Vallás, felekezet, társadalmi stratégiák
Characteristics of the marriages of Greek and Roman Catholic ethnic groups in Torna county in the mid-19th century
The preserved nominal documentations of the mid-19th century censuses are the most important out of the archive sources of Torna county: the listings of the 1850 census and the house-registers of the 1869 census. The registers of the census of 1869 indicate the names of the family-members and each co-residing members of the house who were present at the moment of the census. The register consisted of the following data about each member of the household: gender, marital status, year of birth, religious denomination, occupation, residence, presence and absence, birthplace and literacy-level. A nominal-level database could have been established based on the nominal household registers of the 1869 census, extended to 37 villages and one market-town (21.000 persons). With the use of the detailed census data the marriages can also be examined in local and regional level as well (local endogamy/exogamy, ethnic-denominational homogamy/heterogamy).
There was no column for the ethnicity on the sheets of the 1869 census survey, so by relying on the preserved results of the 1850 census and some complementary sources the ethnic composition of the two districts could have been revealed. The proportion of the Hungarians was similarly high in both of the Upper and Lower districts (84% and 86%), that is, after the settlement and immigration of the Poles, Ruthenes (Rusyns) and Slovaks in the 18th century the predominantly Hungarian character of the region remained unchanged.
There were altogether two settlements with mixed ethnic groups in the mid-19th century: in Barakony besides the Ruthenian inhabitants (141 heads) there were 108 Hungarians, in Rákó besides the 309 Slovak heads 72 persons confessed themselves Hungarian. Mainly in the 18th century settled the Poles in Derenk, the Ruthenians in Horváti and the Slovaks in Szentandrás which had remained as homogeneous ethnic groups till the mid-19th century. The only exception is Falucska where the vlach Ruthenian settlers arrived in the 15th century.
The comparison of the ethnic data of the 1850 and 1881 censuses confirmed the necessity of correcting the 1881 census in this field, and it proved the inadequacy of the language-based ethnic listings for revealing the real dimensions of the ethnic groups and minorities.
The ratio of religious denominations of the population in Torna county can be determined from the nominal census registers. The Roman Catholic and the Reformed (Calvinist) Churches were dominant in both of districts, altogether they represented 88% in the Upper District and 92% in the Lower District. In the Upper District 59% of the inhabitants belonged to the Roman Catholic church, 29% to the Reformed Church, while in the Lower District the ratio of the reformed was 51%, the Roman Catholic 41%. In the Upper District the number of Uniates (Greek Catholic Church) was relatively high (7%), who were predominantly Ruthenes of Falucska and Horváti. In the Lower District the Ruthenes were belonged to the Greek Catholic Church, the greater part of them lived in Barakony, and a smaller part in Rákó. The proportion of the Israelitic Jews was 4% in both districts. Out of the protestant denominations the ratio of the evangelicals (Lutherans) represented approximately 1% in both districts, the majority of them was migrant settler.
After determining the ethnic and denominational composition of the county the author focused on the marriage practice and strategies of the non-Hungarian ethnic groups of the county (Poles, Ruthenes, Slovaks) in a micro-level analysis.
There are significant variances between the examined six villages. The goral Poles in Derenk maintained an archaic structure of the settlement where the clan-character dominated (close kin groups lived side by side). Local son-in-laws could not have been perceived inside the blocks of the clans. This strategy aimed at preserving the plots and the viability of the local family economies. For this reason the ratio of the locally exogamous marriages was relatively high (35,2%) and a significant-level of out-migration could have been revealed.
In Falucska the efforts for the maintenance of an ethnic homogamy led to an almost complete isolation from the other settlements of the county. It is really surprising that the descendants of the vlach (shepherd) Ruthenes did not marry from the other Ruthenian (Rusyn) groups of the county (Barakony, Horváti).
The marriage practice of Falucska shows that the ethnocultural and linguistic differences were so strong between the Ruthenes of Falucska and Horváti and Barakony that the population of the village turned primarily toward the partner-settlements outside the county, especially toward the descendants of vlach Ruthenian communities in Gömör and Szepes counties (Uhorna, Porács etc.).
The Rusyns of Barakony and Horváti were in the stage of linguistic assimilation (acculturation) in the mid-19th century. Barakony was the most opened community of all where the ratio of the locally exogamous marriages (45,8%) was much higher than the endogamous ones (30,5%). The more homogeneous Ruthenian population of Horváti gave rise to a significantly higher ratio of local endogamy. Both communities maintained very strong marriage-connections with the Rusyn Greek Catholics of Borsod county (Viszló, Rakaca, Irota, Galvács etc.) and had (together with Rákó) the highest ratio of mixed marriages between Greek and Roman Catholics (28,8% and 25,4%).
A high ratio of locally endogamous marriages (59–60%) was characteristic for the Slovaks of Rákó and Szentandrás. The proportion of out-migration to the settlements of the county and the ratio of married males and females were comparable with the Poles of Derenk. The two Slovak communities linked together with strong marriage bonds, but the marriages between Szentandrás and Derenk were frequent too.
Modern national identity or a firm group-identity could not have been revealed in the examined ethnic communities. Besides the consciousness of the common origin and the linguistic-cultural community there could have been perceived the denominational-cultural frontiers and the differences of language/ dialect/ between the Poles, Rusyns and Slovaks.
