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| Award-Winning Documentary: "Draculas Shadow: The Real Story Behind the Romanian Revolution" | | Begins Three-Week North American Fundraising Tour | | May 4, 2010 | A pivotal chapter in HHRF’s 34 years of service is revealed in Árpád Szőczi’s compelling documentary "Draculas Shadow: The Real Story Behind the Romanian Revolution" debuting now across Canada and the U.S.
For the first time, Director/Producer Szőczi has gathered those who were involved in the unraveling of Nicolae Ceausescu’s oppressive regime in Romania. This ninety-minute film tells the story of how one clandestine interview with Hungarian Protestant Minister László Tőkés in Timisoara changed history.
Throughout the month of May, audiences will have thirteen incredible opportunities see the award-winning documentary that - twenty years after the fall of communism - documents the truths behind the events that led up to 1989 Romanian revolution, through never before seen interviews with former top officials.
The chilling Cold War account begins with the secret mission of two French-Canadians - former Quebec Cabinet Minister Michel Clair and Radio-Canada reporter Réjean Roy - sent in March 1989 to Timisoara, Romania. They were sent to secretly videotape an interview with Tőkés, a leading member of Romania s large Hungarian minority, under intense secret police surveillance. True Soviet-style intrigue and subterfuge ensued. The story of how those tapes were released has never been told, until now. No Western media would air the interview, but when Hungarian TV finally did, it led to the history-turning, secret police-defying demonstrations of December 15 where hundreds defended the dissident pastor. The film also discloses the names of former informers and spies, thanks to the Securitate files now being released.
Help HHRF write history again!
By coming to see the film you’ll be helping the New York-based Hungarian Human Rights Foundation (HHRF) continue its important human rights mission. Proceeds will benefit the award-winning non-profit dedicated to improving the lives of Hungarian minorities in East Central Europe for the past 34 years. Featured in the film, the Foundation currently focused on the discriminatory language law in Slovakia restricting minority language rights. | >>more | |
| Resolution Adopted at a Meeting of Representatives of National Minorities |
| Proposal for a comprehensive solution of the status and rights of national minorities | | | March 23, 2010 | On March 22 – 23, 2010, representatives of the largest and historically autonomous national minorities living in Slovakia – the Czech, Hungarian, German, Romany, Ruthenian and Ukrainian communities– met in the village of Vinica (Ipolynyék, in Hungarian), in the Veµký Krtíą district, to exchange views regarding the status and rights of national minorities and ethnic groups in Slovakia.
The immediate impetus for organizing this summit was a meeting of representatives of national minorities with the President of the republic and the Deputy Prime Minister for Human Rights and Minorities at which both officials encouraged minority representatives to draft and submit joint proposals to amend legislation concerning national minorities. | | >>more | |
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| Stand Up and Be Counted! | | Where to enter “HUNGARIAN” on the 2010 U.S. Census Form | | March 19, 2010 | The 2010 Census form you received in the mail contains a hidden box, under the RACE question, which is the only place you can indicate your ancestry, nationality or ethnic origin.
If you have not yet returned the Census form, and you are even partly of Hungarian origin or background, please
Under Question 9. What is Person’s race? place an "X" mark in the □ Some other race box and make sure to write out "HUNGARIAN" in the space provided. | | >>more | |
| Congressman Dennis Kucinich of Ohio |
| Calls on Slovak Prime Minister to Reconsider Slovak Language Law | | | January 28, 2010 | | In a strongly-worded letter dated January 28, Congressman Dennis Kucinich of Ohio (D-10) called on Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico to rethink the undemocratic language law that came into effect in Slovakia on September 1, 2009. The law “discriminates directly against Slovakia’s ethnic minorities that comprise fifteen percent of the total population; specifically the Hungarian community that constitutes eleven percent of ethnic minorities in the country,” states the final version obtained by HHRF. | | >>more | |
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| Opinion on the Implementing Principles to the Slovak State Language Law Prepared by the EC’s Legal Service | | | January 13, 2010 | | HHRF has obtained a copy of an unofficial opinion on the Implementing Principles to the Slovak State Language Law prepared by The European Commission’s Legal Service. This internal department--reporting directly to the Commissions President--recommended no less than a dozen changes to these non-binding directives prepared for the enforcing Ministry of Culture with the purported intent of "clarifying" the Law. Though the Slovak government received these well before it adopted the guidelines on December 16, the recommendations were not incorporated in their entirety into the final version. | | >>more | |
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| Governor George E. Pataki Visits University in Slovakia | | Meets with Pál Csáky and the Leadership of the Hungarian Coalition Party in Pozsony | | October 14, 2009 | | On October 12, former NY Governor George E. Pataki delivered a lecture at the Selye Janos University, a Hungarian-language institution in the town of Komarno, Slovakia. Mr. Pataki’s speech, entitled “The Democratic Constitutional State in the 21st Century,” was attended by 380 students and the university’s faculty. Mr. Pataki was accompanied by Max Teleki, President and Zsolt Szekeres, Board member of the Hungarian American Coalition, and László Hámos, President of the Hungarian Human Rights Foundation. | | >>more | |
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| George Pataki: the Slovak language law is undemocratic | | | October 12, 2009 | | The language law adopted in Slovakia violates a fundamental democratic principle—the protection of minority rights—said George E. Pataki, former governor of New York State, during a lecture at the Selye János University in Révkomárom. | | >>more | |
| HHRF Report on Slovak Language Law |
| Slovakia Curtails Free Speech through Restrictive Language | | National Minorities Singled Out | | September 7, 2009 | | On September 1, Slovakia took another major step in the downwards spiral of democratic values. Since the rogue regime of Prime Minister Robert Ficos Socialist SMER party took power in July 2006, deteriorating rule of law and bias has characterized the country. The new measure is the latest in a barrage of anti-minority, anti-democratic measures introduced by the SMER party and its coalition partners--the ultra-nationalist Slovak National Party (SNS) headed by Ján Slota and the post-communist Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) headed by Vladimir Meciar. (To read the full report click here: Slovakia Curtails Free Speech through Restrictive Language Law.) | | >>more | |
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| Bishop László Tőkés Awarded Truman-Reagan Freedom Medal By Victims Of Communism Memorial Foundation | | | June 18, 2009 | | Washington, DC – On June 16, Bishop László Tőkés, a leader of the Hungarian community in Romania and a member of the European Parliament, received the Truman-Reagan Freedom Medal at a ceremony held in the Rayburn Building of the U.S. Congress. The Hungarian Human Rights Foundation(HHRF) and the Hungarian American Coalition (HAC) co-organized a series of events and meetings for Bishop Tőkés in Washington to present the current situation of the 1.5 Million Hungarian minority in Romania to decision-makers and interested public. | | >>more | |
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