Today, no American politician wants to be identified with Hungary; George Pataki, the 70 years old ex-Governor of the State of New York is no exception. His father’s family came from Hungary, while his mother’s parents were Irish and Italian immigrants. He even speaks some Hungarian! Last December at the annual Mikulás dinner of the Hungarian American Coalition, the organization’s […]
The Hungarian diaspora, in large part, has either been silent when faced with the refugee crisis unfolding in their homeland or, as was the case of nearly all organized Hungarian Canadian community groups, they mindlessly promoted the official line of the Orbán government. For an English-language example of this servility–and one promoted by the Embassy of Hungary in Ottawa on […]
According to US Census figures about 1.5 million US citizens have Hungarian ancestry and only 10% of them, only about 150 thousand people, are familiar with the Hungarian language. Most speak “kitchen Hungarian” and have problems with reading and writing. Of course, writing a grammatically correct letter or essay in Hungarian is a challenge; few non-native speaker can master the […]
My mother called. She calls every morning to tell me that she is still alive. I am grateful for those morning calls. She is ninety and still curious. This morning she called and asked me about what is happening in Hungary. You see, she was born in Hungary; she had her youth stolen in Hungary when she was shipped to […]
Ferenc Kőházy is a 32 year old Hungarian rapper, hip-hop artist and arranger. His fans call him FankaDeli. They like his strong opinions and he is the darling of the far-right, always ready to share his outrageous comments on his Facebook page, where he has close to 100 thousand followers. When Apple Computer technology icon Steve Jobs died, he wrote […]
Dear Editor, In 1956, just after my sixth birthday, my father was asked by American Secretary of State Dulles and President Eisenhower to take over the State Department Refugee Relief Program to deal with the thousands of Hungarian refugees fleeing the Soviet invasion. For the next year, I seldom saw my father. Some nights he would appear on American television […]
While the Orbán government is busy erecting a 177 km barbed wire fence along the full length of the border with Serbia, in a thus far completely unsuccessful attempt at keeping refugees out, and sending a message to the Fidesz party’s base that the government is tough as nails with the migrants, it is also launching a program to lure […]
Bishop Kolomon K. Ludwig responded to our article about the sudden removal of Rev. Béla Poznan the long-time Bishop of the Calvin Synod. In his email, Bishop Ludwig explained that Rev. Poznan was never accused of financial mismanagement, nor was this ever insinuated by anyone. He also indicated that the Synod has no further comment on this subject. We thank […]
What a scandal! Hungarian media has avoided reporting the firing of Rt. Rev. Béla Poznan, the long-time Bishop of the Calvin Synod of the American protestant denomination the United Church of Christ. Bishop Poznan maintained close ties with Hungary’s Orbán Government; he was a member of the openly pro-Fidesz Diaspora Council and frequently appeared in Budapest. Bishop Poznan even received […]
I’ve been away on a peaceful, though undeniably soggy trip to rain- and windswept Vermont this week, hence the dearth of articles in HFP over the past few days. In the meantime, my other publication – the Hungarian language Kanadai Magyar Hírlap – rolled on quite happily even in my absence, and I wanted to share an essay written by prominent […]
