OCR
“THE NEW MECCA OF IMMIGRANTS”: HUNGARIAN EMIGRATION TO CANADA AND THE ROLE OF IMMIGRATION PROPAGANDA —t1o> BALÁZS VENKOVITS! ABSTRACT This paper investigates Hungarian immigration to Canada in the interAmerican 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. + 99 +