Why hungarians immigrated

Many members of the "old immigration" for example, became tobacco farmers in southern Ontario. Most of the newcomers of the Second World War era had a somewhat easier time in "getting ahead" in Canada. Many of them had a better education than the early arrivals, some of them had marketable skills, and most of them found it easier to learn English or French since they had been exposed to learning new languages either in the Hungarian school system or in their travels as displaced persons or refugees in Europe and elsewhere.

Helping Hungarian newcomers in the process of adjustment to Canadian life were the immigrant institutions Hungarians created in Canada. One of the most important of these were ethnic churches, as well as self-help associations. But, for those who immigrated in the mid- and late twentieth century, help in integration was done through non-ethnic mainstream associations, belonging to professional organizations or through the help of ordinary Canadians and immigrant serving agencies.

Today, Hungarian immigrants and their descendants contribute to many spheres of Canadian life. Remarkable contributions have been made to such diverse fields as statistical analysis, forestry science, cinematography, business, finance, computer technology, music and sports. Some sports, such as water polo and fencing were introduced to Canada in a competitive way by Hungarians. At home I made that much money in a whole month and people thought my job was very good. Here I am sewing dresses on a machine.

In America there is no difference between one man and another. The net result of all these factors combined was that entire villages were depopulated. The majority of Hungarians who immigrated to America at this time came with the intention of returning to Hungary, hopefully with enough money to purchase land.

Migration began in districts where harsh economic realities, caused by such factors as crop failure, unemployment and widespread hunger put a great strain on the population.

Initially, single men and men who left their families behind constituted a large percentage, over seventy-three percent of this emigration.

During the years preceding World War I, however, the number of women emigrating equalled that of men. Three-fourths of these Hungarians were between the age of twenty and forty-nine. And over eighty-nine percent were literate.

In America, they stayed in the industrial northeast, where they found immediate openings as unskilled laborers in steel mills, foundries and coal mines. At that time, industry paid fifteen cents an hour. The occupational breakdown of the Hungarians who immigrated was: Living in close proximity to fellow countrymen already in America was important. It provided the newcomer, thrust into a foreign environment, with a certain degree of security.

The Hungarian community of Homestead, Pennsylvania, was composed largely of immigrants from the county of Ung. They lived in large overcrowded boardinghouses, where sometimes even the beds would be shared by men working on different shifts.

It was a privilege for an immigrant to have a bed in a boardinghouse run by a Hungarian woman and, above all, to receive Hungarian-style home-cooked meals. More than half of those who arrived prior to managed to return.

World War I and its outcome dramatically altered the lives of thousands of Hungarians in America, many of whom were living as aliens in the United States. Many simply accepted this situation and returned to Europe. Others returned because they wanted to rejoin their families and help assure their safety. The treaty which followed the war, the Treaty of Trianon, partitioned several sizeable sections of Hungary.

Thousands decided to return to their villages in the midst of such political and economic upheavals. Those who stayed realized that this decision was a permanent one. After increased numbers of Hungarians purchased homes and became citizens of the United States. Others abandoned the hope of returning after long years of working and saving, or simply adjusted to life in America and chose to stay.

Still others never returned because they lost their lives in a coal mine cave-in or a steel mill explosion. American industry exploited the masses of unskilled immigrant laborers. The newcomers were handicapped by language barriers and unfamiliar with labor conditions. The one dollar a day wage seemed unbelievable when compared to what they were earning in their native land. Because of the seemingly high wages, they were willing to work long, strenuous hours under hazardous conditions to save money.

Safety standards for mines and steel mills were virtually non-existent around the turn of the century. Numerous mine cave-ins and steel mill explosions occurred, causing the death of countless immigrant workers. The enormous loss of life generated impetus for the enactment of safety legislation and improved industrial safety standards. The Bluefield Mine fire in and the Johnstown Mine explosion in July were other mining disasters where the number of Hungarian immigrants killed was significant.

The families of the men who were maimed or killed in these industrial accidents became destitute. There were no state-sponsored programs of insurance to assist the widows and orphans of such casualties.

