Videos by Veronika Szeghy-Gayer
László Tost was one of the emblematic figures of political Catholicism in interwar Czechoslovakia... more László Tost was one of the emblematic figures of political Catholicism in interwar Czechoslovakia. He was the deputy mayor of Košice from 1933 to 1938, then mayor of the city from November 1938 to May 1939, later until 1944 member of the Hungarian parliament. As a result of his well-known anti-nazist behavior, he became victim of the terror of the Arrow Cross Party in Košice in January 1945. 15 views
Books by Veronika Szeghy-Gayer
Proti režimu : príbehy odporu a odvahy v období nacistickej okupácie v Košiciach, 2024
The book aims to provide an insight into the history of the anti-Nazi and anti-Nyilas resistance ... more The book aims to provide an insight into the history of the anti-Nazi and anti-Nyilas resistance in Košice during the 10 months of German occupation. It is organized into six main thematic chapters. Chapter I sets the stage by discussing the research methodology, framed within the concept of everyday resistance. It also reviews how historians have previously written about resistance and resilience in Košice, along with some key terminological clarifications. Chapter II provides a brief summary of the key events in Košice between November 1938 and March 1944. Chapters III through V focus on the period of the German occupation of Hungary, at the local level in Košice, examining the deportation of Jews, Roma, and other population groups from the city as well as the Nyilas terror. Within the individual subchapters, the authors share specific stories of resistance, courage, and everyday acts of help.
Civil Servants Under Changing Regimes in Central and Eastern Europe in the First Half of the 20th Century. , 2024
The civil service constituted a key stabilizing component in all political regimes of Central and... more The civil service constituted a key stabilizing component in all political regimes of Central and Eastern Europe during the 20th century, whether democratic or nondemocratic, but recent research has suggested that the role of state and local bureaucracies might also be crucial in times of crisis and amidst changes in regimes and borders. This volume presents a series of studies which investigate selected groups of civil servants or individual career paths in the context of the changing borders and shifting political systems in the period between the collapse of the Austro Hungarian Monarchy and the years immediately following the end of the Second World War. Each chapter reflects upon how a wide range of functionaries at different levels of public administration, including heads of counties, prefects, mayors, policemen, foresters, state-employed actresses and many others, experienced the transition from one state to another. The studies explore how civil servants survived these transitional periods and the extent to which they adapted to the new circumstances.
Verejní zamestnanci v meniacich sa režimoch v prvej polovici 20. storočia. Authors: Patrícia FOGELOVÁ, Daniel HARVAN, David HUBENÝ, Zdeňka KOKOŠKOVÁ, Attila SIMON, Gabriel SZEGHY, Veronika SZEGHY-GAYER, Monika VÁCLAVÍKOVÁ, 2024
Verejní zamestnanci v meniacich sa režimoch v prvej polovici 20. storočia Veronika Szeghy-Gayer (... more Verejní zamestnanci v meniacich sa režimoch v prvej polovici 20. storočia Veronika Szeghy-Gayer (ed.) Spoločenskovedný ústav CSPV SAV, v. v. i. Spoločenskovedný ústav CSPV SAV, v. v. i.
