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“THE NEW MECCA OF IMMIGRANTS”:
HUNGARIAN EMIGRATION TO CANADA AND
THE ROLE OF IMMIGRATION PROPAGANDA
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BALÁZS VENKOVITS!
ABSTRACT
This paper investigates Hungarian immigration to Canada in the inter¬
American and transatlantic context, focusing on key waves of Hungarian
immigration to the country, especially in the 1920s. During this period, the
United States, which had been the preferred destination of Hungarians,
effectively closed its gates to East-Central Europeans by introducing a quota
system. At the same time, Canada provided new opportunities for these people;
in fact, as one of the contemporary publications claimed, Canada became the
“New Mecca of immigrants.”
After providing an overview of changes in immigration/emigration policies
in North America and Hungary and presenting the main shifts in Hungarian
migration patterns, this paper explains how Canadian authorities and
companies tried to attract East-Central European/Hungarian immigrants to
the West (using advertising, pamphlets, posters, etc.) and how the Hungarian
government tried to block such attempts. This paper also presents a case study of
Sámuel Zágonyi, who attempted to discourage Hungarian emigration to Canada
by publishing a book, a series of newspaper articles and organizing a lecture tour
in the most affected regions of Hungary. The images of Canada he propagated
were in direct opposition to the image circulated by immigration agents about
the “Last Best West”, resulting in the emergence of a special discourse between
propaganda for and against migration. Based on archival research in Hungary
and Canada, this paper also uses the tools of microhistory to show how the story
of a Hungarian emigrant family underlies the general trends.
1 University of Debrecen.
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