VOLUME 1
Hungarian Roots & American Dreams: Tracing personal History
Edited by Anna Fenyvesi and Réka Bakos
Our first volume brings 48 family stories together shaped by shared historical moments. Rather than following a single lineage, the volume traces the great waves of Hungarian emigration by placing individual lives side by side — revealing how different families responded to similar pressures, hopes, and uncertainties.
Most of the stories unfold around the turn of the 20th century, during the largest period of Hungarian emigration. Read together, they form a chorus of voices shaped by economic hardship, political change, and the courage to leave the familiar behind — each story is distinct, yet deeply connected in time.
These narratives are not presented as a closed historical account. Instead, they invite readers to experience history as lived reality: fragmented, personal, and enduring. Volume 1 asks the shared question: What did it mean to leave — at that moment, in those circumstances — and how did that decision echo across generations?
“This book is not just about remembering the past. It is also about enabling future generations to learn about the stories of their forebears, who sacrificed so much to make it possible for us to be here today.
They were the ones who set out into the unknown to make a better life for themselves and their families. It is through their courage, perseverance and sacrifice that many of the dreams that were born on the journey from the Old Country to the New World have come true.”
48 multigenerational family histories
The stories, lives and fates, along with old family photographs and rare documents, offer a unique glimpse into the past and bring history to life for a wider audience. These accounts honor the memory of the hundreds of thousands of Hungarians who left their homes in search of a better life.
Several emigrants returned to Hungary after years away. Their stories — purposeful, time-bound, and family-driven — are also woven into the fabric of this volume.
two centuries of Hungarian history
The earliest journey in this volume begins in 1852. The final arrival takes place in 1959. Between the two unfold the great waves of Hungarian emigration — shaped by revolution, poverty, war, changing borders, and uncertain futures. Yet these stories reach even further.
Through the lives of the descendants, they trace more than two centuries of history — across empires, oceans and generations.