Two of our readers, Fruzsina Magyar and Tamás Patrovits, sent the Canadian Hungarian Journal the letter published below, in which they seek our help in unearthing more information on the life of Károly Patrovits, a Hungarian journalist credited with saving the lives of hundreds of Hungarian Jews during the Second World War.

If you know anything about Károly Patrovits, who saved the lives of many Jewish forced laborers, an act for which he paid with his own life, please let us know.

We read an article by László Feleki in the May 25, 1975 issue of the newspaper Népsport. It was entitled PATRÓ (The Story of a Righteous Man):

… it happened in late fall of 1944 in front of the Great Market Hall on Dimitrov Square [in Budapest]. Hungarian reserve first lieutenant Károly Patrovits was commander of a Jewish forced labor company. He received orders to march his company to Germany. He had no doubt about what this order entailed and the fate that awaited the 220 men under his command. He decided not to follow orders, regardless of what may happen. After marching for several days, he stopped his company in front of the market hall and said more or less as follows:

‘Men! I have received orders to march to Germany. Since the journey is long, you may all go home now… I repeat: YOU MAY ALL GO HOME NOW to prepare for the journey. After all, we’re not going JUST ANYWHERE. Understood? We start six o’clock tomorrow morning. I’m warning everyone, don’t be late, because WE’RE NOT WAITING FOR ANYONE!

He’d already worked on his staff. It wasn’t difficult, because he’d already imbued them with his own views during the previous months. They were happy to be out of the war and were hoping that they’d only have to lie low for another couple of difficult weeks or months…. Almost all the men understood the meaning of the commander’s surprising announcement, which was given a tragic-comic coloring by next morning’s episode. The next morning, Patrovits and some of his staff appeared in front of the market hall and he was surprised to see that 7 (seven!) forced laborers had followed his orders and had appeared precisely on time. They were fully equipped; after all you can’t head for the Third Reich just any old way. Seven out of 220. Patrovits took a deep breath, then all he said was, “Get lost, boys.”

The penny dropped. The men ran to their beloved commander, hugged him, then scattered. What happened to them? We don’t know what happened to most of the men in the Patrovits company. Were they able to take advantage of the freedom that fell in their laps? How many were able to survive the grueling months until the liberation? And how many can still remember the man who paid for his heroism with his life?”

Károly Patrovits was the father of the well known actor György Pálos.

György Pálos’s original name was György Patrovits.

Please contact us at the following address  with any information or personal experiences:

Fruzsina Magyar: magyarfr@t-online.hu

Tamás Patrovits: t.patrovits@gmail.com

Canada’s first national internment operations represented a historic injustice. Although internment impacted a range of communities from the lands of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman Empire and other parts of Europe, Ukrainian Canadian scholars and community activists launched the redress campaign and remained determined in their call for remembrance, commemoration and restitution, even when federal government officials denied that an injustice had occured or dispassionately and indifferently told them to forgive, forget and move on.

One of the gravest forms of injustice is when the victims cannot tell their story, when they are silenced by denial or indifference, when they are marginalized and pushed to the periphery of history.

Mary Manko, one of the last surviving victims of Canada’s first national internment operations said it best: “What was done to us was wrong. Because no one bothered to remember or learn about the wrong that was done to us, it was done to others again, and yet again. Maybe there’s an even greater wrong in that.”

Mary Manko spoke these words in January 1994, as the co-chair of the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association’s National Redress Campaign. It then took another 14 years before the time, energy and dedication that was poured into the redress campaign finally came to fruition, with the establishment of the Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund, a $10 million endowment, which serves to commemorate and promote public memory, as well as educate Canadians about this dark, and for much too long forgotten episode in our history. The reconsecration of the Kapuskasing cemetery represents an important milestone in remembrance, commemoration and in recognizing the historic injustice suffered by thousands of innocent people who had arrived in Canada from central, eastern and southeastern Europe; an injustice which occured not only here in northern Ontario, but also in 24 internment camps across the country.

The history of the redress campaign carries with it an important message for us all. We must always be vigilant and willing to defend the civil liberties of all in society and we must speak out unequivocally against injustice, even when our political leaders and government officials would rather than we remain silent.

Christopher Adam

Kapuskasing, October 13th, 2011

Zenon Kosiniak-Kamysz

Poland assumed the European Union’s rotating presidency after Hungary’s turn at the wheel ended on July 1st, 2011, and at a time when the EU continues to face major economic challenges at home and a range of new opportunities abroad, particularly in its relationship with rapidly changing countries in the Middle East. Polish ambassador Zenon Kosiniak-Kamysz spoke with the Canadian Hungarian Journal about his hopes for a Europe driven by a sense of solidarity, and one which continues on the paths of integration and expansion. Mr. Kosiniak-Kamysz served as a diplomat in Budapest immediately after the transition to democracy in 1989/90–a time which he described as both moving and formative–when he not only gained a deeper understanding of Hungarian society, but also an impressive grasp of the Hungarian language.

Poland assumed the European Union’s rotating presidency at a time of great economic upheaval, with reports indicating that Italy might soon face a debt crisis, and with serious trouble looming in Greece, which already received a 110 billion euro bailout from the EU.  Within this context of uncertainty, does Poland begin its stint at the helm with apprehension, and how will the Polish presidency attempt to address the on-going economic crisis?

This is one of the biggest problems in the European Union, but I don’t think that the situation is really very critical. We have experience from the communist era and we really do understand what represents a crisis; maybe we understand it better, or on a different level, than our allies and friends from the western part of Europe. We have to think how to help other countries and how to find global solutions for Europe. We must be competitive, not only in Europe, but we have to be open to other countries, including Canada. We are just in the process of negotiating a free trade agreement with Canada. I hope that this will help us to strengthen our mutual trade and cooperation with Canada, and this is one of the possible opportunities for further economic development.

I can remember Poland’s membership negotiations with the European Union. I remember how afraid so many western countries were about us, particularly Poland, because Poland was the biggest country from the former Eastern bloc. After seven years of membership, we can say that we are not the troublemakers of the European Union. Now, we’re leading the rotating presidency and we don’t think that the situation is at all hopeless.

