Hungarian Citizenship & Genealogy - EverGens, 28 Falk Miksa Street, Budapest (2026)

26/09/2026

🇭🇺 EverGens is joining one of the largest online gatherings for Hungarian heritage and the Hungarian diaspora—the 2026 Hungarian Heritage Expo!

From October 5–9, the Hungarian Heritage Expo returns for its fourth edition, bringing together speakers and participants from around the world for dozens of sessions on Hungarian genealogy, citizenship, history, language, culture, and heritage — all online and in English.

We are delighted that EverGens Europe Ltd. will contribute three presentations to this year’s Expo.

A very special thank you to Liz Szabó Vos, founder and host of the Hungarian Heritage Expo, for creating this remarkable international community and for inviting us to be part of it.

🎙️ EVERGENS AT THE 2026 HUNGARIAN HERITAGE EXPO

🇭🇺 Hungarian All Along? Discovering Citizenship You May Already Have
Éva Feldmann & Dr. Bence Erdős

What if you don’t need to become a Hungarian citizen — because you may already be one?

We’ll explore Verification of Hungarian Citizenship and how Hungarian citizenship may have been passed down through generations, even after a family left Hungary.

This session will be especially relevant to families whose Hungarian ancestors left Hungary after 1929—and particularly Hungarians who fled after the 1956 Revolution —as well as their children and grandchildren in the United States and around the world.

For many of these families, the question may not be how to become a Hungarian citizen, but whether Hungarian citizenship was already passed down through the generations.

✡️ Beyond the Gravestone: Hidden Genealogical Secrets in Jewish Cemeteries and Death Records
Éva Feldmann & Dr. Bence Erdős

A gravestone can be much more than a memorial.

Hebrew inscriptions, cemetery records, death certificates, and burial documentation can preserve clues found nowhere else. We’ll explore how these sources can reconnect generations and uncover family stories across Hungary and Central Europe.

📜 From Family Treasures to Shared Heritage
Réka Bakos & Dr. Bence Erdős

Old photographs. Letters. Diaries. Documents brought from Hungary generations ago.

What if something your family has preserved is not only part of your family history, but also part of Hungarian history?

Drawing on their work with the Hungarian Heritage Archives Foundation (Iratmentő Alapítvány), Réka and Bence will explore how families can identify, digitize, document, and preserve these materials — and recognize when a family treasure may have historical significance far beyond the family itself.

“Hungarian history did not stay within the borders of Hungary. It travelled with people.”

We’re honored to join the 2026 Hungarian Heritage Expo and look forward to sharing these three presentations with Hungarians and descendants of Hungarian families around the world.

📅 October 5–9, 2026
💻 FREE · ONLINE · IN ENGLISH

👉 Expo registration link in the comments.

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📣 ALSO THIS FALL FROM EVERGENS

Separate from the Hungarian Heritage Expo, EverGens and Hungarian Roots & American Dreams are presenting our own free three-part Hungarian Citizenship Webinar Series on October 3, October 10, and November 7.

These webinars focus specifically on Simplified Naturalization, Verification of Citizenship, and learning Hungarian for citizenship.

So if Hungarian citizenship is part of your family’s story, watch our page for the separate webinar program and registration information.

25/09/2026

🇭🇺 Hungarian ancestors? You may have a path to Hungarian citizenship.

🌳 Did your ancestor leave Hungary before 1929 — or does your family have roots in historical Hungary?
Simplified Naturalization may be your path — including for families with roots in areas now in Slovakia, Romania, Serbia, Ukraine, Croatia, Austria, or Slovenia.

🔎 Did your ancestor leave present-day Hungary after 1929?
Verification of Citizenship may apply — meaning you could already be a Hungarian citizen by descent.

Not sure which path may apply to your family? Join our FREE 3-part Hungarian Citizenship Webinar Series.

Organized by Hungarian Roots & American Dreams in collaboration with EverGens Europe Ltd.

Meet the presenters:

🎙️ Réka Bakos — Co-founder & Program Director, Hungarian Roots & American Dreams
⚖️ Dr. Bence Erdős — Lawyer | Hungarian citizenship & the application process
🧬 Éva Feldmann — Genealogist | Ancestry research & documentation

📅 OCTOBER 3 — SIMPLIFIED NATURALIZATION
Who may qualify — and how the process works.

