OCR Output

BALÁZS VENKOVITS

of them from Eastern, Central, and Southern Europe, including Hungary.
Between the 1870s and the First World War, more specifically the numerous
restrictions and the quota system introduced in the aftermath ofthe Great War,
the United States attracted the large majority of these immigrants. Between
1881 and 1920, approximately 24 million people settled in the United States.
However, after the US government introduced various forms of restriction that
initially applied to non-European groups but were subsequently broadened
to include other people as well, migrants looked for better opportunities in
alternative destinations, and among them were countries that happened to
implement policies aimed at attracting immigrants.

Canada became more attractive because “from the mid-1890s until
World War I, favorable government policies, eastern industrialization, and
the opening of the western provinces to agriculture brought 300,000 to
400,000 immigrants each year, most from the British Isles and central and
southern Europe.”* Changes in Canadian policies during the 1920s enabled
the immigration of thousands of Eastern Europeans until the process was cut
short by the Great Depression.

Hungarian emigration patterns largely fit into the general trends described
above. The key destination was the United States and alternatives like Canada
became more attractive only in the 1920s. By the beginning of the 20"
century, Hungarian emigration reached unprecedented heights, and trans¬
Atlantic migration was perceived by Hungarian officials “as the newest,
most modern movement, most significant with regard to its character, and
most dangerous concerning its effects.”* Between 1899 and 1913, 85 percent
of people leaving Hungary emigrated to the United States.* However, it is
difficult to calculate the exact number of Hungarians who left the homeland.
According to Gusztäv Thirring, the number of people who left (who were not
necessarily all of Hungarian ethnicity) between 1881 and 1900 was close to
500,000. By the first decade of the 20 century, however, the number reached
almost 1.5 million. Julianna Puskas claimed that “the actual number of
immigrants to the United States for the examined period [1871-1913] can be
estimated to be 1,200,000.”°

Various push factors forced Hungarians (especially young men) to look for
better opportunities abroad, even on the other side of the Atlantic. Hungarian
emigration was primarily driven by overpopulation (population growth
exceeding food production), economic hardship, limited opportunities for

John Powell, Encyclopedia of North American Immigration, New York, Facts on File, 2005, 46.

Gusztav Thirring, A magyarországi kivándorlás és a külföldi magyarság, Budapest, Fritz

Armin, 1904, 12.

* Julianna Puskás, From Hungary to the United States (1880-1914), Budapest, Akademiai
Kiadó, 1982, 21.

5 Ibid., 18-19.

* 102 +