Top NewsFormer Hungarian Prime Minister Gyula Horn dead at 80 [3]
August 2nd, 2012

ReConnect Hungary first group to arrive in mid-August

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The first group of young American-Hungarians born in the United States or Canada will travel to Hungary to discover their roots in mid-August under the new ReConnect Hungary programme, the Hungarian co-organiser told MTI on Wednesday.

“ReConnect Hungary is a programme addressing second, third or fourth generation young adults with Hungarian identity living in the diaspora in the North American continent,” said Pal Hatos, the director of the Budapest Balassi Institute.

“For those young Americans of Hungarian descent their origin is a plus … which gives them all the more inspiration to explore it in depth. They are enthusiastic and grateful for the opportunity given to them,” Laszlo Hamos, the board director of the Washington-based co-organising Kossuth Foundation told MTI.

Modelled on the Israeli, Armenian and Irish “birthright” programmes, Reconnect Hungary was instigated by former governor of New York, George Pataki, who is also of Hungarian descent, five years ago.

The ten American and two Canadian young people will be in Hungary from August 11 to 27, visiting Budapest, Szentendre, Eger, Tokaj, Komarom and Dunajska Streda (Dunaszerdahely) on the Slovak side of the border.

On August 20 they will attend the national day ceremony in Parliament and meet politicians.

According to the 2000 census in the US, over 1.4 million people count themselves as of Hungarian descent.

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  • Magyar

    1.4 million extra Hungarians would be enough to give us an majority in Délvidék.

    • ricsi

      If Pataki the jxw is behind this then its simply another way of increasing jxw prescense here.

      • Magyar

        I have always been sceptical about the “Hungarians” in America.
        I am sure many of them are Hungarians, but many are not.

        • justasking

          @Magyar,

          ‘I have always been sceptical about the “Hungarians” in America. I am sure many of them are Hungarians, but many are not’

          I would pay good money, to hear you say that to their faces.

      • justasking

        @ricsi,

        ‘then its simply another way of increasing jxw prescense here’

        Stop being such a horses ass Mr. Poopy Pants!

        If I didn’t have the family and friends in Hungary that I do, and would not have already taken both my kids to Hungary last year, I’d be interested in such a program.

        Instead of looking at this program so negatively, maybe this, if promoted aggressively by the Hungarian Government (regardless who’s in power) along side global Hungarian Communities; could and would, be a spectacular thing.

  • Damien

    Yeah – but that assumes you could get them all to cooperate!

  • Pete H.

    Very cool. I will encourage my daughter to apply when she turns 18.

    -http://reconnecthungary.org/

    Sponsors:

    -http://www.hrfa.org/

    http://newyork.balassiintezet.hu/index.php/en/

  • Andy

    Probably, most of those US Hungarians will find out, that they have no hungarians, but slovakians, romanians, ukrainians .. roots. At least, they will come to visit Slovakia :) :):)

    • justasking

      @Andy,

      Why don’t you focus all that energy that you seem to have, on not being such an asshole…hmmm?

  • Aloof

    I’m US with Hungarian descent who spent 17 years in Hungary so what do you want to know? 2nd generation US/Magyar kids born to the Hungarians who emigrated and settled in the US are proud of their Magyar descent but are naturally being diluted because in the US folks don’t marry much anymore within their own ethnicities. In the US, we have new strains of folks being created virtually on a daily basis. It’s America man.

    The dilution of Magyar identity via Trianon is much more acute and personal. Every year that it drags on is another nail in the \Magyar\ coffin. Every year the Magyar identity gets more diluted because of it. But… you already know all that right? Magyars aren’t having enough babies to mitigate that so what do you think is the solution?

    • Magyar

      We need to do what Gypsies, Romanians and Slavs did.
      Have children! 4 kids minimum per family, 5 or 6 would be ideal! Our women did this 100 years ago, they can do it now.

      Ban abortions (except for gypsies)
      Ban contraception (except for gypsies).

      -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7N_Q6RgrJk

      Trouble is, due to poisoning our land, fallout from Chernobyl and commies not caring about health, a good % of Hungarian women are inferitile.

      “In Hungary, a study by the Statisztikai Hivatal (Central Statistics Office) estimated that 7–12% of Hungarian women younger than 30 were infertile; 13–22% of women aged 35 were infertile; and 24–46% of women aged 40 were infertile.”

