One of the first Hungarians to travel to North America was Stephen Parmenius, chief chronicler and historian for the expedition of Sir Humphrey Gilbert. Parmenius landed on the shores of Newfoundland in 1583. The young Hungarian humanist wrote one of the earliest accounts of the land that would become Canada. Some three centuries later, in the 1880s, Hungarian immigration to Canada began in earnest. Pal Oscar Esterházy brought Hungarian immigrants from the coal-mining region of Pennsylvania in the United States to settle in what is now Saskatchewan. They lived in tents until family houses were built. Esterházy’s dream was to establish a “New Hungary” on the Canadian prairies. Today the town of Esterhazy bears his name while such other Hungarian villages as Otthon, Békevár, Pinkefalva, Mátyásföld and Székelyföld have virtually faded into memory.

According to official statistical sources, in 1901 there were approximately 1,500 Hungarians in Canada; by 1914 their numbers had substantially increased to 15,000.

Although, at the turn of the century, Hungarian immigrants lived mostly in the Canadian countryside, it was shortly thereafter that Hungarian associations and churches were being established in many cities including Winnipeg (Manitoba), Sydney (Nova Scotia), and Niagara Falls, Welland, Hamilton, Windsor, and Brantford, in Ontario.

Early Hungarian Organizations and Associations

The majority of Hungarian immigrants who arrived in Canada during the interwar years left their homeland primarily because of economical and political upheaval. Many of them came from areas detached from Hungary after the First World War. They came from the county of Bácska-Bánát in Yugoslavia; from Transylvania in Romania; and from the southern part of the newly created Czechoslovakia. The majority were skilled tradesmen, such as butchers, carpenters, shoemakers, and blacksmiths who found work in Ontario at such centres as Brantford, Kitchener, Oshawa, St. Catharines, Niagara Falls, and Port Colborne. At this time, Hamilton’s steelmills and iron foundries attracted the largest Hungarian population in Canada.

Hungarians who arrived during the interwar period faced economic hardships, sometimes living in dire circumstances. It was the time of the Great Depression and unemployment was high. All unemployed immigrants were required to report to work camps established by the government. Those who didn’t report to the camps were deported. Many Hungarians lived in such camps, working in lumber camps and road and railway construction for 20 cents a day, plus room and board. These harsh conditions only changed with the onset of World War II.

Immigration to Canada virtually ceased during World War II. From 1947, the flow of Hungarians to Canada regained momentum, the largest number arriving between 1948 and 1952 at which time 10,151 Hungarians were admitted. These immigrants had all left their homes during and after the Second World War. Following the war, many of them lived in isolated camps for years; for this reason they were called “Displaced Persons.”

From letters in the Canadian National Archives, we learn that displaced persons in Europe following World War II were devastated and traumatized by the psychological effects of waiting, of not knowing when their “lives in limbo” would end. Prospective immigrants, as a result, were willing to accept any kind of work. There were instances of doctors volunteering for a year of gardening or farm labour in order to enter Canada. Many new immigrants were sponsored by Hungarian farmers who had earlier settled in Canada during the interwar years. After fulfilling the terms of the one or two year contract signed prior to immigration, they usually moved to larger urban centres, where in time, most succeeded in obtaining white collar work, albeit not always in their former professions.

Many Hungarian organizations were founded by the post-Second World War immigrants. These included the World Federation of Hungarian Veterans (W.F.H.V.) and the Royal Hungarian Gendarmerie Veterans’ Benevolent Association, each trying to maintain the culture and traditions undermined in Hungary after 1945. The Széchenyi Society, a Calgary-based group, was created to establish Hungarian credit courses. The Society, through the Hungarian Cultural Studies Appeal, in 1978, endowed a Chair of Hungarian Studies at the University of Toronto. The first project of the Rákóczi Foundation was the publication of a Hungarian Heritage Handbook, an English-language reference text highlighting Hungarian history, geography, literature, art, and music. The Hungarian Helicon Society was founded in 1952 “to preserve, explain, and promote the thousand year old cultural and historical heritage of the Hungarian nation.” The existing Hungarian Canadian community not only injected new blood but was rejuvenated by the substantial contributions of the post-war emigrants. The differences between this wave and the one to follow eleven years later, following the Revolution in 1956, are both striking and profound.

The 56ers

The Hungarian Revolution in October of 1956 caught the world by surprise. The reaction of Hungarian Canadians, as well as Canada’s general public, was spontaneous and vigorous. With the establishment of the Hungarian Canadian Relief Fund in Toronto to administer the collection of money and creation of a bloodbank, the public response was tremendous. By November 1, 1956, in order to attain nationwide support and increased efficiency, the Relief Fund was turned over to the Canadian Red Cross.

The Legion for Freedom was formed in response to hundreds of telegrams, phone calls and letters received by relief organizers requesting the formation of an international brigade to aid Hungary. Within two weeks, 3,000 individuals had indicated willingness to participate in such a brigade, half of these volunteers being non-Hungarians.

Early in November 1956, the Hungarian Revolution was crushed. Some 200,000 Hungarians fled their homeland following the Revolution. Canadian officials immediately began eliminating immigration red tape by giving priority to applications from Hungarian refugees. Medical requirements were minimized. Towards the end of November, the Canadian government elected to pay all costs in connection with the movement of Hungarian refugees to Canada. Immigrants no longer had to repay their passage.