![Research paper thumbnail of Veronika Szeghy-Gayer: László Tost - mešťanosta Košíc [László Tost, the mayor of Košice/Kassa]. Košice: Fórum Maďarov v Košiciach, 2022. 216 p.](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/92746208/thumbnails/1.jpg)
László Tost - mešťanosta Košíc , 2022
László Tost patrí k emblematickým postavám politického katolicizmu v medzivojnovom Československu... more László Tost patrí k emblematickým postavám politického katolicizmu v medzivojnovom Československu. V rokoch 1933 – 1938 bol zástupcom košického starostu, od novembra 1938 do mája 1939 mešťanostom Košíc a neskôr do roku 1944 aj poslancom maďarského parlamentu. V dôsledku svojho proanglického a protinyilašovského postoja sa stal v januári 1945 obeťou košického teroru Strany šípových krížov. Po prvý raz dochádza k vydaniu súhrnnej práce o jeho živote, o jeho úradníckej i politickej kariére. V nej sa príbeh šarišského statkára, finančného úradníka, neskôr mestského politika spolu s osudom jeho rodiny pred čitateľa nepredkladá v pestrých farbách politických rozmarov či romantiky, ale v rámci opisu doby zozbieraním drobných ľudských prejavov verejného a súkromného života. Práca Veroniky Szeghy-Gayer vracia zo zabudnutia svet multietnických Košíc spred roku 1945, plný premien štátnej moci, politických hier, divadla a ľudských tragédií, o ktorých v poslednom desaťročí vychádza čoraz viac vedeckých analýz. Monografia László Tost - mešťanosta Košíc je určená najmä širokému publiku. Nevšedný rodinný príbeh obohacujú ilustrácie košického reštaurátora Ladislava Bobčáka a viac ako sto doposiaľ nepublikovaných dobových fotografií z verejných inštitúcií na Slovensku a v Maďarsku, ako aj zo súkromných zbierok.
Tost László, Kassa polgármestere, 2022
Tost László a csehszlovákiai politikai katolicizmus emblematikus alakja, 1933 és 1938 között Kass... more Tost László a csehszlovákiai politikai katolicizmus emblematikus alakja, 1933 és 1938 között Kassa helyettes polgármestere, majd 1938 novemberétől 1939 májusáig a város polgármestere, később 1944-ig a magyar parlament képviselője volt. Közismerten angolbarát, nyilasellenes magatartása következtében 1945 januárjában a kassai nyilas terror áldozata lett. Hivatalnoki és politikai pályafutásáról először jelenik meg összefoglaló munka, melyben a földbirtokosból, majd pénzügyi hivatalnokból lett keresztényszocialista városatya és családja élete nem a politikai divatok túlburjánzó színeiben pompázva, romantikusan megfestve tárul elénk, hanem a köz- és magánélet apró emberi megnyilvánulásaival átszőtt korrajz keretében, olvasmányos stílusban. A kötet megjelenését a Szlovák Köztársaság Kisebbségi Kulturális Alapja támogatta.
![Research paper thumbnail of Felvidékből Szlovenszkó. Magyar értelmiségi útkeresések Eperjesen és Kassán a két világháború között. [Felvidék becomes Slovensko. Trajectories of Hungarian intellectuals in interwar Prešov and Košice]. Pozsony, Kalligram, 2016.](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/50453452/thumbnails/1.jpg)
The monograph aims to examine the social history of the Hungarian elites
in interwar Prešov (in ... more The monograph aims to examine the social history of the Hungarian elites
in interwar Prešov (in Hungarian Eperjes, in German Preschau) and Košice
(in Hungarian Kassa, in German Kaschau) by reconstructing and reinterpreting
two biographies, that of János Gömöry (1869–1966) and Ferenc Sziklay
(1883–1943). One of the main reasons for choosing this research topic was the
lack of adequate historiography on urban interethnic relations and minority
groups in the territory of Eastern Slovakia after WWI. Similarly, the personal
legacies of the two intellectuals under scrutiny were not subjects to a detailed
research, in spite of the fact that they had a key role both in minority politics
at a local level and in the regional cultural life of the Hungarian community in
Czechoslovakia.
To narrow down the scope of my investigation, the monograph focuses on
the urban intelligentsia that encircled the Hungarian oppositional political parties
of Czechoslovakia or was even involved in their activities. The Lutheran
and freemason János Gömöry was member of the liberal Hungarian National
Party (Magyar Nemzeti Párt), while the Catholic Ferenc Sziklay , who considered
himself a national conservative, was rather a sympathizer of the National
Christian Socialist Party (Országos Keresztényszocialista Párt). Gömöry was a
history teacher in the Lutheran College of Prešov until 1926. Sziklay studied in
the gymnasium of the Premonstratensian order and became a literature teacher.
