador to Hungary, Grzegorz Lubczyk and his wife Krystyna under the patronage of the Polish president, document the story of the Polish refugees in Hungary in Emlékezés (Pamiec or Rememberance) Polish Refugees in Hungary 1939-1946. The first volume gives an overview of what transpired and the second volume gives personal stories of many of the nearly 120,000 Polish refugees who were granted redoubt at nearly 200 locations scattered throughout Hungary. [Read the AHF Book Review] by Csaba Zoltani. [ >> GO to the AHF News Archive] PRIVACY NOTICE: DISCLAIMER: All Rights Reserved |