Közép-Európa összehasonlító perspektívában
State, nobility and civil society. Awarding noble titles/ennoblements in Bohemia and Silesia, 1806–1871
The article addresses the relation between the state and emerging civil society value-patterns in 19. century Central Europe. The practice of ennoblements is used as a main tool to analyze the particular positions taken by the state towards such patterns. It is argued that the noble status still retained its high symbolic value within 19. century Central European societies. The state could therefore use ennoblements to reward certain sets of virtues and patterns of behaviour by publicly honouring individuals who embodied them, at the same time inspiring the wider public to follow such patterns.
Using a comparative approach, the article follows the emergence and developments of arguments accepted by the state as reasons for ennoblement in Bohemia and Silesia and the positions of the civil society practices within them. It is argued that there were substantial divergences between the two main central European states, e.g. Austria and Prussia in this regard. While during roughly the first thirty years of the 19. century practices like voluntary charity, support or direct engagement in different types of associations were rewarded by only little state appraisal in the form of granting noble status in both cases, after the 1830's a significant change could be observed.
Presenting both the social historical quantitative analysis of the new nobility and the qualitative evidence drawn from concrete cases of ennoblements, it is argued that from the 1830's onwards, Austria started to include civil society social practices into the set of criteria for ennoblements. Not only did professions connected with the emergence of the civil society, such as businessmen, academics or artists begin to play an increasingly larger role among the ennobled in Bohemia than in Silesia, but the qualitative evidence of particular cases also shows that these professions reached the noble status precisely due to their civil society engagement and not only, as in Prussia, due to their property and social connections. After the 1830's even some non-traditional civil society actors, such as state bureaucrats, tried to back their ennoblement claims with much wider set of arguments, gradually including even some social practices connected with the civil society.
The set of the state criteria for creating the social elite was therefore significantly different in Bohemia and Silesia. While during the 19th century the Austrian state incorporated civil society practices into the picture of the social elite, the Prussian position remained much more rigid. In Silesia, it was still the old virtues of property and wide social connections, which served as the main credits for obtaining the noble title. The Austrian state thus supported the emerging civil society during the years 1806 – 1871 in a much more significant way than the Prussian did.
Teachers, societies, states. The outset of secondary school teachers' professionalization in Prussian-Hungarian comparison
This paper addresses questions of Hungary's 19. century modernization through the comparative study of Hungarian and Prussian secondary school teachers' professionalization and their relationship with the state. Was it a specifically Hungarian route to modernization or is it merely a belated imitation of Western patterns that sources reveal? Based on the comparison it can be argued that although the professionalization of the Hungarian secondary school teachers started later than that of the Prussians, it yielded results earlier in terms of autonomy, expert status and society organization. We suggest that it is due to a closer at the same time more critical relationship with the state, that is, to the different conceptualization of the state from the one of the Prussian teachers. What explains this more equal relationship and the different direction of development that it gave rise to? Our analysis distinguishes four factors.
The first is the favourable politics towards societies of the liberal era that followed the Settlement and lasted until the mid 1870s. In such an environment it was much easier for a professional-advocacy group to function and achieve results than in Prussia, where the government was much less open towards societies. The second factor is the different role of the church in education. In Hungary primary education entirely, while secondary education to a large extent was controlled by the protestant and the catholic church(es). In that context the liberal Hungarian government was content with the establishment of an independent new "power" centre of education policy that declared itself to be beyond religious affiliations. In Prussia churches had lost their decisive role long before, so the government did not need a professional pressure group to get its educational policy initiatives through. In this light it becomes understandable that the two societies had different opportunities. The third factor is constituted by the personal connections between the government – and its representatives – and the two societies. In Hungary, after 1849 the protestant as well as the catholic secondary schools played an eminent role in the fight against Germanization. In addition, a number of officers of the teachers' society actively participated in the revolution and in the war of independence, hence had good and personal connections with the new elite that come to power after the Settlement. Such personal and good connections and attachments – facilitating advocacy – cannot be observed between the teachers of the Prussian cantonal society and the Prussian government. Finally, the united stand of the Hungarian teachers contributed to the better possibilities of advocacy of the National Secondary School Teachers Society. The clear opposition between fields of arts and humanities and sciences characteristic in Prussia cannot be observed with regard to Hungary in the period under study.