Jewish conversion in the Protestant churches of Pest before 1895
Jewish conversion in the Hungarian capital during the nineteenth century has been a totally neglected topic so far in Hungarian historiography. The present article is based on the birth records of the three most important (Lutheran, Calvinist and Unitarian) Protestant congregations of the territory that is now Budapest – the only possible sources of such an undertaking. Having gone through all the entries of the mentioned birth records, the author gives the total number of Jews converted in those congregations; an evaluation of the Pest conversions in quantitative terms placed in a European context; and the analysis of possible motivations of the converts.
According to the author, the volume of Jewish conversion was similar to other European urban centers such as Vienna, Berlin, Prague and Warsaw. Just like in Vienna, the number of conversions started to rise after the 1860's, even if it never exceeded the numbers that were characteristic to fin de siécle Vienna. One has to keep in mind, however, that the number and ratio of those who converted to Roman Catholicism is still unknown, and might change the picture to some extent. There are three major waves of Jewish conversion identifiable during the nineteenth century, all of different nature. During the early 1840's, the activity of the so-called Scottish mission produced a sudden increase in the number of conversions. Reaction to the outbursts of anti-Jewish feelings on the one hand, but a very visible willingness to join the Hungarian revolution on the other hand, seems to be behind the next wave of baptisms in 1848–49. The third apparent increase appears concurrently with the anti-Semitic wave of the early 1880's, however, a closer look at the converts show a remarkable correlation between baptism and contracting marriage with a Christian party.
Performances II. „Feudal Society" in Tiszaeszlár after the emancipation of serfs
About a month after the case of the disappearance of Eszter Solymosi from Tiszaeszlár on 1st April 1882 a murder investigation was launched that led to a trial in Nyíregyháza a year later. The first part of this paper attempts to examine the social formations of the Eszlár and neighboring Jewry who became defendants (and witnesses) in this trial. Changing my viewpoint this time I shall try to depict the group formations of the major personalities at the opposite pole of the conflict.
To start with I shall contract the feudal thought patterns of the prosecutor general and the attorneys of the defense with the tradition of historiography and social science that was used by later generation to depict the final days and aftermaths of feudal society (from Gyula Szekfű to Péter Hanák). The main body of the research is based on the sources available to describe the society of Tiszaeszlár (birth certificates, tax and land registers, electoral rolls, etc.). To provide a more in-depth analysis of „feudal society" I shall narrow down my viewpoint from the entire society of Tiszaeszlár to the case study of a single clan, the Farkas family.
Finally I shall apply the working hypothesis in the original context: can a model of social structure that has proved itself irrelevant from the structural point of view be reformulated in the light of the actions during the trial (interviews, mobilization, etc.). Did the trial itself have a formative effect on the local thought about social groups, did it affect group formation? In the space between the solidarity of family and kin and the administrative/court investigation, did certain lines of force emerge that may be interpreted as „feudal"? I have found no such. Thus the hypothesis of the persistence of a „feudal society" beyond the fall of feudalism in the legal and historical sense is one that is not supported by the Tiszaeszlár facts.
The worker as citizen. Historical concept analysis of the three periods of Hungarian socialism
This study is an historical concept analysis that investigates how a new subject of political rights and a new community of politics were constructed through political debates in the three historical periods of Hungarian socialism. The central character of this construction was the socialist/communist worker, who was interpreted from the point of view of work, however, he was not a character of production but that of politics: he was the new citizen. The meaning of the concept changed through time. In 1919, during the period of the Hungarian Soviet Republic, the worker was an unselfish person who supported the regime in all aspects of life. In the years of personality cult, he was a top-worker, whose deeds were set by the regime as examples to be followed. In the years of János Kádár's rule, he was an empty and formalised character in politics, who was expected to support the regime but was understood to have personal points of view as well. In the subsequent phases the socialist worker became a more articulated and differentiated concept, and in the end its opposite also became a legitimate member of society. This study presents the complex structure of the meanings of the communist worker as well as its political usage as a counter-concept and an identity-concept. It concludes that political acts in socialism can be interpreted primarily not through power institutions but rather through that elaborate character of the age: the worker.
The body subjugated to power. State security game with the body (1945–1956)
According to historical evidence the relationship between power and the physical body is one that has played a crucial role in the maintenance of political equilibrium in every age. In my paper I attempt to reconstruct the events of a given historical period, the period between 1945 and 1956 from the aspect of state security. I have relied on the documents of the mock trials of the Rákosi-era, the sate security documents generated during the review of the activities of the State Security Authority at the end of the 1950s and the memoirs of survivors. I have consciously strived to include as many original parts as possible. The focus of my interest was directed at the different representations of the actors of the age based on their social habitudes, the personal experience of history: how did the holders of power on the various levels of society think about the body, how id they (mis)treat it and what were the corporeal experiences of those subjugated to their power during this dour period of our history. Wit the help of the memoirs I have shown the importance of human dignity even in these extreme situations, the importance of one's own concept of his/her body and the finer aspects of interpersonal communications (perhaps hard to comprehend in such crude life situations) as facial gestures, glances or the human skin as a vehicle of meaning. My paper follows the passage of the human body from its seizure and total depersonalization to full exploitation. To depict this I have described the methods used in the institutions of state security as well as the ways of the final disposal with the human body.
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