refugee registration process: from cards to camp kilmer refugee research database

Refugee Registration Process: From Cards to Camp Kilmer Refugee

Research Database

Nóra DeákLibrarian, ELTE SEAS Library

PhD student, ELTE American Studies Doctoral ProgamFulbright Scholar, 2007/08 & 2014/15,

American Hungarian Foundation, New Brunswick, NJ

July 10, 2015 40th Annual AHEA Conference, 2015 Kolozsvár

Letter of Welcome from President Eisenhower

“We feel a solemn andresponsible pride thatin your time of needyou have come to ourshores.”



Work in progress• Operation Mercy: Reception of the 1956 Hungarian refugees at

Camp Kilmer, NJ – working title, ongoing project• 200,000 (total)/35-40,000 (USA)/32,000 through Camp Kilmer

– 1st step: temporary camps in Austria or former Yugoslavia– 2nd step: European countries, Australia, North or South America– between 21 November 1956-early May 1957: „Operation Mercy” at

Camp Kilmer, NJ- transportation provided by 214 MATS flights, 5 MSTS ocean voyages,and 133 flights chartered by ICEM - based on Guy E. Coriden’s Report onHungarian Refugees (Winter 1958)

– 3rd step: after June 1957 „intermediate” countries (eg. Canada, Sweden)• PhD studies: within the American Studies Doctoral Program

including credits, research, conferences, publications• 2/3 of the cards cataloged (24,148 names), pieces of the puzzle• Documents, photos, oral histories, exhibitions…

Timeline

• Early Nov. 1956: Presidential proclamation• 10 Nov. 1956: first (12) refugees arrive• 24 Nov. 1956: first Refugee Status Report indicates 200

refugees received to date• 12 Dec. 1956: President’s Committee for Hungarian

Refugee Relief• 1 Jan. 1957?: Welcoming letter by President

Eisenhower „My friends from Hungary”• 16 Nov. 1956 through 11 Mar. 1957: main operation• 27 Apr. 1957: last (20) refugees arrive


Christmas 1956 – in numbers

Christmas Eve (Monday)• # of planes arrived: 8• # of refugees arrived: 517• # of refugees departed: 282• Total planes arrived: 159• Total refugees received: 10,482• Total refugees departed: 5,402• Total refugees on hand: 5,080

Forrás: Joyce Kilmer Reception Center Refugee Status Summary

Christmas Day (Tuesday)• 22• 1,406• 186• 181• 11,888• 5,588• 6,300


„Family album”


Why not Ellis Island?In November 1954 , the last detainee was released, and EI officiallyclosed, but! EI Archives including arrival records through 1957.The Statue of Liberty – Ellis Island Foundation: Passenger Search athttp://libertyellisfoundation.org/passenger

EI Archive: Passenger Records, original Ship Manifests(passenger lists) and Ship Information often with apicture from 1957 (e.g. General Eltringe)


Why Camp Kilmer?• Un-used Army base: 1230 buildings on 1573 acres• In relatively good conditions: its status became inactive in

1955• Embarkation for troops to/from Europe during WWII: close

to both naval (Port of New York), and aerial (Maguire AirForce Base) ports of entry

• Central offices of welfare organizations located in NYC• The Army had the facilities (housing, feeding, and the

know-how to support an emergency program• Hungarian community in the neighborhood (New

Brunswick, NJ)? – no evidence that it played a role in thedecision (based on James Niessen’s draft conference paperfrom 2011)


Camp Kilmer then…


Camp Kilmer now…- 540 acres belong to Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey -Livingston Campus since 1964- Edison Job CorpsCenter: a nationalresidential education andvocational trainingprogram for theeconomicallydisadvantaged youth


Commemoration 2009


The Edison Job Corps Academy and the NorthAmerican Hungarian Citizens League invitedformer refugees and guests to Camp Kilmer for theunveiling of a plaque on 31 January 2009(http://www.gimagine.com/gimagine/new_brunswick/2009/2009-01-31-Commemoration_at_Camp_Kilmer/default.htm)


Signs on Google Map


2 (road)signs

HISTORIC CAMP KILMER CAMP KILMER


Joyce Kilmer• Born: 1886, New Brunswick, NJ• Died: 1918, France• writer, poet (Trees), journalist, literary critic, lecturer, editor• soldier in WWI•RC, had 5 children already at the age of 31


Remembering JK

JOYCE KILMER AVENUE KILMER HOUSE


Processing of the refugees


INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES OFFICE AT KRCSource: National Archives Record Administration at College Park, MD


Operation Mercy – The Big Picturehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bM4rC86-uS8Hungarian freedom fighters dramatically filmed on Army's "THE BIG PICTURE,"

"Operation Mercy" -- From the bloody streets of Budapest, through the borderescape routes into Austria and finally to Camp Kilmer, New Jersey, "OperationMercy" as shot and documented on THE BIG PICTURE becomes a most compellingstory. In this film presentation, the "human side" of the Army is identified in thecontributions of the American soldier assigned to "Operation Mercy." Not so longago thousands of Hungarian Freedom Fighters and their families were helpedtoward sanctuary in the United States. For them the gates of Camp Kilmerrepresented the end to a way of life they had found oppressive and the beginningof a new life of hope and opportunity. The action moves from the early streetfighting in Budapest through the last days in October when the thunderous roar ofRussian tanks was stilled and the smoke cleared over the ruined city to a shipmoving out of Bremerhaven toward a pier in Brooklyn. Here all Americans -- alongwith the United States Army -- did not turn their backs, but pitched in to do a jobfor the valiant men and women of Hungary. Depicted in "Operation Mercy" are themany volunteer workers of the American Red Cross and other agencies workingtogether at Camp Kilmer and at the American Embassy in Munich.


