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BALÁZS VENKOVITS
Despite this, emigration from the Kingdom of Hungary did not stop
after the enactment of the Emigration Act; on the contrary, it continued to
increase, with more than 200,000 people arriving in the United States in the
peak year of 1907 alone. Since the existing restrictions had proved ineffective,
a new Act was adopted, which took the form of Act II of 1909 on Emigration,
which specified the definition of emigrants more precisely, introduced tighter
restrictions and limitations for various groups to reduce emigration in
different ways.’ This Act remained in force until 1961.’° However, despite the
concerted efforts of the Hungarian government, it was not these regulations,
but the changes in American immigration policies and the First World War
that ended the largest wave of emigration and shaped the 1920s. In reaction
to the First World War, Hungary introduced measures (prohibiting the
migration of people who had to start their military service), but the decisive
restrictions came in 1917 (and the entry of the US into the Great War) from
the other side of the Atlantic. 1924 marks a major borderline in Hungarian
emigration with the final form of the US quota system introduced, ending
mass emigration to the country. Hungarians started looking for alternative
destinations, primarily in France, Belgium, Argentina, Brazil, and most
importantly, from our perspective, Canada."
As has already been noted, the United States witnessed one of the largest
waves of immigration to the country at the turn of the century, with approxi¬
mately 24 million people arriving between 1881 and the 1920s. During this
period of New Immigration, the composition of immigrants (in terms of
ethnicity, race, and religion) differed significantly from those arriving decades
before and already living in the country. A large proportion of these people came
from Eastern and Southern Europe, mostly peasants from the less-developed
regions of Europe, and mainly from villages and small towns.” By and large,
Hungarian immigration was typical of migration from Eastern European at the
time: most of the immigrants were young and male, had no industrial skills,
and took “dirty, industrial jobs at wages that were low for America but high
for Hungary.”!* Their primary aim was to save as much money as possible, and
send or take the money back with them. Thus although the country needed a
large number of immigrants for its development, due to the different ethnic
Preamble to Act II of 1909 on Emigration, available at: https://net.jogtar.hu/ezer-ev-torveny?
docid=90900002.T VI&searchUrl=/ezer-ev-torvenyei%3Fpagenum%3D46 (accessed 10 May
2020).
Péter Bencsik, Útiokmányok, utazási lehetőségek és határforgalom a 20. századi Magyar¬
országon, Regio, Vol. 13, No. 2 (2002), 32.
Balázs Pálvölgyi, A magyar migrációs politika átalakulása a 20. század első negyedében,
Magyar közigazgatás, Vol. 1 (2018), 204—222.
Roger Daniels, Coming to America: A History of Immigration and Ethnicity in American
Life, New York, Perennial, 2002.
8 Ibid., 233.
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