Our publication has been critical in the past of close contacts and a friendly relationships between the prior Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper and representatives of Hungary’s Orbán regime. The Hungarian Free Press, its contributors and many of its readers have on numerous occasions informed different layers of the Canadian political establishment of the systemic rule of law […]
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Hungarian American organization supports convicted violent neo-Nazis in Romania
Two Romanian citizens, Mr. István Beke and Mr. Zoltán Szőcs were arrested in November, 2015. They are ethnic Hungarians and local leaders of a group called Sixty-Four Counties Youth Movement (Hatvannégy...
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Good luck, Rev. Gábor Magyari-Köpe!
I was surprised to learn that after 15 years of service Rev. Gábor Magyari-Köpe has left the Free Magyar Reformed Church of San Francisco and Vicinity. I don’t know the reason for his departure but...
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Hungarian opera singers claim African American identity
Fifteen Caucasian opera singers from the Hungarian State Opera signed a document claiming that they identify, in part, as being African American. Szilvester Ókovács, the Opera House’s director,...
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Widespread abuse of disabled residents at Hungarian institution
A public institution for the disabled in the southwestern Hungarian village of Mozsgó (population 1,000) is under scrutiny after a complaint detailed widespread abuse of the intellectually disabled residents...
Recently in the spotlight
Who’s Meshuga? Arnold Schwarzenegger and Viktor Orbán – best buddies
Last December in the Polish city of Katowice, Arnold Schwarzenegger gave a brief speech about climate change. In his speech Arnold called President Trump meshuga. The Yiddish word means crazy and the audience responded with applause. Arnold grew up in Graz, Austria as a son of a one-time Nazi party-member policeman. I don’t think that he heard much Yiddish at […]
Susan Polgar (Polgár Zsuzsa) was inducted into U.S. Chess Hall of Fame
On March 18 Susan Polgar was inducted into the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame in a special event in St. Louis. She gave an inspiring speech to chess players and supporters of the chess community. Polgar is the youngest woman ever to be inducted into the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame. She joins Bobby Fischer, Edward Lasker and founding father […]
Jehovah’s Witnesses – persecuted by Horthy, many perished in the Holocaust
It is rarely mentioned in Hungary that many Christians perished in labor and concentration camps during the Hungarian Holocaust. One Christian group, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, was viciously victimized. Jehovah’s Witnesses refuse to join armies, participate in political life or take a national oath. The origin of their faith goes back to the Bible Student movement of the 1870s founded by […]
Minister László Palkovics shouldn’t get an opportunity to speak at UC Berkeley
László Palkovics, Hungary’s Minister of Innovation and Technology, will speak at the University of California at Berkeley on Thursday, April 4. The title of his presentation is “Hungary as a European Hub for Autonomous Vehicle Design and Validation” Mr. Palkovics has been invited by the Department of Mechanical Engineering and is hosted by Professor Francesco Borrelli. Mr. Palkovics is a […]
An effort to save Hungarian books in Montreal
In early February, we reported on how 2,000 Hungarian books were thrown out by the Foyer Hongrois retirement home and we shared an image showing a garbage container full of books. We can now report on a more positive development: earlier this month 60 boxes containing some 2,500 Hungarian-language books remaining at the Foyer were packed up and prepared for […]
Hungarian film Eternal Winter blames President Roosevelt for the Gulag
Attila Szász is an exceptionally talented Hungarian film director. A couple of years ago I saw his film Demimonde (Félvilág) at the Tiburon Fim Festival and I found it intriguing. His latest film Eternal Winter (Örök tél) takes place at the end of World War II when many ethnic Germans were rounded up in Hungary and sent to labor camps […]
Rest in peace, Father Deák!
Father Ferenc Deák (or Deák atya, in Hungarian) died yesterday. He served Our Lady of Hungary Parish in Montreal from 1975 to 2007 and played a truly formative role in the lives of those of us who grew up in the eighties and nineties. He baptised me in 1981, I had my first communion with him in 1988 and then […]
European People’s Party finally suspends Fidesz from its ranks
Despite Viktor Orbán’s half-hearted letters of apology to members of the European People’s about his most recent anti-Soros, anti-Juncker and anti-migrant campaigns, an expression of regret for employing the term “useful idiots” when referring to his Christian Democratic partners in the EU and a pledge to stop harassing Central European University, the EPP appears to have had enough and has […]
Joseph Bem – the Polish, Jewish, Muslim general and hero of the 1848 Hungarian Revolution
On March 15th Hungarians commemorate the Revolution and War of Independence against Habsburg rule in 1848-49. We remember the legendary military leader, General Joseph Bem. Bem was born in Poland in 1794 probably in a Catholic family. As a trained military engineer, an expert with guns, especially with gun powder, he was one of the leaders of the Polish insurrections […]
Count Michael Károlyi – Fascismo, The Menace to World Peace
On February 1, 1930 The Harvard Crimson reported: Count Michael Károlyi, first President of Hungary, who is to speak at the Ford Hall Forum tomorrow evening, at 7 o’clock, on “Fascismo–The Menace to World Peace” has, after a four-year period of exclusion, at last been given permission to enter America as an ordinary European visitor with a six months’ visa. […]