History of the registration cards, …

• Why are they at the AHF? - donated by Mrs. Dorothy E.Ender, a former secretary to Col. Jack B. Dunn(Coordinator of Cooperating Agencies) as a volunteer,in 1992 in 5 boxes

• What happened to them? – sorted and filedalphabetically, accession record in Archivists’ Toolkit,sitting hidden from sight behind the Library shelves

• My recent project (Fulbright research grant)• Routine Digitization Project Proposal with Rutgers

University Libraries accepted, due to start inSeptember, 2015


Primary source: the cards• Number of cards versus names• Size: 3 x 5”, in 37 acid-free, archival-friendly catalog

boxes, between 800-900 names in a box on average• Types:

– Simple: minimal data, some handwritten, occupation– Complete: Ship manifest/Flight #, Ser. number(s), other

ID(s)– Single: one person on one card– Multiple: couple/siblings/family on one card– 1 - or more than one - name(s) on 2 – maybe 3 - cards

• Duplicates• Filing order


Samples: simple


Samples: complete


Samples: single


Samples: multiple


Sample – from Ship Manifest


Sample – IBM punch card


Sponsoring Agencies


Volunteers –churchesCamp Kilmer –Monument of the HungarianRefugees 1956:Rev. Lukacs Máriaföldi,Mrs. Peter Kara,Mrs. James Kovács,Rev. Vazul Végvári, andGen. WhaltonSource: Diamond Jubilee Celebration,1980Religious assistance:Catholic – Fr. Alipius ForróO.F.M., Preses. from St.Ladislaus Parish: 94 weddingsand 7 baptisms betweenDecember 1956 and April 1957Source: A 110 éves Szent László Templomby István Hegedűs, available athttp://www.szentlaszlomagyartemplom.com/a-templom-toumlrteacutenete.html


Volunteers – relief agencies


Volunteers - individuals

KORMONDYs OLCHVARY Judit


Spreadsheet


Challenges

• Spelling• Dates• Include each data element on card• Standardize (e.g. dates)• Data protection: An analysis of a sample - the first file

box -, 915 cards in all, shows the average age at arrivalwas 26.78, and in 2014 their age would be 84.34. Thelife expectancy of Hungarians born in 1930 was about50, and of Americans born in 2012 was 79. By eithermeasure, only a small minority of the 32,000 formerCamp Kilmer residents is likely to still be alive today.


Examples of occupations

Original/translation?• Agricultural laborer• Apprentice• Auto mechanic• Baker• Basketmaker• Biologist• Blacksmith• Bookkeeper• Butcher• Carpenter• Chemist• Chimney-sweep• Clerk• Coal-miner• Dressmaker• Electrician/Electro-mechanic• Factory laborer/worker• Farmer• Galvanizer• Grinder• Household/housewife• Iron turner• Locksmith• Machinist• Mason• Mechanic• Merchant• Miner• Nurse• Pilot• Salesgirl/salesman• Seamstress• Stenotypist• Tailot• Teacher• Technician• Ttoolmaker• Tractor/truck-driver• Weaver• Welder• X-ray assistant

Translation/original?• Mezőgazdasági munkás• Segéd• Autószerelő• Pék• Kosárkészítő• Biológus• Kovács• Könyvelő• Hentes• Ács• Kémikus• Kéményseprő• Titkár/nő• Szénbányász• Varrónő• Villanyszerelő• Gyári munkás• Földműves• Galvanizáló• Molnár• Háztartásbeli• Vas esztergályos• Lakatos• Gépész• Kőműves• Szerelő• Kereskedő• Bányász• Ápoló/nő• Pilóta• Eladó• Varrónő• Gyors- és gépíró• Szabó• Tanár• Technikus• Szerszámkészítő• Traktor/teherautó-vezető• Szövő/nő• Hegesztő• Röntgen-asszisztens


Routine Digitization Project• Joint project with the participation of the American Hungarian Foundation (Nóra

Deák, first as a Fulbright Visiting Research Scholar and then as a Rutgers VisitingResearch Student) and Rutgers University Libraries (Jim Niessen as ProjectManager, Rhonda Marker as Repository Collection Librarian, Janice Pilch asCopyright and Licensing Librarian)

