The annual Hungarian Night, a hugely popular tradition in Montreal West, is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, June 10th, 2008 at 6pm, at Davies Park, located on Westminster Avenue, just south of Sherbrooke Street. The event has been spearheaded by Barbara Tekker, a local Montreal West resident and an active member of the Hungarian community. The event has a reputation of being an exciting evening for all ages, with an outdoor BBQ dinner for only $8 and with live Hungarian entertainment. Additionally, it is the only ethnic night where the town gets a liquor license so you can bring your own wine or beer. Bring some lawn chairs! It’s a great way to start the summer! Hungarian Night is rescheduled in case of rain. Call Paula at 514-485-8930 if you are not sure about the weather.

Montreal West is one of the smaller independent municipalities on the Island of Montreal. Informally referred to as “MoWest,” more than 85 percent of the town’s 5,300 residents are Anglophones.

Canadian Hungarian Journal

The Hungarian government has recognized Kosovo’s status as an independent nation. Hungary issued a joint statement with Croatia and Bulgaria, observing that the decision to recognize Europe’s youngest sovereign state was “based on thorough consideration.” All three countries also made clear that they wished to develop closer ties with Serbia as well. This, however, may prove to be a real challenge, as Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic repeated his belief that Kosovo was an “illegal state” and also warned that countries which choose to recognize Kosov’s independence “cannot count on good relations” with Serbia.

According to Hungary’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it had “become clear that the status quo in Kosovo was unsustainable and moving forward in the settlement was necessary for the lasting stability and development of the region. It has also become evident that there was no optimal solution acceptable to both sides, and the potential for further negotiations had been exhausted.”

Kinga Göncz, Hungary’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, will now submit a request to the country’s President, László Sólyom, concerning the eventual establishment of full diplomatic relations with Kosovo.

Canadian Hungarian Journal

Hungarian Abstract/Magyar kivonat: A nyugati média meglehetősen sokat foglalkozott Koszovóval, az albánok által dominált szerbiai tartománnyal, mely ma kijelenti függetlenségét. De a nyugati lapokban alig találhatunk említést arról a tényről, hogy a koszovói szuverenitásnak fontos következményei lehetnek a vajdasági magyarok számára is. Bár kiemelt demográfiai különbségek vannak Vajdaság és Koszovó között és az északi tartomány teljes függetlensége aligha kerülhet szóba, mégis fennáll az a veszély, hogy Koszovó leszakadása a szerbiai politikai diszkurzus radikálizálodásához vezet és, hogy felkerekednek a szélsőjobboldali, nacionalista erők Szerbiában.

As was expected, much of the media attention around Kosovo’s declaration of independence from Serbia has focused on whether or not this might lead to renewed ethnic conflict among Serbs and Kosovar Albanians, as well as if the European Union will be able to speak in unison in its recognition of the continent’s youngest state. Many pundits also tried to determine how Russia–which has traditionally allied itself with the government in Belgrade–would react to the imminent creation of an EU mission in this Balkan country.

Yet Kosovo’s independence also raises crucial questions about the fate of another multi-ethnic region in this former Yugoslav country, namely the northern province of Vojvodina (Vajdaság), which is home to over 290,000 ethnic Hungarians. Some fear that the declaration of independence will likely strengthen Serbia’s already powerful, nationalist extreme-right , represented by the Serbian Radical Party, which currently forms the largest group in parliament and came within two percentage points of defeating Boris Tadic, the country’s relatively liberal incumbent president, in run-off elections held on February 3, 2008.

It is not likely that Vojvodina’s ethnic minorities would call for independence with the same fervour that has characterized Kosovar Albanian demands to sovereignty, even though some will likely agitate for the strengthening of this northern province’s semi-autonomous status. The demographic composition of these two provinces, however, is drastically different. In Kosovo, ethnic Albanians comprise more than 90 percent of the total population, which stands at around two million. Population estimates for the remaining Serb minority can be anywhere from just under six percent to as much as ten percent. Most Serb residents of Kosovo live in a small handful of enclaves in the north (including Zubin Potok, Leposavic and Zvercari), as well the Strpce region in the south.

Vojvodina’s ethnic and linguistic composition, in contrast, is far more complicated and diverse. Many of the region’s 290,000 Hungarians live near the border with Hungary and form the dominant ethnic group in cities like Szabadka (Subotica). Yet according to census data from 2002, even in this city of just over 99,000 residents, only around 35 percent are of Hungarian origins, while 26 percent identify themselves as Serbs, nearly 11 percent as Bunjevci (a south Slavic group), 10 percent as Croat, 7 percent as “Yugoslav,” and nearly 2 percent as Montenegrin.

Province-wide census results present an even more complicated demographic picture of Vojvodina. Although Serbs form an overall majority with 65 percent, Hungarians comprise over 14 percent of the population, with Slovaks and Croats tied at just under 3 percent, “Yugoslavs” at over 2 percent, Montenegrins at 1.75 percent and Romanians at 1.5 percent. Smaller ethnic groups include the Roma, Macedonians, Ukrainians, Rusyns and Germans.