You brought up the communist experience and one of the aspects of the transition to democracy in Poland, Hungary and elsewhere in Eastern Europe was referred to as economic shock therapy. This is when privatization began and unemployment skyrocketed. Is this one of the examples that you are alluding to when you note that Poland has experience dealing with severe economic crises?

Of course. In 1989-1990 we were so happy that finally we could have a political system that was not imposed on us by anyone. But the problematic aspect was the high unemployment rate and hyperinflation. Yet after a really short period of time, we managed it and now we are developing very well. We are able to think globally and we are able to share our experiences. These experiences allow us to develop our country and also to give a hand to other European nations.

The Polish presidency’s program mentions the fact that Europe is ageing and that the model of the welfare state model needs to be changed. What is the nature of the change that Poland is proposing?

 This is one of the most difficult of problems in Europe and one of the most sensitive issues. For the time being this is a big challenge for every single member state. We need to cope with these problems together. One of the important things to underline is the concept of solidarity. Rather than doing everything alone, together we can cope with these challenges much more effectively and we can also talk about solidarity in terms of this economic crisis. Generally, when you look at the EU, there has been growth and recovery after the big financial crisis, even though some of the states still face difficulties.

And of course the use of the term ”solidarity” raises important historic imagery as well.

Yes. And in all of this remember that the rotating presidency is not as strong as it was before. However, this is a good opportunity for the new member countries, especially for Poland and Hungary, to enjoy this historic achievement, to bring new ideas and programs to the table.

There is a continuing debate in the European Union  about further integration and expansion, with some suggesting that the two are mutually exclusive. The union either expands, bringing in more members and becoming more diverse as a loose political and economic confederation, or it halts expansion and concentrates on deeper integration of existing (or perhaps only a small core of founding) member states. Where does the Polish presidency stand on the issue of integration and expansion?

I don’t think that the two are mutually exclusive. We joined the EU seven years after very tough membership negotiations. We understand other countries that are interested in joining. It was not easy for the EU to take in ten new member states. The Schengen Zone is the most visible achievement of united Europe. But, coming back to your question: I am more than sure that we will go in both directions. We should be open to countries that strive to become members of the EU and that are prepared for membership, but on the other hand we have many ideas on how to cooperate deeper and deeper with each other.

There’s also the question of countries that will not be joining the EU any time soon. There is the concept of a so-called “Eastern Partnership,” referring, among others, to Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova and even parts of Central Asia. How does Poland envisage cooperation with some of these countries that have authoritatian governments? I am thinking in particular of Belarus, which borders Poland, and is still run by a dictatorial regime.

Belarus is one of our priorities. Not only because Belarus is our neighbour, or because there is a Polish minority in Belarus, but because this country is Europe’s last dictatorship. We can try to help the people in Belarus by giving them a glimpse of the outside world. The best thing to do is to show  that in other countries very close to Belarus, you can express your mind and feelings. This is why we are so involved in the Eastern Partnership. This is why we cooperate with NGO’s in Belarus and activities that bring information to Belarusians about other countries. This is connected with our experiences from the totalitarian times. It was very beneficial for us to get information from the free, democratic world. The people must see that they are strong enough to change their country. In Anna Porter’s book, the Ghosts of Europe, there is a really nice thought: you can’t export democracy to other countries, when the people are not eager to implement it. That’s why we are not interested to dictate what they have to do. The people in this country should have the opportunity to see the outside world and decide which direction to take.

Poland went through some of this in the 1980′s. On a similar topic, how does Poland propose to build on EU-Arab relations, particularly as many countries in the Middle East are experiencing such dramatic change and a move towards freedom and democratization?

The European Union is a huge institution of democratic countries and we should share our experiences with these new pro-democratic movements. Our foreign minister was one of the first to visit Benghazi, as an envoy of the European Union. Our former president and leader of Solidarność, Lech Wałęsa, visited Tunisia and shared his experiences from the 1980′s in Poland. The situation was more or less comparable.

Poland is taking over the rotating presidency from Hungary and one of events at the end of the Hungarian presidency was the completion of negotiation talks with Croatia. Does Poland envisage any further expansion of the EU into the Balkans?

Of course, there will be futher expansion into the west Balkans. Croatia will be a member of the EU very shortly, but other states are waiting to be invited and are trying to prepare themselves for membership. And there are other countries with which we would like to cooperate, even if they will not become members of the European Union.

Does Poland see the European Union as a source of protection, or even a buffer, against Russia, which might become more economically or politically aggressive in the region?

No. I don’t think that the policy of confrontation is the future of Europe and I don’t think that it will be necessary to create any buffers. We would like to cooperate with Russia and would like to treat Russia as a partner. At the same time, we too would like to be treated as partners by the Russian side. There have been some reservations about the export of Polish agricultural products, but I think when we look at all of this globally, these are small problems. The Polish mentality is more optimistic, rather than pessimistic and this is why we hope that Russia will be a reliable partner for the European Union.

In 2004, Péter Medgyessy served as Hungary’s prime minister. He was at a meeting of European leaders, where France was still represented by Jacques Chirac. At that meeting there was some discussion and debate on the role that new member states from Eastern Europe play in the EU, vis-a-vis western states. At a moment in the discussion, Medgyessy felt that some leaders in the west still viewed the former Eastern bloc members as being second class and of secondary importance. Today, do Poles feel that they are equal in the European Union with the French, the Germans, the Belgians and others?

That’s a very good question and I’m grateful for it. My dream is to forget about these divisions. It is now time to say that we are Europeans and members of the European Union. I don’t think that anyone has the right to say that you are not invited to this club or that you have to stay in the other room. No! I strongly believe that there is one room, one place and the same rights for everyone in the EU.

So there should not be any second-tier member states?

No. I spent many years abroad before we joined the European Union. I can remember during our membership negotiations the idea about the Europe of two speeds. One of the most important things, particularly for us, is European solidarity. It would be extremely difficult to explain to the people that we have European solidarity, but that there is a separate solidarity for the east and another solidarity for the west. I’m really very disappointed when anyone in the EU tries to argue that we have two kinds of members. And in fact, the current problems are not in the new members states of the East.

I know that you served as a diplomat in Budapest right around the transition to democracy in 1989-1990. How did you find this experience?