Coming from two different political and cultural backgrounds, they emerged as
leading figures of the Hungarian minority after the creation of the first Czechoslovak
Republic.
I argue that their parallel careers represent two models, which, apart the
Communist movement, can be considered the most effective community-building
policies of the Hungarian elites in Czechoslovakia until 1938. On the one
hand, I examine the group of progressive intellectuals, who belonged to the freemasonic lodges. On the other hand I study the Christian socialist, nationalist
and conservative worldview which was ideologically and institutionally linked
to the Roman Catholic Church.
Methodologically the monograph makes an attempt to combine various elements
of urban history and biographical analysis. The interwar activities of János
Gömöry and Ferenc Sziklay are analyzed in the wider context of the Hungarian
community in Czechoslovakia and in the respective urban settings. Since they
both significantly influenced their micro-society, the monograph explores the
self-organizing strategies of the Hungarian intellectuals in Prešov and Košice.
Here the aim is to investigate, what kind of ideological and socio-cultural groups
the Hungarian intelligentsia was divided into and who did represent Hungarian
minority interests in the urban societies. Moreover, after 1918 the Hungarian
intelligentsia of Czechoslovakia was involved in the development of a brand-new
community, the Hungarian minority of Czechoslovakia, witnessed the territorial
separation of Hungary proper and that of the minority society, while they had to
face the lack of regional traditions and the unique cultural characteristics of urban
communities. Therefore, the monograph provides an overview of the cultural
programs of Gömöry and Sziklay too, as well as discusses their participation
in the Hungarian intellectual debates that aimed to create the new Hungarian
intelligentsia of Czechoslovakia. My purpose is to understand how did territorial
consciousness and sense of belonging of the investigated elite groups change
after 1918. How did Felvidék become Slovensko in the perception of Hungarian
intellectuals in Czechoslovakia?
The book is divided into five chapters which are thematically structured. The
introductory part offers a historiographical review on the topic, and the methodological
and terminological framework of the analysis is set. The second and
third chapters are dedicated to the political and cultural self-organizing strategies
of the Hungarian intelligentsia, while the fourth chapter deals with the regional
community building attempts of Hungarian writers and journalists. Finally, the
research results are summarized in the fifth chapter of the monograph.
Conference Presentations by Veronika Szeghy-Gayer
Civil Servants Under Changing Regimes in Central and Eastern Europe, 1900-1950, 2023
Papers by Veronika Szeghy-Gayer
Historický časopis, 2024
The paper aims to summarize the impact of the Spanish influenza pandemic on the northern regions ... more The paper aims to summarize the impact of the Spanish influenza pandemic on the northern regions of the Kingdom of Hungary, today’s Slovakia. The main aim of the study is to compare two types of accessible epidemic data, the statistics prepared by the Hungarian city or county administration and the civil death records in the period between September and December 1918. In the first part of the paper, the historical context of the second wave and the issue of the anti-epidemic measures are discussed, while the second part is dedicated to the analysis of the pandemic data related to different regions of present-day Slovakia. It is argued that the partial data published below might offer a representative case study on the course of the pandemic and the number of fatalities in this specific region of the former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy.
From Local Policeman to Mass Murderer, 2024
In: Civil Servants Under Changing Regimes in Central and Eastern Europe in the First Half of the ... more In: Civil Servants Under Changing Regimes in Central and Eastern Europe in the First Half of the 20th Century. Edited by Veronika Szeghy-Gayer. Košice: Institute of Social Science, CSPS SAS, 2024., 173-187.
