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Peter I. Hidas
The Hungarian Refugees of 1956: Who Were They?
The Hungarian refugees who began to pour into Austria after the
reoccupation of all of Hungary by the Red Army constituted a cross-section
of Hungarian society. In 1957 the Hungarian government's Central
Statistical Bureau (KSH) prepared a detailed report on persons who had left
Hungary illegally between 23 October 1956 and 30 April 1957. This report
was reprinted and was made accessible to the public for the first time in
1991.
The Hungarian police, according the KSH report, counted 151,731 persons
who left Hungary illegally from the end of October 1956 to May 1957. That
number constituted 1.5% of the population of Hungary. More than half of
them were originally residents of Budapest and another 19% lived in other
towns. Two thirds of the refugees were males, one third female. The
proportion of women who fled Budapest was higher than that of those who
left from the rest of the country. More than half of the refugees were
under 25 years of age. Nearly one third of the "dissidents", the term used
in the document, were between 25 and 39 years old. Fewer than 12% fell into
the 40 to 59 years old group while the 60 and over sixty group constituted
less than one per cent of the refugees. Consequently Hungary lost three
percent of its 15 to 39 years old population, 4.1% of the 15 to 19 group.
Persons of military age left in high number. Men in their twenties who
defected constituted 10.3% of their cohorts, the 19 years old group, 9.3%.
The youth of Budapest departed in large number. Fifteen out of every
hundred left from the 15-24 group. The highest proportion of refugees came
from the 5th, 6th and 7th districts of the capital where most of the
white-collar workers, intellectuals and Jews lived.
Two-thirds of the refugees were formerly employed, while 1/3 of them we
r
e
supported. White-collar workers constituted 25% of the refugee population,
3.3% of their cohorts. One half of the blue-collar workers were skilled
industrial labourers, 4.2% of their cohorts. Two-thirds of the white-collar
workers were intellectuals, numbering 17,000. Amongst them the largest
number were the engineers, almost 11% of the Hungarian total. 730 doctors
left, five out of every hundred. One half of the refugees in the
"supported" category consisted of students. College and university students
numbered 3,200, 11.2% of the Hungarian total.
By the end of May 1957, 11,447 Hungarians had returned to Hungary, near
l
y
six per cent of the total of 193,885. 2/5 of the returnees came from
Austria, 1/5 from Yugoslavia. The refugees returned in the highest
proportion from Belgium. More men returned than did women, more from the 15
to 19 and the over 60 groups. Only two percent of the intellectuals but
seven per cent of the farmers repatriated. Farmers left Hungary in the
smallest number: 0.4% of them.
According to Canada's Statistics Section of the Department of Citizens
h
ip
and Immigration by May 1, 1958, the number of Hungarian refugees who were
granted Canadian landing right was 35,914, one out of every five who had
left Hungary. The Statistical Section compiled demographic data on the new
Canadians. The comparing and the contrasting of the demographic data of
refugees leaving Hungary and those from the same group who than left for
Canada is possible with the two sets of data made available.
A major difference emerges between the two groups in the 15 to 19 age
group. Almost 20% of the defectors are in this category while only 11.3%
(4,057) of the Hungarian refugees in Canada were in this group. Canadian
immigration authorities were careful not to accept unaccompanied teenagers
which may account for this discrepancy. The profile of both groups,
emigrant-refugees and immigrant-refugees is identical, 54% of the over 15
groups were males, 46% were females. This ratio varies in certain age
groups as reported in 1958. In the 20 to 24 group 84% of the men were
single, but only 37% of the women. In the 25 to 29 group half the men were
single as compared with 17% of the women. In the collegeage category,
20-24, females constituted only 29% (1,310) of the refugee-immigrants.
=46ewer than 3% of all the men were divorced or separated, for women the
number was under 5%. In the 25 to 29 age group 46% of the men and 76% of
the women were married. Between 35 and 39 men reaches the same percentage.