These were formative times, filled with hope. I can remember that the Magyar Demokrata Fórum’s election posters showed the back of a Soviet solider and read: “Tovarisi, konyec!” The process of transition was a long one and it began in Hungary in 1956, continued in Czechoslovakia in 1968 and was followed by Poland in the 1980′s. There is also a special bond and friendship between Hungarians and the Polish people and I can remember how when people in Hungary discovered that I was Polish, they would say “Ah, Lengyel!” with a smile. I was a young diplomat in Budapest during the transition and this served as a nice, formative period in my life.

Scott Bradley

Scott Bradley, az Ottawa-Centre választókerület liberális képviselőjelöltje interjút adott a Kanadai Magyar Hírlapnak, melyben beszélt a szövetségi közszféra kríziséről, a közalkamazottak elkeseredettségéről, valamint arról, hogy miért indul a választáson és, hogy milyenek mindennapjai az öthetes választási kampány idején.

How does the multicultural nature of Ottawa-Centre and the existence of diverse communities fit into your election campaign in this riding?

Diversity is part of the fabric of this community. The challenges that we try to address impact Canadians and new Canadians who are establishing themselves in Ottawa.

I’ve always had the passion to run. I am extremely concerned about what is happening in government right now. The institutions of government are being degraded and undermined. At some point, we had to have new people stand up and say that is wrong. We can’t tolerate this and we need to be passionate and  active in what we do, in terms of addressing what’s taking place right now. The government is fundamentally changing the direction of this country and we see it here first-hand in Ottawa, because we’re much closer to the issues than, for example, people would be in Brandon, Manitoba. When I ran for the Liberal nomination in Ottawa-Centre, public service was the key issue that I focused on.

What would the Liberal Party try to tackle first, should it form the next government?

Certainly the issue of restoring integrity to government would be key. There is a recognition in the Liberal Party of the importance of having a strong, objective public service. As a party in government, you have a mandate to deliver on policies and on the programmes that you outlined and were elected on. But at the same time, you recognize that the role of a government department is to put forward ideas and take action based on facts. All of these things are fundamental to the notion of good government. The Liberal Party understands this. We understand that there is a separation between a stable, strong governing structure and a political structure that provides a vision for leading the country forward.

Michael Ignatieff is someone who understands this. His father was a public servant and his family was deeply involved in the public service. This is the foundation that Michael brings to the table, in terms of his passion for strong institutions. One of the reasons that we’re successful as a country is because we have had a strong, stable governing structure and this is what is at risk right now. We need to make sure that we have a public service that can do its job—that can be objective in the ideas that they put forward.

So you’re looking to ensure that day-to-day party politics are removed from the public service.

That’s the way it’s always been. Every government will eventually get tired at the political level, but for 125 years, conservative and liberal governments respected the Westminster model—the importance of that separation. This Harper government has undermined that.

Would you argue that this risk is magnified with a possible Conservative majority in Parliament?

Many people that I have spoken to can’t comprehend what might happen in a Conservative majority situation. And this isn’t fear-mongering, it’s simply because people see first-hand the control that has been effected on them by the Prime Minister’s Office. They’re handcuffed, they’ve been neutered. They can’t do their jobs properly and the public service is being entirely undermined.

Obviously there are many public servants in this riding. Do you have a chance to speak with civil servants working at all levels and do they raise these concerns?

In the last eighteen months, I have knocked on about 12,000 doors. In fact, during the first four days of the election campaign, we’ve knocked on over one thousand doors. We’ve been out talking with people consistently over this time and we’ve had a number of town halls. We’re in Ottawa-Centre, this is the home of the government. There are 20,000 public servants who work in our riding. They see first-hand what’s going on.

Do you feel that the public service is somewhat demoralized?

Hugely. I don’t use this word to be dramatic, but people are apoplectic. People who are managers tell me that they can’t even write a policy paper without it being signed off by the deputy minister and going through the PMO for approval. This simply isn’t functional.

We’ve spoken about public servants, but you also have a large student population in this riding, particularly around Carleton University.

I’ve been to Carleton a dozen times—I’m probably on campus about once a month talking with students. I think that they like the focus that Michael’s putting on education nationally. There’s not a lot of love for Stephen Harper’s policies and his approach on university campuses. Most students in this riding recognize that a big choice needs to be made in this election. Students are focused on the issues and you get some good debates on campus.

Ottawa-Centre is a highly intelligent, educated riding and for all of the talk about students feeling disenfranchised and not knowing the issues, that’s really not the case. I think that university campuses are doing a lot to get students to be politically active.

You’re basically at the beginning of a five-week campaign and usually campaigning gets fairly strenuous. How does your work day look like?

Most mornings I stand on street corners and wave for an hour and a half. Yesterday I had three people give me thumbs down and two hundred people honk their horns. It’s a good pump-up for the day, because people are generally very receptive to it. From ten o’clock on I pretty much knock on doors all day. I’ve got three kids as well and I’m trying to still spend time with them. Last night my wife and kids came out campaigning with me, so they were knocking on doors and having a lot of fun with it. I think the kids are excited to see dad’s picture around town. I try to find an hour a day when we can spend a little time at the dinner table. We’re actually having dinner early these days—usually quarter to five—just so I can get back out and knock on doors.

What are the key local issues for you in this campaign?

Value in the public service and the role of the federal government in Ottawa.  As the government goes, this town goes. You don’t need to be a public servant to realize that if you’re a small business owner, you rely on government and in fact everyone in this town relies on that place to stay healthy and to thrive. At the moment, there are a number of things that the federal government is doing that aren’t congruent with what the city is trying to achieve. There are two issues in specific that we talk about and one of them is economic development—how do we leverage our assets in government to help economic development. We need to have a coordinated partnership approach and thinking, which doesn’t exist right now. This would allow the federal government to play a positive role in the community.

The second issue is light-rail, which has cost $2.1 billion in taxpayers’ money, $600 million of which is federal to build a railroad to Tunney’s Pasture. There’s no long-term plan for Tunney’s Pasture right now, while the federal government has gone and bought the Nortel campus out in the greenbelt. How is this consistent with keeping development in the downtown core and building a transit system around that infrastructure?

