 8/23/2017 - AHF issues statement condemning hatred and violence. The American Hungarian Federation (AHF) unequivocally and forcefully condemns any and all manifestations of hatred, xenophobia, discrimination and domestic terrorism. The Hungarian community understands first-hand the impact of these evil manifestations.
 Following its founding one hundred and ten years ago, AHF has promoted human and minority rights, especially after the post-World War I Trianon Treaty relegated 3.3 million Hungarians to minority status in the Successor States neighboring Hungary without giving them a voice in the matter in violation of the vaunted principle of self-determination.
These Hungarian and historic minority communities have been subjected to various degrees of discrimination and intolerance. Even today their legitimate requests for autonomy (or local self-government) are inexplicably denied. In worst cases the minorities have been victimized by violence, as when between 15,000 and 20,000 ethnic Hungarians were massacred in the post-WW II period in Vojvodina, Serbia solely because of their ethnicity.
 Hatred, intolerance and violence are also abhorrent to and condemned by AHF as there are members of the organization who fled from Nazism and Communism or whose family members were murdered by these horrifically evil systems.
AHF has been fighting against these horrors for over a century. We will continue to fight. History must not be allowed to repeat itself.
 UPDATE - On August 23, 2017 the American Hungarian Federation (AHF) issued a statement unequivocally and forcefully condemning "any and all manifestations of hatred, discrimination and domestic terrorism." According to an August 29 report in JTA, a monument to Jewish Holocaust victims was vandalized in the Hungarian town of Balf.
AHF strongly condemns this act of cowardice and hatred which has no place in Hungarian society. AHF urges that the perpetrators of this outrageous act be brought to justice.
"We cannot remain silent the the face of such hate-filled actions," said AHF Chairman of the Board, Frank Koszorus, Jr., whose father's military intervention in July 1944 saved the Jews living in Budapest from deportation to the the German death camps.
AHF REMEMBERS THE HEROES OF THE HUNGARIAN HOLOCAUST
The Federation takes this opportunity to remember Carl Lutz, Raoul Wallenberg and other foreign diplomats as well as the Hungarian heroes who at great personal peril saved many Jewish lives. The Hungarians include but, of course, are not limited to the following individuals:
- Janos Esterhazy opposed the Slovak Nazi puppet regime of Jozef Tiso. At great peril to himself, he was the only member of the Slovak Parliament to vote against the law authorizing the deportation of Jews in 1942. Later, Esterhazy personally saved Jews from the Holocaust.
- General Vilmos Nagybaczoni-Nagy who upon being appointed minister of defense by the Kallay
government took measures to end the gross abuse threatening the lives of Jews and others in
the auxiliary labor force;
- Tibor Baranszky who, as secretary to Monsignor Angelo Rotta, the Vatican’s ambassador to
Budapest, saved many lives by distributing protective letters to Jews on forced marches and
elsewhere;
- Roman Catholic Priest Ferenc Kallo who gave Jews life‐saving certificates of baptism and who was killed by the Arrow Cross on October 29, 1944;
- Jozsef Antall Senior, who as a member of the ministry of internal affairs for civilian refugees gave refuge to and thereby saved Jews and Poles and who enjoyed the support and confidence
of Minister of Interior Ferenc Keresztes‐Fischer and Prime Ministers Pal Teleki and after his death Miklos Kallay;
- Col. Ferenc Koszorus, posthumously promoted to the rank of General by Prime Minister Antall after the fall of Communism, who volunteered his services and mobilized the 1st Armored
Division under his command to militarily intervene on July 5, 1944 to stop Laszlo Baky, a secretary of state in the Ministry of Interior for “Jewish Affairs," from deporting the approximately 200,000 plus Jews from Budapest.2
The Federation believes that the extraordinary courage, moral strength and fortitude of these and other individuals who despite overwhelming odds were willing to confront evil and act on behalf of humanity serve as examples for all of humankind; they must never be forgotten.
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Related Articles:
 9/13/2016 - AHF issues statement on Minority Rights in Central and Eastern Europe. Throughout its more than 100 year old existence, AHF has decried and vigorously opposed manifestations of xenophobia, discrimination, racism and hate directed at national, ethnic, racial and religious minorities, including but not limited to expressions of anti-Semitism and hate speech directed against any minority group. Sadly the rights of Hungarian minorities have been largely ignored. [read more]
 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]
 AHF, Tibor Eckhardt, and
the "Movement for Independent Hungary," 1941 - 1942: Seeking to extract Hungary
from
the Axis sphere - by Bryan Dawson and Katalin Kádár Lynn, Ph.D.
On the 31st of
December 1940, the Amerikai Magyar Népszava, the most
influential Hungarian language daily at the time, published a front-page editorial headlined “The Hour has Struck.” The
editorial proclaimed that it was the “the historic mission
of Americans of Hungarian origin to give voice to the
cries of the silenced people of Hungary and to give their
whole hearted effort to the liberation of their mother
country which is clubbed into submission by the Nazi terror.”
