AHF eNews | AMSz eHíradó
Serving the community since 1906, AHF is an all-volunteer, non-partisan, non-profit educational and charitable organization... Join Us!
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AHF eNews | AMSz eHíradó Serving the community since 1906, AHF is an all-volunteer, non-partisan, non-profit educational and charitable organization... Join Us!
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News
 5/6/2016 - AHF attends Friends of Hungary Conference, attends meeting with US Amb. Colleen Bell and submits letter: The Friends of Hungary Foundation held its third conference in Budapest on May 6 -8. Frank Koszorus, Jr., President of the American Hungarian Federation, attended the event along with Federation members and officers, Andras Ludanyi, Gyula Balogh, Zsuzsa Dreisziger, and Katalin Kadar Lynn. [read more]
 5/1/2016- AHF participates in drafting Central and East European Coalition Spring 2016 Policy Paper. The 2016 brief addresses Ukraine; NATO and Security in Central and Eastern Europe; the Visa Waiver Program and Immigration Reform; Energy Security; Democracy, Human and Minority Rights, the Rule of Law, and the Information War; US Assistance to and Promotion of Regional Democratic Governance; Trade and Economic Integration; Trade and Economic Integration; Energy; and Black Ribbon Day. [read more]  3/6/2016 -- AHF launches new Twitter account that reminds us of the beauty of Historic Hungary. Follow @regikepek to see historic photos from Historic Hungary across the pre-Trianon Hungarian lands in the Carpathian basin from Transylvania to today's Ukraine, Slovakia, Poland, Serbia, Austria, Slovenia, and Croatia.
 Further Reflections on 19 March 1944 and its Aftermath: A Perfect Storm of Tragedy and Folly: Regarding the history of the Hungarian Holocaust, two fundamental issues should be considered: the unacceptability of “whitewashing” or “cleansing” the Holocaust as well as the unacceptability of ”blackening” history by denying, omitting or belittling rescue initiatives and anti-Nazi activities in Hungary even after Nazi Germany invaded and occupied the country. [read more]
 3/6/2016 -- Szekler Independence Day! AHF Leaders joined the Community to show Support for Autonomy of Rumania's ethnic-Hungarian community... Carrying the Szekely Flag and a sign that read "Autonomy for Szekelyland," the group marched around the White House in Washington, DC, and raised awareness of the situation facing the ethnic-Hungarian community in Rumania. Numerous demonstrations were held in Europe and in North America. [read more]
 12/15/2015 - AHF responds to James Traub article, “Hungary’s 500-Year-Old Victim Complex,” that appeared in Foreign Policy: "Hungarians share a collective pathology known as the 'Trianon syndrome,' asserts the article. Ever since Trianon, according to the article, Hungarians allegedly have resented the fact that they no longer matter. But what is the real issue?" [read more]
 12/3/2015 - AHF has follow-up meeting with Ambassador Colleen Bell... During his stay in Budapest, Mr. Koszorus also met with United States Ambassador Colleen Bell. The purpose of the meeting wasto follow up on AHF’s November 4, 2015 letter to Ambassador Bell in which AHF suggested that U.S. interests – promotion of democracy and human rights, strategic and economic -- may not always be served by public criticisms which are perceived by the man-on-the-street in Hungary, whether a supporter of the government or not, to be demeaning and humiliating. [read more]
 12/2/2015 -American Hungarian Federation President attends 5th Hungarian Diaspora Council. The Council is devoted to safeguarding the Hungarian Diaspora physical cultural heritage (museums, Hungariand Houses, libraries, churches, archives). It also focuses on Hungarian language teaching in the various Hungarian Diaspora communities throughout the world. [read more]
 12/2/2015 - AHF Leaders attend Son of Saul Premier in Washington, D.C. AHF members Irvin Varkonyi and Atilla Kocsis attended the Premier of Academy Award-winning Hungarian film, "Son of Saul," in Washington, DC. In attendance were the current Hungarian ambassador, H.E. Reka Szemerkenyi, along with former ambassador Andras Simonyi and other dignitaries from the community. [read more]
 11/4/2015 - American Hungarian Federation Submits Open letter to Ambassador Bell in which AHF suggested that U.S. interests – promotion of democracy and human rights, strategic and economic - may not always be served by public criticisms which are perceived by the man-on-the-street in Hungary. [read more]