📅 OCTOBER 10 — VERIFICATION OF CITIZENSHIP
Could you already be a Hungarian citizen by descent?

📅 NOVEMBER 7 — LEARNING HUNGARIAN
Hungarian is required only for Simplified Naturalization — and it may be easier than you think.

💻 Online via Zoom | FREE | Separate registration for each webinar

👉 Learn more and register separately for any or all three webinars here:
https://evergens.com/free-hungarian-citizenship-webinar-series-fall-2026/

🎥 Can’t attend live? Register anyway — you’ll receive the recording.

Know someone with Hungarian roots? Share this with them.

Discover your roots. Reclaim your birthright.

25/09/2026

A Previously Unknown Hungarian Genealogical Source — Nearly 3,000 Names

A few days ago, a remarkable handwritten pocket book came into my possession: a more than 120-year-old population register containing nearly 3,000 names across just 95 pages.

These are not simply names.

The entries include exact street names and house numbers, and in many cases occupations as well — millers, watchmen, messengers, wine sellers, slipper makers, bootmakers, police officers, and many others.

For a genealogist, a source like this is something special. Sometimes a single name, address, or occupation is the missing clue someone has been searching for for years.

That is why I do not want this volume to simply become another item in a private collection, with the information it preserves disappearing onto a shelf for another generation.

Beginning next week, I will start systematically processing the entire volume and sharing the names, addresses, and other information recorded in it here.

Once the work is complete, with the assistance of the Iratmentő Alapítvány (Hungarian Heritage Archives Foundation), the original volume will be transferred to the appropriate branch of the Hungarian National Archives, where it can be properly preserved and remain accessible to future researchers.

For anyone researching Hungarian ancestry, one of these nearly 3,000 names may be someone you have been looking for. And even when a familiar surname does not appear, sources like this offer a rare glimpse into the people, streets, occupations, and everyday life of a Hungarian community more than a century ago.

Beginning next week, nearly 3,000 names preserved in these pages for more than 120 years will be brought back into the light.

06/09/2026

A Wedding Ring. A Name. A Date. A Soldier Waiting to Be Identified.

“1920. XII. 25. – Krisztina”

More than 80 years after World War II, this inscription may hold the key to identifying a fallen Hungarian soldier.

During the excavation of a wartime mass grave near Ipolytölgyes, Hungary, the remains of Hungarian soldiers were recovered. Among the personal belongings found at the site was a gold wedding ring engraved with a date and a name: December 25, 1920 – Krisztina.

The soldier who wore it has not yet been identified, and the Hungarian Military History Institute and Museum is asking the public for help.

There is reason to hope.

In 2020, three Hungarian soldiers killed during World War II were discovered near Sülysáp. One carried a wedding ring engraved “Esztike 1942.” Archival records alone could not identify him, but after a public appeal, the mystery was solved: he was Corporal Endre István Nagy.

His daughter was found. Nearly eight decades after her father’s death, his wedding ring was returned to her, and his remains were laid to rest in the family grave with military honors.

Now another family may be waiting for the same answer.

This story captures why genealogy and archival research matter. Sometimes an identity survives not in an official record, but in a name engraved inside a ring, a date remembered by a family, or a story passed down through generations.

Do the name Krisztina and the date December 25, 1920 appear in your Hungarian family history?

Please share this story. Somewhere, a family may hold the missing piece.

One ring. One name. One date. And behind them, a human life waiting to be remembered.

05/09/2026

ON FILM: “THE SECRET OF THE BANANA BOX” — When Archival Rescue Brings History Back to Life

A forgotten Hungarian noble family archive. A mysterious Belgian royal inheritance. Gold and diamond mines in the Congo. And even Queen Elizabeth II.

It all began with a banana box.

In the spring of 2026, the Hungarian Heritage Archives Foundation (Iratmentő Alapítvány) rescued a completely unorganized collection of historic family papers at auction. Once the documents were organized and researched, the box revealed the papers of Franciska Péterffy (1879–1961) and several interconnected noble families of western Hungary — some dating back to the 18th century.