The figures indicate that Canada obtained a family-oriented group of
immigrants.
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------
TABLE 1
Hungarian Refugees Granted Landing
Age Group, Sex and Marital Status
Eighteen Months ended April 30, 1958
AGE GROUP GRAND MALES SINGLE FEMALES SINGLE
TOTAL TOTAL MALES TOTAL FEMALES
0 - 4 1,876 1,029 1029 847 847
5 - 9 2,160 1,155 1,155 1,005 1,005
10 - 14 1,859 1,014 1,014 845 845
15 - 19 4,057 2,747 2,689 1,310 943
20 - 24 7,858 5,575 4,655 2,283 834
25 - 29 5,870 3,835 1,916 2,035 342
30 - 34 4,508 2,751 774 1,757 183
35 - 39 3,059 1,775 299 1,284 105
40 - 44 1,951 1,220 137 731 50
45 - 49 1,498 988 81 510 35
50 - 59 313 168 6 145 10
60 - 64 142 64 3 78 2
65 - 69 50 19 3 31 1
70 and over 26 10 1 16 1=09
Source: National Archives of Canada, RG 76, Box 863, File 555-54-565, vol.5
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------
TABLE 2
Hungarian Male Refugees Granted Landing
Age Group and Marital Status
Eighteen Months ended April 30, 1958
AGE TOTAL SINGLE MAR. WID. DIV. SEP.
GROUP
0 - 4 1,029 1,029 .. .. .. ..
5 - 9 1,155 1,155 .. .. .. ..
10 - 14 1,014 1,014 .. .. .. ..
15 - 19 2,747 2,689 58 .. .. ..
20 - 24 5,575 4,655 877 4 21 18
25 - 29 3,835 1,916 1,758 10 94 57
30 - 34 2,751 774 1,793 12 120 52
35 - 39 1,775 299 1,347 9 94 26
40 - 44 1,220 137 981 16 64 22
45 - 49 988 81 833 6 43 25
50 - 54 414 30 355 11 8 10
55 - 59 168 6 146 8 7 1
60 - 64 64 3 49 9 2 1
65 - 69 19 3 13 2 1 ..
70 and over 10 1 6 3 .. ..
total 22,764 13,792 8,216 90 454 212
Source: National Archives of Canada, RG 76, Box 863, File 555-54-565, vol.5
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------
=09
TABLE 3
Hungarian Female Refugees Granted Landing
Age Group and Marital Status
Eighteen Months ended April 30, 1958
AGE TOTAL SINGLE MAR. WID. DIV. SEP.
GROUP
0 - 4 847 847 .. .. .. ..
5 - 9 1,005 1,005 .. .. .. ..
10 - 14 845 845 .. .. .. ..
15 - 19 1,310 943 362 3 1 1
20 - 24 2,283 834 1,365 9 56 19
25 - 29 2,035 342 1,550 14 95 34
30 - 34 1,757 183 1,422 22 103 27
35 - 39 1,284 105 1,031 46 80 22
40 - 44 731 50 567 37 56 21
45 - 49 510 35 379 54 36 6=09
50 - 54 273 15 169 57 22 10
55 - 59 145 10 70 52 11 2
60 - 64 78 2 27 43 5 1
65 - 69 31 1 8 22 .. ..
70 and over 16 1 2 11 1 ..
total 13,150 5,218 6,952 370 466 144
Source: National Archives of Canada, RG 76, Box 863, File 555-54-565, vol.5
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Officials in Ottawa initially thought that a large percentage of the
refugees were women and children, including orphans. In the female age
group 0 to 14 the ratio of girls was only one third of the boys in same
category. More Hungarian parents with sons had decided to emigrate at this
time than those with young daughters. More concern for the future of sons'
careers, and the fear of the draft, may explain this preference. The case
of the Hungarian orphans particularly captured the imagination of the
world, including Canada. Argentina offered to take 4,000 Hungarian orphans.