The study explores the life trajectory of a police detective, Dénes Várkoly who during the terror... more The study explores the life trajectory of a police detective, Dénes Várkoly who during the terror of the Hungarian pro-Nazi Arrow Cross Party in 1944–1945 was responsible for hundreds of deaths of his fellow citizens in Košice. Born into a prominent burgher family, later dubbed “the bloody murderer of Košice”, Várkoly started his career in interwar Czechoslovakia as a young talented jazz pianist. After the first Vienna Arbitration in
November 1938, when Košice was ceded to Hungary, he entered the political department of the Hungarian Royal Police Captaincy. In October 1944, after the takeover of the Arrow Cross Party remained in his position and took part in most of the mass executions organized by the Hungarian police and the paramilitary forces of the Nyilas. Even though Várkoly has undoubtedly played a key role in the Nyilas terror of Košice, his biography
is completely missing in the pre-1989 and modern research concerning the Hungarian Arrow Cross movement in the reannexed territories. The main aim of this investigation is to provide a better understanding of the dramatic transformation from upright burgher to brutal killer in the context of the Slovak-Hungarian border region. In the chapter, it is argued that the motives of the non-German perpetrators of the Holocaust, such as the members of the Hungarian Arrow Cross Party can be explained by a varying of circumstances influenced by the family background and education, but also by the political and border changes that took place during the lifetime of the investigated police detective.
Irodalmi Szemle, 2023, roč. LXVI, č. 9, s. 76-92, 2023
A tanulmányban elsőként Propperné Békefi Hermin rövid életrajzának és családi hátterének a felváz... more A tanulmányban elsőként Propperné Békefi Hermin rövid életrajzának és családi hátterének a felvázolására teszek kísérletet, majd írói pályafutásának kezdeti szakaszait tárom fel, külön alfejezetben foglalkozva az első világháború alatt és a Kassa csehszlovák katonai megszállásának hónapjaiban íródott munkáival. Végezetül az őszirózsás forradalom alatti, majd a két világháború közötti időszakban kifejtett közéleti-szerkesztői tevekénységére is kitérek.
Study on the Holocaust in Southern Slovakia, Košice in three languages (English, Slovak and Hunga... more Study on the Holocaust in Southern Slovakia, Košice in three languages (English, Slovak and Hungarian).
Dél-szlovákiai magyar közalkalmazottak a változó világban - kassai esettanulmány a személyi konti... more Dél-szlovákiai magyar közalkalmazottak a változó világban - kassai esettanulmány a személyi kontinuitás kérdéséről, 1938-1948. In A magyar kisebbségek 100 éve : A Magyar Tudományos Akadémia II. Filozófiai és Történettudományok Osztályának 2022. szeptember 22-23-ai konferenciáján elhangzott előadások szerkesztett változata. - Kolozsvár : Komp-Press, 2023, p. 137-145.
Bárkány Jenő és Austerlitz Tivadar – adalékok a szlovenszkói magyar ajkú zsidóság két világháború közötti történetéhez., 2022
SZEGHY-GAYER, Veronika. Bárkány Jenő és Austerlitz Tivadar – adalékok a szlovenszkói magyar ajkú ... more SZEGHY-GAYER, Veronika. Bárkány Jenő és Austerlitz Tivadar – adalékok a szlovenszkói magyar ajkú zsidóság két világháború közötti történetéhez. In Palimpszesztus : Írások Bárdi Nándor 60. szülinapjára. - Budapest : Társadalomtudományi Kutatóközpont Kisebbségkutató Intézet : Kalligram, 2022, s. 270-287.