Our study clearly demonstrates that despite recognizable similarities, signifi cant differences exist between the two countries under study both in terms of conditions of teachers' professionalization, both in terms of results achieved by them. Therefore, it is argued (taking into consideration the limits imposed by the scope the study) that the Hungarian modernization of the 19th century cannot be simply described by notions of belatedness and backwardness, even if its normative content is ignored.
German and Hungarian agrarians 1849–1909
The paper attempts to give a parallel review of the "agrarian" movement in Hungary and in Germany. A twofold definition is applied for the "agrarian" movement: on the fi rst level, "agrarian" is used to indicate organized advocacy of agricultural interests. On the second level, "agrarian" is used to refer to a popular movement of the rural society protesting against the capitalist mobilization of landed property and its deepening dependence on the world market.
Here the development of agrarian movement is analysed through three stages. The first stage extends from the end of the 1870's until the grain crises of the Central European agriculture. At this stage, different agricultural associations can be identified, which work for agricultural improvement and the spreading of new agricultural techniques and practices. Already at this stage, in the German lands a deeper involvement of rural elites in these associations may be observed than in Hungary.
The second stage runs from the onset of the grain crises to the mid-nineties. This stage witnessed a shift towards protective tariffs in Germany, but not in Hungary.
The situation of the two economies differed substantially, and called forth different responses. But the differing situations were only partially responsible for the different reactions. The mobilization to defend the agricultural interests was regionally and socially much more variegated in Germany than in Hungary.
At the end of the period, there were attempts in both countries to mass mobilization on a much larger scale than previously. The ideological content of these drives transcended the level of advocacy. The drive resulted in a massorganization in Germany, the Bund der Landwirte, but no equivalent emerged in Hungary, apart from the old style associations. The German movement was much more aggressive, ebullient than its Hungarian counterpart.
An explanation to these differences is sought by looking at the third period as well. Part of the answer can be found in the particular circumstances at the time of the mobilization drives in the mid-nineties, such as the launching of a popular Catholic party in Hungary, which must have taken up much of the potential followers of a prospective agrarian party. But there are other reasons as well. If we look at the actual activities of the Bund der Landwirte in Germany, we see an enormous range and volume of services, aid, tuition and mediation in farmers' affaires. This was largely missing in the corresponding Hungarian association, although the need for these services was felt and discussed. The success of the German Bund der Landwirte as a support organization might have been a key to its success as a political force. A second difference is that the great Hungarian landowners might have been unsure of the durability of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and therefore reluctant to kick off political mass mobilization. Thirdly and most importantly, the German rural elites might have provided a much broader and stable base for anti-liberal, anti-capitalist mobilization than their Hungarian counterparts.
Nationalizing the Law in Imperial Contexts: Nationality and Citizenship in Hungary and Canada, 1867–1914
In this essay, Benno Gammerl compares the development of nationality and citizenship in Hungary and Canada, focusing in particular on the legal and administrative treatment of ethnic differences. In his analysis of the Hungarian nationality law of 1879, the Magyarisation policy from around 1900, the emigration law of 1909 and the failed franchise reform of 1908/13 he identifies an ever increasing importance of a national logic and rhetoric. Simultaneously the very concept of the nation was transformed from a supra-ethnic into an ethnically exclusive one. In Canada legal developments followed similar lines. The Canadian migration policy, the naturalisation regulations of 1903 and 1914, the immigration law of 1910, as well as the various Indian Acts aimed internally at the abolition of ethnic differences and the production of legal equality, while they were externally directed towards the racist exclusion of certain groups. Subsequently, Gammerl also describes the imperial contexts of both cases and points out that national logics, politics of recognition and concepts of ethnic neutrality co-existed in the Habsburg Empire, while the law in the British Empire came to be dominated by the logic of racial discrimination after 1900. Instead of those differences, legal developments in Hungary and in Canada were both stamped by nationalising and ethicizing tendencies and aimed internally at legal equality and homogeneity, while externally at ethnically defined in – and exclusions, thus following to a large extent the logic of the nation state. In his conclusion, Gammerl explains this similarity by stressing that Hungary and Canada both occupied sub-metropolitan and semi-peripheral positions within the two Empires.