External Affairs in Ottawa was flooded with request for orphaned Hungarian
children. Before any action could be taken the Toronto paper of the
Hungarian community, Kanadai Magyars=E1g, demanded that all the orphans
should go to Hungarian families. Despite all efforts made, the Canadian Red
Cross was unable to locate orphans. There were none.
The occupational profile of the emigrant-refugees and the
immigrant-refugees is also similar although since different categories were
employed by Canadian and Hungarian statisticians, the comparison is
difficult to execute. Canadian authorities registered 10,297 Hungarian
refugees, 45.6% of the group destined for the labour force, in the
"manufacturing and mechanical" column. There were 578 miners among the
refugee-immigrants, 2.6% of persons from the occupational groups. Other
industrial labourers, 4,128, made up 18.3% of the industrial group. These
three groups totalled 66.5%, almost matching the KSH figure of 63.5%.
Professionals constituted 8% (1,811 persons) of the immigrant-refugee
working group. The KSH number is 6,641 or 6.5% of the emigrant-refugee
working group. Canada received about 20% of all the Hungarian refugees but
benefited from a larger share of the skilled industrial workers and
professionals.
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> -----------------------------------------
TABLE 4
Hungarian Refugees Granted Landing
by Major Occupational Groups
Eighteen Months ended April 30, 1958
OCCUPATIONAL GROUP NUMBER PERCENTAGE
Destined to the Labour Force % of to
t
al workers
managerial 2 -
professional 1,811 8.0
clerical 825 3.6
transportation 739 3.3
communication 45 .2
commercial 235 1.0
service 2,429 10.7
agricultural 1,356 6.0
fishing, trapping, logging 64 .3
mining 578 2.6
manufacturing and mechanical 10,297 45.6
labourers 4,128 18.3
not stated 91 .4
total 22,598
source: NAC, RG 76, Box 863, File 555-54-565, vol.5
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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The religious affiliation of the population of Hungary was not accounte
d
for by the censuses during the Communist regime. The division of the
Hungarians into 2/3 Catholics and 1/3 Protestants is generally accepted. As
a result of the Holocaust the Jewish population dropped from close to five
per cent to less than one after 1945. There is no direct source concerning
the religion of the Hungarian refugees of 1956.
The Canadian Jewish Congress was informed on 23 November 1957 that amon
g
st
the Hungarian refugees there were 2,000 Jews in Vienna, of whom 1,200 had
registered with Jewish relief agencies. Later a report was received from
the Joseph Kage estimated the number of Jews who left Hungary in 1956/57
at 20,000, that is, 20% of the Hungarian Jewish community. The Israeli
ambassador in Vienna ventured the figure of 15,000. Using a small sample,
JIAS workers estimated the number of Hungarian Jews who would not register
as Jews at 50%. Another Jewish agency, UHIAS, reported that, by the end of
1956, 10,046 Hungarian Jews registered as Jews but they estimated that
another 2,500 did not register. By 23 January 1957 the number registered
with UHIAS grew to 13,163 and the Canada-bound to 2,449.
The Statistics Section of the Department of Citizenship and Immigratio
n
in its tri-monthly report on January 31, 1957 identified 8,832 Hungarians
and 683 "Hebrews" out of a total of 9,572. Jews then constituted 7.1% of
the total (9,572). The ratio changed to 6.6% by May 31, 6.8% on August 31
and December 31, 1957 and April 30, 1958.
When the refugees arrived in Canada immigration officers recorded the
ethnic origin of the new-comers but not their religion. The Department of
Immigration identified Hungarian Jews as "Hebrews." Later they changed the
category to "Jewish" which they considered separate from the category
"Hungarian". Hungarian Jews generally considered themselves to be of
Hungarian ethnic origin of the Jewish faith. A Vancouver journalist
reported in January 1957: "Here in Vancouver we can confirm the fact that
some of the Hungarian refugees have been afraid to reveal their identity as
Jews. There have been several who had listed themselves as Catholics but
disclosed that they were Jews after being absolutely sure that there was no
danger of any repercussions." Fear of anti-Semitism, fear of persecution,
the traditional identification with Hungarians, the traditional separation
of nationality from religious affiliation, and anti-religious propaganda and
education in Hungary for close to ten years made many Hungarian Jews refuse
to reveal their religion or religious origin. How else can one account for
the figure of Professor Dirks, being 20%? Professor N. Dreisziger's figure
of 7,000 is probably closest to the truth.