      I have one question, how much interest do American Hungarians have about returning? If the economy improved?

  • olga

    @ Maygar

    regarding your learned opinion that Hungarian women ought to have all these kids:

    How could I possibly think your were nuts? Please accept my sincere apologies and post your address so I can send you a book written by Margaret Atwood that won the Governor General’;s award in the 80′s. The full synopses can be found on wiki, I just copied some paragraphs to peak your interest:

    The Handmaid’s Tale – From Wikipedia

    “The Handmaid’s Tale is set in the near future in the Republic of Gilead, a country formed within the borders of what was formerly the United States of America. It was founded by a racist, homophobic, male chauvinist, nativist, theocratic-organized military coup as an ideologically driven response to the pervasive ecological, physical and social degradation of the country. ”

    and

    “Taking advantage of electronic banking, they were quickly able to freeze the assets of all women and other “undesirables” in the country, stripping them of their rights. The new theocratic military dictatorship, styled “The Republic of Gilead”, moved quickly to consolidate its power and reorganize society along a new militarized, hierarchical, compulsorily Christian regime of Old Testament-inspired social and religious orthodoxy among its newly created social classes. In this society, almost all women are forbidden to read. “

    • Magyar

      Olga please cut the crap.
      I am a traditionalist.

      I want Hungary to become a Királyság again.
      I am not a sexist, I have nothing against women (in fact I love them very much), but it is simply a traditional lifestyle.

      Hungary NEEDS more People.
      The whole Királyság should ideally be around 30 to 40 million ethnic Hungarians. (around 15 million ethnic Hungarians for Csonka-Magyarország)

      In 1900, women in the Kingdom of Hungary (including minorities) had 5.28 children on average.
      It is very feasible.
      The only reason we are not doing this now is because of abortion, and liberal propaganda.

      Right now, if we took away gypsies, the Hungarian fertility rate is less than 1, that is FAR below replacement level.

      Woman need to do what they need to do for the Haza. If men could have children, that would be splendid, our birthrates could be even higher, but God and nature thought otherwise.

  • olga

    @ Magyar

    I am fully aware of the fact that trying to reason with you is as useful as trying to reason with \get real\ so I will make this short and sweet.

    You cannot force women to have children. Get it?

    BTW, I do think it’s a huge problem for the Roma to have so many kids who are born into poverty and hopelessness but the only \cure\ that I know is education and women themselves deciding to limit the number of children the are willing to bring into this world.

    No woman should have more kids than she herself can support in case the father of the kids decides to go AWOL so when the courts become more efficient to enforce support orders and men become more responsible toward supporting kids when they are not living with them, maybe women will be more open to having kids but don’t hold your breath

    \If men could have children, that would be splendid \ how about stepping up to the plate and supporting the kids they already have ? I know the dismal North American stats for default in court ordered support payments, how are they in Hungary?

    • Magyar

      Nobody is going to force Hungarian women to have children Olga! Thats cruel and against Human rights! We are not Romanian barbarians who did that during communism.

      Simply ban abortion, and make contraception a lot harder to get.
      Use propaganda to promote family life.

      Simply create a family and child friendly environment for women. 3 children per family will be a start, 4 or 5 will be nice too!
      Our women were capable of this before, I dont see why they arent now.

      I have tried to make my post as short and sweet as possible, since arguing with Femminazis is pointless.
      Don’t you have a pro abortion campaign to run or something?

      • justasking

        @Magyar,

        Spoken like a man who has no children.

  • Roland

    My Grandfather/Mother migrated to the U.S. leaving Hungary in 1904. I never met them as they both died in in early 1920′s.My father was one of 6 children. I came here first 1991. Returning in’94,’95. In 1996 I married a Hungarian lady.(3 children all born in Hungary) In 1997 I started a Import/Export Business which is still operating and is based in Sárospatak. I live in Vamosújfálu-the village my Grandfather came from. I certainly would enjoy sharing my experience in my reconnecting to my Hungarian roots.

    • Magyar

      I salute you!
      You are a true example of a fine Hungarian patriot.
      I wish there were more like you.

      Check out this song-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EA5CoKa5Ctk

      The Hungarian world anthem

    • Magyar

      I have some questions.

      Coming from America, how did you find the economic differences?
      How did you learn the language (did you know it before, or go to a language school)?
      Do you have any regrets?