As you mentioned, we follow the Westminster model in Canada. Some people have suggested that this government has been trying to move the style of politics and political discourse a little closer to what you have in the United States, particularly perpetual and permanent presidential campaigns and significant amounts of money spent on negative television ads. Do you see this is as a problem as well?

People don’t like attack ads, but unfortunately I often knock on doors where I hear the ads coming back at me. I don’t take it personally, but I usually say in a general sense that I hope people can look beyond the attack ads. In terms of the perpetual campaign, this is a result of the lack of long-term thinking. It’s about having the conviction and political fortitude to say that I’m going make my bet here.

We do have some social problems in this riding, including poverty—especially around some of the group homes in the downtown. Ottawa-Centre is a mixed riding, with visible poverty in certain areas and relative affluence in others. How do you address issues of poverty in society and social justice issues in general?

There’s always been a Liberal way of recognizing the importance of having that social infrastructure in place to help people who are in need. This government seems to be entirely focused on crime and is spending billions of dollars on super prisons. I think that this money could be far better invested in helping Aboriginal youth who are coming from a difficult situation, or those who become alcoholics on the street at an early age. In some communities in this country, the rate of fetal alcohol syndrome is fifty percent. You need to have programmes in place to help these people.

We as a community are now also much more sensitive to issues of mental health than we were five or ten years ago. We need to understand the role that mental health issues play in homelessness or crime. We need to understand that the smarter investments are those that keep our community safe and provide assistance to those battling mental health problems. We need to place a focus on great facilities, like the Royal Ottawa Hospital.

Much of this has been neglected in political discourse.

It has been, but people are talking about it now and there is far more acceptance and understanding of that spending $2.7 billion on prisons isn’t the way to go. We need to invest in other areas to get people help who are at risk.

I play guitar and at Christmas, I would go around to some of the senior facilities and play carols for the residents. We played at more than half a dozen senior residences and seen many of the social programs in place, including lunches, opportunities for social interaction and subsidized home. Recently, I met a labourer, who probably didn’t make much more than minimum wage all his life and he doesn’t have much of pension. But he’s still happy and still reads the paper every day and still participates in the community. He grew up as a working-man, never had a lot, but had a good life and you really want to make sure that people like that are provided for.

There are many people earning minimum wage in the riding, yet it has been determined that they would need a working wage closer to $14 per hour just to get by.

Many new Canadians also struggle to find jobs and this is one of the bigger issues in this town. The federal government is the primary employer in Ottawa, so how do you go about offering good jobs to people in communities where unemployment is higher? Many people in Ottawa and across the country struggle. This reinforces for us the importance of education and making sure we get as many young Canadians through school as we can, so that they at least have the skills to go out and hopefully secure a well-paying job. And we also need to focus on those who invest and create new economic opportunities in Canada.

You’re looking ahead to a strenuous five weeks, but ultimately what do you  think you will be getting out of this campaign beyond, perhaps, a seat in Parliament?

I’m pursuing a passion, not a job. I feel like I’m doing the one thing that I was really meant to do. I am happiest simply to be doing this right now. You simply give it all you’ve got and hope that you meet as many people  as possible who shake your hand and understand how committed you are to this. You hope to be as genuine as you can in the way you present yourself. We’re giving it all here, but politics is part luck, part timing and part things that you can do yourself. It’s exhilarating and you simply have to take it as far as you can go.

According to Bence Rétvári, a secretary of state in Hungary’s Ministry of Justice, “A constitutional system cannot preserve documents collected through anti-constitutional means, as these are the immoral documents of an immoral regime.” The government decree makes it permissible to remove and destroy irreplaceable archival documents. Were Rétvári’s warped logic and reasoning also used by authorities in other countries, we could no longer produce histories of the world’s most dictatorial and genocidal regimes.

Anyone who has worked with these state security documents knows just how difficult it is to define who did and who did not collaborate with the previous, communist regime. There were many forms of collaboration with the secret police, including people who were actually agents themselves, as well as ‘ordinary’ citizens who served as so-called “community contacts;” who met with state security officers, in order to provide information on their neighbours. Others collaborated with communist authorities out of fear. Access to as much of the surviving record as possible allowed professional historians to produce histories of this period which took into account the various forms and levels of collaboration, whilst also showing just how deep cooperation with the former regime actually ran in society.

It is very difficult to see the destruction of Hungarian archives as anything other than a crude political move on the part of politicians who are concerned about potentially unpleasant and embarrassing documents on their relationship with the former regime that may one day be found by historians. Such documents may even suggest that some of the most fervent anti-communist politicians today were of a rather different opinion only two decades ago.

I have been able to collect and copy a few hundred pages of now potentially endangered documents from the Archives of Hungarian State Security over the course of my own research and I hope that historians will reproduce as much as possible of the preserved material, before it is lost forever. It is a very sad prospect that the Hungarian government–including a prime minister who spoke out strongly against dictatorship 20 years ago–may now make it impossible for historians to study and share their research on the country’s communist past.

Fr. Thomas Androvich of Our Lady of Hungary Parish (Photo: C. Adam)

Our Lady of Hungary Parish in Montreal held its annual patronal festival on October 3rd, 2010. The city’s Hungarian parish opened its doors to all Central European communities in Montreal, with priests from the Ukrainian, German and Slovene churches participating during mass and a range of other communities setting up tables with traditional food and crafts from their home cultures. Fr. Thomas Androvich, Our Lady of Hungary’s parish priest, celebrated Sunday mass and also gave the homily. In his reflection, Fr. Tamás observed that Central European communities and nations that had sometimes shared a troubled history were able to come together in peace, cooperation and celebration. Fr. Tamás added that just as the Virgin Mary said ‘yes’ to God and chose life, we too as Catholic and Christian communities must choose to follow Christ.

More than four hundred people participated in the Sunday morning mass, after which the parish held a reception for dignitaries and church leaders. Kathleen Weil, Quebec’s Minister of Immigration and Cultural Communities, was present and also spoke about the importance of diversity and the contributions of others cultures to the province. The borough Mayor of Villeray-Saint-Michel-Parc Extension, Anie Samson,  addressed parishoners and members of other communities at the festival, beginning her speech with a few words in Hungarian. In addition to civil servants of the Quebec government, the Hungarian Embassy in Ottawa was represented by diplomats Tamás Király and Imre Helyes.