Vojvodina remains one of Eastern Europe’s most multicultural regions, with a total of 25 minorities making their home in this semi-autonomous province of Serbia. The province, in fact, is also officially multilingual, with six languages–including Hungarian–enjoying special status. Vojvodina’s Hungarians, however, are dispersed in several regions, and this would make it exceedingly difficult for them to try to rally for regional autonomy. Although the Hungarian presence is strong in the northern areas of Subotica, Kanjiza (Kanizsa) and Senta, Hungarian-speakers also live in nearly a dozen other regions and municipalities.

Kosovo’s independence will likely have a profound impact on Serbian politics, since all major political parties on both the left and right view the Albanian-dominated province as the “cradle” of Serbian national identity. The radicalization of the political discourse could spell trouble for Vojvodina’s minorities. Additionally, there is a possibility that the discrimination that was prominent during Slobodan Milosevic’s rule–when the late Serbian president suspended Vojvodina’s autonomy and allegedly conscripted a disproportionately large number of Hungarians to fight in Kosovo–may once again haunt this troubled region.

Canadian Hungarian Journal

Hungarian Abstract/Magyar Kivonat: Borsai Csaba, a budapesti Regnum Marianum iskola földrajz és biológia tanára ezer kilométeres kanadai biciklitúrára viszi diákjait. A diákok megismerkedhetnek Québec és Ontario tartományokkal, valamint az ott élő magyar közösségekkel is találkoznak.

Csaba Borsai, a secondary school teacher at Regnum Marianum High School in Budapest, is set to take his students on a 1000km long bike tour of central Canada this summer. Entitled “A Bridge between the Danube and the Saint Lawrence,” the Catholic school’s tour is not only aimed at introducing these students to the Canadian landscape, but also serves as a type of protest against global warming. Tour participants will make the lengthy, 23-day journey from southern Quebec to southwestern Ontario without being escorted by a car. As such, the students will have to take all their equipment and personal belongings with them on their bikes.

In addition to the tour’s goal of raising awareness of key environmental issues, the students will also use their encounters with Canadians as an opportunity to introduce them to Saint Elizabeth of Hungary and her lifestory. Mr. Borsai’s students will perform short sketches depicting the saint’s life to Hungarian communities in Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and will visit a long list of smaller towns in Ontario, including Vankleek Hill, Rockland, Smiths Falls, Portland, Kingston, Picton, Brighton, Oshawa and Pickering. While in the nation’s capital, the Hungarian students will have the opportunity to tour Parliament Hill, as well as visit the Royal Mint, Rideau Hall, the Hungarian 1956 monument on Maple Island, as well as tour Gatineau Park. The students will also put on a short play for Ottawa’s Hungarian community, at the Hungarian Cultural Centre in Nepean.

Mr. Borsai is a biology and geography teacher at the Regnum Marianum school. “When I first started working as a teacher, I decided that I would try to show my students things that they would not find in their textbooks. We have been just about everywhere within Hungary and over the years, I have also taken my students on tours of Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United States,” said Mr. Borsai in an interview.

Canadian Hungarian Journal

Hungarian Abstract/Magyar kivonat: Tom Lantos, amerikai kongresszusi képviselő bejelentette, hogy az év végén visszavonul az aktív politikából 27 éves karrierje után. A 80 éves magyar származású demokrata párti képviselő haladó politikát folytatott a társadalmi kérdésekben. Támogatta az azonosnemű házasságot, a kisebbségi jogokat, a marihuana legalizációját és az abortuszt. Lantos a napokban jelentette be, hogy nem indul a novemberi választáson, mivel orvosai nyelőcsőrákot fedeztek fel nála.

Tom Lantos, the Hungarian-born veteran US congressman, has announced that he will not seek re-election later this year, following 27 years in office, after having been diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus. The Democratic member of the House of Representatives has been known as an outspoken proponent of progressive social issues, including same-sex marriage, the decriminalization of marijuana for medical purposes, abortion rights and civil liberties. As a congressman, Mr. Lantos voted in favour of stronger hate crime legislation and has been a prominent critic of foreign governments that turn a blind eye to human rights violations. The congressman’s record on defence and security issues, however, is mixed.  Lantos supported the Persian Gulf War in 1991 and stood by President George W. Bush’s administration at the start of the Iraq War in 2003, along with many other prominent Democrats.

Although Mr. Lantos only became a Member of the US Congress in 1981, his experience in political issues stretches back all the way to the Second World War.  Mr. Lantos was born into a middle-class Jewish family. At age 17, he participated in the Hungarian resistance movement, after having escaped from a forced labour camp in rural Hungary. While in Budapest during the final months of the war, the young Mr. Lantos lived with an aunt in a safe house sponsored by Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg. Dressed in an inconspicuous cadet’s uniform, Mr. Lantos travelled around Budapest providing other Hungarian Jews in safe houses with basic food and medical supplies.

Mr. Lantos immigrated to the US in 1947, after receiving a university scholarship and completed both a BA and an MA degree. He eventually moved to the San Francisco area, where he completed a PhD in economics at Berkeley and later served as a lecturer at San Francisco State University.