The second wave of the Spanish influenza pandemic in selected regions and towns of Slovakia (1918), 2022
Background: Very few researches have been carried out on the Spanish influenza pandemic and its c... more Background: Very few researches have been carried out on the Spanish influenza pandemic and its consequences in the territory of Slovakia. Objectives: The paper constitutes an attempt to investigate the second wave of the pandemic between September and December 1918. It aims to reflect on the following questions: when did the outbreak of the pandemic occur in this region?; what measures were taken during the second wave of the Spanish flu in autumn 1918?; to what extent and based on what data can the number of infected and fatalities be determined? Methods: The research is based on the study of archival sources, as well as the local press, and the county periodicals, in which the official number of infections and deaths were published. Results: The first part of the paper is dedicated to the historiographical reflections, and outlines the possible reasons why historiography has not, so far, examined this question. Here it is argued that on the one hand the focus of the Hungarian and the Slovak historiographies were put on presenting the larger political, social, and economic context and consequences of the creation of Czechoslovakia and the history of the Peace Treaty in Trianon, while on the other hand, scholars have to face the lack of accurate statistical data. The second part of the study provides a short overview of the course of the pandemic in Slovakia and try to make estimates on the number of infections and fatalities based on contemporary statistics. Conclusions: Partial data suggest that around 0.5% of the population of Slovakia may have fallen victim to the epidemic. However, the study presents only the current status of the research, and data are not available for all regions of Slovakia at the moment. Therefore, further research is required to map the impact of the world pandemic on Slovakia, in regions that are missing in such analysis.
The City and History, vol. 10, no. 1., 2021
This study aims to provide an insight into the microworld of a group of witnesses to and particip... more This study aims to provide an insight into the microworld of a group of witnesses to and participants
in the Holocaust in Košice, a town ceded from dismembered Czechoslovakia to Hungary in November
1938. We argue that Košice represents a suitable case study for the examination of Aryanization of
Jewish property on the municipality and individual levels in the Slovak-Hungarian border region
(Southern Slovakia), which is a hitherto understudied field in Holocaust studies. Our analysis is centred
around 253 petitions submitted by local residents to obtain rental rights to apartments previously
occupied by Jews and supporting documentation preserved in the Košice City Archives. Our primary
research question is who these petitioners for Jewish apartments actually were and how and why
they became involved in the process. We explore the petitioners’ social stratification, occupational
structure, gender, ethnic origin and other social indicators. Furthermore, we present and interpret
their arguments, excuses and motivations. This issue also involves the striking question of how much
these ordinary men and women understood they benefited from mass murder.
The paper constitutes an attempt to investigate the Jewish elite of interwar Czechoslovakia who w... more The paper constitutes an attempt to investigate the Jewish elite of interwar Czechoslovakia who were engaged in the Hungarian political opposition. Its aim is to examine the political activity of Jews who, after the post-1918 border changes, considered the Jewry of Slovakia and Subcarpathia as members of the Hungarian minority community, based on contemporary sources, mainly the interwar Czechoslovak press, pamphlets and articles written by Jewish members of the Hungarian National Party (Magyar Nemzeti Párt), founded in 1925, as well as archival documents. In the first part of the paper, the main tendencies are highlighted that characterized the nationality declaration of Jews in interwar Slovakia, with special regard to the Jewish citizens who declared Hungarian nationality. Thereafter, the policy of Magyar Nemzeti Párt, the Hungarian minority party is presented, in which a large number of Jewish representatives were grouped. The second part of the paper is dedicated to an analysis of the pamphlets and articles written by the most influential Jewish members of Magyar Nemzeti Párt, whose activity was concentrated mainly on the Eastern part of Slovakia, especially on Prešov and Košice. It is intended to highlight the way they were perceived by the Czechoslovak state. The paper is an attempt to contribute to a better understanding of the Jewish political activity that aimed to unite Jewish voters who declared themselves Hungarian, into one organization, which is still an overlooked aspect in recent Jewish studies concerning interwar
Czechoslovakia.
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Videos by Veronika Szeghy-Gayer
Books by Veronika Szeghy-Gayer
in interwar Prešov (in Hungarian Eperjes, in German Preschau) and Košice
(in Hungarian Kassa, in German Kaschau) by reconstructing and reinterpreting
two biographies, that of János Gömöry (1869–1966) and Ferenc Sziklay
(1883–1943). One of the main reasons for choosing this research topic was the
lack of adequate historiography on urban interethnic relations and minority
groups in the territory of Eastern Slovakia after WWI. Similarly, the personal
legacies of the two intellectuals under scrutiny were not subjects to a detailed
research, in spite of the fact that they had a key role both in minority politics
at a local level and in the regional cultural life of the Hungarian community in
Czechoslovakia.