The immigrants soon realized this and to provide some measure of protection, formed self-help and mutual benefit societies. The grueling, unsafe working conditions had to be tolerated, there was little other alternative. The Hungarians were handicapped by language barriers, by a large number of other newcomers eager for employment opportunities, and by the fact that the next job may be just as bad if not worse.

Putting their sorrow and yearning into music sometimes helped. The theme of the following folk song may be found in countless other Hungarian-American poems and short stories as well:. The coal powder absorbs our tears, Our laughter is drowned in smoke, We yearn to return to our little village Where every blade of grass understood Hungarian.

Central and East European immigrants were frequently brought to the United States as strikebreakers. The agents recruiting such workers were usually instructed to choose immigrants of many different national origins, so that it would be difficult to organize the newcomers because of language barriers. The newcomers were bewildered by the situation, and could not understand the reason for the hatred and violence directed against them by the strikers.

For many Hungarians coming to the United States in the early s, this was their first encounter with organized labor. Both groups provided sick benefits and maintained newspapers. The revolution was unexpected; the community only recently absorbed the postwar immigrants, but Hungarians in Cleveland reacted quickly. Within the first days mass rallies were held, and organizations initiated relief programs.

These refugees were the youngest wave of Hungarian immigrants and the group least prepared with future plans and goals. Unlike previous immigrants, these refugees had to leave Hungary suddenly and unexpectedly; many possessed a technical trade or had several years of university study. They evoked great public sympathy in the U.

It is difficult to determine the exact number of refugees who settled in Cleveland because census data statistics between include many of the postwar immigrants as well, but it has been estimated at 6,, Moreover, it is impossible to ascertain how many stayed in Cleveland once they familiarized themselves with English and life in the U.

Because of their relative youth, technical skills, and single status, they adjusted with greater ease than previous immigrants and exhibited less attachment to community organizations and institutions. For over years, a distinct and unique Hungarian community has existed in Cleveland, constantly rejuvenated by new waves of immigrants. By few Cleveland Hungarians lived there; but the local Hungarian community was still viable.

By the s, there were , Greater Clevelanders of Hungarian birth or descent. Although the number of Greater Clevelanders claiming Hungarian descent dropped to 61, in the census and the number of people of Hungarian birth resident in Cleveland was a mere , the community remained active.

Old organizations were replaced by new ones, founded by 2nd or 3rd generation Hungarian Americans, consisting mainly of folkdance groups, cultural organizations, and civic clubs. Even within the old Buckeye neighborhood, which was almost totally devoid of Hungarian residents, a heritage museum was established at St. Elizabeth's church, and both remained focal points of Hungarian pride and culture in All of these new organizations epitomized an ongoing attempt to preserve cultural traditions and an awareness of ethnic background among the American-born children of Hungarian immigrants.

View image at Cleveland Memory. View image gallery at Cleveland Memory. Go to case. Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. Susan M.

Papp Canadian Broadcasting Corp. After the war, President Hayes appointed him chief of the Pension Office. His regiment protected the rear of the Union Army as it retreated after the defeat at Bull Run. Stahel-Szamwald participated bravely in many of the early battles and was promoted to brigadier in and to major general two years later. In , he was appointed commander of the cavalry defending Washington, at the personal request of President Lincoln.

Stahel-Szamwald received the Congressional Medal of Honor in for his bravery in the battle of Piedmont. From November to January , while recuperating from his war wounds, he served as president of the military court in Baltimore. Stahel-Szamwald continued to serve the country in peaceful times. He was in the foreign service of the United States for eleven years as American consul in Japan and China. The three sons of Emilia Kossuth served the United States with distinction.

Ladislaus Zsulavsky organized the 82nd U. Colored Infantry Regiment and became its colonel. He also fought with General Asboth in the division of Maj. Gordon Granger as commander of the first brigade of the District of West Florida, which included the 25th, 82nd, and 86th Colored Infantry Regiments. His two brothers, Sigismund and Emil, were both lieutenants in the 82nd Colored Regiment.

