AHF Headlines
 3/15/2015 - Book Signing in Budapest Honoring Holocaust Hero Col. Koszorus. On March 10, 2015, a book signing and reception introducing an excellent volume, "Armored Soldiers for Life: Ferenc Koszorus a Hero of the Holocaust" ("Páncélosokkal az életért: Koszorús Ferenc a Holokauszt hőse"), took place in Budapest. AHF was also a co-sponsor of the book. [read more]
 2/5/2015 - AHF Co-sponsors Concert dedicated to International Holocaust Memorial Day and to Victims of Terrorism in Paris: The concert, held at the Hungarian Embassy in Washington, DC and organized by the Embassy Series, featured George Peachey, piano; Jerome Barry, baritone; and Jacques-Pierre Malan, cello; on January 27, the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the infamous Nazi death camp where thousands of Hungarian Jews lost their lives. [read more]
 1/20/2015 - Politics.hu publishes Op-Ed by AHF President, Frank Koszorus, "What is the endgame for U.S.-Hungarian relations?" In a Tweet on January 12, 2015, US Embassy Charge d’Affaires Andre Goodfriend quoted Stephen I, the first king of Hungary (975–1038), who urged his son Emeric to welcome foreigners.The Tweet...clearly made in response to the Hungarian Prime Minister's recent policy statement... that Hungary and Europe  should, with the exception of political asylum, curb economic immigration.
[read more]
 1/15/2015 - Federation leaders meet with new US Ambassador to Hungary Colleen Bell and Hungarian Desk Officer Ivan Weinstein. The meeting took place at the State Department and was intended to review American / Hungarian bilateral relations with Ambassador Bell as she prepares to take up her post in Budapest shortly.
[read more]
 12/17/14 - AHF Meets with Kathy Kavalec, Director, U.S. Department of State, Office of Russian Affairs: On December 17, AHF met with Kathy Kavalec, Director, U.S. Department of State, Office of Russian Affairs, to discuss Russia's policies and activities in Central Europe, including Hungary, and U.S. response thereto. "Our Federation believes that good bilateral relations between the United States and Hungary and a strong and united NATO are in the interest of both countries and necessary to meet the formidable challenges posed by Russia in the region," said the Federation's president Frank Koszorus, Jr. "Winning instead of alienating public opinion is critical to advance these goals," he added.
 12/08/14 - AHF submits letter to Sen. John McCain over his "neo-fascist, dictator" comments: "We agree that Hungary is an important country given the recent, alarming and unacceptable developments in Ukraine and otherwise. We fear that your critical characterization of Hungary last week was unjustified and unbalanced and your labeling its prime minister a neo-fascist dictator was just plain wrong. These gratuitous statements further confused, alienated and angered the Hungarian people. Unless appropriately and timely addressed, this, in turn, will undermine support for the security matters noted above to the detriment of American strategic goals." [read more]
 12/2/2014 - AHF sponsors Forum on on US - Hungarian Relations hosted by sister foundation in Hungary the Amerikaiak a Magyarokért Alapítvány (AMKA or Americans for Hungarians Foundation): Panel participants included André Goodfriend, the Charge d' Affaires of the US embassy; Frank Koszorus Jr. the President of American Hungarian Federation, Dr. Lomnici Zoltán the spokesperson of the Civil Összefogás Fórum (CÖF); Hejj Tibor, the President of P-M-C Consulting who has sponsored many charity projects; and Gyula (Jules) Balogh, President of the Amerikaiak a Magyarokért Alapítvány. [read more]
 11/15/2014 - AHF, member organizations and representatives of the Hungarian embassy in Washington DC placed flowers at the grave of Holocaust Hero, colonel Ferenc Koszorús, in Columbia Gardens Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. Koszorús, as the commander of Hungary’s first armoured division, thwarted a planned government coup dubbed the gendarmerie coup, which aimed to carry out the deportation of the Jews of Budapest on July 5 and 6 of 1944. [read more]
 11/14/14 - AHF meets with National Security Council and State Department Officials - On Friday, November 14, 2014, Frank Koszorus, Jr., President of the American Hungarian Federation, and Paul Kamenar and Imre Nemeth, members of the Federation's International Relations Committee, met with Nathaniel Dean, Director for Central and North European Affairs at the National Security Council, Thomas O. Melia, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, and Ivan Weinstein, Desk Officer for Hungary at the Department of State. [read more]
 10/22/14 - AHF submits letter to US Asst. Secretary of State Victoria Nuland: "The appearance of selective enforcement and the use of anti-corruption measuresas a “big gun” for political purposes that are unrelated to corruption, coupled with the other issues noted in this letter merely befuddle and alienate the Hungarian people and undermine U.S. goals...Corruption cannot, must not be tolerated. It needs to be eradicated wherever found. If not halted, it will undermine democracy and the free market system. We, therefore, support U.S. anti-corruption initiatives. However, in order to be effective, selective prosecution should be meticulously avoided."
