Pal Ablonczy Napi Könyv (Diary) - Migration to New Worlds - Adam Matthew Digital

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Field name	Value
Title	Pal Ablonczy Napi Könyv (Diary)
Date	22 Feb 1963
Document Type	Personal Account
Reference	IHRC90, Box 1, Folder 1 & 2
Library / Archive	Immigration History Research Center Archives, University of Minnesota
Collection Name	Ablonczy, Pal Papers
Description	Four books containing the autobiography of Pal Ablonczy, a Hungarian immigrant to the US. Pal was active in labour organisations during the 1920s and 1930s. In Hungarian.
Biographical Note / History	Pal Ablonczy was born on 26 July 1891 in Sajokazinc, Borsod County, Hungary. Ablonczy started with odd jobs in agriculture at age ten. At 13 he became a blacksmith apprentice. In four years, on completion of his apprenticeship he worked as a master blacksmith and machinist at different factories and farms. In 1913, unemployment gave him the idea to immigrate to the United States for three to four years to earn enough money for a threshing machine he planned to buy on his return to Hungary. He was also concerned about the possibility of war and about his age group being drafted first in case of war. Ablonczy immigrated to the US in 1913. He remained in the United States and never returned to Hungary. First he settled in New York City. In the 1920s he built a home in Avenil, New Jersey and moved there, where he still lived at the time of his writing his autobiography. He worked locally and also worked in (Port) Elizabeth, Plainfield, Newark, Morristown and Perth Amboy, all in New Jersey. In the U.S. he worked as a machinist at many different factories and shops. Later, he opened his own auto body repair shop. On 26 July 1956 he retired from work at age 65. In 1914, he subscribed to, supported and disseminated the Hungarian language newspaper. Elore (Forward), a Socialist publication. During World War I, he declined to work for the better paying war industry. He also refused to serve in the military in that war even when U.S. citizenship was offered in exchange. In the 1920’s and 1930’s, when Elore was changed to UJ Elore (New Forward), he continued to promote and support the paper, the only Hungarian-language Communist daily in the world. During World war II, he once posted bail for a young black person who had been arrested at and Anti-war demonstration in Perth Amboy. In the U.S. he participated in labor demonstrations, strikes and the promotion of workers’ literature during World War I. IN the 1920’s he worked with a union organizer and with other Hungarian workers to join a new machinist union. Other non-Hungarian workers refused to follow suit and reported him. He was fired. He also collected donations for the International Labor Defense, and attended meetings of the International Workers’ Order. He was critical of the American Labor Movement. He saw its leaders and corrupt, uncaring and the workers lazy and politically backward. There is no information on family life in the U.S., beyond mention of the birth of his children. At age twenty four (1925), he wanted to get married and with the help of two Hungarian married women acquaintances, set out to look for a ‘moral girl’, He found her in the person of Juliska (Julie); his mother wanted to send him someone from home, but he persisted in staying with his choice in the U.S. They were engaged in January 1916 and married on 20 May of the same year. Only a small circle of Hungarian Socialist friends is mentioned initially. In the 1930s he became acquainted with more Hungarian workers and joined the Workers’ Health Insurance Fraternal Organization. A workers’ home was established near Woodbridge, where progressive workers met on Sundays for lectures, cultural programs and fun. With the arrival of the 1956 ’counter-revolutionary gang’ of Hungarian refugees, the membership dwindled and the workers’ home was sold in 1961. Risking arrest, he participated in demonstrations which were dispersed by the police. In 1904, his father immigrated to the U.S (Pennsylvania) and returned to Hungary in 1908, having lost a leg. On his way to the U.S., on a train from Budapest to Vienna, he was questioned by detectives about immigrating to the U.S. He denied it but was still forced to get off the train. He tried again through other routes and reached Hamburg, Germany, where he went to the Hamburg-American Line and bought a ticket for the S.S. Patricia to the US. They sailed in two weeks for New York City. At Ellis Island, it took a week to reach a friend of his father’s who then came to get him and settle him. These autobiographical notes are from the published Guide to "American Immigrant Autobiographies, Part I: Manuscript Autobiographies from the Immigration History Research Center, University of Minnesota", project coordinator Mary Moscato, guide compiled by Nanette Dobrosky, general editor Rudolph Vecoli, collections microfilmed and guide published by the University Publications of America, Bethesda, Maryland, 1988, Library of Congress Call No. E184.A1, ISBN: 1556550529 (microfilm) : LCCN: 90-12990
Theme(s)	Permanent Settlement and Successive Generations
Country (from)	Hungary
Country (to)	United States of America
Places	Avenil, New Jersey, United States
Nationality	Hungarian; European
Keywords	social class, communism, labour union, labour, labourer, imemigrant
Additional Information	Please note: Some of the metadata for this document has been taken from the Immigration History Research Center Archives catalogue.
Catalogue Link	Immigration History Research Center Archives Catalogue
Language	Hungarian
Copyright	Copyright ownership in these materials is governed by US and international laws. The Immigration History Research Center Archives (IHRCA) holds the original objects from which these copies were made, but does not claim copyright ownership in the originals or scanned reproductions. The IHRCA welcomes additional information about the originals.

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