A search for keywords Hungary genealogy on Google Blog Search brought up an interesting blog item. Apparently written by a member of LDS this article gives some insights into how Mormons found the way to the Soviet block: The Iron Curtain: Thomas S. Monson Helped Pull It Down. Extract:
"One of the most effective of the Lords ambassadors was the Churchs microfilming work. In 1957, Hungary approached the Genealogical Department (now the Family History Department) regarding the preservation of its records."

A researcher, using a nick-name Stefan- on the popular Index.hu site forum, has been referred to as the news source of useful family tree research tools and resources several occasions on this blog. I learn only recently that there is a site maintained by him. The site, no matter how bare-bone its design is, is a good collection of links to sources, resources for the Hungarian genealogist. And beyond the links, Stefan- has stuff prepared, transcribed by himself, too, just like the 1773-1774 censi of some Szabolcs County settlements.

Stefan- drops his contributions on the Családfakutatás (genealogy) thread of Index.hu.

I was surprised to see that there is a vacancy on the HungaryGenWeb page at RootsWeb. Suzanne Somodi Jimenez, the creator of the Hungarian Village Finder tool, has apparently stepped down from being an editor of the page.

Maybe someone should announce it at the Hungary Mailing List @ Rootsweb so that interested people might know about the vacancy?

Thanks to Chris Dunham's Genealogy Blog Finder an entry caught my eye. The Photo Corner section of Ancestry's Family History Circle blog published a photo of the Csõre - Juhász couple, who left Hungary's Mucsony to come to the States - and then went back to the old country.

The copy machine repairman hired by the Benedictine Abbey of Pannonhalma has been charged with stealing precious old documents from their collections. Using the lack of supervision - according to the charge - he was able to take away old charters several occasions.

The good news is that none of the archival materials have been lost, all of them could be found. The estimated value of the stolen documents is about $600,000.

The most outstanding from the set of the stolen rarities is a charter issued in about 1090. This is Hungary's oldest known charter with a seal of the king.

(Source of info in Hungarian)

and he appears to have a stronger claim... according to Scotland on Sunday.

Weird, an advertisement was found on Hungary's web auction site, Vatera. This person was looking people who would be interested in getting a digitized version of a local newspaper from Hungary, the Zsolna és Vidéke (1897-1899). It would be full-text searchable. (Zsolna is now Zilina in the Slovak Republic.)

At age of 108 last Hungarian soldier who fought in WW1 died in April 2004. Similar to the funeral of András Toma, György László's funeral was sponsored by Hungary's Ministry of Defense.

András Toma (I have a blog entry about him) died back in March 2004. His funeral was sponsored by the Hungarian Ministry of Defense.

Ferenc Csango was taken into a labour camp in Russia during WW2. Now his granddaughter thinks he might got to India. Read the story.

The chamber will be 120 years old soon. They decided to publish a book that would like to praise the good work and practice of craftsmen. Two journalists of the county's most read newspaper were asked to write family histories of the crafts people.

A settlement with only a few decades of history decided to collect oral histories of its inhabitants. Situated halfway between Szolnok and Debrecen, Berekfürdõ's history started only in the 1920s when geologists were searching for natural gas - and found thermal water instead.

This project started with an eventual photographing of the people by an enthusiast. An ethnographer from the neighbourhood suggested to add family histories to the pictures. Then a Budapest-based journalist, Ágnes Keresztes, formerly active in the region, jumped in and started taking notes of people's stories.

Berekfürdõ has about 400 households. Ms. Keresztes already has 300 life stories collected. The manuscript will be sent to the Hungarian National Museum. People in Berekfürdõ - secretly - hope that a book might come out about their lives, too.

The 19 Feb broadcast of the night magazine at Hungarian Radio's Kossuth Channel had guests talking about their family histories. Guest list included Hungarian celebrities Boglárka Csősz, Árpád Kercsó, Kisfaludy family members etc.

Thanks to the archival services, you can listen to the program here (RealAudio Player needed). Scroll to 11 min 30 sec for the program start. part 2, part 3.

I read in the extract from "Magyarországról jövök" (radio programme on Hungary's Petőfi Channel) that two Hungarian ladies - one of the Diaconical Services of the R. C. Church in Hungary and the other one from the radio - started to record on tape life stories of older people residing in the 10 nursing homes of the service. It is believed that they can help the elderly by letting them go through their lives. Any relatives interested in this?

'Twas back in Autumn 2000 when an old man who had been nursed in a Russian mental hospital turned out to be a Hungarian POW from WW2: Andras Toma was placed there for unknown reasons, and as years went by, not speaking a word in Russian, it became his residence for decades.

Today Hungary's popular daily Népszabadság reports on finding Toma's fellow sufferer. He's called Emil. The psychiatrist and the journalist finding him now raise money to bring him home.