The festival included a wide range of meals from Central Europe, an array of live music from all genres–including traditional folk, as well as Hungarian evergreen and pop–and colourful games for children and the young at heart. Participants crossed cultural and culinary boundaries by mixing Borscht and pierogies, with Hungarian goulash, Debreczeni and crepes. By attracting well over 400 participants, the Hungarian scouts, the Hungarian Saturday school, the community’s folk dance groups, the youth band and all church committees helped make the festival a success, demonstrating that Our Lady of Hungary Parish remains a vibrant church in the Archdiocese of Montreal.

To enlarge the photos in the Canadian Hungarian Journal’s gallery, please click on the individual image. Some photos may take a few moments to appear, as  they are higher resolution.

East Hastings has long struggled with poverty, drug addiction and other social problems. How did working
in this environment help you develop as a Catholic?

Just walking through that area leaves an impression; drug usage is very present, as well as mental illness and prostitution. Working in East Hastings really brought alive the mission of the Oblates; of serving the poor and the most abandoned in society. It was good for me to experience that in a very real way. I came to realize that ministry is not about doing everything, but doing what you can, and this was something that I had to let go of during the first weeks there. You simply can’t do everything on the East-side and if you tried to, you would lose your mind.

The situation is that challenging?

The problems there are so complex and to be there for four months all you will really do is basic ministry to the poor. You would have to be there a couple of years, in order to gain the community’s trust and do any major social justice work. Something like poverty, hunger or drug abuse can’t be solved in four months.

Are the social problems in East Hastings significantly worse than in Ottawa’s Lowertown or in Vanier?

I worked on King Edward at the Shepherds of Good Hope during my first year in Ottawa and I found that the needs in East Hastings are the same, but the sheer magnitude of what’s going on in East Hastings far outweighs Ottawa. It’s somewhat of an anomaly, because much of Vancouver is quite affluent. On most days, we were giving out 500 to 600 meals; usually bags of food and a soup. Each bags contains a sandwich, some sweets and maybe some fruit. There are 500 people waiting in line each day and it is shocking to see this.

Beyond handing out meals, what was your role or responsibility in the area?

I worked at the Sisters of Atonement on Mondays. In the mornings I worked for the clothing store where men could come in once every 60 days to receive free clothes. I stuffed bags with the sandwiches and dished out soup, and on other days I would prepare for preaching on the weekends. I would also take a couple of Fifth Steps each week. During an AA program, the Fifth Step is when you confess to another person everything that might have led to your addiction and if you have hurt other people while you were addicted. On Fridays, I would work at the Listening Post—at one of the main intersections in East Hastings. This was a sanctuary, offering a prayer space and a place to meditate. I would be there for anyone who needed to talk.

What kind of new insight or perspective did this experience give you on poverty in Canada?

Before, when I was working with the poor, I heard the stories of people struggling with addictions and the stories of their pain and hurt. This time, I was more free to ask and hear in a new way—not just about how they got there—but about how it feels to be poor. This is a question that we don’t always ask. I got to see what poverty does to people.

And what is the impact of poverty on people?

It dehumanizes them. One of the best reflections I heard asked the question: what does it feel like to wait in line for food? Here is a line up, around the block. You wait in line and there is some sense of community, but then some guy like myself hands the food to you and you’re simply rushed along. There are a few miracle stories, but they are not the most joyous miracles; usually it’s on the level of “thank God, you’ve stopped doing crack, but it won’t be an easy haul from here.” Miracles may happen, but not in a grandiose way.

As an Oblate ministering in East Hastings, is your role aimed at alleviating the problems caused by poverty and addiction, or would you also work on prevention?

The issue is extremely complex. If you kick out the drug dealers, will that stop people from doing drugs? Probably not. Would it help? Probably. If you started addiction recovery programs, would it help? Probably, but you can’t force someone to quit an addiction. As an Oblate, witnessing to the poor is slow and tedious, but it is a process of listening and seeing what their needs are. They may be drug addicted, but perhaps what they really need is love. You’re not going to force anyone to quit drugs. You can simply be present and love them, recommend that they seek help. What they really need is more people to sit there and see what their needs are. This isn’t different than what any other church—including St. Joe’s—should focus on: simply, the encounter with one another. If I’m really loving that person, then that will produce healing.

Now that you’re back in Ottawa, what are your goals and plans this semester?

I am excited about doing the CP program at a hospital next semester. In terms of goals, I hope to finish up my BAC and theology.

How has the year started off for you at the Oblate House? I know that you are living and working with a new Oblate.

We’re pretty easy going at the house. My responsibility to Bradley is to be a brother in community. This is year number three for me in the Oblate House; my role is to continue to grow. I think that living with other people produces a certain amount of selfawareness and respect for each other.

How has your faith changed or developed over the past three years?

St. Paul University has allowed me to put flesh to my faith experience. The study of theology really does deepen the language, the experience and the meaning of living as a person of faith. The deeper you get into faith and spirituality, the simpler it gets. During intense formation, you enter into a process of finding what is most essential about Jesus and about your relationship with Jesus. I really think that over the past three years, my spirituality has become simpler, because when you’re looking for what’s most essential, the incidentals fall away.

Mayoral candidate Charlie Taylor (Photo: C. Adam)

Charlie Taylor’s political views might not fit well into the traditional left or right-wing political camps, but the mayoral candidate in Ottawa’s upcoming municipal election does have sustainability on his mind. The 33 year old Carleton University journalism student spoke with the Canadian Hungarian Journal as the municipal election campaign heats up. Taylor has visited 45 countries and travelled to Budapest and Lake Balaton in Hungary on two occasions, including once during a hitchhiking adventure from Turkey to Austria. Charlie Taylor sat down with the Canadian Hungarian Journal’s Christopher Adam to talk about his passion, goals and ambition during this election campaign.

As a mayoral candidate, you are running against two older candidates, with more experience in politics. Ottawa mayor Larry O’Brien has four years under his belt at City Hall, while Jim Watson is a former provincial minister and mayor. What do you bring to the table that is different from what these two seasoned politicians have to offer?