But the real surprise was a decades-long attempt by Hungarian families to claim a supposed Belgian royal inheritance, a story that became intertwined with the legendary wealth of the gold and diamond mines of the Belgian Congo. Franciska later even appealed to Queen Elizabeth II for assistance.

Now the banana box is opened on film.

Dr. Tibor Neumann, historian, and Dr. György Rácz, archivist, both curators of the Hungarian Heritage Archives Foundation, present the original documents at the National Archives of Hungary in Budapest. They serve on the Foundation’s Board of Curators together with Dr. Bence Erdős, Founder and CEO of EverGens Europe Ltd.

For anyone with Hungarian ancestry who is researching their roots, there is a larger story here: family history survives only because someone preserved the records. A letter, photograph or document saved in Hungary generations ago may one day become the missing piece of a family’s story thousands of miles away.

WATCH THE FILM:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrbTIjMpY-M

To watch in English: turn on CC, then select Settings (⚙️) → Subtitles/CC → Hungarian → Auto-translate → English. The English translation is generated automatically by YouTube.

For the complete story, including the genealogy behind the collection and the Belgian royal inheritance, read our English-language article:
https://iratmentoalapitvany.hu/en/from-the-balaton-uplands-to-the-diamond-mines-of-the-congo-or-the-secret-of-the-banana-box/

And to see what piece of Hungarian history is rescued next, follow the Hungarian Heritage Archives Foundation:
https://www.facebook.com/iratmento

Because a document saved in Hungary today may become the missing chapter of a family’s story tomorrow.

05/09/2026

VIDEÓN A „BANÁNOSDOBOZ TITKA” – amikor az iratmentés életre kel

Egy banánosdoboz. Egy kisnemesi levéltár. Egy különös belga királyi örökség. Kongói arany- és gyémántbányák. És még II. Erzsébet királynő is.

2026 tavaszán az Iratmentő Alapítvány egy aukción mentett meg egy teljesen rendezetlen, banánosdobozba zsúfolt iratanyagot. A rendezés során kiderült: a doboz Péterffy Franciska (1879–1961) hagyatékát őrzi, és vele együtt egy olyan történetet, amely a Balaton-felvidéki nemesi családoktól a belga királyi udvarig és a kongói gyémántbányákig vezet. Franciska idős korában még II. Erzsébet királynőhöz is segítségért fordult.

A „banánosdoboz titkáról” korábban már részletesen beszámoltunk. Most azonban maguk az eredeti dokumentumok kerülnek a kamera elé.

Az Iratmentő Alapítvány kurátorai, Dr. Neumann Tibor történész és Dr. Rácz György levéltáros a Magyar Nemzeti Levéltár Országos Levéltárában mutatják be a megmentett gyűjteményt és mesélik el, mi minden került elő abból a bizonyos banánosdobozból.

A filmet érdemes megnézni: ritkán látható ennyire közelről, hogyan válik egy doboznyi régi papírból megmentett magyar történeti örökség.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrbTIjMpY-M

Az EverGensnél nap mint nap olyan történeti forrásokból dolgozunk, amelyeket előttünk valaki megőrzött. Ezért is fontos számunkra az Iratmentő Alapítvánnyal való együttműködés: nemcsak feltárni szeretnénk a magyar családok múltját, hanem hozzájárulni ahhoz is, hogy legyen mit kutatnia a következő generációknak.

A teljes történet itt olvasható:

https://iratmentoalapitvany.hu/a-balaton-felvidektol-a-kongoi-gyemantbanyakig-avagy-a-bananosdoboz-titka/

Ha pedig első kézből szeretne értesülni a következő mentésekről és felfedezésekről, érdemes követni az Iratmentő Alapítvány Facebook-oldalát:

https://www.facebook.com/iratmento

Mert amit ma megmentünk, abban holnap valaki megtalálhatja a saját családja történetét.

02/09/2026

Three successful submissions. One very special day. 🇭🇺🇺🇸

Today, three of our American clients successfully submitted their Hungarian Simplified Naturalization applications — both in Hungary and in the United States.

One of them even surprised us with this wonderful little New York gift for the baby Éva Feldmann and Dr. Bence Erdős are expecting soon. ❤️

Moments like this remind us that our work is about much more than citizenship. It is about reconnecting families with Hungary, building friendships along the way, and creating a connection that can be passed down to their children, grandchildren, and generations yet to come.

