Hungarian ambassador to the United States György Szapáry, along with Eva Voisin, the honorary consul general of Hungary in San Francisco, and Gabor Kaleta from the consulate in Los Angeles, met with Richard Sousa, the director of the library and archives at the Hoover Institution on April 26, 2011. After the meeting, Maciej Siekierski, curator of Hoover’s East European Collection, gave the ambassador a tour of the Hoover Archives, focusing on the Hungarian collections, including publications from the time of the Paris Peace Conference of 1919.

Two significant émigré collections have been added to Hoover’s already extensive Hungarian library and archival holdings: those of Hugo Sonyi and Bela Csejtey. The two have very different biographies: the first was a top Hungarian general, the other, an American-educated scientist. Their collections however are similar in focus: Hungary’s military efforts in the two world wars, which, despite the valiant sacrifice of many thousands of soldiers, ended in defeat.