  • olga

    @ Magyar

    re: Simply ban abortion, and make contraception a lot harder to get. Thank the Lord you are not forcing women into having children, once again, my apologies for misunderstanding your raditional values\n
    BTW, there is no such thing as pro-abortion but don’t let that bother you.

    No, I am not a Femminazi – I leave the joy of being a N*azi to people like you, Ricsi et al. although the word has become a joke, example the Soup*nazi – you probably never watched Seinfeld, because we all know what he is, don’t we?

    I am disappointed you did not post your address and now I can’t send you Margaret Atwood’s book for some good ideas

    • Magyar

      Look Olga, I understand you.
      You live in a liberal country like Canada.
      Canada is barely an identity, there is nothing there to preserve apart from the nature.

      Hungary and Hungarians on the other hand, can trace their languages roots to Sumerian, one of the first civilisations on this earth.
      Our culture is rich, vibrant, and NEEDS to be preserved.

      This will require sacrifice.
      Do you know what sacrifice means Olga?

      Sure its not ideal, but its NECESSARY.
      This and the next couple of generations will need to work overtime, in order for the Hungarian nemzet to live up to its potential, its for our nation, its for our future.
      We will need to put our country before ourselves.

      We will need to adopt this work plan:
      -http://kuruc.info/r/9/43088/

      And within 20-30 years, Hungary must be a self sufficient state, with a booming economy, and a strong military capable of retaking the lands of the Szent Korona.

      You see Olga, I do not have a loser’s mindset like some of the people here. I think big, I think in terms of the country.

      If I wanted to, I could pack my bags right now and live a much easier life somewhere else.
      But nation comes first.

      I doubt you understood anything I said, and I pity you.
      Roland above sets an example for you, something to think about.

  • Viking

    Magyar says:
    August 3, 2012 at 4:07 pm

    Hungary NEEDS more People.
    The whole Királyság should ideally be around 30 to 40 million ethnic Hungarians
    —

    But to keep the ‘Hungarian gene pool’ healthy, would you not need to get some more Asian influx to keep up your ‘Semi-Asian’ status, that you are so proud of?

    So organised import of some old relatives from Central Asia would maybe something to start with?
    * Magyar Man – Get Your Wife directly from Ulan-Bator!
    type of helping up the nativity
    And I think those women from Ulan-Bator has not been so spoiled yet, with that degenerated ‘european’ thing to only have 1 or max two children

    Maybe Real Magyar Men should be allowed to take several wife also, at least if the surplus are all from Ulan-Bator?
    Everything for The Higher Magyar Nativity!

    • Magyar

      3 things.

      First of all Ulan-Bator is not in Central Asia.

      Secondly, at the time when we lived in Asia, the ethnic composition was a lot different.
      There were a lot more European looking people, like the Scythians, nowadays they mostly mixed with Mongols, Arabs and Chinese.

      Thirdly, I have considered what you mentioned.
      Trouble is, Central Asia is Islamic, which isn’t really compatible with the Szent Korona.

      But maybe a tiny Uyghur influx, or Kazakh influx wouldn’t be so bad?
      A lot of the Uyghurs look Caucasoid (genetically, they are about half European, same with Kazakhs)

      We have allowed Pechenegs, Kabars and Cumans settle in our lands, we could do the same now, but ONLY if they assimilate. We could send them to Northern Slovakia, Southern Vojvodina. If Central Asians mixed with Slovaks, Romanians or Serbs, they would make them easier to become Hungarian.

      I am just brainstorming off course, some of what I said is on a serious note, other stuff is a slight joke with some truth behind it.

  • olga

    @ Maygar

    re: \Our culture is rich, vibrant, and NEEDS to be preserved.\ – I totally agree with you for once, in fact I agree with you that the Roma must be encouraged to reduce the number of kids they have, I only have problems with your racism and your MO in every solution you post about any issue; I understand the dinosaur part, I know lots of people like you but none of them are racist and or anti-women which you are blissfully unaware of.

    I know that my two grown up kids do not statistical data make but I think my kids are very representative of people with Hungarian ethnicity.

    I raised them both the same and much to my regret I did not teach them to speak Hungarian despite the fact they heard me speak Hungarian to my parents on a daily basis; we either visited them or I talked to them on the phone. My excuse was that my husband didn’t speak Hungarian which is a poor excuse.