Hungarian citizenship can be a truly transgenerational gift — a lasting connection to Hungary that can become part of a family’s legacy for generations.

We are incredibly grateful to be part of these journeys.

Congratulations to all three of you! 🇭🇺

— EverGens Europe Ltd.

01/09/2026

🇭🇺 Did Your Hungarian Ancestor Sail from Fiume?

If your family came to America from Hungary in the early 1900s, there is one place you may want to remember:

Fiume.

Today it is Rijeka, Croatia. But at the turn of the 20th century, Fiume was Hungary’s great seaport — and for many emigrants, one of the last places they saw before leaving Europe.

Behind its transformation stood a Hungarian engineer whose name is largely forgotten today:

Antal Hajnal.

In 1877, Hajnal was entrusted with the direct supervision of the port’s construction. In 1884, his plans for its further development were adopted. Over the following decades, new quays, piers, warehouses and railway infrastructure transformed the waterfront.

By 1901, Hajnal had been directing the construction of the port for 23 years. A Hungarian engineering journal wrote that Fiume’s past, present and future had become almost inseparable from him — and that he deserved the “lion’s share” of the credit for its rise.

Then Fiume became something else:

a gateway to America.

Beginning in 1903, direct passenger service connected Fiume with New York. Emigrants from across the Kingdom of Hungary traveled to the Adriatic and boarded ships bound for a new life in America.

Remarkably, many of their names can still be found.

Between 1903 and 1907, the Kivándorlási Értesítő — the Emigration Bulletin — published information about emigrants leaving through Fiume, including names, ages, and places of origin.

For Hungarian-American families today, these records can provide the clue that leads back to the town an ancestor left behind.

And Hajnal’s own records hold a surprise too.

For generations, Hungarian reference works have listed his birthday as September 1, 1838.

His original church record says otherwise.

Hajnal was born in Makó on August 31, 1838.

September 1 was the day he was baptized.

A one-day error survived for more than a century — until the original record told the story differently.

From an 1838 church register in Makó to the docks of Fiume and thousands of journeys to America, records still connect families across generations and across the Atlantic.

Did your family’s journey to America pass through Fiume?

Perhaps the answer is still waiting somewhere in the records.

Dr. Bence Erdős & Éva Feldmann
Hungarian Citizenship Advisors & Expert Genealogists
EverGens Europe Ltd.

Sources: Gazdasági Mérnök (1901); József Szinnyei, Magyar írók élete és munkái; Géza Forgó, Makótól Fiuméig – Hajnal Antal, a fiumei (Rijeka) kikötő tervezője; Hungarian National Archives; National Széchényi Library.

Image: Antal Hajnal, Gazdasági Mérnök, January 6, 1901.

01/09/2026

🇭🇺 Egy napot tévedett az utókor Hajnal Antal születésnapjával

„Az ő lelkével egészen egybeforrott már a fiumei kikötő múltja, jelene és jövője” – írta Hajnal Antalról a Gazdasági Mérnök 1901-ben.

A korabeli lap szerint abban, hogy Fiume méltó helyet foglalhatott el Európa kikötői között, „kétségtelenül őt illeti az oroszlánrész.”

Ugyanez a cikk azt is írta, hogy Hajnal 1838. szeptember 1-jén született Makón.

Csakhogy ez nem igaz.

Az eredeti makói református anyakönyv szerint Hajnal 1838. augusztus 31-én született, és másnap, szeptember 1-jén keresztelték meg.

A téves dátum mégis több mint egy évszázadon át öröklődött. Szinnyei József lexikonában már szeptember 1. szerepel, később az 1967-es Magyar Életrajzi Lexikon is ezt közölte – és a tévedés egészen napjainkig eljutott: az OSZK Jeles napok adatbázisában ma is szeptember 1. Hajnal Antal születésnapja.

De ki volt az az ember, akinek még a születési dátumát is érdemes helyretenni?

Hajnal Antal mérnök életműve Fiume lett.

1877-ben bízták meg a kikötő építésének közvetlen vezetésével, 1884-ben pedig elkészítette a kikötő további kiépítésének tervét, amelyet a munkálatok alapjául elfogadtak.