• Scanned images converted into .pdf in alphabetical order by name• Run through OCR• Data protection and digital copyright issues – The Rutgers “Safeguarding Personal

Information; Identity Theft Compliance Policy” (Policy 50.3.9) was adopted in 2006to “ensure university compliance with the New Jersey Identity Theft PreventionAct, which went into effect on January 1, 2006 (L.2005, C226)” and to “assist inboth the prevention and detection of identity theft by outlining guidelines forcollecting, retaining, and restricting access to personal information”

• - Based on Section I.A.3 „an individual’s first name or first initial and last namelinked with one or more of a number of data elements, ... including ... (v) date ofbirth; and health records when the disclosure of the information in question wouldreasonably be considered to be harmful or an invasion of privacy.” either the nameor the date of birth must be blacked out


Presentation in RUcore• Will be presented in RUcore, the Rutgers University

Community Repository alongside:– 56’ers Collection, including the complete digital version of the

President’s Committee for Hungarian Refugee Relief, owned bythe Special Collections and University Archives, RutgersUniversity, available athttp://hi.rutgers.edu/56-ers-collection

– Finding Aid for the Bethlen Collection, the Archive of theHungarian Reformed Churches, deposited at the AmericanHungarian Foundation and owned by Bethlen Communities,Ligonier, PA, available athttp://libguides.rutgers.edu/bethlencollection

• Relevant section of the spreadsheet list of refugees will beadded as Related objects to the card images


Other useful resourcesJDC: American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee• Hungarian Refugee Registration

Cards, 1956-57: With the outbreakof the Hungarian Revolution in1956, more than 18,000 Jews fledto Austria. JDC helped emigrantswaiting for resettlement, housingsome 11,000 refugees in hotels,private dwellings and camps. JDCalso supported two kosher kitchensin Vienna and furnished medicaland religious supplies. While somestayed in Europe, refugeesemigrated to the U.S., Canada,Australia, New Zealand, Israel andLatin America.

• http://archives.jdc.org/

56-ers Collection at Rutgers• Records of the President's

Committee for HungarianRefugee Relief in theTracy S. Voorhees Papers atRutgers

• http://hi.rutgers.edu/56-ers-collection


Oral History projectsCURPH: Columbia University’s Refugee Project on Hungary• The collection consists of transcripts of the

401 interviews which were done. There isone complete bound set, and one set ofloose interviews, nos. 100-626. Most of theinterviews cover the following topics: therevolt of 1956, personal life, workexperience, economic conditions, socialproblems, education, friends and family,government, party, police, army,communications, ideology, attitudes, andopinions. There are also a few moreunstructured interviews defined as "openended conversations , largely with expertinformants," covering topics such as thoseabove but also including religious affairs, theintelligentsia, and Hungary and the SovietUnion.

• http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/archival/collections/ldpd_4077605/

OSA 1956 Digital Archive• On the occasion of the 50th

anniversary of the 1956Hungarian revolution, OSAArchivum has copied anddigitized the transcripts ofHungarian refugee interviewsconducted between 1956 and1958 within the framework ofthe Columbia Research ProjectHungary (CURPH).

• http://w3.osaarchivum.org/digitalarchive/blinken/index.html


MKULTRA, Subproject 69• The code name for the general CIA project: the first code name Bluebird

changed to Artichoke eventually became known as MKULTRA-MKDELTA

• The CIA secretly supported research at 80 institutions, including 44colleges or universities – Rutgers and Cornell, among others -, hospitals,prisons, and pharmaceutical companies

• The cover organization: Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology,based in New York City

• Sociological research involving an open-ended questionnaire as a guide forextended, personal interviews at Camp Kilmer

• 69 sociological interviews were conducted from early January to late May,7 more in England

• The purpose of the study: „to investigate the source and effects of stress,disaffection, or alienation on individuals and groups, how people adapt tosuch experiences, and the consequences of these adaptations for thoseinvolved in them.”

Source: Richard M. Stephenson, The CIA and the Professor: A Personal Account. In: The American Sociologist, vol. 13, No. 3 (Aug., 1978), pp. 128-133


Memory Project(in the making on vimeo, facebook)


Individual cases: AHEA-members remembered


Individual cases: the bicycle-racer, photographer, collector


Individual cases: the poet


Individual cases: the librarian, Professor Emerita, researcher on Franz Kafka and Ferenc Molnár,

photographer, PEN-member


Individual cases: the parishioner(s)

• Joseph (Joe) & Mary Pavlics, from the same village, but different –un-related - families


Individual cases: the architect


Individual cases: the marine and cab driver

Several Pusztais arrivedUS Navy, also mentioned in E. Szentkirályi’ latest book (p. 75)


Individual cases: the chemist, poet and translator


Acknowledgements

• Advisor: Dr. Frank Tibor, Eötvös Loránd University,Budapest

• Fulbright Commission, Budapest• Molnár Ágoston - Professor August J. Molnar,

American Hungarian Foundation, New Brunswick,NJ

• James Niessen, Rutgers University• 56-ers• Colleagues, friends, family



Thank you for your attention!