I continue my dissertation with introducing the currently existing Hungarian ethnic communities in New York City that welcome Hungarian descendent immigrants and their children to reinforce the maintainance and preservation of the Hungarian (heritage) language and culture.
Hungarian Religious Communities
There are still some Roman Catholic parochial schools remained in the United States, which used to be conducted by Hungarian priests holding Hungarian services in the Hungarian ethnic community. However, by recent years, the word ‛Hungarian’ mostly remained symbolic in the names of these institutions. Meanwhile, the Hungarian language is rarely taught in any of these remained parochial schools, in the language of their services Hungarian is seldomly used. Therefore, the preservation of the Hungarian language is in a particularly critical position in New York City.
7 https://qz.com/1476819/italian-is-the-fastest-dying-language-in-the-us/
8 https://qz.com/1476819/italian-is-the-fastest-dying-language-in-the-us/
For example, the Church of St. Stephen of Hungary was established in 1902 by Lászlo Perényi, a Catholic priest from Hungary, to serve the growing Hungarian immigrant population in the city at the time.9 The growth in the parish led to the building and opening of a new church and school in the Yorkville neighbourhood of Manhattan in 1928.10 Today St. Stephen of Hungarian School is still open, welcomes students of all religions, races, and creeds,11 but much has changed since its opening in 1928. The standards upon which the school was founded remained the same regardless that the Hungarian aspect of the school has only symbolically remained solely in its name. In 2014, the parish of St. Stephen of Hungary was announced to be one of the 31 parishes in New York City to be merged into other parishes.12 Today it functions as part of the Roman Catholic Parish of St. Monica, St. Elizabeth of Hungary, St. Stephen of Hungary, but it does not hold anymore Catholic services in the Hungarian language. After the merging in 2015, the Hungarian Catholic population is serviced in the Hungarian language in St. Joseph’s Church, in the Yorkville quarter of Manhattan, which was originally founded in 1873 and serviced the German speaking Catholic population ever since.13
The First Hungarian Reformed Church served as an important gathering place for the Hungarian immigrant community, whose arrival in New York City swelled between 1890 and 1910. Around 1913, many Hungarians migrated to Yorkville seeking employment at Ehret’s and Ruppert’s Breweries, and the East 79th Street of Manhattan became known as the “Hungarian Boulevard”.14 Later, as the descendants of the original immigrants gradually assimilated and moved to Queens or the suburbs, new immigrants attended the church. These new immigrants also often settled outside of Manhattan, but the church remained in use by the Hungarian community. Services in Hungarian are held every Sunday till this day.15
The First Hungarian Baptist Church is also located in the Yorkville quarter of Manhattan, on the 80th street. It opened in 1957, after the building itself housed the Hungarian Girls Club for several decades. Originally, the American Female Guardian Society built a new school in 1918, and sold the building to the New York City Baptist
9 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Stephen_of_Hungary_Church_(New_York_City)
10 https://www.saintstephenschool.org
11 https://www.saintstephenschool.org
12 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Stephen_of_Hungary_Church_(New_York_City)
13 https://www.stjosephsyorkville.org/history/
14 http://6tocelebrate.org/site/the-first-hungarian-magyar-reformed-church/
15 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Hungarian_Reformed_Church_of_New_York
Mission Society, which altered it with a church on the ground floor, Pastor’s apartment on the second floor, and bedrooms for young women on the top floor.16. Today the church community is still active and worship services in Hungarian are held every Sunday together with Sunday school for children, choir practice, and youth programs and services.
Hungarian Non-Religious Communities Hungarian House of New York
Today, the Hungarian House is the only active Hungarian cultural center in New York City. Therefore, one of the most important bridgeheads of the local Hungarian community. It was founded in 1963 by five members of the Hungarian community (Peter Schell, Ede Neuman de Végvár, Károly Pulvári, Ferenc Chorin, Tibor Eckhardt) from the Széchenyi István Society, the Hungarian Catholic League, and the American Hungarian Library and Historical Society, who first established the American Foundation for Hungarian Literature and Education (AFHLE).17 They considered it important to establish a community center for the Hungarian-American diaspora living around New York City, one of the world’s largest metropolises, where Hungarians could experience and maintain their Hungarian cultural identity, cultivate the Hungarian language and culture, and also create a bridge between Hungarian, Hungarian-American, and American societies as they present the Hungarian culture, art, and science.18 With the generous support of their founding members, the three organizations purchased the building of the Hungarian House from the German athletic club in 1966. Over the years, the Catholic League handed over its ownership rights to the local Hungarian Franciscans, who passed it onto the Hungarian Scout Association in Exteris. The founders of the Hungarian House of New York made sure that the House would always stay in the hands of the Hungarian ethnic community. The operating costs are covered by personal donations, facilities rentals, and proceeds of fundraising events, or received benefits from estates.
The Hungarian House has welcomed thousands of newly arrived immigrants over the past decades. Numerous programs (concerts, film screenings, productions, folk dances, exhibitions, dinners and gatherings, Hungarian and English language classes, etc.) took place between its walls from the very beginning. Times have changed since its
16 http://6tocelebrate.org/site/industrial-school-no-7first-hungarian-baptist-church/
17 www.hungarianhouse.org
18 www.hungarianhouse.org
opening, but visitors and supporters of the Hungarian House have been active over the past decades. Today’s immigrants and visitors come from different backgrounds and have different needs than the previous Hungarian waves of immigrants. Yet, the goal remains the same. First and foremost, to maintain and preserve the Hungarian culture and ethnic community life in New York City and to familiarize members of the American society with it.
Hungarian House of New York currently provides community space for Hungarian traditional activities organized by the Széchenyi István Society, the Social Circle, the Hungarian Mommy and Me group, and the Hungarian folk dance association.
As part of the Hungarian Scouts Association in Exteris, the #46 Banffy Kata Hungarian Girl Scout Troop and the #7 Eros Gusztav Boy Scout Troop have been providing weekly scout programming for over 60 years in the Hungarian House of New York. Moreover, the Hungarian Library offers 6,500 volumes of books. One of the partner organizations of the Hungarian House of New York serving the education of Hungarian descendent children from birth up to high school is the AraNY János Hungarian Kindergarten and School. It operates every Saturday morning in the Hungarian House of New York from the beginning of September till the end of May.