Irányítása alatt évtizedeken át formálódott a modern kikötő: új rakpartok és mólók épültek, feltöltésekkel területeket nyertek a tengertől, raktárak és vasúti kapcsolatok létesültek, és külön petróleumkikötő is épült.

Amikor a bejegyzésünkhöz használt portré 1901-ben megjelent, Hajnal már 23 éve vezette a kikötő építését. A századfordulóra Fiume Magyarország tengeri kapujává és Európa egyik jelentős kikötőjévé vált.

És innen a történet már családtörténet is.

1903-tól közvetlen hajójárat kötötte össze Fiumét New Yorkkal, és magyarországi kivándorlók tömegei érkeztek a városba, hogy innen induljanak tovább Amerika felé.

Ennek ma is kutatható nyomai vannak. Az 1903 és 1907 között megjelent Kivándorlási Értesítő a Fiumében hajóra szálló kivándorlók nevét, életkorát és származási helyét is közölte.

Így ér össze egyetlen történetben egy 1838-as makói anyakönyv, egy 1901-es portré, Fiume rakpartjai és az Amerikába induló magyar családok története.

Hajnal Antal tehát nem szeptember 1-jén született. Aznap keresztelték meg.

De egy több mint száz éve öröklődő tévedésnél aligha kaphattunk volna jobb alkalmat arra, hogy ma megemlékezzünk a magyar Fiume egyik legfontosabb megalkotójáról.

Ha szereti az ilyen történelmi nyomozásokat, kövesse az oldalunkat!

Források: Gazdasági Mérnök (1901); Szinnyei József: Magyar írók élete és munkái; Forgó Géza: Makótól Fiuméig – Hajnal Antal, a fiumei (Rijeka) kikötő tervezője; Magyar Életrajzi Lexikon; OSZK Jeles napok.

Kép: Hajnal Antal korabeli portréja, Gazdasági Mérnök, 1901. január 6.

30/08/2026

Can We Find Dr. Dezső Silberstein’s Family? Please Share.

In 2025, I rescued the original photographic identification booklet of Hungarian attorney-at-law, Dr. Dezső Silberstein, from a flea market.

Today, I am trying to find his family so I can return it to them. Please help me by sharing his story.

Inside the booklet is something especially precious: his photograph.

As a genealogist, I have always felt a responsibility to rescue old personal documents when I come across them. A passport, an identification card, or a photograph may look like an old piece of paper — but sometimes it is one of the last surviving personal traces of a human life.

So I began researching the man behind this face.

Dezső Silberstein was born in Szarvas, Hungary, in 1884, the son of Fülöp Silberstein and Lujza Glasner. He married Anna Nyiri and built his legal career in his hometown.

And the newspapers brought his world back to life.

Dozens of contemporary newspaper articles document his life as an attorney at law and member of his community. We find him arguing cases in court, representing a client in the purchase of Szarvas’s Árpád Hotel and Café, and participating in the social life of the town.

Then, in 1944, the story changes.

A May 1944 newspaper reported that twelve Jewish attorneys were removed from the Szarvas district.

Dr. Silberstein was one of them.

He was later deported to Auschwitz and never returned. After the war, the Szarvas District Court dealt with his legal declaration of death.

But his identification booklet — and his face — survived.

My research revealed one more important clue: Peter Page of Toronto, Canada, a great-nephew of Dr. Silberstein, submitted a Page of Testimony to Yad Vashem to preserve his relative’s memory.

Now I would like to find Peter Page or his family and return Dr. Silberstein’s original identification booklet to them.

If his family cannot be located, the document will be preserved through the Iratmentő Alapítvány (Hungarian Heritage Archives Foundation) and placed in an appropriate Hungarian public collection.

But before that, I want to try to bring it home.

If you know Peter Page of Toronto, his descendants, or anyone connected to the Silberstein family of Szarvas, please contact us.

And even if you don't: please share this post. You never know who may recognize a name.

Perhaps one share will be the one that brings this small piece of Dr. Silberstein’s life back to his family after more than 80 years.

A name. A face. A story. And, hopefully, a way home.

— Dr. Bence Erdős
Genealogist, EverGens Europe Ltd.
Curator, Iratmentő Alapítvány – Hungarian Heritage Archives Foundation

Hungarian Citizenship & Genealogy - EverGens

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