Retorsion of the war-crimes after World War II in Romania and Hungary. A comparison
There is insufficient information at our disposal about the prosecution of war criminals in the postwar history of the former socialist countries, since the communist regime put the subject into shade, or in accordance with the party line misinterpreted that.
The author has examined in his essay the attributes of Romanian and Hungarian jurisdiction in the multi-party period, and furthermore the infl uence of the establishment of totalitarian communist regime on the prosecution of war criminals. In the article the author attempted to explain the fact that in Hungary far more war criminals were condemned to death than in Romania. The results so far show that with the instituted proceedings against the war criminals both countries sent messages to their own inhabitants and to the decision-makers of the Parisian peace conference as well.
Till February 1947 Romania strived for the recognition as a participant state of the war against Hitler, while Hungary lived in the hope of at least partially upholding of the territories which were regained between 1938 and 1941, and trusted milder terms of the peace treaty. The participation of Romania in the war against the Nazi Germany infl uenced considerably the Romanian national identity, in so far as they regarded themselves as winner and they awaited such recognition from the Parisian peace conference as well. As it had occurred only partially, it was followed by the indignation of the Romanian society. This can explain the strategy that till February 1947 the treatment of the war criminals was essentially milder here than in Hungary.
Romania wanted to demonstrate that the Romanian army committed far less war crimes than it would have been assumed by the winners about the former ally of Nazis. Hungary, however, can be regarded only as the loser of the Second World War, for this reason Hungary attempted to demonstrate "outwards" that there the greatest number war criminals possible would be punished. With that rigour the Hungarian jurisdiction tried to clear the "guilty" Hungary by the winner great powers.
Politics of institutionalized volatility: Distinctive determinants of welfare development in Central and Eastern Europe
The paper argues that the key determinants of welfare development of Central and Eastern Europe in the 20. century significantly differed from the factors relevant in Western Europe; and that these differences have largely contributed to the current "mixed" nature, instability and volatility of the region's welfare systems. The "mixed nature", that is, the simultaneous application of social democratic and conservative solutions, by itself has increased the possibility of the welfare systems' volatility. However, the existence of liberal tendencies that later accompanied it require further explanation, as path-dependency strongly prevails in the institutional domain in the region, furthermore, the predominant part of the population favours social democratic and conservative welfare solutions. The low level of cultural capital and further cultural factors in former communist countries have determinedly contributed to the fact that internal as well as external forces interested in rolling back the welfare state are able to enduringly question the welfare status quo through neo-liberal discourse and reforms. Consequently, the volatility of post communist welfare systems can be regarded as an institutionalized feature of Central and Eastern European welfare systems.
A „Benda Gyula pályadíj" 2006-ban nyertes dolgozatai
The "Pazzi-curse"– An attempt to grasp the socio-historical aspects of a 15th century Florence conspiracy
The paper endeavours to grasp the socio-historic aspects of the Pazzi conspiracy of Florence, an event that has long been interpreted only from a political history perspective
Angelo Poliziano's account is the major source for the attempt on Giuliano and Lorenzo de' Medici lives on 26 April 1478 in the Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral. However, the account of the events is biased in favour of the Medici, which – following Sallustius – compiles the "catalogue of sins" of the Pazzi family, whose tradition and holiness in Florence was much more ancient and greater than that of the Medici.
A crucial figure of the high political background was Pope Sixtus IV, who intended to gain more infl uence through his relatives (nepos) appointed to the Italian cities (his nephew, Raffaele Riario cardinal) and his confidants (Niccolo Salviati, archbishop of Pisa). The often anti-Medici economic and political manoeuvres of the Curia favoured the Pazzi, who having misjudged the power relations, made an attempt on the lives of the Medici brothers.
