I met Heller about five years ago in Budapest. This tiny woman was probably the most effective international campaigner against Orbanism. In conversation she was sharp and domineering and to my surprise she said that she knew who I was because she had read some of my pieces at Galamus, a now defunct portal edited by the excellent Zsófia Mihancsik. […]
In 1868 six women of the religious order Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary arrived to California from Montreal, Canada and founded a teachers college called Holy Names University. The campus today is located high above the San Francisco Bay and has stunning views. The Catholic university provides a program for music teachers and has become a […]
Gloria Vanderbilt, the American fashion icon died on June 17th in New York. She was 95. She was born wealthy; her father Reginald was an heir to the Vanderbilt railroad fortune. Gloria, a talented painter, writer and fashion designer, was related (by her aunt’s marriage) to the Széchenyi family, and also to “the greatest Hungarian,” István Széchenyi. In 1945 she […]
We were asked to share this new and innovative project with the readers of the Hungarian Free Press, and we are happy to do so. A website called HolokausztFoto.hu is being launched on June 21, 2019 at 4:30 p.m. in Budapest’s Nappali Kávéház (Vasvári Pál utca 3) with the participation of historian András Lenárt, journalist János Dési and Miklós Tamási […]
Dear Mr. Weber, This open letter is a cry for help. We, Hungarian scientists, scholars and university professors turn to you for help in a most serious matter: The Hungarian Government has proposed legislation that would change the Hungarian research landscape dramatically, which tramples on the rule of constitutional law and on basic democratic principles. The Hungarian Academy of Sciences […]
Bruno Mars has Hungarian ancestry? Hard to believe, but the fact is that the pop-superstar has a bit of Hungarian in him, a Hungarian Jewish grandmother on his father’s side. Here is the story. Peter Gene Hernandez aka. Bruno Mars was born in 1985 in Honolulu, Hawaii into a family of musicians and dancers. His beloved mother, Bernadette San Pedro […]
On April 24, 2019 the New York State Department of Health in Albany, NY held a ceremony at the Wadsworth Center Biggs Laboratory to unveil a statue of Ignác Semmelweis to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the physician’s birth. Semmelweis was one of the most influential (and unusual) physicians of the 19th century; his pioneer work of antiseptic procedures saved […]
István Gégény, the editor of a Hungarian-language Catholic blog entitled SZEMlélek, explores why it’s worth remembering that religious leaders–be they parish priests or bishops–are people too. Just like members of their congregation, they struggle to live their faith in the everyday. HFP offers this English-language translation of Mr. Gégény’s piece, entitled “Püspök a padban“, or “A bishop in the pews.” […]
Hungary’s Catholic leadership is firmly behind Orbán, in fact, church events often serve as political tools to spread Orbán’s nationalist message in the Carpathian basin. Pope Francis plans to visit Romania and is expected to celebrate an outdoor Mass on June 1, 2019 at the shrine of Our Lady of Csíksomlyó, a pilgrimage site near Şumuleu Ciuc, Romania. This is […]
As part of our series on lesser known Hungarian Americans we introduce Hollywood star Charles Korvin. The very good looking Hungarian was a popular star of the screen in the 1940s. Géza Kárpáthy Korvin was born in 1907 in Pöstyén, Hungarian Kingdom (today Piešťany, Slovakia) in a Hungarian speaking family with a noble lineage. Géza was fascinated with photography and […]
