[Liz Vos]

We’d love to know a little about you and your connection to Hungarian things! Where did you grow up? Who in your family line had Hungarian heritage?

Topic

[Ildiko Antal-Ferencz]

Hi, it seems that I’m the odd-one-out here. 🙂 I was born in Transylvania (from Hungarian parents) and lived there until 18 and then moved to Hungary (alone) to study. I met my husband there, so I stayed and did not return to my homeland as always planned. We moved to the US 3 years ago because if my husband’s work and we are now moving back to Hungary (on the week of the Expo:). This is my first Expo and I am very excited about it! See you there soon. Regards, Ildiko Antal-Ferencz (journalist)

[George Kerekes]

My name is George Kerekes — a retiree living in Columbus, MS. I was born in Los Angeles, CA and raised in Los Angeles and San Diego County.

All four (4) grandparents, thoroughly Hungarian, were born and lived in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. My maternal grandparents immigrated pre-WW1 to Los Angeles, where my mother was born. My father was born in 1904 in Igló, Austro-Hungarian Empire, now Spišská Nová Ves, Slovakia. He immigrated in 1922 to NYC and moved to Los Angeles following WW2. Mother and father met and socialized at the Magyar Ház and Munkásotthon, in North Hollywood.

While I do not speak the language, I was raised in the North Hollywood Hungarian community and culture literally every weekend. My father even coached the Magyars’ soccer team, in the Greater Los Angeles Soccer League.

I have visited Hungary four (4) times, twice with Magyar Living Tours. Every time I have learned something new — I am looking forward to another visit and more learning.

[Clarisse Andrus]

Jónapot kívánok!

My name is Clarisse Andrus. My maiden name is Izrael. My father and all four grandparents immigrated to the US from Hungary 1900-1923. My mother was born in the US but Hungarian was her first language.

My maternal grandparents were from villages in the Gyor/Sopron area and met in New Jersey in 1905. They later lover to the Hungarian area of Detroit know as Delray.

My paternal grandparents are from Sarud, Heves and met and married there. My dad was born there in 1911. My grandfather immigrated to Delray in 1912 and my grandmother and father joined him in 1923. My family lived in Delray 1912-1977. We still live in Metro Detroit.

I grew up in Delray in a very Magyar home and neighborhood. My grandparents never spoke English. I learned some Hungarian as a child but not all the vocabulary or grammar. I attended Holy Cross Hungarian RC Church grades k-8, was married at Holy Cross and still attend church there. We will be celebrating 120 years of our Hungarian parish and 100 years of our church building on September 14. We have masses in English and Hungarian and have two Hungarian Franciscan priests. I am working on a cookbook from Holy Cross for our anniversary with many treasured family Hungarian recipes.

I took Hungarian lessons 50 years ago at church but forgot a lot. I started back to taking lessons with Magyar Living 5 years ago and continue to take them. I am hoping to get my dual citizenship. I am code to the end of the A2 book.

My husband and I live in Dearborn Michigan. We have two adult daughters. Both were Wgite Rose Ball Debutants. We visited Hungary in 2008 and 2017. We visited my dad’s family in Sarud both times. Our older daughter had been to Hungary 3 times and swam in the World Master’s swim event in 2017. Our younger daughter has been there 2 times and helped build a homeless shelter with Habitat for Humanity in 2010.

I work on my genealogy and have been able to trace all four grandparents back to great, great, great, great, great grandparents. All my ancestors were Magyars born in what is still Hungary. Surnames are: Izrael, Nagy, Ihasz, Farkas. ~ Clarisse

[Eileen Hamilton]

Hello Sziastok! I was born to a 100% Hungarian Mom (her parents immigrated to US through Ellis Island). My husband and I have been doing the Pimsleur system learning the language. We will be traveling to Budapest in September (first time) – super excited!

[John Krafty]

Growing up I was told, “We are German, but my grandparents were born in either Austria or Hungary. As it turns out, all 4 of my grandparents were all born in what was then the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. One was born in present-day Austria, one in present-day Slovakia and two in present day Hungary. All of my grandparents were Danube Swabians and all spoke German, so I always identified as German until I did a DNA test and started researching my family tree.