[read more]
 10/10/14 - AHF submits letter to President Obama: "...although we believe that vigilance is necessary to preclude backsliding when it comes to democracy, we are justifiably puzzled and deeply concerned that you lumped Hungary in with Egypt and some of the worst dictatorships of the world in assessing the state of civil society freedoms. We... respectfully call upon you to retract that part of your statement that unjustifiably places Hungary in the same category with Egypt and other such repressive countries. Doing so would help alleviate the concern, confusion and disbelief found in our community about the United States views of Hungary, a democratic ally. It would also serve to advance the goals of the United States in the region." [read more]
 6/20/2014 - With the conflict in Ukraine and ethnic tensions once again on the rise, AHF republishes prophetic 1996 essay from the Fletcher Forum of World Affairs: "Group Rights Defuse Tensions." "Moreover, the strong U.S. interest in a stable and peaceful Europe is contingent upon the resolution of minority disputes and the elimination of tensions that arise from such disputes. When European minority issues were ignored or improperly addressed in this century, the United States was called upon to intervene in two world wars." [read more]
 6/14/2014 - AHF Republishes June 14, 1985 Wall Street Journal article: When Romania Turned Hungarian Bibles into Toilet Paper. 20,000 bibles donated in the 1970s by the World Reformed Alliance of the Transylvanian Magyar Reformed Church with the permission of Bucharest were diverted to a mill for recycling into toilet paper. [read more]
 6/4/2014 - 94th Anniversary of the tragic Treaty of Trianon: AHF issues short statement highlighting how shortsighted "peacemakers'" mistakes led to millions of people being cut off from their motherland, caused untold suffering, assured the rise of Hitler, the expansion of Bolshevism, and set the stage for unneccesary conflict still with us today:
- President Wilson: “Bohemia will be part of Czechoslovakia.”
- Ambassador Bullitt: “But Mr. President, there are three million Germans in Bohemia.”
- President Wilson: “President Masaryk never told me that.”
Yes, it gets worse! [read more]
 5/30/2014 - AHF organizes meeting with the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission of the United States Congress, discusses situation of the Hungarian minority in Romania including the revocation of the Knight's Order of the Star of Romania from Bishop Laszlo Tokes. [read more]
 5/28/2014 - Bishop Laszlo Tokes confers Báthory Award for American Hungarian Federation President
Frank Koszorus, Jr. In 2010, on the recommendation of the Bolyai Committee (BKB), the Hungarian National Council of Transylvania (EMNT) had bestowed the Bathory Award upon Mr. Koszorus who has championed the rights of national minorities for over thirty years.
[read more]
 AHF Submits Letter to Secretary of State John Kerry expressing concern that Embassy's public (as opposed to private) statement about Hungary's history concerning the treacherous year of 1944 may have the unintended consequence of alienating Hungarians at a time when NATO needs to be unified and resolute in confronting the challenges posed by Ukraine and Russia. [read more]
Featured Books & Articles
AHF presents articles written by distinguished AHF members. AHF encourages all members to submit scholarly essays, books, and other materials which will be featured on our Publications page. 1956 Revolution-related materials are featured on www.hungary1956.com
 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 
[read more] about Zane and "Shoes Along the Danube"
 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
Help AHF by purchasing all your products using the AHF Amazon Store! You pay nothing more and AHF earns a small percentage! Start your search [here]!
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):
Life Behind the Iron Curtain. [Read more] about thebook or purchase the book on
 Simon, Paul M: "The Old lady and the Fawn," the first bilingual edition of "Öreg néne ozikéje" (Hungarian).
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"
[read more]
 Dr. Katalin Kadar Lynn's "Tibor Eckhardt in His Own Words: An Autobiography"
[read more]
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INVITATION
May 1, 2015
Magyar Jótékonysági Bál!
Hungarian Charity Ball!
Sheraton Premiere at
Tyson's Corner:
8661 Leesburg Pike
Vienna, VA 22182.
The 10th Annual Hungarian Charity Ball raises funds for worthy causes... The American Hungarian Federation, The American Hungarian Heritage House, and the Hungarian Scouts of Washington sponsor the Jótékonysági Est (Benefit Event) to support educational and charitable programs. 2015's event returns to the Sheraton Premiere at Tyson's Corner.
Elsőbálozók jelentkezését várjuk! For additional information regarding debutantes or otherwise please contact Erika Fedor (202) 497–1166 or efedor55@gmail.com
Bar opens at 6! Program begins at 7.
[Buy Tickets online NOW!]
Looking Back: AHF History
Szelmenc:
The Divided Village in Transcarpathia
(Sub-Carpathian Ukraine)
AHF's 100 YEARS
CONGRESSIONAL DISPLAY |
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| The Divided Village of 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.