    My daughter to this day makes me feel guilty about my not teaching her this \impossible language\ when it would have been effortless and her husband to be gave her an engagement ring on the Halaszbastya because that’s where my Mom got her ring and he knew her feeling about Hungary.

    Her birthday was last month and she asked her brother to get her a Rosetta Stone in Hungarian which seems to be available on-line but he called the company and it isn’t. He is now looking into another company but I don’t know the details.

    As far as he is concerned, he is as interested in Hungary as much as he is interested in Austria – not much. He seems to be under the impression his ancestors came to Canada prior to the Natives and the beavers and he gave up job opportunities in New York because he only wants to live in Canada.

    Point is not my kids but my premise that you cannot force people to care about their heritage – my husband could not care less about Ireland either except on St.Patrick’s day when he and his buddies can drink green beer.

    I believe one can be a patriot and a nationalist without being a racist SOB and now I will go back to feeling guilty about not teaching both my kids Hungarian – maybe he would be more inclined to care about his background if he spoke the language and he wouldn’t have to research that birthday gift for his sister.

    I think the Hungarian camp is a fabulous idea as long as it concentrates on the Hungarian culture and history and not about \compare and contrast Hungarians with the rest of the world\

    • Magyar

      Have a look at this

      -http://images.fapipa.multiply.multiplycontent.com/attachment/0/S4awRwooCtMAAGtpbsw1/Carol%20Rounds%20-%20Hungarian%20An%20Essential%20Grammar.pdf?key=fapipa:journal:606&nmid=320224610
      (One of the best grammar books)

      Colloquial hungarian is another good one, if your daughter is interested.

      Rosetta Stone is a useless and expensive piece of software.
      Unless your daughter is a parrot, dont waste your time with it.

  • Viking

    Magyar says:
    August 3, 2012 at 6:03 pm

    First of all Ulan-Bator is not in Central Asia
    —

    You may be correct with some kilometres, but Mongolia is situated partly on Central and partly on East Asia. In modern contexts, all definitions of Central Asia include 5 republics of the former Soviet Union. Other areas included are Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, *Mongolia*, and sometimes Xinjiang and Tibet in western China and southern Siberia in eastern Russia

    “when we lived in Asia, the ethnic composition was a lot different. There were a lot more European looking people, like the Scythians”

    Well the Scythians were an ethnolinguistic group of ancient Iranian nomadic tribal cultures, so if you want to call them “more European looking people”, feel free to do so. They still have a different set of DNA from your typical ‘European’

    When I came to Hungary in -93 I met people from Mongolia living here in Hungary, as part of the old Communist exchange programme. Later I went to Kazakhstan trying to make business in the framework of the Hungarian-Kazakh Friendship organisation. Also when I was doing business in Georgia (Gruzia) end of the 90s I was approached by Hungarians who pointed out the ‘historical roots’, so I think Hungarians should really go for their Caucasus roots

    • Magyar

      Hungarians have roots from all over the place.
      Central Asia, the Tarim Basin, Mesopotamia, Central Asia, the Carpathian Basin.

      • Magyar

        And FYI, the Iranians looked very different 1000s of years ago (before they mixed with Arabs)
        A lot of Scythian corpses are said to be blue or green eyed ,with light hair.

      • Viking

        and none of them spoke Hungarian
        The Hungarian language was formed later
        All people have early ancestors, many the same, so it does not prove so much

        • Magyar

          I am sure you know exactly when, where and how the Hungarian language formed.

  • olga

    @ Magyar

    re: “Rosetta Stone is a useless and expensive piece of software. Unless your daughter is a parrot, dont waste your time with it.”

    No problem with Rosetta Stone because it’s not available in Hungarian so he was looking into PIMSLEUR last I heard, because it comes in CD and MP3 format which is what she is looking for. Not much time for book learning but those formats can be used while driving or running

    I did go to the Pimsleur website and I downloaded the first lesson , unfortunately not having much patience I was only able to listen to it for 5 minutes before I practically fell asleep. If she decides to choose that programme , I figured out that by the time she celebrates her 80th birthday, she will be able to comprehend Hungarian along the lines of “Piroska es a farkas”

    Being a parrot is not so bad when you can hear the pronunciation and can repeat it – luckily CDs and MP3s cannot laugh nor say “What on earth did you say”

  • Leto. مؤدّب

    Sorry for being off-topic… but Hungary’s got the third gold medal by gymnast Krisztián Berki! :D

    British gymnast Louis Smith, who was the arch rival of Berki, got the same technical score but Berki won with better execution.