The refugees were fleeing from Communism. There were few amongst them w
h
o
participated in the fighting. All feared the restoration of the old regime
for political and economic reasons. Few believed that the process could be
reversed and freedom and democracy might be established in Hungary within a
short time. In the opinion of the Canadian ambassador in Vienna,
J.S.Macdonald, however, the great bulk of the refugees had no desire to go
so far away as America or Australia. "Our experience so far," he reported
to Ottawa, " is that most of them are thinking in terms of returning to
their homes as soon as the fighting is over." It is thought that perhaps
fifty percent will wish to return to their homes when conditions settle
down. Macdonald believed that most of the refugees were apolitical working
people with a sprinkling of ex-industrialists and professional men.
Macdonald rejected the generally accepted view that the Hungarians were
fleeing Soviet terror. He told Ottawa that "The popular picture built up by
the journalists - of a beaten and defeated people fleeing from Soviet
terror toward the West in search of economic and political freedom - does
not, it seems to me, correspond very closely with reality." He had a
discussion with an Austrian official representing the Burgermeister in
Wiener Neustadt: "...with migration cut off for the last sixteen or
seventeen years, there is a great pressure to get out, quite apart from the
form of government or living conditions in Hungary. The movement is
doubtless accentuated by the civil war and the accompanying confusion but
in his view the demographic forces are stronger than the political or the
economic....this is a view I had not heard advanced previously but one to
which I think some weight has to be given." Dr. Lindt, UN High Commissioner
for Refugees stated that the initial flight from Hungary had been chiefly
of political refugees; those who followed were mainly economic refugees. A
number of the refugees evaded the camps and have engaged in undesirable
economic activities in Austria, including prostitution and
black-marketeering. A few criminals who escaped from Hungarian jails during
the revolution were involved in the forgery of Austrian currency. In
January 1957 the Vienna Visa Section informed Ottawa that in their view
half of the Hungarians were politically unreliable and many were in ill
health. These falsification aimed at the slowing down of the refugee flow
to Canada.
Despite the occasionally distorted reports emanating from certain Canad
i
an
diplomats with unfriendly attitudes towards some or all Hungarian refugees,
Ottawa was able to obtain a clear picture of the situation. Canada
eventually admitted over 20% of the Hungarian refugees. The country gained
as a result of Hungary's brain drain. The nearly 40,000 fifty-sixers who
arrived in Canada were mainly of urban origin, young, single, healthy, well
educated and highly skilled. About 60% of them were Roman Catholics, the
rest were Protestants (20%) and Jews (20%). Two-third of the fifty-sixers
were male. Few children and few elderly participated in the adventure.
There were one thousand students among the refugees. In 1957/58 one
sixteenth of the increase in the student population of Canada was due to
the presence of the Hungarian refugee students. By the end of the summer of
1957 hardly any of refugees received state support or welfare - they were
hard at work building their personal career, building Canada.
-------------
Peter I. Hidas (B.A.,M.A.,Ph.D.) is a professor in charge of Hungarian
Studies at McGill University, Montreal. He taught history at Dawson College
from 1969 to 1995 and offered various courses at Concordia University,
University of Sherbrooke and Vanier College. His studies on Hungarian
history have been published inCanada, Hungary, Holland, and the United
States. The above study is a chapter of his forthcoming book on "Canada and
the Hungarian Revolution of 1956".
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Peter I. Hidas
Hungarian Studies
Department Of Russian and Slavic Studies
McGill University
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
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