NYANA Reports Outstanding Adjustment of Hungarian Jewish Refugees in New York

The results of a study of Jewish Hungarian refugees settled in New York in 1957, showing that they have made a remarkable adjustment in the 10 years since they arrived without funds or possessions after fleeing across the Hungarian border during the Hungarian revolution of late 1956, were reported here tonight at the annual meeting of the New York Association for New Americans, a beneficiary agency of the United Jewish Appeal, by Philip Soskis, executive director. Martin Kleinbard, who was reelected to a fourth term as president of the immigrant aid agency, reported that NYANA had resettled 118,000 Jewish refugees in the 18 years since the agency’s inception in 1949.

The 200 families, representing 568 individuals, included in the detailed survey, were picked at random from the agency’s 1957 case-history files. They constitute 18 percent of the 1,100 Hungarian families aided by NYANA in 1957. The agency provided homes, jobs, training, financial assistance and counseling for the refugees. The study showed that the group had moved ahead fast to become self-supporting and that 40 of the 200 family heads had set up business establishments which today provide employment for 200 persons.

"Most of the adults in the group study had been in concentration or forced labor camps during the war. But the fact that almost all were working up until the day they left Hungary and that this was a physically healthy, skilled and generally well-educated group probably accounts for their adjusting faster than earlier immigrants from the displaced persons camps of Europe," the report stressed. "It was also a young group, with the majority of adults under 40 and only two over 60."

75 PERCENT OF THE REFUGEES WERE SELF-SUPPORTING WITHIN FOUR MONTHS

Nearly three-quarters of the Hungarians were completely self-supporting in less than four months, and 41 percent of these were established in less than two months. Only 7 percent required aid by the end of the year, and these were cases involving serious illness or widows with small children. The study showed that 80 percent of the adults had gone beyond elementary school, including 43 university graduates and 28 with some college training. Only two of the men and five of the working women were unskilled. Forty-three were professionals; 53 had owned businesses before the war; 34 were in clerical, sales or minor managerial jobs, and 79 were skilled or semi-skilled.

Although few of the newcomers spoke English, all were literate in one or more languages. The study shows that almost all the adults attended evening English language classes here, and 39 went on with their education, 15 of them in post-graduate work. Among these were eight physicians who were given loans by NYANA to prepare themselves for taking state license examinations. These loans have long since been repaid, and all are practicing in the city today. Currently, another 30 of the professionals have been able to re-establish themselves here, and over 100 are employed in skilled or semi-skilled work.

Starting salaries for most of the families after they arrived in the United States were from $40 to $100 a week. Today, 41 percent of the group have incomes over $9,000 a year, including 11 in the over $20,000 a year bracket. The median income is between $5,000 and $9,000. The majority of the women in the group — 136 out of 198 — are adding to the family income, mainly through skilled or semi-skilled work, although 14 are professionals.