Current Snapshot of the Hungarian American Community
According to the most recent US Census, there are approximately 1.4 million Hungarian Americans living in the United States. The largest populations currently live in Ohio, New York, California, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Many of the largest and most impactful organizations were created by ‘56-ers when they emigrated to the United States. Now, 2nd and 3rd generation Hungarian Americans are working alongside Hungarians who may have recently emigrated to engage all generations in their activities and holiday celebrations.
The community consists of:
» More than 100 Organizations
» 78 Churches (Catholic, Calvinist and Lutheran)
» 33 Hungarian Schools
>» 25 Hungarian Scout Troops
» 12 Hungarian Houses, Museums, Libraries
One of the primary goals is to pass on Hungarian heritage, history and culture to the next generation. According to various studies, less than 10% of the community speak Hungarian, a rich and beautiful, but notoriously difficult language to learn. This remains a major challenge in engaging the next generation and keeping the community active and vibrant for generations to come.
Most organizations are focused on building a local community, but a handful have a more national approach and a community-wide mission:
Nationwide Organizations
Hungarian American Coalition
The Hungarian American Coalition is the community’s largest umbrella organization, representing more than 38,000 members. Founded in 1991, when Central and East Europe was finally freed from 40 years of communist rule, the Coalition has built connections between Hungary and the United States by focusing on projects in Education and Culture, Information and Human Rights Advocacy and Hungarian American Community Affairs. To date, HAC has more than 550 scholarship and internship program alumni. The Coalition hosts an annual Gala Dinner and Mikulas Dinner in Washington, DC along with a White House briefing for its members. The organization has offices in Washington DC and Budapest, Hungary and its Board leadership is located all across the US.
Hungarian Human Rights Foundation
The Hungarian Human Rights Foundation, founded in 1976, has monitored the human rights conditions of 2.5 million ethnic Hungarians who live as minorities in Croatia, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Slovakia and Ukraine, who collectively comprise the largest national minority in Central Europe. HHRF is the only professional organization in the West devoted to the rights of these communities. HHRF is a private, independent and not-for-profit corporation. It operates from its New York headquarters and maintains offices in Budapest, Hungary and Kolozsvár (Cluj), Romania.
Hungarian Scout Association in Exteris
The Hungarian Scout Association was established in Hungary in 1912, two years after the first troops were formed in 1910. Hungary was originally a charter member of the World Organization of Scout Movements. In 1945-46, young Hungarian scout leaders who fled the country after World War II formed the first troops outside Hungary in the refugee camps of Austria and Germany. The Hungarian Scout Association in Exile was established in 1948. Troops were formed in other Western European countries, and as refugees emigrated overseas, also in South America, the United States, Canada, and Australia. In 1989, with the fall of the communist regime, scouting was re-established in Hungary. The Hungarian Scout Association name was returned to the newly formed organization, and the worldwide organization was named Hungarian Scout Association in Exteris. With a 40-year lapse of any official scouting activity under communism, the worldwide organization played a major role in helping the rebirth of scouting in Hungary. There are currently 25 troops across the United States.
American Hungarian Foundation
The American Hungarian Foundation, established in 1955, has a mission to collect, conserve and celebrate the contributions, stories, history, heritage and culture of American Hungarians. In 1989, the Hungarian Heritage Center was opened in New Brunswick, NJ, which includes a museum, library and archive facility. Through a partnership with Rutgers University, AHF offers access to tems of thousands of digitized records. AHF also sponsors the largest American Hungarian Festival in the US every June and a Festival of Trees every December.
American Hungarian Federation
The American Hungarian Federation was founded in 1906 in Cleveland, Ohio, and is among the oldest ethnic organizations in the country. AHF was established as an association of Hungarian societies, institutions and churches to “defend the interest of Americans of Hungarian origin in the United States.” The Federation strives to unite the American Hungarian community through work that supports common goals. Over the past 100 years, AHF’s mission has broadened to include support for people of Hungarian descent on both sides of the Atlantic and in the successor states of the Carpathian Basin.
Hungarian Communion of Friends
Established in 1967, the Hungarian Communion of Friends (Magyar Baráti Közösség or MBK) preserves Hungarian cultural heritage and Hungarian non-denominational religious values. Its goal is to promote the development of our Hungarian-American identity and to help strengthen overall Hungarian unity. Since its founding, MBK has regularly published the ITT-OTT Periodical, which later developed into the ITT-OTT Yearbook. MBK is the organizer of the annual ITT-OTT Conference at Lake Hope State Park in Ohio, with the aim of providing an intellectual forum within the context of family vacationing. The Conference’s guest speakers from the Carpathian Basin as well as from the other regions of the Hungarian diaspora, often bring their programs to local chapters as well.
William Penn Association
The William Penn Association (originally the Verhovay Aid Association) was founded in 1886 in Hazleton, PA, by 13 Hungarian coal miners. The goal of the founders was to extend a helping hand to the many Hungarian immigrants who worked in the mines and industrial centers in the US long before insurance was available. After nearly four decades of growth, and three hundred chapters throughout the northeastern states, the VAA grew into the largest and most successful of all the Hungarian American fraternal organizations. This growth also included a number of mergers, including the most significant with the Rákóczi Aid Association in 1955. At that moment, two of the largest Hungarian American fraternals came together to form the William Penn Fraternal Association to preserve and perpetuate the Hungarian culture in America.
HungarianHub
One of the most recent national organizations was created within the past five years. The HungarianHub focuses on innovative business, education exchange, and community leaders, connecting Hungary and the United States. HH has organized two Hungarian Summit events to introduce networking opportunities between local and Hungarian start-ups, established businesses, educators, university exchange programs, community leaders and government decision-makers. The Hungarian Summit – held in 2021 in Daytona beach, FL and in 2023 in Budapest, Hungary – creates new, successful networks between American and Hungarian professionals.
The Pandemic Paradigm Shift - The Year of Community – 2020
The year 2020 was unprecedented and unparalleled for the HA community, as it was for the entire world. The Covid19 pandemic forced us all into isolation but also pushed us to find new and innovative ways to build connections with each other and in the end, further strengthen our community. Technology enabled this paradigm shift, but the success was driven by our dedicated organizational leaders who rose to the challenge. The year was aptly named, the Year of National Hungarian Unity and the Year of Strong Community. Looking back, it was the perfect way to describe what happened…
We saw creative problem-solving (livestream church services and drive-by celebrations), community outreach initiatives (food delivery to the elderly) and new online programming (from folk dancing to cooking classes to Hungarian lessons). Organizations expanded their outreach through an active online presence and by launching new meetings and discussion series, while more established organizations took their traditional conferences online.
New English-language podcasts were created, video compilations were made to remind us we were all in this together and monthly zoom sessions to ensure the community stayed informed and had access to professional development seminars. And, as it became clear the pandemic would not be short-lived, annual fundraisers went online through GoFundMe campaigns and new virtual events.
Weekend Hungarian Schools moved online in droves, led by the American Hungarian Schools Association (AMIT), who created a website filled with resources and teacher training opportunities. The Hungarian Association of Scouts in Exteris (KMCSSZ) modeled global, zoom-based training and activities, including a particularly poignant “Flame of Hungarian Unity” initiative that saw more than 6,130 fires lit around the world on June 4, the 100th anniversary of the Treaty of Trianon. Many of these new approaches continue to be used today.