To narrow down the scope of my investigation, the monograph focuses on
the urban intelligentsia that encircled the Hungarian oppositional political parties
of Czechoslovakia or was even involved in their activities. The Lutheran
and freemason János Gömöry was member of the liberal Hungarian National
Party (Magyar Nemzeti Párt), while the Catholic Ferenc Sziklay , who considered
himself a national conservative, was rather a sympathizer of the National
Christian Socialist Party (Országos Keresztényszocialista Párt). Gömöry was a
history teacher in the Lutheran College of Prešov until 1926. Sziklay studied in
the gymnasium of the Premonstratensian order and became a literature teacher.
Coming from two different political and cultural backgrounds, they emerged as
leading figures of the Hungarian minority after the creation of the first Czechoslovak
Republic.
I argue that their parallel careers represent two models, which, apart the
Communist movement, can be considered the most effective community-building
policies of the Hungarian elites in Czechoslovakia until 1938. On the one
hand, I examine the group of progressive intellectuals, who belonged to the freemasonic lodges. On the other hand I study the Christian socialist, nationalist
and conservative worldview which was ideologically and institutionally linked
to the Roman Catholic Church.
Methodologically the monograph makes an attempt to combine various elements
of urban history and biographical analysis. The interwar activities of János
Gömöry and Ferenc Sziklay are analyzed in the wider context of the Hungarian
community in Czechoslovakia and in the respective urban settings. Since they
both significantly influenced their micro-society, the monograph explores the
self-organizing strategies of the Hungarian intellectuals in Prešov and Košice.
Here the aim is to investigate, what kind of ideological and socio-cultural groups
the Hungarian intelligentsia was divided into and who did represent Hungarian
minority interests in the urban societies. Moreover, after 1918 the Hungarian
intelligentsia of Czechoslovakia was involved in the development of a brand-new
community, the Hungarian minority of Czechoslovakia, witnessed the territorial
separation of Hungary proper and that of the minority society, while they had to
face the lack of regional traditions and the unique cultural characteristics of urban
communities. Therefore, the monograph provides an overview of the cultural
programs of Gömöry and Sziklay too, as well as discusses their participation
in the Hungarian intellectual debates that aimed to create the new Hungarian
intelligentsia of Czechoslovakia. My purpose is to understand how did territorial
consciousness and sense of belonging of the investigated elite groups change
after 1918. How did Felvidék become Slovensko in the perception of Hungarian
intellectuals in Czechoslovakia?
The book is divided into five chapters which are thematically structured. The
introductory part offers a historiographical review on the topic, and the methodological
and terminological framework of the analysis is set. The second and
third chapters are dedicated to the political and cultural self-organizing strategies
of the Hungarian intelligentsia, while the fourth chapter deals with the regional
community building attempts of Hungarian writers and journalists. Finally, the
research results are summarized in the fifth chapter of the monograph.
Conference Presentations by Veronika Szeghy-Gayer
Papers by Veronika Szeghy-Gayer
November 1938, when Košice was ceded to Hungary, he entered the political department of the Hungarian Royal Police Captaincy. In October 1944, after the takeover of the Arrow Cross Party remained in his position and took part in most of the mass executions organized by the Hungarian police and the paramilitary forces of the Nyilas. Even though Várkoly has undoubtedly played a key role in the Nyilas terror of Košice, his biography
is completely missing in the pre-1989 and modern research concerning the Hungarian Arrow Cross movement in the reannexed territories. The main aim of this investigation is to provide a better understanding of the dramatic transformation from upright burgher to brutal killer in the context of the Slovak-Hungarian border region. In the chapter, it is argued that the motives of the non-German perpetrators of the Holocaust, such as the members of the Hungarian Arrow Cross Party can be explained by a varying of circumstances influenced by the family background and education, but also by the political and border changes that took place during the lifetime of the investigated police detective.
