Veterans' Association of the Royal Hungarian Gendarmerie : The Royal Hungarian Gendarmerie was organized in 1881 in order to maintain order in rural areas of Hungary. So as to certify that it would remain politically objective, members were not allowed to be affiliated with political parties. While serving essentially as a police force in peace time, the gendarmes also served their country during war, with more than half of the Gendarmerie's members losing their life during World War II. As the force was seen as a bulkwark of the traditional order in Hungary, it was dissolved in 1944 by the Provisional National Government of Hungary after the Soviet Union occupied the country in 1944. Of members of the gendarmerie remaining in Hungary after the Soviet occupation, about half were either executed or died in Soviet concentration camps or Hungarian jails. Most of the 600-800 gendarmes captured by the Western Allies remained in the west, to be joined by the few gendarmes who were able to flee from Soviet Hungary.
The gendarmes in Western Europe first organized themselves in Graz, Austria, where they formed a local mutual aid society that served to support gendarmes through advice or financial aid and also functioned to help gendarmes in different parts of the world to keep in contact with each other. Other locals were soon organized elsewhere. In 1949, these established the Veterans' Association of the Royal Hungarian Gendarmerie. By 1964, the organization had branches in 36 cities, with a membership of 1350. The organization kept former members of the Royal Hungarian Gendarmerie in contact with each other through correspondence, regular meetings and through a circular letter, the FRATERNAL LETTER, which served as the official publication of the organization. To support its mutual aid work, the organization collected money which served to help former gendarmes or their families that had fallen into unfortunate circumstances.
Charles Szathmary de Kovend started collecting documents and other memorabilia related to the Royal Hungarian Gendarmerie and Armed Forces in 1951. His collection of items contributed by the Gendarmerie and Armed Forces grew with time and in 1971 officially became the Museum and Archives of the Royal Hungarian Gendarmerie. Between 1983 and 1985 the Archives was donated to the National Archives of Canada, while the Museum was moved from Mr. Szathmary's home to the Hungarian Cultural Centre in Toronto, where it became the Museum of the Royal Hungarian Armed Forces.
Kovend, Charles Szathmary de : Born in the county of Udvarhely, Hungary, from which his family was expelled after this territory was taken over by Roumania after World War I, Charles Szathmary de Kovend enlisted to serve as a commissioned officer with the Royal Hungarian Gendarmerie when Hungary entered the war in 1941. He fought against both the Soviets and the Roumanians. His company retreated west with the crumbling German front and in 1945 capitulated to the Western Allies. He was released from prisoner-of-war camp in November, 1945, after which he joined his wife in a refugee camp in the British Zone of Germany, where he became active in Hungarian refugee life.
He and his family, including three children born in Germany, emigrated to Canada in 1951. After a few years as a farm worker and labourer in construction, he commenced work as a draftsman with the Borough of Etobicoke, Metropolitan Toronto, where he remained until his retirement in 1981. In Canada, he continued his involvement in Hungarian community life, in particular with the Veterans' Association of the Royal Hungarian Gendarmerie. He became president of the Association in 1964, serving in this capacity until the end of 1973. He served as editor of the BAJTARSI HIRADO (FRATERNAL LETTER), from 1964 to 1975. He also served as director of the organization's museum and archives, a position he held almost to his death.