I sense a tension during this campaign between the two status quo candidates and candidates who want change. Larry O’Brien and Jim Watson have both held positions in Ottawa before, so they represent the status quo. If they are speaking about bringing about positive change, why have they not done so previously? Then you’ve got the other candidates who all want to bring about different visions of what that change should be. What we see is a choice between business as usual, or bringing about change. The type of change that I’m interested in seeing has to do with sustainability issues. I am a Green Party member, I believe in environmental sustainability. If a given policy is not sustainable long-term, then it’s not a good policy. While I don’t have the name recognition of some of the other candidates, I feel that I’m playing a valuable role by simply talking about issues than nobody else is talking about. If I can make the front runners discuss things that they aren’t interested in discussing, then I have already served a purpose.

And how have you done so far in raising awareness?

One of the big successes that I have had in initiating discussion about an issue is about the U-Pass. This is basically a $290 fee that’s mandatory for all Carleton and University of Ottawa students. It was passed fairly quietly and was seen by some as a great environmental move forward, since it would get people out of cars and onto the bus. Meanwhile, there are thousands of students who are saying, ‘wait a minute, I make the environmentally conscious decision to live within walking distance from school or I live outside of the service area of OC Transpo, so I have to drive a car.’ U-Pass is a great burden on students who don’t use transit. Since I have started talking about it, the issue has been covered in Macleans, on the CBC, in the Ottawa Citizen, Metro and by all sorts of media organizations. Charging walkers and cyclists is ludicrous.

They talk about getting people out of cars and onto buses, but the U-Pass won’t make people stop driving their cars. People drive their cars because it’s convenient. The way to get people out of cars and onto the bus is by creating a more efficient bus service.

What is your policy on developing Ottawa’s transit system? Light rail is clearly a pressing issue and one that probably should have been resolved long ago. How do you see the future of light rail and public transportation?

I have issues with the current light rail tunnel plan, as I think there would be better and cheaper ways of going about it. That having been said, the current plan is better than not moving ahead with light rail transit. Cancelling the north-south line probably took us back ten years in light rail. So, would I be willing to cancel the current plan to start from scratch again? Absolutely not. We need light rail in Ottawa.

So you would swallow the tunnel?

I’d swallow the tunnel and then start looking at improving the rail line. There are existing rail lines all over the city that are operated by Via Rail or CN, so I would like to negotiate a right of way agreement. This way we could actually run commuter trains into the centre of town. For example, we’ve already purchased the railway bridge across the Ottawa River into Gatineau, so we could have the O-Train cross over to the Québec side. Rail service could also be developed between the airport and the downtown. Every major city in Europe operates rail links from the airport to the city centre. This would make it convenient for business people to come downtown as well.

One of the issues that Ottawa is faced with is urban sprawl, especially since our population is now over 90o,000. How would you encourage living and investing in the downtown?

This is a big issue for me. It basically comes down to re-imagining our cities. Your Hungarian readers will be able to relate to the European model of cities, where you have vertical, rather than horizontal development. We’ve got a lot of land and we tend to just spew out in all directions. We need to reinvigorate the downtown area and to make it more appealing. Laurier is dead after five o’clock; you can’t even buy a kebab.

The type of development that I would like to see involve buildings where you have commercial on the ground floor, office space above that and then residential on the top floors. This means that you’re working on a vertical commute, rather than a horizontal one. This would lead to a more humane lifestyle; people wouldn’t be forced to spend two hours a day in their cars. The way to encourage this would be through zoning and creative city planning. Lansdowne Park is a little bit of a missed opportunity. They have 43 acres where they could have designed from scratch a real model city; one that would attract the attention of people from all around North America. What we want is urban intensification.

Poverty is also a pressing issue in parts of Ottawa, especially in areas of Lowertown and around the Byward market. What is your policy on affordable housing?

One of the solutions that I really like is a business model for dealing with housing issues, adopted by the Centretown Citizens Ottawa Corporation. They buy houses and then turn them into mixed income dwellings. Rather than creating poverty zones, they take a six unit building that they rent out. Three of these are rented to wealthier people at market value, who in turn subsidize the three units that are rented to those who make less money. All decisions are made by members of the  tenant community. I would like to do all that I can to support these non-profit organizations and their positive business model. I think that this is a better way of dealing with the issue than having the city create big housing projects for poorer people.

I also support the Acorn campaign for the living wage. The city has said that  you can’t live appropriately if  you make less than $13.50 per hour. The city shouldn’t be doing business with contractors who pay their employees less.

How would you improve transparency in Ottawa and ensure that taxpayers receive the most for their money?

There is definately a lot of apathy among residents, in terms of following municipal politics.  There is an attitude that you can get away with a little bit more, because there is less scrutiny. One of the big flaws with the current system is the way we vote. The first-past-the-post system of voting makes it really easy for an incumbent to win. Even if an incumbent only has the support of 20% of his constituents in his ward, he can still win  that election if the vote is being split by eight or nine other candidates. So, the motivation to be sqeaky clean isn’t that great.

One of the ideas that I am working on right now calls for more autonomy for the city from the provincial government. How we currently run our elections is dictated bz the municipal elections act of 1996. I would be more interested in moving towards a single transferable vote. Instead of voting for one candidate, you rank  the candidates noting first, second, third choice and so on. They then eliminate the candidate with the fewest choices, and then keep eliminating until they have one candidate who actually has the most support. To do this, we would have to renegotiate our deal with the province.

This is an issue that keeps coming up on all sorts of fronts, where the province is dictating rules for how we run our city and where all the stakeholders are within Ottawa. This would get more people interested in municipal politics.

Ottawa sometimes has the image and reputation of being little more than the  home of the Government of Canada. Years ago, some residents ran the “my Ottawa is culture campaign,” which aimed to show that Ottawa is more than just the seat of the federal government, but has a vibrant social and cultural life of its own. How would you strengthen this aspect of the capital?

Urban intensification would help; if we had a vibrant downtown core where people live, work and play, Ottawa would come across as more lively to tourists. Right now, you have Parliament Hill where they have the sound and light show, but then there is nowhere else to go in the area. I am also concerned about liquor laws. The LCBO was introduced as a compromise following prohibition. We should negotiate with the province to let us govern our own liquor laws. Why should the citizens of Ottawa not decide when we want our bars to close? And shouldn’t this be a free market decision, between the owner of the bar and their patrons? We lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue each year from eighteen year olds who go to Hull. How is it better or safer for our youth? It costs them a cab fare across the river and they spend all their drinking money in Quebec.