    And then BBC commentator Mitch Fenner said this:

    “That was an unbelievable final. What a performance from Krisztian Berki, he showed his class and his focus.

    “You have to take your hat off to Berki, he did not buckle under pressure, what a gymnast he is. He is worth gold and a worthy winner. He is the European, world and now Olympic champion.”

    And I have to take my hat off to Mr. Fenner. This is British gentlemanship at its best.

    • Magyar

      Don’t forget how we destroyed them yesterday at the Water Polo!

      Ah, I miss those days under Admiral Horthy when in the Olympics (1936) Hungary had the 3rd most medals, not bad for such a small country :) :)

      • Leto. مؤدّب

        “how we destroyed them”

        The British water polo team is no match to the Hungarian one. They qualified on the olympics only because Britain is the host country. Only these teams play in the same league as Hungary: Serbia, Montenegro, USA, Russia and maybe Croatia.

        • Leto. مؤدّب

          Hungary-USA: 11-6

          :)

          • Magyar

            Here is an interesting article:

            “Shadowy entities that control the corporate media mobilizing their flunkies and paid agents to spoil people’s festive mood over the success of Hungarian athletes in London. Articles started appearing in the Hungarian mainstream media that belittle and discount Olympic athletes’ achievements at the London Summer Games in order to manipulate public opinion.

            The vile attacks on the Hungarian sporting community by these entities even outraged government officials that are known to be controlled by the very same forces; on behalf of the Hungarian government, the president of Fidelitas, Péter Ágh strongly condemned the corporate media manipulative reporting on the Olympic events.

            The global troublemakers are worrying that Hungary’s Olympic success boosts people’s confidence, which is against their interest; it is in opposition to the ongoing mind control operation by the colonizers aiming to destroy the self-confidence of the populace to bring Hungarian society under more complete control.

            As Hungary’s medal count grows media whores and other disinfo agents of Nepszabadsag, Nepszava, Index and other trash publications controlled by behind the scene forces started attacking world class athletes, like Dániel Gyurta (they upset with Gyurta because he dedicated the gold medal he won in London to 15 million Hungarians); they also criticize journalists for their emotional reporting on gold medal winning performances.
            ”

            Continue at -http://www.hungarianambiance.com/2012/08/the-puppet-masters-are-upset-hungarian.html

  • This ‘n That

    May not be able to call many back to Hungary, but can enhance or strengthen the ties with diaspora. That can be very beneficial to Hungary.

  • Farkas László

    I’m delighted that the subject of the Olympics has come up! Most people here wish well for Hungary in one way or another, and we seldom have news that makes us cheer!

    Since Leto posted his appreciation above, the Hungarian gold metal count now stands at 8, total count is at 14. This puts Hungary in the top 10, and all of it’s competition among the top 10 are much richer and more economically developed nations. We stood out this time; we made an impression.

    Hungary has traditionally done well in the Olympics, when judged by it’s population size among nations. From 1896 Athens to 1928 Amsterdam, we averaged 2-4 Gold medals per Olympiad. (How liberal and broadminded of Franz Joseph to allow the Hungarians to compete as their own nation!) From 1932 Los Angeles on, we picked up the pace and peaked in the 1952 Helsinki games, where the gold meadal count was 16, total medals won was 42.

    During the communist era we really racked up the medals, not surprising to those who remember those years. The state expended great resources to train Olympians, and attached great propaganda (today we would say \PR\) value to winning. We see evidence of this with today’s China, where state support to the athletes is a part of gaining legitimacy and respectability to the regime. In those days we averaged 6-11 gold medals, with the total medal count being 20-40.

    Almost all of the ex-communist countries are now averaging lower in the medal count than they used to. Hungary is almost where it used to be when the state sacrificed much in the way of resources to be a winner. Nice to know that there is a culture and ethos devoted to winning! We used to win at the Olympics for the sake of ideology and politics. Now let’s just win to be winners! We used to play in order to demonstrate the superiority of the Soviet \system\. Now lets’ just play to be superior….

  • get real

    Congratulation to our neighbors for the great success in London!

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