Mr. Lantos seems to present his life story as the explemplification of the ‘American Dream.’ The veteran congressman observed that “it is only in the United States that a penniless survivor of the Holocaust and a fighter in the anti-Nazi underground could have received an education, raised a family, and had the privilege of serving the last three decades of his life as a Member of Congress.”

Upon his election to the House of Representatives, Mr. Lantos made history by becoming the first Holocaust survivor ever to serve as a US congressman.

Canadian Hungarian Journal

Update:

•February 11, 2008: Tom Lantos dies at age 80 (Hungarian Article)

A new website about Hungarian-Canadians went live in June. The site, www.hungarianpresence.ca, features the richness and diversity of Canadian culture by showcasing Hungarian-Canadian artistic and intellectual contributions, both past and present. The first phase of the website displays work by and about a number of notable artists, musicians, writers, scientists, business people and athletes who came to Canada or who are second generation Hungarian Canadians.

“From theatre and the arts to business and to sport, Hungarian-Canadians have had a visible impact on Canadian society,” remarks Judy Young-Drache, President of the Canada-Hungary Educational Foundation. “Now we can use an interactive medium, the internet, to share the stories of these remarkable people not only with the general public, but also with young Canadians who may never have heard about the events of 1956.”

Ms. Young-Drache, who is also a member of the editorial board for the website, says the idea for the project originated from the activities that took place in fall 2006 to mark the 50th anniversary of the Hungarian revolution in 1956. Its suppression by the Soviet army was the main reason why more than 38,000 Hungarian refugees arrived in Canada to find freedom and safety in 1956 and 1957.

While the website already offers access to hundreds of webpages about the contributions of Hungarian-Canadians, the project will be updated and enriched on a continuous basis for the next three years at least.

The Canada-Hungary Educational Foundation/Fondation éducative Canada-Hongrie (CHEF) is a registered educational charity set up in December 2005 to create awareness for Canada’s role in accepting more than 38,000 Hungarian refugees in 1956-57 and highlighting the contributions those refugees eventually made to Canadian life.

The website’s editorial board includes: Christopher Adam, Mark Curfoot-Mollington, John Miska, and Judy Young-Drache.

A few days ago the Galerie d’Arts Contemporains presented an exhibition of Andrea Blanar’s latest work at 2140 Crescent street in Montreal.The exhibition is on from 18th of October to 31st of October. The gallery is situated on the unofficial hub of “latest trends“ in Art. It is walking distance from the Museum of Fine Arts. Descending a few steps from the street, entering the gallery, one enters another world of the mysterious silence of New Brunswick marshes.

The paintings are mostly landscapes. The themes of the artworks are landscapes enriched by a suggestion of magic are the locale of Andrea’s studio at the maritimes. The formats of the pictures are subtly innovative; the rectangular format of the tableaux are extended beyond frontal plane of the pictures onto its sides, lifting it out of the wall surface. It guarantees its being a slice of reality not just a window opening. There is a suggestion of other worldliness in the other formats presented pictures that are shaped like gothic arches of church windows framing a view of the marshes with swaying rushes rendered with loving care.

While a few paintings are in the conventional format others presented in a playful mode , inviting the viewer to contemplate on many levels of concepts offered. Also there are a few truly imaginative pieces of ex-furniture granted a new sphere of existence by enshrouding in a landscape - thus (almost ) becoming an icon to be worshipped. All pieces of art presented are witness to the technical excellence of the artist in the various kind of art; either in two or three dimensions.

Andrea Blanar is an artist of notable achievements; She had, up to date, 31 solo shows, in group exhibitions in Canada, USA and China and has been the recipient of a number of awards. Andrea has served as a lecturer at our three universities in Montreal and, above all, as the founder and guiding spirit of the Canadian Hungarian Artists’ Collective.

Rose Szasz

Montreal Mayor Gérard Tremblay responded to the Canadian Hungarian Artist Collective’s (CHAC) request to hold a major event that celebrates the 50th Anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution, as Hungarians had come here in large numbers. CHAC was asked to organize an exhibit at City Hall that would tell the story of Hungarians and Hungarian associations in Montreal. I concluded that this was a project that went beyond the mandate of CHAC. Thus, not wishing to lose this great offer to honour Hungarians, I spearheaded the creation of “MHHS” by gathering together many leaders in Montreal, to create the “Montreal Hungarian Historical Society” under the Co- Presidencies of Mária Mailáth and Christopher Adam.

With an almost impossible deadline two months away, and in the summer months, when people are away vacationing, $10,000 was raised and an exhibition was mounted. Of course, all would have wished for more time to do a better more comprehensive research. But, considering the realities, I am amazed that the MHHS group was able to do this and that CHAC was an important player in this project, providing manpower and artistic expertise. Miklos Rogan was of critical importance, as he did all the artwork for the exhibits.

Andrea Blanar

For more information on the Montreal Hungarian Historical Society’s exhibit, click here.