What would you say is Larry O’Brien’s main failing?

He hasn’t really made any progress on environmental issues.  Since the federal government is really uninterested in addressing the issue, the mayor should step forward and lead by example. Even people who voted for him in the hope of keeping their property taxes steady have been let down. Council certainly has accomplished some important things and I’m not one of the O’Brien bashers who goes out saying that everything he has done is horrible. They moved forward on light rail, for example. But there is a lot that needs to be done and I just don’t think that he has the imagination to come up with the degree of change that we need.

Of all the candidates, which one poses the biggest competition to you? My guess is that it would be Clive Doucet.

Doucet would be the biggest competitor in terms of talking about green issues. I think that Doucet probably does care about the environment, but I  think that he gets on the wrong side of issues based on dogma. I don’t want to be the candidate who subscribes to a particular dogma. I would rather approach every individual issue rationally and intelligently, in order to come up with the best possible solution. That’s not always going to be the solution that a certain political slant would agree with.

For example, we have the second most expensive transit service in Canada and it’s also funded 50% by taxpayers, as opposed to Toronto where it’s 30% subsidized. On top of this, it costs $3.25 to take the bus. The only way to address this issue is to look at the operating costs of the system. If the bus drivers are making an average of $75,000 per year for a job that requires a ‘G’ driver’s license and a two week training course, we have an unsustainable state of affairs.

If your chances of winning are slim, what do you hope to achieve during this campaign?

I hope to spark more discussion about issues that aren’t being talked about right now and to hold the status quo candidates–one of whom will probably end up winning–accountable.

St. Emeric, a vibrant and financially solvent Hungarian parish in Cleveland is set to close on Sunday

Perhaps Bishop Richard Lennon is in need of a reminder that we live in a post-Vatican II world, where aloof church leaders can no longer expect parishioners, the laity and local priests to quietly toe the line, whenever the upper echelons of the Church hierarchy enact wildly unpopular decisions above their heads, without any meaningful consultation. Perhaps Cleveland’s Bishop Lennon will awaken from his 1950′s reverie, when he arrives on the doorsteps of the 105 year old St. Emeric Church this Sunday in order to ceremoniously pull the rug out from under the Hungarian community. Perhaps he will find himself before parishioners unimpressed by the pomp and circumstance of a deconsecrating mass, and deeply unsympathetic to Mr. Lennon’s seemingly perfunctory display of Christian piety.

Cleveland’s unflinching Catholic bishop is scheduled to shutter St. Emeric Church this Sunday, and as such, will summarily evict elderly Hungarian pensioners nearing the end of their life from the community that they built, he will expel Hungarian boy scouts and girl guides from their classrooms and order the church’s parish priest to pack up and hand over the keys.

Once Mr. Lennon expels the Hungarian community, he will not only have direct control over a valuable piece of real estate, but also the estimated $1.3 million in the parish’s bank account. The diocese has long claimed that it is not closing St. Emeric and other parishes in Cleveland in order to confiscate millions of dollars from ordinary parishioners, but will re-distribute this sum among the remaining churches. Yet reports suggest that these funds may be used for other, less widely advertised purposes as well. Diocesan spokesman Robert Tayek noted that the diocese entered into confidential legal settlements with sexual abuse victims, but quickly added that this sum came from a separate reserve, and not from amounts confiscated from shuttered parishes.

If the passionate protests surrounding the closure of another Hungarian parish in nearby Akron serve as any indication, Mr. Lennon may not receive a warm welcome from St. Emeric’s parishioners. But the consequences of the bishop’s distinct lack of compassion and his willingness to dismiss the sensitivities of thousands of parishioners in 50 shuttered churches will have repercussions that go far beyond the protests and resistance that Mr. Lennon will undoubtedly face when he ejects St. Emeric’s congregation on Sunday.

The diocese misjudges and miscalculates when it assumes that Catholics in the twenty-first century will simply accept the verdict, relocate to another parish and continue writing cheques and sending in their donations. If church-goers forward their donations en masse to lay-run charitable groups that represent the interests of evicted parishioners from all ethnic backgrounds and if the Hungarians of St. Emeric and other suppressed Catholics find creative ways to continue protesting the bishop’s actions and build solidarity across parish lines, Mr. Lennon will soon find that his flock is far less docile than he assumed.

Christopher Adam/Canadian Hungarian Journal

The symposium’s local organizer, Professor Lubomyr Luciuk, said: ” This meeting represents the culmination of many years of effort on the part of many of those attending. We hope the Kingston Symposium will lay the groundwork for helping the Endowment Council ensure that what happened to Ukrainians and other Europeans during this country’s first national internment operations becomes part of the educational curricula of every province and is recalled through film, artwork and historical markers across Canada. Our fellow citizens need to become better aware of what the internees suffered – not because of anything they had done, but only because of who they were, where they came from. This violation of the civil liberties and human rights of thousands of innocents remains an historical episode in Canadian history that is scarce known. We are beginning the process of recovering this historical memory to help ensure that, in future periods of domestic or international crisis, no other ethnic, religious or racial minorities in Canada suffer as needlessly as the “enemy aliens” of the First World War period did.”

The Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund was established in 2008, with a $10 million endowment by the federal government. In addition to the Ukrainian community–which suffered the most during Canada’s first national internment operations–representatives of the Croatian, Hungarian and Serbian communities also form part of the Endowment Council.

Canadian authorities interned 8,579 men, women and children–primarily from the lands of the Austro-Hungarian Empire–and branded them as “enemy aliens” between 1914 and 192o. 

Please click on the following link to see the event’s poster: Kingston_Symposium_Poster .

HUNG 1000: Introduction to Hungarian 1 (3 credit hours, one semester)

This course is offered for complete beginners who would like to start learning Hungarian as a foreign language. The aim of the course is to give a thorough introduction to the elementary grammatical structures and vocabulary and help students in everyday communication. The course is based on a coursebook developed at the University of Szeged in Hungary, and covers speaking, listening, reading and writing Hungarian. Students are required to attend the classes regularly, prepare for the classes and take part in the classes actively. In the language lab, students will make use of audio and visual course materials to advance their progress.