The editorial called upon the American Hungarian
Federation to unfurl the banner of a Free Hungary
Movement without hesitation or delay. [read more]
 2/16/2009 -- AHF urges OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities to increase pressure on Slovakia to repeal oppressive language law. "The language law is the latest manifestation of the Slovak government’s intolerance toward its Hungarian minority. Not surprisingly, the Slovak National Party (“SNS”) is a member of the ruling coalition. Its chairman Jan Slota is known for his xenophobia: “Hungarians are the cancer of the Slovak nation, without delay we need to remove them from the body of the nation.” [read more]
 3/19/2014 - AHF article 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." "We are concerned that a political agenda has replaced a debate based on historical facts relating to the Hungarian Holocaust and Nazi Germany's invasion and occupation of Hungary," said Frank Koszorus, Jr., the Federation's president. "We condemn not only whitewashing but the blackening of this historical record as well. Both forms of revisionism do a great disservice to the memory of the victims of evil and those who opposed it at a treacherous time in Hungary's history. These considerations prompted us to issue our statement," he added. [read more]
 5/10/2013 - AHF publishes documents supporting the exoneration of Count János Esterházy (the only member of the Slovak Parliament in 1942 who voted against expelling the Jews, he was convicted on trumped up charges and died in a communist prison). The documents attest to his principled stand and actions to save Jews during World War II and protect the Hungarian minority in Slovakia, and includes letters from Simon Wiesenthal, Yad Veshem, and historians Dr. Magda Ádám and Dr. István Deák, Professor Emeritus from Columbia University.
[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. [read more] or buy it now on AHF's Amazon Store! 
 4/16/2012 - AHF Honors Holocaust Memorial Month 2012 - Raoul Wallenberg Remembered on Capitol Hill. U.S. Congressman Harris recalls Col. Ferenc Koszorus, Sr., Hero of the Holocaust. AHF honors the millions of lives lost and the untold suffering caused by Nazism and Communism. But even during the horrors of WWII, stories of resistance to Nazi atrocities emerged. When Hitler's patience ran out with the conservative leaders in Budapest and their peace-feelers
and contacts with Western allies, Nazi Germany invaded Hungary in March 1944, drastically
changing the situation of Hungary and the Jewish community [read more]
 3/24/2009 - AHF Honors Holocaust Memorial Month 2009 - As part of the Holocaust Memorial Month, the Embassy of Hungary sponsored the Carl Lutz and the Legendary Glass House in Budapest traveling exhibit in Washington, DC. The Carl Lutz Foundation, Hungarian American Coalition, Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice, Mensch International Foundation and the Embassies of Switzerland and Israel are co-sponsors. The Federation believes it would be appropriate that the Embassy of Hungary, as a representative of all Hungarians, expand such exhibits to include Hungarian heroes of the Holocaust. [read more]
 9/13/2011 - Slovak President shamefully calls Janos Esterhazy, a hero of the Holocaust, a follower of Hitler. AHF continues call for rehabilitation of Janos Esterhazy, reacts to Slovak falsification of history... Esterhazy was the only member of the Slovak Parliament in 1942 who voted against expelling the Jews, setting an example which few dared to follow in the parts of Europe controlled by Adolf Hitler's Germany. He was detained by the Nazis and died in a communist prison. He is still classified as a war criminal in Slovakia. [read more]
Why So Many Hungarians Across the Border?
 One 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 a 1000 years and her borders were virtually unchanged. Until 1920...
The Treaty of Trianon in 1920... in the aftermath of WWI, was extremely harsh on Hungary and unjustifiably one-sided. The resulting "treaty" lost Hungary an unprecedented 2/3 of her territory, and 1/2 of her total population or 1/3 of her Hungarian-speaking population. Add to this the loss of up to 90% of vast natural resources, industry, railways, and other infrastructure. The clear winner of the land grab, was Rumania, who, established only 60 years earlier, more than doubled in size overnight.
Ethnic Distribution in the Kingdom of Hungary in 1910 (Hungarians shown in red)
[download extra large image 4962x3509]
[download large image 1000x707]
Hungarian populations declined significantly after forced removals such as the Benes Decrees and other pograms, the effects of WWI, and Trianon in 1920. With continued pressure and discriminative policies such as the 2009 Slovak Language Law, this trend continued over the past 90 years.
- In Upper Hungary (awarded to Slovakia, Czechoslovakia): 1,687,977 Slovaks and 1,233,454 others (mostly Hungarians - 886,044, Germans, Ruthenians and Roma) [according to the 1921 census, however, there were 1,941,942 Slovaks and 1,058,928 others]
- In Carpathian Ruthenia (awarded to Czechoslovakia): 330,010 Ruthenians and 275,932 others (mostly Hungarians, Germans, Romanians, and Slovaks)
- In Transylvania (awarded to Romania): 2,831,222 Romanians (53.8%) and 2,431,273 others (mostly Hungarians - 1,662,948 (31.6%) and Germans - 563,087 (10.7%)). The 1919 and 1920 Transylvanian censuses indicate a greater percentage of Romanians (57.1%/57.3%) and a smaller Hungarian minority (26.5%/25.5%)
- In Vojvodina 510,754 Serbs and 1,002,229 others (mostly Hungarians 425,672 and Germans 324,017)
- In Vojvodina and Croatia-Slavonia combined (awarded to Yugoslavia): 2,756,000 Croats and Serbs and 1,366,000 others (mostly Hungarians and Germans)
- In Burgenland (awarded to Austria): 217,072 Germans and 69,858 others (mainly Croatian and Hungarian)
[read more on the Treaty of Trianon]
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