Sigismund died of typhoid fever in In view of his meritorious services, Kozlay was appointed brigadier general in Asboth was born in Keszthely, Hungary on December 18, He graduated from the academy at Selmecbanya and obtained appointment as an engineer for the government.

He became the adjutant to Kossuth during the War of , and accompanied him into exile and on his American tour. After Kossuth's departure, Asboth remained in the United States. He is credited with the planning of Central Park in New York. Immediately after the outbreak of the Civil War, Asboth enlisted and became the chief of staff of Gen.

Fremont in He was appointed brigadier general in the same year. He fought with exceptional valor in the battle of Pear Ridge, Arkansas. In , he was seriously injured in the Battle of Marianna, Florida where bullets inflicted wounds in his arm and face. The bullet which was lodged in the right side of his face could not be removed and caused him much discomfort and pain. In South America, despite his painful facial wound, he performed his duties as minister with distinction. Asboth died two years later on January 21, at the age of 57, and was buried in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

He was first buried in the British Cemetary in Victoria Park. However, in the Victoria District became a park and the cemetary was moved to the Chacarita District. A compromise in German "Ausgleich" meaning "equalization" was signed by Hungary and Austria. Hungary was granted autonomy and self-government within the framework of the dual monarchy. A number of Hungarian refugees returned to their native land to take advantage of the political amnesty following the compromise.

Rapid industrial expansion in the United States created such a shortage of laborers that desperate measures were taken to induce the poor people of Europe to come here. Large corporations sent representatives to Hungary at the end of the nineteenth century to recruit workers. These agents did not always abide by immigration laws, and many abuses were recorded. From onward, there was a mass emigration from Hungary to the United States. Since full-scale industrialization had not yet reached Hungary, the emigrants escaped from the poverty and the misery of the Hungarian semi-feudal system.

They were for the most part unskilled agrarian laborers who left their native country for economic rather than ideological reasons. Many came to the United States with the intention of saving money and returning to Hungary to live there in better material circumstances. It is difficult to estimate the number of Hungarian immigrants during this period. The Ninth Census of the United States in distinguishes Hungarians from Austrians, but it classifies as Hungarians the members of ethnic minorities e.

Czechs, Slovaks, Ruthenians, Rumanians, Serbians and Croatians who were born within the boundaries of Hungary as a self-governing kingdom within the framework of the dual monarchy from to The American census has traditionally designated the nationality of immigrants according to whatever independent country they happened to have been born in.

Between and , the approximate number of immigrants from Hungary was 1,, About 55 percent declared Hungarian as their native tongue.

The rest belonged to other nationalities. That makes the approximate number of self professed Hungarians over one million. In , Hungarians constituted about 1 percent of the total U. Arpad Gerster arrived in America. He was elected president of the New York Medical Society in and in the same year given membership in the Budapest Medical Association in recognition for his work. Gerster became professor of surgery at Columbus University in , and in the following year, he was elected president of the American Medical Association.

It was the only Hungarian newspaper in America at that time. Arpad Gerster for the purpose of aiding the Hungarian immigrants arriving in New York. His monumental painting "Christ before Pilate" was shown to the representatives of the press on November 17th.

The exhibition was a tremendous success and the painting was bought by John Wanamaker, who kept it on display in his store in Philadelphia. His painting of the blind Milton dictating poetry to his daughters is still displayed at the New York Public Library. A number of Hungarian American fraternal insurance companies came into existence after the tidal wave of Hungarian mass immigration had reached America.

One of the largest and oldest and most important organizations, the Verhovay Fraternal Insurance Association Verhovay Segely Egylet , was founded at Hazelton, Pennsylvania in It later became the William Penn Fraternal Association. It was named after the martyred Hungarian Premier of It started out as a weekly, but as circulation increased, it developed into the first daily Hungarian American newspaper.

The Fejervari Home for the aged was opened in Davenport, Iowa. It was the gift of a successful Hungarian real-estate man of that city, Nicholas Fejervari, who also bequeathed his large garden to the public. It was named Fejervari Park in his honor.