Reading this bittersweet report in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about the closure of the city’s last “Hungarian Club” we couldn’t help but notice some eerie parallels with things here in the homeland. One cause given for the shut-down is a new tax, and the other a lack of a younger generation able to take the place of members dying off. Too many taxes and not enough kids to keep things going? Now where have we heard that before?
It’s a typical American story. Most Hungarians who’d be patrons of such “clubs” came over in ’56 as young adults. They assimilated quickly into the American mainstream. Frequently their kids never learned Hungarian and thus lost a certain bond. Many of those ’56ers now have great-grandchildren. “Not enough kids?” No, there are plenty of kids, but being born and raised in America, hanging out in a dank old building drinking Schlitz with friends of their grandparents doesn’t have much appeal – it doesn’t take much imagination much to understand why!
That said, I live in Austin, Texas, where my pal Genevieve started the Austin Hungarian Association, less than a year ago. There are events every month or so, attended by every age, from little kids to ’56ers, but primarily people in their 20s to 40s. A show by Magos Zenekar and a Christmas party both saw more than 100 people; nights at a club for movies or drinks bring in 50 or more. Most of the attendees speak at least some Hungarian, but everyone’s welcome and the atmosphere is fun and congenial. Austin does not and never has enjoyed a very big Hungarian community, so if it can happen here, it could happen in any big city.
Old things end, new things start . . . I don’t see it as meaning much at all.