His Russian-born business partner Yuri Neyman announced that Vilmos Zsigmond died on New Year’s Day. He was 85. Zsigmond’s wife is writer Susan Roether of Big Sur, California. Zsigmond became Hollywood’s star cinematographer after winning an Oscar for “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” in 1978. He also received Oscar nominations for “The Deer Hunter” (1979), “The River” (1984) and […]
Did the great-grandson of US president John Quincy Adams paint the gorgeous portrait of Katinka Károlyi? Well, it is surprising and it is true. A hundred years ago Countess Katinka (Catherine) Andrássy, the Red Countess, was a celebrated beauty in Hungary. She was born in 1892 into a powerful noble family and after a privileged upbringing she married the super-rich […]
Chrismukkah (in Hungarian Hanukarácsony) is the merging of two holidays – Christmas and Hanukkah. It was popularized by the TV drama The O.C. where the main character Seth Cohen created an imaginary holiday in an interfaith household with a Jewish father and Protestant mother. The television series was created by producer wunderkind Josh Schwartz and aired on cable TV from […]
For the first time a Hungarian diplomat, László Kálmán, Hungarian Consul General in Los Angeles, paid respect at the Pearl Harbor Memorial that is built over the sunken wreckage of the USS Arizona. This is a welcome gesture. The dramatic attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1941, resulted in the US entry into World War II and changed […]
Recently Hungarian author Péter Esterházy announced in the literary weekly Élet és Irodalom that he is suffering from pancreatic cancer. The country’s literature loving public was shocked, although there had been speculations about his health after he cancelled his appearance at the Goteborg Book Fair in Sweden. The 65 years old writer’s works are well-known in Hungary and his books […]
The Orbán government has decided to press charges against Gergely Nyilas, a journalist who works for the popular Index news site. Nyilas wrote a series of reports on the treatment of refugees, posing as “Georgij Kulakov,” a migrant from Kyrgyzstan, to write his pieces. According to the government, Mr. Nyilas broke the law by registering as a refugee. Many of […]
On November 18, 2015, the US Assistant Secretary for Population, Refugees, and Migration, Anne Richard, met Hungarian Ambassador Réka Szemerkényi at the State Department in Washington DC. There was no Hungarian press coverage, Ms. Szemerkényi didn’t brag about a “turning point” in US-Hungarian relations, she remained quiet. I have a feeling that Ms. Richard had some unkind words about Hungary’s […]
If Gov. George Pataki bows out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination, one day he might make good money as a lobbyist. At least this is what the Cleveland based Bocskai Radio’s interview with Péter Szijjártó, Hungary’s young foreign minister suggests. (Hear the radio interview here.) The reporter asked Mr. Szijjártó why Connie Mack got the well-paying lobbying […]
Ambassador Réka Szemerkényi, Hungary’s top diplomat to Washington wanted to make the dedication of the Hungarian Chapel in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception a major event. She invited all Hungarian-Americans and passionately urged the 1.5 million strong community to be present “regardless of religious affiliation” what will certainly be an inspiring and memorable event. “Let’s […]
One good thing about 59 year old Hungarian historian Mr. Sándor Szakály is that you don’t have to guess where he stands. He is not only a right-winger, a historical revisionist, and admirer of pro-Hitler dictator Miklós Horthy and his gendarmerie but also a Holocaust denier. Mr. Szakály speaks at events sponsored by Hungary’s far-right party, Jobbik. For example Szakály’s […]