The republican-sounding slogans asserted by the conspirators during the plot failed to be sufficient to win the urban public over. The assassinate carried out inside the church, resulting in the death of Giuliano de' Medici, prompted humiliating executions and retaliation measures – a kind of damnatio memoriae – from the authority's side, while among the faceless mass it brought about riots, lynch law and – to use Victor Turner's phrase – symbolic status-reversing rituals against the Corpus and the Res.
After Lorenzo de' Medici had forced Sixtus IV to retreat through canon law manipulations followed by a rapid disarming of his allies, the liquidation and expropriation of the Pazzi banks' assets took place. Keeping the deceased Giuliano's memory alive, Lorenzo created a brother-cult carrying antique elements, reminiscent of the worship of Cator and Pollux. I interpret the tombstone made by Michelangelo as a peak of this process extending even after Lorenzo's death.
In this paper I argue that the Pazzi-conspiracy – fitting into the list first complied by Burckhardt of 15th century Italian attacks mainly carried out inside or close to sacral places (against Giovanni Maria Visconti, the Chiavelli, Pope Nicholas V, Galeazzo Maria Sforza, etc.) – is not a heroic act of republican aristocrats ((J. Burckhardt), neither a "renaissance thriller" (L. Martines), but a political criminal act, whose socio-historical and anthropological mechanisms may serve as an explanation for the deliberate destruction of the Pazzi's ageold authority and for the expansion of the intensifying Medici cult during the Lorenzo period.
Key structural features of Kecskemét's agrarian society in the Horthy period
This paper outlines one of the possible approaches to the social structure of the agrarian society of Kecskemét market town during the interwar period. Both the chosen method, both the conceptual categories can be subject to debate, therefore in the following couple of sentences only the key connections are highlighted. It can be argued that a close connection can be identified between the town's estate policy, the structural composition of the agrarian society and the "smoother" course of the local effects of the Great Depression. In Kecskemét the favourable estate relations allowed for an agrarian social structure in which the small, medium and wealthy peasant strata represented one third of the society under study. The workshops of these strata constituted the basis of the town's horticultural economy. The fruit export enabled these workshops – even during the years of the Great Depression – to provide employment for the extremely low-income domestic servant and day labourer strata constituting the larger part of the agrarian society. Furthermore, the town operated a relatively extended "social safety net" that became one of the indispensable supports for destituteand poor families. The mobility possibilities of the society under study were fairly limited. An opportunity for upward mobility within the agrarian society was offered by the urban leasehold system, which could be obtained under favourable conditions.
Landed property, this immobile capital served as an important element of social integration, while the entrepreneurial spirit was missing from the majority of the agrarian society. Hence the difference in mentality can be identified – apart from a few exceptions – in investing its mobile capital in landed estates, continuing the "traditions" of the market town, as opposed to the local Jewish community, which withdrew its capital from the local landed estates compared to the 19th century situation.
"She weighted heavily on the village like a cursed phantom..." The role of the midwife of Nagyréve, Mrs. Gyula Fazekas, in the arsenic murder cases of Tiszazug
The study looks at the ill-famed arsenic cases of Tiszazug from a micro-perspective. It became public in 1929 that in Nagyréve, Tiszakürt, Cibakháza and other villages women used arsenic rinsed out from fl y glue traps to poison those family members for whom providing under the miserable life conditions meant a fatal burden. The contemporary press attributed a lead role to the midwife of Nagyréve in the murders. This research focuses on her person. The paper addresses the question of whether Mrs. Fazekas' role, tasks, status and being a confidante as a midwife is connected to the poisonings in which she was mainly accused of being the instigator and distributor of poison. How much infl uence could she have on the village dwellers due to her special status? Are the serious accusations and biased characterizations the midwife was subject to entirely true? What can be revealed from personal sources about the life and personality of Mrs. Fazekas? What picture of the social network of Nagyréve is emerging from the testimonies?
The paper looks at the case form an entirely different stance compared to the numerous existing studies and analysis hence may enrich the explanation of the poisoning cases with novel elements.
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