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Newsgroups: bit.listserv.slovak-l
Date:         Mon, 16 Nov 1992 14:09:58 EST
From:         "(George Frajkor)" <gfrajkor@CCS.CARLETON.CA>
Subject:      Re: Powers of Assimilation
              Pannon" at Nov 13, 92 4:43 pm

Joe Pannon writes:

> I don't know how many times should I repeat myself about the differences
> between the Hungarians in Slovakia and Slovaks in Hungary.  It's
> comparing apples and oranges: there are no large Slovak ethnic
> communities in a contiguous bloc in Hungary!  Got that?  Good!

          Not quite accurate.   A few maps from the late 19th and
early 20th centuries show large contiguous blocks of slovaks in the
northern area of Hungary  (which  was referred to by many slovaks as
"dolno-slovensko" or "lowland Slovakia" in the same way that some
hungarians refer to Slovakia as "highland Hungary"). There is an
interesting map published by the Slovak communities in the United
States in, i think, 1912, in which they showed what a liberated
Slovakia would look like after the breakup of the Austro-Hungarian
Empire. They were raising money  for that.  The map shows a Slovakia
almost twice as big as the present one, with much of what is now
northern Hungary considered to be their territory.  This was not
imperialism on the part of the slovaks in the US , but just a
reflection of where they came from.  They mapped what they knew about
their former homeland.  This area today has almost no slovaks at all.
  Two asides on this: Originally, the Slovaks in the US were not
seeking to break away from Hungary and Join the czechs, but where
looking for a democratic federation within the Austro-Hungarian
Empire.  The map reflected what they thought would be the
administrative unit under Slovak political control.
    Second aside:  the town of Esterhazy, Saskatchewan, in western
Canada was founded by settlers imported by a member of the Count
Esterhazy family.  History books at the time speak of it as a
Hungarian settlement, but a quick look at the graveyard names there
indicates that the majority seemed to have been Slovak.  This was
indeed confirmed later by historians.  It so happened that most of the
people Esterhazy recruited came from areas of Hungary where Slovaks
predominated.   The first mayor of the town after it was incorporated
(much later) was a son of one of the original settlers..  He
aknowledged that his family was Slovak and spoke to a meeting of the
Saskatchewan Slovak Heritage Society about the early days.
    So, yes, there WERE large areas of Hungary where contiguous blocks
of Slovaks lived, just as I am sure there were alarge areas of
Slovakia where blocks of Hungarians lived.






>
> > 4. Maybe even, that Slovakia would have already become a superpower, at
 least
> > in central Europe.
>
> In their own mind they probably have already! (That was a joke!)
>
> > Please, go on in this kind of reasoning. It's an extraordinary occasion for
> > everybody to get in contact with the way of thinking of some Hungarians.
 Were
> > all Hungarians living in Slovakia like that, I would be very pessimist about
> > the possibilities of finding a reasonable "modus vivendi". Fortunately, I
 know
> > some of them and I don't believe they share your opinions.
>
> Well, thanks for your kind remarks! Likewise.
>
> > Best regards.
> >                                 Roman Martonak
> >                                 International School for Advanced Studies
>
> Regard(les)s,
> Joe Pannon
>
> P.S.: Just curious ...  What kind of ADVANCED studies are taught there?
>       I stayed in the Triest refugee camp at one time with a few Slovaks
>       and got along with them quite well.
>


    Jan George Frajkor       _!_
 School of Journalism       __!__
 Carleton University,         |
 Ottawa, Ontario             /^\
 Canada K1S 5B6           /^\   /^\
   -- gfrajkor@ccs.carleton.ca --
  613 788-7404     fax:613 788-5604
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