Szelmenc (called Solontsi in Ukrainian and Velke Slemence in Slovak) is found near where the Ukrainian, Slovak, and Hungarian borders meet. After WWII, the Soviets took this part along with half of the village for themselves. The other half was given to Czechslovakia. With the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the Soviet part became part of Ukraine. The Soviets constructed the border at the end of World War II. To prevent people from seeing each other, authorities then built a 20-foot high wood plank fence through the village, a little "Berlin Wall" to prevent contacts and further separating families.
AHF worked with its members to illuminate this injustice in US Congress and to the world. In 2005, the border was opened at last. However, problems continue.
[read more]
On This Day in Hungarian History: March
March 23, Hungarian-Polish Friendship Day! The historic friendship between the Polish and Hungarian peoples is reflected in a popular bilingual proverb from the 1700's: "Polak, Węgier, dwa bratanki / I do szabli, i do szklanki / Oba zuchy, oba żwawi / Niech im Pan Bóg błogosławi." ("Lengyel-magyar két jó barát / Együtt harcol s issza borát / Vitéz s bátor mindkettője / Áldás szálljon mindkettőre.")
 The Szechenyi Society in New York City celebrated the special day. Seen here are dancers from the Polish and Hungarian communities. [Read more] about Hungarian-Polish brotherhood and history on Wikipedia.
 March 19, 1944
Nazi Germany Invades Hungary: Hungarian Review publishes AHF statement regarding the occupation of Hungary by Hitler on March 19, 1944 and its horrific consequences, entitled "Reflections on March 19, 1944 and Its Aftermath: A Perfect Storm of Tragedy and Folly."
March 15: Hungarian Memorial Day (Nemzeti ünnep) and Commemoration of the 1848 War of Independence.  Kossuth
Lajos (Louis) (b. 1802, d. 1894, pronounced co-shoot luh-yôsh) was Governor of Hungary during the fight for independence and democracy which
was eventually defeated by the union of the royalist Austrian Habsburg
and Russian Czarist Armies (1848 - 1849). Kossuth envisioned a federation
in the Kingdom of Hungary in which all nationalties participated in a
vibrant democratic system based on fundamental democratic principles such
as equality and parliamentary representation. The bloody conflict eventually
led to a great compromise known as the "Austro-Hungarian Empire,"
in which Hungary gained some autonomy, although Kossuth would have no
part in it and demanded full indepependence until his death. It also set the seeds for her dismemberment after WWI. [read more] about Louis Kossuth and this historic struggle.
 March 10: Székely Independence Day! AHF congratulates the Székely people on their independence day and echoes their call for autonomy. A
thousand years of nation building successfully delineated groups
based on culture, religion, geography, and other attributes to create
the countries with which we are so familiar. While some Western European
nations would continue power struggles and princely battles and civil
wars, Hungary, founded in 896, was a peaceful multi-ethnic state for over a
1000 years and her borders were virtually unchanged.... Until 1920. [Read more] about issues in Rumania.
AHF Members' Corner:
Featured Member
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!
 Katalin Kádár
Lynn, Ph.D. is a sustaining AHF Kovats Circle Member. She was born in Budapest and emigrated with her family
to Germany at the end of WWII and then came to the US as part of the Displaced
Persons immigration program. She was educated in the United States ( BA
from the University of Colorado and an MLA from Washington University
in St. Louis, MO). After a long career in the world of business, including
a stint as a business professor at Lindenwood University in St. Charles,
MO, she returned to graduate school to obtain a PhD at ELTE in Budapest and was awarded her PhD with honors. She is a publisher and author specializing in 20th century history, with an emphasis on
WWII, the Cold War, and U.S.–East European political relations
and Émigré Political Movements. [Read more about her] and purchase her books!
[see all Featured Members]
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The DVD now available online! Order your copy of Freedom Dance!
 "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.
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 AHF Book Review: "Transylvania Today: Diversity at Risk," edited by Csaba Zoltani. Written by noted experts, describes the issues faced by minorities in Transylvania in their effort to retain their identity in an adverse environment. Minorities, according to the official census, constitute nearly one-quarter of the population of Romania. Contributors include Amb. Geza Jeszenszky, Prof. Andrew Ludanyi, Tilhamer Czika, Viktor Segesvary, and Andreas Bereznay. [read more]
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 AHF Book Review: Rememberance (Pamiec): Polish Refugees in Hungary 1939-1946 (Emlékezés - Lengyel Menekültek Magyarorszagon 1939-1946) by Grzegorz and Krystyna Lubczyk.
Throughout its history, Hungary offered refuge to a wide variety of ethnicities trying to escape persecution in their homelands. At the beginning and throughout the Second World War, Poles, including considerable number of its military, sought and received refuge from Nazi and Stalinist persecution. Eventually most of the soldiers went on and joined the Allied war effort and played an important part in the defeat of Nazi Germany.
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.
[>> See all Publications]
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