in the Holocaust in Košice, a town ceded from dismembered Czechoslovakia to Hungary in November
1938. We argue that Košice represents a suitable case study for the examination of Aryanization of
Jewish property on the municipality and individual levels in the Slovak-Hungarian border region
(Southern Slovakia), which is a hitherto understudied field in Holocaust studies. Our analysis is centred
around 253 petitions submitted by local residents to obtain rental rights to apartments previously
occupied by Jews and supporting documentation preserved in the Košice City Archives. Our primary
research question is who these petitioners for Jewish apartments actually were and how and why
they became involved in the process. We explore the petitioners’ social stratification, occupational
structure, gender, ethnic origin and other social indicators. Furthermore, we present and interpret
their arguments, excuses and motivations. This issue also involves the striking question of how much
these ordinary men and women understood they benefited from mass murder.
Czechoslovakia.
in interwar Prešov (in Hungarian Eperjes, in German Preschau) and Košice
(in Hungarian Kassa, in German Kaschau) by reconstructing and reinterpreting
two biographies, that of János Gömöry (1869–1966) and Ferenc Sziklay
(1883–1943). One of the main reasons for choosing this research topic was the
lack of adequate historiography on urban interethnic relations and minority
groups in the territory of Eastern Slovakia after WWI. Similarly, the personal
legacies of the two intellectuals under scrutiny were not subjects to a detailed
research, in spite of the fact that they had a key role both in minority politics
at a local level and in the regional cultural life of the Hungarian community in
Czechoslovakia.
To narrow down the scope of my investigation, the monograph focuses on
the urban intelligentsia that encircled the Hungarian oppositional political parties
of Czechoslovakia or was even involved in their activities. The Lutheran
and freemason János Gömöry was member of the liberal Hungarian National
Party (Magyar Nemzeti Párt), while the Catholic Ferenc Sziklay , who considered
himself a national conservative, was rather a sympathizer of the National
Christian Socialist Party (Országos Keresztényszocialista Párt). Gömöry was a
history teacher in the Lutheran College of Prešov until 1926. Sziklay studied in
the gymnasium of the Premonstratensian order and became a literature teacher.
Coming from two different political and cultural backgrounds, they emerged as
leading figures of the Hungarian minority after the creation of the first Czechoslovak
Republic.
I argue that their parallel careers represent two models, which, apart the
Communist movement, can be considered the most effective community-building
policies of the Hungarian elites in Czechoslovakia until 1938. On the one
hand, I examine the group of progressive intellectuals, who belonged to the freemasonic lodges. On the other hand I study the Christian socialist, nationalist
and conservative worldview which was ideologically and institutionally linked
to the Roman Catholic Church.
Methodologically the monograph makes an attempt to combine various elements
of urban history and biographical analysis. The interwar activities of János
Gömöry and Ferenc Sziklay are analyzed in the wider context of the Hungarian
community in Czechoslovakia and in the respective urban settings. Since they
both significantly influenced their micro-society, the monograph explores the
self-organizing strategies of the Hungarian intellectuals in Prešov and Košice.
Here the aim is to investigate, what kind of ideological and socio-cultural groups
the Hungarian intelligentsia was divided into and who did represent Hungarian
minority interests in the urban societies. Moreover, after 1918 the Hungarian
intelligentsia of Czechoslovakia was involved in the development of a brand-new
community, the Hungarian minority of Czechoslovakia, witnessed the territorial
separation of Hungary proper and that of the minority society, while they had to
face the lack of regional traditions and the unique cultural characteristics of urban
communities. Therefore, the monograph provides an overview of the cultural
programs of Gömöry and Sziklay too, as well as discusses their participation
in the Hungarian intellectual debates that aimed to create the new Hungarian
intelligentsia of Czechoslovakia. My purpose is to understand how did territorial
consciousness and sense of belonging of the investigated elite groups change
after 1918. How did Felvidék become Slovensko in the perception of Hungarian
intellectuals in Czechoslovakia?
