![]() ![]() On the 24th of February, the Tobacco District Hungarian House officially was born in the Town Hall. The decided to build their own House and for this purpose they called a general meeting for all Hungarians of the tobacco district Rapai to conduct the business of the day and Mr. Lajos Virag, Istvan Kovacs, Pal Gomori, Adam Gehring ![]() Peter Erdelyi, Jozsef Rapchak, Janos Hasilo, Laszlo Borbely Pal Rapai, Gyorgi Putoczki, Vilmos Szenasi, Joszef Varga ![]() The debates were mostly of a dream - How can we build our own house? Finally on the 17th of Febrary, 1947, the following Hungarians gathered together in the office of Mr. Long and exhausting discussions were the order of the day all over the tobacco district. There was a Hungarian House for social and cultural purposes. While looking for some solutions, they looked at the Hungarian House in Toronto and seemed to have an answer. No place was available for big wedding receptions, formal balls, or other shows. the need for a place to meet with each other was there. According to Rapai, the meeting in Ottawa was one of the many incidents that led him to establish the Delhi Hungarian House.ĭuring the 1940's, there was a very sizable Hungarian population in the tobacco district. The minister further explained that Hungarians generally had the reputation for being “RED” agitators, and despite the fact that the majority of Hungarian immigrants were not involved in such activities, the Canadian public believed that this was in fact the case. The meeting was addressed by the immigration minister, who requested that each of the community leaders organize, with the help of the community, religious and social institutions for Hungarian Canadians. The participants were not told the proposed topic of the meeting, only that it was the utmost importance to Hungarians in Canada. In 1946 sixteen Hungarian Canadian community leaders from across the country were invited to a special meeting in Ottawa. In all he sponsored 338 Hungarians displaced persons. Following the Second World War, when the number of immigrants a Canadian Citizen could sponsor was limited, Rapai was allowed to sponsor an unlimited number. He was well known and trusted both by the community and Canadian Government officials. Rapai acted as community representative in dealing with the government, both on the Federal and Provincial levels. When the time for the tobacco harvest arrived, however, everyone was employed by local farmers. Rapai was usually called in to settle the differences and act as peacemaker. Numerous disruptive incidents took place as the large group was initially idle, waiting for the work to begin. Food was provided by the townspeople with some help from the government. There we so many workers that they had to be encamped in nearby woods. One thousand Hungarians came by foot, automobile, by any means available, in response to the advertisement. He put an advertisement in the Kanadai Magyar Újság (Canadian Hungarian News) urging all unemployed Hungarians to come to the Tobacco District for seasonal work. He still maintains close contact with the leadership of the Hungarian house and is generally regarded as an important advisor.īy 1933, Rapai was already well established in the community. He was its first president and served in this capacity several more times during the twenty year history of the institution. Paul Rapai organized both the fundraising for and building of the centre. The organizational work that preceded the building of the centre was begun on January, 28th, 1947, and initiated by Paul Rapai, a local tobacco farmer and businessman who came to the tobacco district in 1931. The House was the largest and most impressive Hungarian Cultural Centre, not only in the tobacco district, but in the Hungarian Diaspora. The Delhi Tobacco District Hungarian House, dedicated on May, 15th, 1949 was the first community project completed. Nearly two decades passed before these Hungarians established themselves in the area, and it was only after the Second World War that the work of building Community Centres and Churches was initiated. They began as day labourers, then became share croppers and, eventually after much saving and hard work, managed to purchase their own farms. Because many of the immigrants were agricultural labourers in Hungary, they quickly acquired the skills needed to farm tobacco and stayed on when economic conditions improved. Hungarian immigrants were drawn to the tobacco districts of Southern Ontario during the great depression, when industrial jobs in the urban centres of the province became scarce. ![]()
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