Those fleeing the Revolution represented the brightest and best of Hungary’s urban population. In total, approximately 37,000 Hungarian refugees were admitted to Canada following the 1956 Revolution.

Each province set up special programs to accommodate the refugees. Saskatchewan offered to accept 2,000 Hungarians. Two government ministers were named to coordinate the relief work in Manitoba. In Alberta, nearly 70 civic groups participated in resettlement programs. British Columbia offered accommodation and jobs to 1,000 Hungarian refugees. The University of British Columbia was first to offer haven to the 285 students and 29 professors from the Faculty of Forestry at the University of Sopron. Members of the faculty emigrated together and U.B.C. offered them university affiliation and facilities so that the Hungarian students could complete their studies without interruption.

Nearly 20,000 Hungarian refugees settled in Ontario. Ontario was a popular destination because all refugees were accepted – there were no requirements or recommendations. Moreover, Ontario provided a wide variety of opportunities and resettlement programs. The Ontario Federation of Agriculture conducted a province-wide appeal to provide homes for 700 refugees. The City of Timmins offered to accommodate the refugees from the Budapest Mining School, 27 professors and 177 students in all. The University of Toronto offered to take 250 engineering students and staff from the University of Sopron. Finally, the numerous Hungarian Canadian communities of Southern Ontario, where the immigrants found welcome and countrymen ready to assist them, constituted another important incentive to settle in the province.

Many of these political refugees were single. Not surprisingly, St. Elizabeth of Hungary Roman Catholic Church and the First Hungarian Presbyterian Church, both in Toronto, were flooded with requests to perform marriages for newly arrived refugee couples. Mass refugee weddings took place, with as many as twelve couples getting married at once.

In 1966, the tenth anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution was commemorated by Hungarian communities across Canada and a monument was erected in Toronto. The Freedom Monument is in Wells Hill Park on the shores of Lake Ontario, renamed Budapest Park at the time of its dedication.

Undoubtedly, the great impact these newer Canadians had on the earlier established Hungarian Canadian communities was immense. Churches had to be modernized and enlarged to accommodate the increase in parishioners, and new congregations were formed. Hungarian community/cultural centres were rejuvenated. The Hungarian House of Toronto became the Hungarian Canadian Cultural Centre – the largest such cultural centre in the Hungarian diaspora. The Krónika (Chronicle), the official monthly of the centre, was a cultural magazine distributed in some 30 countries worldwide, until 1993. The János Halász Library, housed within the Centre, was named after the Hungarian-born medical doctor whose collection of some 24,000 books laid the foundation of this important library.

In Canadian urban centres, Hungarian restaurants became famous for their splendid cooking and special dishes.In the field of medicine, Dr. Paul Rékai and Dr. John Rékai founded Central Hospital, the first multilingual hospital in Toronto. Dr. Hans Selye in Montreal pioneered the study of the effects of stress upon our health and well-being. Other Hungarian-Canadians who have become prominent in their fields of endeavour include Dorade Pedery-Hunt, well-known designer of Canadian medals and coins; Robert Lantos, founder of Alliance Communications Corporation; Andrew Sarlós, financial guru; Peter Munk, resource executive; and Anna Porter, writer and publisher of note, to name a few.

In 1867, Antal Wappel was elected to the Hungarian Regional Parliament in Sopron to help administer the newly established Austro-Hungarian Empire. In 1998, three generations and a half a world away, his great-grandson, Thomas Wappel, was elected to the Canadian Parliament. He was the first person of Hungarian origin to be elected to that body and in his maiden speech, he spoke the first words of Hungarian ever officially recorded in Parliament in Canadian history. Tom’s grandmother, Margaret Breckner (née Kadar), immigrated to Canada from her native Erdely in 1931. Her family settled in Montreal where Margaret, whose great passion was the theatre, immediately began producing and directing plays in the Hungarian language. The family moved to Toronto in 1935 where Margaret Breckner created an Hungarian theatre ensemble which performed extensively throughout Canada and the United States. Her daughter, Margaret Wappel, starred in many of these productions which show cased the rich tradition of the Hungarian theatre and its many famous operettas. The Wappel-Breckner family helped to found many of the Canadian-Hungarian cultural institutions that continue vitally today, such as the Hungarian-Canadian Cultural Centre, The Hungarian House of Montreal, The St. Elizabeth of Hungary Roman Catholic Parish and the Helicon Society. The Margaret Breckner Foundation was created by the family to continue to foster, develop, and advance Hungarian cultural expressions in Canada. To integrate successfully into Canadian society without losing touch with their cultural heritage is what is important to the Wappel family, indeed, to all Hungarians who immigrate to Canada.

It has now been more than 100 years since the first Hungarians settled on the Canadian prairies – a century of struggle and perseverance on the part of Hungarian immigrants. From the early beginnings on the harsh Canadian prairies, to the desperate conditions during the Depression, Hungarian immigrants fortuitously succeeded in establishing viable communities. Each wave of immigrants came with their own particular set of talents, cultural traditions and values, and through their hard work, they have collectively contributed significantly to the Canadian way of life.

Author's disclaimer: the article in the above named publication dealing with Hungarians in Canada published by Heirloom Publishing in May 2000, was the subject of unauthorized modifications. In particular, the section dealing with the Wappel family, namely Tom Wappel, M.P, Robert Wappel and Margaret Wappel was added and subsequently published by Heirloom Publishing without my prior knowledge and/or consent.

Susan Papp-Aykler