“Hungary & Budapest: Physical, Historical, Cultural Contemporary,” September 8

Sunday, September 8, 2 p.m.

German American Heritage Center, 712 West Second Street, Davenport IA

An insightful and entertaining exploration into history, cultural heritage, and architectural treasures taking place on September 8, Hungary & Budapest: Physical, Historical, Cultural Contemporary serves as the latest program in the German American Heritage Center's popular "Kaffee und Kuchen" series, presenter Russell Baldner having recently presented a similar series of pre-departure orientations on the history and culture of Hungary and the Hungarian language.

From the arrival of the Hungarian Magyar tribes in the Carpathian basin of Europe in the ninth century and the establishment of the first Hungarian state, to the subsequent conquest of the Hungarian monarchy by the Ottoman Turks, the history of the Hungarian land and people is one of dramatic proportions. historic ethnic identity, and spirited resilience. Its language a linguistic outlier among the people and tongues of Europe, its modern quest for independence twice brutally crushed by foreign intervention in the middle of the 19th and 20th centuries, it was nonetheless Hungary and the character of its people who contributed in large part, 35 years ago, to the fall of Communism and the Berlin Wall and the Peaceful Revolution in Europe. In Hungary & Budapest: Physical, Historical, Cultural Contemporary, presenter Russell Baldner will expose attendees to the warm, welcoming, gracious, and generous people of its overseas subjects, as well as touch on rule by the Austrian Habsburgs and the rise of fervent Hungarian nationalist aspirations in the 19th century.

From the arrival of the Hungarian Magyar tribes in the Carpathian basin of Europe in the ninth century and the establishment of the first Hungarian state, to the subsequent conquest of the Hungarian monarchy by the Ottoman Turks, the history of the Hungarian land and people is one of dramatic proportions. historic ethnic identity, and spirited resilience. Its language a linguistic outlier among the people and tongues of Europe, its modern quest for independence twice brutally crushed by foreign intervention in the middle of the 19th and 20th centuries, it was nonetheless Hungary and the character of its people who contributed in large part, 35 years ago, to the fall of Communism and the Berlin Wall and the Peaceful Revolution in Europe. In Hungary & Budapest: Physical, Historical, Cultural Contemporary, Russell Baldner will expose attendees to the warm, welcoming, gracious, and generous people of its overseas subjects, as well as touch on rule by the Austrian Habsburgs and the rise of fervent Hungarian nationalist aspirations in the 19th century,

Presenter Baldner’s very early affection for the German language and history led to B.A. and M.A. degrees in History and undergraduate and graduate study in German, anthropology, and archaeology. On his first visit to Germany, he lived in his immigrant great-great-grandfather’s birthplace. Baldner speaks German and specializes in the history of Germany, including the Early and High Middle Ages, the Protestant Reformation and Lutheranism, and 19th- and 20th-century Germany and Europe. By profession an educator, Russell formerly taught German, history, and anthropology. His recent publications include several 19thth-century German Lutheran historical and archaic German cursive manuscript studies, a four-part research series on the Late Prehistoric–Early Historic Native American petroglyphs and pictographs of northeast Iowa, and Diversity in Faith, a three-part Introduction to the Reformation and Protestantism.

Hungary & Budapest: Physical, Historical, Cultural Contemporary will be presented at the German American Heritage Center on September 8, with the 2 p.m. “Kaffee und Kuchen” program preceded by coffee and cake at 1:30 p.m. Admission is free for GAHC members and $5 for non-members, and more information is available by calling (563)322-8844 and visiting GAHC.org.