I discovered a few things:
1. My last name “Krafty” was originally “Krafcsik” – my grandfather changed it after coming to America and his fellow steel workers had a hard time pronouncing his name.
2. My lineage in Hungary that I was able to trace so far goes back to at least the 1700s, so am I German or am I Hungarian? I now consider myself to be both and my DNA test confirms that.
3. My grandmother and her one sister both immigrated to America, but she had a brother who remained behind in Hungary. This was confirmed by both genealogy research as well as a picture my mother had of when some relatives visited Hungary in 1974.
4. I hired a genealogist who was able to find and connect me with relatives till living in Hungary and some still living in the same house my grandmother was born and raised in.

As part of my genealogical research, I came across a website that told me I could acquire Hungarian citizenship through “simplified naturalization” provided I could prove Hungarian lineage. Easy enough I thought, and an EU passport is very valuable to an American who loves to travel. And then I read further; I had to learn to speak Hungarian!

The company who was helping me the simplified naturalization process referred me to Helpers Hungary (the owner Renata Forgacs is also presenting at this conference). They offered me one on one lessons via Zoom. Even though I had read many places that Hungarian is one of the toughest languages to learn for an English speaker and I had never heard even one word of Hungarian (except for palacsinta), I was very excited… until my first lesson! But I had the desire now that I discovered living relatives in Hungary and I was retired, so I told myself that I had no excuse.

A little over a year later, I was confident enough in my speaking abilities to go for my citizenship interview at the Hungarian Consulate in New York City. My interview was on July 28th, and I am happy to report that I “passed” and am awaiting the paperwork to be cleared in Budapest and to be invited to come back for the citizenship ceremony.

I will be back in Budapest at the end of of Danube River Cruise in late September.

[Gail Somodi]

Hello Amy, I’ve been to Szeged and absolutely love Kecskemet. I’ve been to Kecskemet many times as it is near the town where my ex-husband was born and raised.

• This reply was modified 2 weeks, 3 days ago by Gail Somodi.

[Gail Somodi]

Hello, This is my 2nd Expo, I’m located in Florida. I was married for 30 years to a Hungarian man. From 1991-2016 we made about 6-7 trips to Hungary. Our children are dual citizens, one of my children took two semesters of Hungarian in college. I have a vast Hungarian vocabulary and often could provide Hungarian words to my ex husband when he forgot them, but can not really speak the language. I could fend for myself I’m sure. My mother in law used to visit us for 3 months at a time and she spoke no English-our common language was cooking. I miss visiting Hungary and the wonderful food and so on. I cook gulyas, palacsinta, Szekely gulyas, beigli, csirke paprikas, and more. Also of interest is that my 2nd great grandparents (not Hungarian), took in a girl Bessie with Hungarian roots back in about 1914 in Wisconsin. One of my hobbies is genealogy and it was my pleasure to solve some family mysteries and locate the grave of her mother who died in 1914 in Brillion, Wisconsin when Bessie was young. Bessie’s father was a coal miner and he worked in Brillion, Wisconsin and in Pennsylvania. There were about 9 children listed in John’s naturalization documents. John Hubicsak relocated to Pennsylvania after his wife’s death, taking some of his children with him. Some of the children were older and remained in Hungary-never coming to the US with their parents. I am in contact with Bessie’s daughter and was able to share with her much information she did not know about her biological family, along with some photographs.
Bessie’s father John Hubicsak
B:08 Sep 1877 Vajdacska, Borsod-Abauj-Zemplen, Hungary and died 23 April 1969 in New York City, New York USA

[Robin Kohl]

I’m Robin Kohl and I first was introduced to Hungary in 1998 when my son was a high school foreign exchange student there. We have no Hungarian heritage but I like to say I’m grafted in. We began to meet more and more people through the years and expanded our educational exchanges. Eventually, my husband and I moved to Hungary part-time when we retired, and I have been teaching at the Reformed university there for the last 5 years. We love the country, the culture, and the people.