 10/22/2015 - AHF organizes Congressional Reception with the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation commemorating the 59th anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and Honoring Members of Congress. [read more]
 8/29/2015 - AHF supported the Dedication of the Chapel of "Our Lady of Hungary" in DC honoring Hungarian-American history in the USA in the magnificent Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception... The Dedication of the Hungarian Chapel fulfils the long aspiration of many to have a Hungarian national shrine in the nation's capital. [read more]
 7/15/2015 - The American Hungarian Federation is especially proud to have sponsored a statue honoring Hungarian Holocaust Hero Col. Ferenc Koszorus. The unveiling of the bust, sculpted by the internationally recognized artist Imre Varga, took place in July 2015 in Budapest. An extraordinary man, a soldier and a hero, Col. Ferenc Koszorús had his statue unveiled on July 7, 2015 in the Castle Hill district at the Tóth Árpád promenade. [read more]
 6/12/2015 - The American Hungarian Federation was proud to participate in the wreath laying ceremony on June 12 at the Victims of Communism Memorial statue, the "Goddess of Democracy," a replica of statue erected by Chinese dissidents in Tiananmen Square in 1989. 23 embassies, and 26 ethnic and human rights organizations joined 10 Members of Congress and over 300 participants for the annual Victims of Communism Commemoration on Capitol Hill [read more]
 5/19/2015 -AHF Submits Statement to US Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on the "Future of US - Hungarian Relations." The focus of its statement is "(1) the extent to which good relations with Hungary serve the strategic interests of the United States; (2) and the steps the United States can take to maintain and improve its relations with Hungary, including arriving at balanced and informed judgments relating to Hungary." [read more]
Featured Books & Articles
AHF Store on More member books on AHF's Amazon Store:  Simon, Paul M: "The Old lady and the Fawn," the first bilingual edition of "Öreg néne ozikéje" (Hungarian). Order now at Simpa Books
[ >> GO to the AHF News Archive] PRIVACY NOTICE: DISCLAIMER: All Rights Reserved |
Today's Famous Hungarian  AHF mourns the loss of another Great Hungarian. Andy
Grove (b. 9/2/1936, Budapest, d. 3/21/2016) Former President/CEO, and Chairman of Intel. Time's Man of the Year for 1998, the second Hungarian to be awarded this honor! Andy graduated from the City College of New York in
1960 with a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering degree and received his
Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1963. Upon
graduation, he joined the Research and Development Laboratory of
Fairchild Semiconductor and became Assistant Director of Research
and Development in 1967. Looking Back: AHF History 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. Moments in
AHF Members' Corner: 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!
---- Order your copy of Freedom Dance! 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. |
5/18/2016 - AHF and PAC address Bill Clinton's Hungary remarks: The Presidents of the American Hungarian Federation and the Polish American Congress issue a joint statement objecting to the collective characterization by former President Bill Clinton of the Hungarian and Polish people as tired of democracy and desirous of “authoritarian dictatorship.” [
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 
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." [
Zsuzsa Hanto: "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. [
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." [
"The Porcelain Figurine" (A Porcelánbaba) by Eva Mecs.[
Professor Peter Hargitai's 
Rebecca McEldowney's "Soul of Flesh: A Novel of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution" 
Dr. Katalin Kadar Lynn's "Tibor Eckhardt in His Own Words: An Autobiography" 
The Szechenyi Society in New York City celebrated the special day. Seen here are dancers from the Polish and Hungarian communities. [
March 19, 1944
March 15 is Hungarian Memorial Day (Nemzeti ünnep) and Commemorates 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 at the 
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. [
"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! [
AHF Book Review: Rememberance (Pamiec): Polish Refugees in Hungary 1939-1946 (Emlékezés - Lengyel Menekültek Magyarorszagon 1939-1946) by Grzegorz and Krystyna Lubczyk.