Maria Lengyel
1956

ALL MATERIAL: COPYRIGHT CALIFORNIA EUROPEAN CULTURAL INSTITUTE/MEMORY PROJECT

The Memory Project makes history with its first online life-history interview via ZOOM! We are extremely grateful to Mária Lengyel (Barto, Pennslyvania) who was kind enough to sit for an interview with Andrea Lauer Rice (in Atlanta) and Réka Pigniczky (in Budapest). While we still prefer in-person interviews, our inability to travel during the Coronavirus pandemic necessitates a new way of recording the important stories from the Hungarian-American community. Marika néni, a 1956-er, is one of the original members and life-long volunteers of the Hungarian Sports Club of Philadelphia - also known as the Magyar Tanya, in Barto, PA. She and her family were and still are integral members of this vibrant community, founded in the early 1960's. In her compelling interview, Marika néni talks about what led a group of 56ers to create a little piece of Hungary in the lush green hills of Pennsylvania.