[Liz Vos]

Welcome, Heidi!

We’re so glad you are here! I love that you are digging in and getting into it! Enjoy the days leading up to the Expo and the week of the Expo!

[Liz Vos]

Hi Amy!

We lived in Seward, Nebraska for many years! And I love a good Runza!

How great to be a Fulbright Scholar and have had the opportunity to travel to Hungary — it is an amazing place to visit!

You will definitely get more info on citizenship possibilities at the Expo this year!

Enjoy the presentations!

[Jami Beserock]

I am Jami Beserock (Beszerák is the Hungarian spelling that is on my great-grandfather’s grave in Slovakia). My great-grandfather came to the US in the early 1900’s from Ungvar, Hungary (now Uzhhorod, Ukraine). My grandfather spoke fluent Hungarian but did not pass it down to the rest of the family. We found our Hungarian family late in life after my grandfather died. I am lucky to work at a university and have taken and retaken Hungarian several times (and also Czech to help when I am in Slovakia), though I’m still not fluent but I can communicate with my family. I currently have family in Budapest, Hungary, Kassa (Košice, Slovakia), and Nagykapos (Veľké Kapušany, Slovakia). Most of my family speaks little to no English at all. I was just in Budapest and Slovakia in May for almost 3 weeks. I have been to Hungary and Slovakia several times and hope to spend more time there after I retire in a few years. There is more to my story but too much to explain here. I think this is my third expo I’ve attended.

[Amy Forss]

Hello,
My name is Amy Forss and I live in Omaha, Nebraska. I am Hungarian on my father’s side. My paternal grandparents were both born in what is now modern day Hungary—my grandfather in Szeged and my grandmother in what was originally Transylvania. In 2014, I traveled to Hungary as a US Fulbright Scholar. I loved seeing the country, teaching Hungarian college students, and eating plenty of excellent Hungarian dishes. In 2018, I visited Hungary again to reunite with friends living in Kecskemet. It is important to me to discover my Hungarian roots, learn the language, and apply for dual citizenship. Hopefully, I will learn more about this latter possibility by attending the Expo.

[Stacey DeLong]

Hi! My name is Stacey DeLong and this is my first Hungarian Heritage Expo! I live in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. My maternal great-grandparents and others in the family emigrated here to Elizabeth, NJ from Hungary in 1905. My great-grandparents then settled in Moore Township, Northampton County, Pennsylvania 8 years later. My great-uncle and his wife left Elizabeth and settled in Detroit, Michigan. Just last week I made a breakthrough and was able to trace my great-grandfather, Niklos Focht’s family back to Lenauheim/Schadat/Csatad, Hungary where my 5th great-grandfather, Heinrich Focht, was an original settler from Germany. My maternal great-grandmother, Iren Folinuscz, lived in Transylvania in Dobra Commune, Hunyad County, Hungary. She taught my grandmother and mother how to bake all of the yummy Hungarian goodies and so much more! My grandmother always talked about being German and her parents coming from Germany, but I never knew they were Germans living in those areas of Hungary. I’ve been told my other sets of great-grandparents are also from Hungary, so I can’t wait to start researching them and learning more. I’m excited to attend the classes at the Expo and learn more about my heritage!

[Don Vos]

Wow! Congratulations on a big year! Getting married AND getting to move to Hungary! I have taken Hungarian but get there very infrequently. Hopefully your experience there will help your learning move along more quickly! Looking forward to be back next May on Liz’s 2026 tour.

[Amy Buz]

I’m Amy Buz, and I attended the Expo last year as Amy Claprood. In the last year, I married my Hungarian husband (Joe) and moved to Budapest! He is a first-generation American (both parents are Hungarian – one from Budapest and one from the Őrség area) with dual HU/US citizenship. He is fluent; I am struggling with the language. But I love the culture that is adopting me, and the community that surrounds us here.

[Author]

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