Farmer, businessman, founder Paul Rapai

Almost everything we know about Paul Rapai comes from the history the Hungarian House keeps. It describes a local tobacco farmer and businessman who came to the tobacco district in 1931.S8

1. 1931

   Comes to the tobacco district

   A tobacco farmer and businessman, by the hall’s account.S8

2. 1933

   The call

   Places an advertisement in the Kanadai Magyar Újság urging unemployed Hungarians to come for seasonal tobacco work; about a thousand come.S8

3. 1947

   A hall of their own

   Starts organizing the Hungarian House in January; it is founded that February.S8

4. 1949

   Dedication

   The House is dedicated on 15 May. Rapai serves as its first president, more than once.S8

5. Postwar

   Sponsor

   Sponsors 338 Hungarian displaced persons to come to Canada.S8

The figures for 1933 come from the community’s own history, and we have not yet found the advertisement itself. We tell it as the hall tells it.