Class time: Fall 2010, Tuesdays and Thursdays 6:00-7:15 p.m., lab Tuesday
7:30-8:20 p.m.
Location: 402 Tier Building

Canadian Hungarian Journal

Wife of the late Ferenc Oszlanszky, our beloved mother, grandmother, sister and friend passed away at Montreal’s Sacré Coeur Hospital with her family by her side. Her great courage, generosity, amazing humour, even in the face of adversity, and her many talents will never be forgotten. In accordance with her wishes, cremation took place and a private burial will be held at a later date. We are most grateful for the care and compassion shown to her during her final weeks in the hospital. She will be deeply missed by her family and friends in Canada and in Hungary.

“No longer will the sun be your light by day, Or the moon be your light by night. For the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.” Isaiah 60:19

Friends of Barbara would also like to extend their heartfelt gratitude to the wonderful nurses and doctors of St. Mary’s Hospital, where Barbara not only spent her last days on this earth, but as an employee with thirty years of loyal service. A prayer celebration will take place at Blythe Bernier Funeral Home (940 Ogilvy) on March 12, 2010 from 7 to 9 p.m. Funeral mass will be held on March 13, 2010 at 10 a.m. at Our Lady of Hungary Church (90 Guizot). Following laying to rest at the cemetery, a reception will be held at the Parish Hall on Guizot. In lieu of flowers, donations to the Hungarian School of Montreal (90 Guizot) would be greatly appreciated.

Russia’s Vnyesekonombank has reportedly also agreed to give Malév’s new state owners the 8.6 billion forint (32 million euros) bank guarantee, which had formed part of an earlier privatization agreement. According to information obtained by the Hungarian electronic journal Index.hu, the government’s plan is to make Malév profitable by 2012 and to engage in a radical restructuring of the airline in order to achieve this goal. This implies major changes in the carrier’s management, with only Martin Gauss–the carrier’s chief executive officer–likely to keep his job.

This represents the second time that the Hungarian government decides to re-nationalize Malév following a failed privatization effort. Hungary’s first freely elected government privatized Malév in 1992 , selling it to Alitalia, but ended up buying back a 99% stake in 1997.  All Hungarian political parties seem to agree that Malév has to survive, as the carrier’s bankruptcy would serve as a massive blow to Budapest Airport and could endanger 13,000 jobs.  Mihály Hardy, Budapest Airport Zrt.’s communications director noted that Malév’s demise would be tantamount to a “catastrophe” for the airport and its workers.

Christopher Adam

Sgt Miok was born in Canada to Hungarian parents and he participated in many events of the Hungarian community in Edmonton, including a Hungarian dance group.  Susanna Biro, long-time arts and cultural organizer and Artistic Director of the Csardas Hungarian Dance Ensemble of Edmonton, of which George Miok was a member, was saddened by this sudden loss and says the Hungarian community of Edmonton was devastated by the news of George’s death . Susanna is a regional correspondent on the editorial board of this website and has sent us the following message:

Susanna Biro’s message

“Sgt. George Miók, youngest son of Anna and Illés Miók of Sherwood Park, Alberta, is remembered with love by the Hungarian community in Edmonton. The whole family is active in our community, volunteering for numerous Hungarian organizations here, and participating in the events at the Canadian Hungarian Cultural Society, the hunters’ club, and our churches. George/Gyuri was a member of the Csárdás Hungarian Dance Ensemble from childhood to his early twenties; I taught him at the dance group for all of these years, and I will always remember his love of life, his abiding interest in Hungarian folk culture, his kindness and generosity, and his enormous heart. Nyugodj békében, Gyuri.”

She has also forwarded to us the family’s statement to the media about George:

Statement by the Miok family

George was the youngest of four brothers raised in a loving home by Anna and Illés (Eli). Before George had even graduated from Archbishop Jordan High School in Sherwood Park, he was already looking ahead. In high school, he had a part-time job at a local restaurant but he felt that it wasn’t for him. He saw an Army advertisement and he decided to join the Engineers in 1998 because his father served his country when he was in the military.

An excerpt from his Grade 12 Scrapbook titled ‘The Event That Has Changed My Life’ – This last summer, the summer of ’98, I did Basic Military Training at the Wainwright Training Base. The experience was long but it made me look at things differently. I went through many tough times, long nights, and early mornings. I got through the days with the help of friends and my own inner strength. Once, when I was in the field late at night, I looked at the sky and saw stars like I’ve never seen before and I knew that there was more to life. The whole experience made me appreciate my life more and made me think about everything I was fortunate for.

George, then 17, was happy to spend his Saturday’s and Wednesday evenings with his new friends at the Debney Armoury. He enjoyed the weekend field adventures, comradeship, and opportunity to travel; he also appreciated having money to buy gas for the car and hang out with his friends. After high school, George entered the University of Alberta where he earned a degree in Education and became a junior high school teacher in Edmonton.

A gifted athlete, George loved playing sports – especially soccer, baseball, hockey, football, and rugby. He was also a natural on the dance floor, and had many admirers when he danced the two-step with a lucky partner. Perhaps he learned those skills as a long-time member of the Csárdás Hungarian Folk Dance Ensemble in Edmonton.

With his family and friends, George loved watching movies and liked to laugh at funny TV shows. He loved to socialize, and was known to go for a long run after a night of merriment – just another example of his strength.

His appreciation of humanity is what compelled him to serve with the Canadian Forces in Bosnia in 2002, and again in Afghanistan in 2006. Before he left on his first overseas deployment to Bosnia, he tried to explain his decision to his mother in the following way – Canada has been good to us and I want to pay it back. He then read a passage from the Bible (The Beatitudes) that contains the following phrase: . . . Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

George was so proud of the good changes that he saw in Afghanistan. He firmly believed in the importance of helping people, and was determined to do more.

“I’m just off to save the world – somebody has to,” is how he described his efforts.

George will be loved and remembered forever by his many friends, his large extended family (aunts, uncles, and so many cousins) and his dad Illés (Eli), his mom Anna, his three older brothers Michael, John, László (Les) and his sister-in-law Melissa. The family appreciates the efforts of the news media and wishes that everyone respect their privacy during this difficult time.

-HungarianPresence.ca