For release Wednesday, Nov. 15, at 5:30 p.m.

Photo Gallery

Five Hungarian-born residents of the Greater Montreal area today were singled out by their peers for their outstanding contributions to the community on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian revolution against the Soviet regime.

Announced at the official opening at City Hall of the exhibition Hungarians in Montreal – A shared heritage, the honorees are, in alphabetical order : Andrea Tekker Blanar, of Beaconsfield;
László Korsós, of Montreal
Gabor Szilasi, of Westmount;
Miklós Takács, of Nun’s Island; and
Marika F.Teakle, of Montreal.

Nominated by the readers of the Hungarian publication Magyar Krónika and short-listed by a select committee of the newly-formed Montreal Hungarian Historical Society, the honorees have played a significant role in Montreal in the arts and medicine, community organizations, photography, music and immigration.

On hand for the ceremony were Marcel Tremblay, of the city’s Executive Committee, and leaders of the Montreal Hungarian community.

The evolving Hungarian contribution to Montreal is spotlighted in the Hall of Honour exhibition, which will remain on view until Nov. 24. An Open House of the exhibition is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 18, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Guided tours will be given and admission is free.

Blanar is an occupational therapist and an artist. Born in Szeged, Hungary, she has lectured at the Université de Montréal and McGill University. Holder of a BFA magna cum laude from Concordia University, she has taken part in some 120 group exhibitions in Canada and internationally. She travelled extensively in Austria, Belgium, the Dominican Republic and Japan before settling in Canada. Founder and president of Magor Foundation and the Canadian Hungarian Artists Collective, she was president of the Société des Ergothérapeutes du Québec from 1964 to 1969 and executive director of the Corporation des Ergothérapeutes du Québec from 1974 to 1978.

Korsós, born in 1923 at Papa, Hungary, was president of the Foyer hongrois for the aged from 2000 to 2005. He lived in Austria and France before emigrating to Canada in 1951. A graduate in management of McGill University in 1970, he has served as president of Our Lady of Hungary parish, president of the St. Stephen’s Ball and president of the Hungarian Committee of Montreal.

Szilasi, a self-taught photographer, has had more than 30 one-man shows in various parts of Canada and Europe and participated in 60 Canadian and international group shows. He has received grants from the Canada and Quebec arts councils. He taught at the Cégep du Vieux-Montréal, Concordia University, the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow, Poland, and Stanford University in California. Born in Budapest in 1928, he came to Canada in 1957. Says Szilasi: “My main interest has always been people and their environment, including portraits, interiors and architecture.”

Takács is general and artistic director of the Société philharmonique de Montréal, director of the Université du Québec à Montréal choir, and professor of the UQAM Music Department. Born in Hungary, he emigrated to Canada in 1973. In his homeland, he was musical director of the Budapest Baroque Orchestra and professor at the Bela Bartok Conservatory in Budapest. In November, 2005, he conducted the New England Symphonic Ensemble and the Chœur de l’UQAM at Carnegie Hall, New York. He also conducted other concerts in France and Germany this spring. A major contributor to the promotion of Canadian musicians abroad, he holds the Governor-General’s Medal (1992) and the Republic of Hungary’s Pro Cultura Hungarica award (1993). He is also featured in a documentary entitled L’odyssée de Miklós Takács.

Teakle is sometimes called La Grande Dame of Quebec Immigration services. Born of Hungarian parents in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, she was a senior immigration officer and program administrative officer from 1949 to 1996. Though retired, she still provides assistance to immigrants and refugees. Fluent in seven languages and possessing a good working knowledge of four others, she worked with the underground resistance movement in France and the American Red Cross field unit, U.S. Forces in the United Kingdom, from 1939 to 1946. She holds the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal and the Silver Cross of Merit from Poland and remains active in volunteer work, especially with health care institutions, and fund-raising.

Christopher Adam, curator of the exhibition, said that when a handful of Hungarians accepted the task of creating the show last June, “few would have thought that it would lead down a path of historical self-discovery.

“It was like going up to the attic of the old family home and uncovering the yellowed, tattered pages of an old diary or the faded photographs in a long-forgotten family album. We soon found ourselves sifting through boxes of archival material.”

The exhibition begins at the end of the l9th century with the arrival of the first Hungarian immigrants and continues with the period following World War I when Hungary was devastated economically, suffered immense political turmoil and uncertainty and lost more than 72 per cent of its historic territory. Over 27,000 Hungarians arrived in Canada during the interwar period and many of them settled in Montreal, then Canada’s largest city. An estimated 3,000 Hungarians had come here by the early l930s.

The first part of the show explores the early days of the city’s Hungarian cultural and social life by introducing the three institutional pillars of the interwar Hungarian community -- the Hungarian Social Club, founded in l926 on St. Laurent Boulevard, the Hungarian United Church and the Hungarian Catholic community (later Our Lady of Hungary parish) created in l928 with the celebration of the first Hungarian mass here.

The most momentous time for Hungarians across Canada was the arrival of 38,000 refugees in late l956 and through l957 following the Hungarian revolution Oct. 23. An outgrowth of this influx was the creation of St. Stephen’s Ball, one of the largest balls in Canada.

A special section of the exhibition focuses on the entrepreneurial spirit the Hungarian immigrants brought with them to their host country, with the l960s and l970s proving a golden era for Hungarian businesses and restaurants, the latter dotting Stanley Street and much of downtown Montreal.

“The period beginning in the late l980s to the present day has presented new challenges for the city’s Hungarian community,” said Adam. “With the 1989 democratic regime changes in Hungary and the end of large-scale Hungarian immigration to Canada, community institutions have shown signs of ageing and the effects of assimilation.”

Special sections of the show centre on churches, literature, culture and the media, science and medicine, the Hungarian school and dance ensemble, scouts and guides, the Foyer Hongrois, the Artists’ Collective, the performing arts, architecture, the Order of Canada, sports and other activities.

“The exhibition will not only raise awareness of the Hungarian contribution to Montreal but will also help preserve the Hungarian heritage for its people today and for generations to come.”