Two Hungarian Refugees Enter University's Academic Community

Two recent Hungarian refugees have just become associated with the Harvard community, it was learned yesterday. Emery Farkas has been appointed an assistant in Sanitary Chemistry, and Zoltan Mihaly is seeking admission to the Law School and will deliver a staff lecture at the Russian Research Center on Friday.

Farkas will instruct and engage in research in the Department of Engineering and Applied Physics until his appointment ends on July 1. He received the position through the efforts of the Rockefeller Foundation in New York.

Hungarian Chemist

The refugee chemist was a member of the Rockefeller Institute in Hungary, where he spent much time doing research on the prevention of water corrosion. This position led him to apply to the U.S. Rockefeller Foundation for a position in the United States.

Farkas arrived in America on Dec. 25, 1956. On Oct. 25, he had been released from prison, where he had been kept since 1951 on charges of "anti-Communist activities and Western connections," he stated yesterday. "They called me 'the enemy of the people' and such Bolsheyik phrases," he added.

After his release from prison, he and his wife boarded a train bound for the Austrian border, which he crossed on Nov. 25. He hopes for a renewal of his appointment, and plans to apply for U.S citzenship.

His wife now works in the Gordon McKay Engineering Laboratory.

The other newcomer to the community, Mihaly, had had no trouble with authorities before the revolt broke. He had been a member of the Law faculty of the University of Budapest, holding a position approximately equivalent to an assistant professor of International Law. He hopes to gain a Rockefeller Foundation fellowship so that he can attend the Law School in the fall.

On Friday, Mihaly will speak at the Russian Research Center's staff seminar on law and economic planning in Hungary and the Soviet Union. He was engaged in this work before he left Budapest, helping to resolve legal disputes between economic enterprises.

Led Student Fighters

In his post at the University of Budapest, he joined the revolt by helping to organize students at the law school. "The best fighters in the struggle were the students," he asserted yesterday. He helped to make a fighting force out of law students and younger boys who volunteered their services. "Such young people were our troops," he said.