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| Looking Back: AHF History Since 1906 | ||||||||
Shortcuts:
"In
the Beginning" - Unity Between the Nations As a sign of unity between the nations, Hungarian-American leaders conceived an idea to place a statue of George Washington in Budapest. The newly established AHF and its "Statue Committee" was organized and construction began on a site in Budapest's beautiful City Park (Város Liget). In 1906, several hundred Hungarian-Americans traveled to Hungary for the unveiling led by AHF's first President, Kohányi Tihamér. [read more]
Tihamér Kohányi was born in 1863 in Saros, Hungary. He became an outstanding figure in the establishment of several major Hungarian-American institutions, among them the Szabadság, which became the largest Hungarian daily in the United States and the American Hungarian Federation. After a try in the legal profession, Kohányi departed for the United States in 1890 at the age of twenty-seven. At the time of his departure, he wrote: I left [for America with light heart and baggage, with the strong conviction--on the basis of what I had heard from many-that no one has ever died of hunger in America. [read more] "Justice for Hungary"
- an Historic Transatlantic Flight
Where did this idea come from? [read more]
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. In January 1941 AHF 's Executive Committee sent a letter to President Roosevelt expressing the loyalty of the Hungarian-American populace and proclaiming,“The Executive Committee of the [AHF] as representative of the American citizens of Hungarian origin…consider it our sacred duty to lead a movement for the preservation of an independent Hungary for the freedom of it’s people.” [read more]
Hungary's 1956 Revolution marked the first tear in the Iron Curtain. Hungarians from all walks of life rose up against the mighty Soviet Union in a desperate fight for freedom. Thousands died, many othes tortured and jailed, 200,000 would flee, bringing untold talents to the shores of many nations, some 38,000 coming to the U.S. AHF, member organizations and the entire community sprung into action. Building on its experience during WWII, AHF activated its second Hungarian Relief Program, raising over $525,000 and,working closely with the International Relief Committee, found beds and supplies to aid in the resettlement effort. At Madison Square Garden 10,000 people gathered to raise one million dollars for Hungarian relief. [read more]
"The spirit of our age is Democracy. All for the people and all by the people. Nothing about the people, without the people. That is Democracy, and that is the ruling tendency of the spirit of our age." - Louis Kossuth, spoken before the Ohio State Legislature, February 16, 1852, more than a decade before Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.
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. The Szabadka Initiative (MÁÉRT) by Bryan Dawson | The 1907 Kohányi Szózat (Appeal) “Amerika egy millió magyarja, nemcsak hogy követeljük, de keresztül is visszük azt, hogy Magyarország népének ugyanabban a szabadságban, ugyanabban az igazságban, ugyanabban a jólétben legyen resze, mint amely szabadság, igazság, es jólét abban az Amerikában van amelynek lakósai, polgárai vagyunk.” “We, America’s 1 million Hungarians, do not just demand, but will work to ensure that the people of Hungary may partake in the same freedom, the same justice, the same prosperity as we, citizens of America, partake.” AHF's 100 YEARS
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The American Hungarian Federation commisioned a bronze bust of Lajos Kossuth and presented it to U.S. Congress. The dedication ceremony took place on March 15, 1990, Hungarian National Day, under the magnificent dome of the Capitol Rotunda. The bust is one of only two honoring non-Americans in the Capitol. The base reads, "Louis Kossuth, Father of Hungarian Democracy." [
AHF attended this historic meeting and signed a joint declaration
by ethnic Hungarian political parties and human rights
organizations from successor atates in an appeal to the
Hungarian Government for more coherent support,
coordinated planning, and dual citizenship. AHF was
among fifteen organizations from Europe, North America,
and Latin America that met
January 5-6, 2005 in
Szabadka (Subotica) in the
Vajdaság (Vojvodina), a formerly autonomous region
in Serbia-Montenegro, and joined forces to persuade
the Hungarian Government to coordinate with them
efforts aimed at assisting ethnic Hungarians living as
national minorities in Rumania, Slovakia, Serbia-
Montenegro, Ukraine, Croatia, and Slovenia. The
meeting marked the first time ethnic Hungarian
political organizations met independently of the
Hungarian government. [