The book is divided into five chapters which are thematically structured. The
introductory part offers a historiographical review on the topic, and the methodological
and terminological framework of the analysis is set. The second and
third chapters are dedicated to the political and cultural self-organizing strategies
of the Hungarian intelligentsia, while the fourth chapter deals with the regional
community building attempts of Hungarian writers and journalists. Finally, the
research results are summarized in the fifth chapter of the monograph.
November 1938, when Košice was ceded to Hungary, he entered the political department of the Hungarian Royal Police Captaincy. In October 1944, after the takeover of the Arrow Cross Party remained in his position and took part in most of the mass executions organized by the Hungarian police and the paramilitary forces of the Nyilas. Even though Várkoly has undoubtedly played a key role in the Nyilas terror of Košice, his biography
is completely missing in the pre-1989 and modern research concerning the Hungarian Arrow Cross movement in the reannexed territories. The main aim of this investigation is to provide a better understanding of the dramatic transformation from upright burgher to brutal killer in the context of the Slovak-Hungarian border region. In the chapter, it is argued that the motives of the non-German perpetrators of the Holocaust, such as the members of the Hungarian Arrow Cross Party can be explained by a varying of circumstances influenced by the family background and education, but also by the political and border changes that took place during the lifetime of the investigated police detective.
in the Holocaust in Košice, a town ceded from dismembered Czechoslovakia to Hungary in November
1938. We argue that Košice represents a suitable case study for the examination of Aryanization of
Jewish property on the municipality and individual levels in the Slovak-Hungarian border region
(Southern Slovakia), which is a hitherto understudied field in Holocaust studies. Our analysis is centred
around 253 petitions submitted by local residents to obtain rental rights to apartments previously
occupied by Jews and supporting documentation preserved in the Košice City Archives. Our primary
research question is who these petitioners for Jewish apartments actually were and how and why
they became involved in the process. We explore the petitioners’ social stratification, occupational
structure, gender, ethnic origin and other social indicators. Furthermore, we present and interpret
their arguments, excuses and motivations. This issue also involves the striking question of how much
these ordinary men and women understood they benefited from mass murder.
Czechoslovakia.
The author convincingly points to a significant personnel continuity between the political elite of Košice before and after 1938. Municipal management included public figures from Košice who had participated in local policy making for decades, even after the Vienna Arbitration. She thus revises a myth present in contemporary public discussion and historiography of a strong position of so called "anya" members in the arbitration territory. These were the clerks and civil servants who had arrived in Košice from Hungary in order to work in the state administration.
After the first Vienna Arbitration, the Municipal Committee of Košice, was comprised of the people who had studied at the time of dualism. The majority of them had begun their political careers in the opposition during the time of the Czechoslovak Republic. A considerable part of the educated members had had at least ten years of experience in local politics and were also known to the Hungarian government due to their positions or memberships in Hungarian political parties.
From 1938 to 1945, the Municipal Committee was re-arranged to include exclusively Hungarians which did not reflect the diversity of political life during the inter-war period. Outside of the committee, there remained local representatives of left-wing movements with a quite large electoral support and Slovak positions were taken by politicians loyal to the Hungarian state.
This paper aims to examine how local political elites participated in the process of post-imperial transition and the ways in which they faced the creation of the new state. By comparing archival sources, election and census results, I intend to investigate changes and contingencies in the composition of the political elite of multiethnic towns of the region, as well as the different strategies of the municipal and regional elites after 1918. The first part of the study provides a brief overview on the ethnic transformation of the urban populations after the creation of Czechoslovakia. Furthermore, it compares the pre-war and post-war municipal leaderships with special attention to the changes in 1919, when the political elite was nominated by the Czechoslovak authorities. Finally, the second half of the study analysis the results of the first Czechoslovak local elections of 1923. Following recent researches on imperial legacy of the successors states of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, I would like to argue that continuity between pre-war and post-war elites played a specific, albeit temporary role in the state transition also at a local level.