In his present study, Barnabás Vajda is focusing on some particular issues of Hungarian cultural institutions set up abroad by Count Kunó Klebelsberg, Minister of Culture and Education of Hungary between 1922-1931. Vajda’s work is based on the revision of letters and drafts that are part of Klebelsberg’s written inheritance kept at National Széchényi Library, Budapest. Klebelsberg (1875–1932), a conservative Hungarian politician and minister in István Bethlen’s government from 1922 to 1931, is today considered as a significant policy maker, mainly due to his progressive reforms in public education and university research. In the second half of his nine-year-long ministership, Klebelsberg founded three Collegium Hungaricums in Vienna, Rome and Berlin, and scholarship centres in Paris, London, Geneva and Warsaw. Based on Act 1927:XIII, established institutions were proposed to consist of research centres, art institutions, and undergraduate colleges. A supportive scholarship system was also created. The first College was opened in Vienna (Sept. 1924), nevertheless the strategically most important one was in Berlin. From here Hungary could reach not only Germany but also Scandinavia and, rather surprisingly, some small Finno-Ugric nations, linguistically related to Hungarians but living isolated in the Soviet Union. From the correspondence it is obvious that Klebelsber... continue reading →
The history, operation and development of the Hungarian political parties during the twenty years of the First Czechoslovak Republic are still partly unexplored. It is only in the recent decades that studies of a scientific quality have been written, underpinned by archival research. The majority of the works published earlier were based on previous publications and relied on the contemporary press, and as such, these were of various standards and often had been influenced by national perspective and the times of composition. Regarding archival basic research, we are at the very beginning phase. There are many funds and textures available in the Czech, Slovak and Hungarian archives that have not yet been explored by researchers from the point of view of the topic, although they contain documents of contemporary institutions and organizations, which dealt with the affairs of the Hungarian minority in Czechoslovakia and the activities of its political parties. In this work I review the special literature and resources on the topic and the results of the research achieved to date. I also mention the most urgent tasks facing researchers. continue reading →
Minority educational affair in Sub-Carpathia during the two World Wars. The Czechoslovak Republic’s public educational affairs (more important regulations, laws). Teaching societies (associations) in Sub-Carpathia. Direction of educational affairs (educational districts). Nursery schools and national schools. Higher elementary schools. High schools. The history of the Hungarian Grammar School in Berehovo during the Czechoslovak Republic. Vocational schools. Hungarian children in foreign schools. Educational network of the city. After the formation of Czechoslovakia, the politics devote great care on the total re-arrangement of the educational system. On the one hand it meant the change of Hungarian laws on educational. The main difference between the Hungarian and the Czechoslovak educational system is that while Hungarian public education wanted to ensure the joint teaching effect of school and religion, the Czechoslovak public educational system wanted to divide religion and school completely. This principle was applied in the Czechoslovak constitutional law in 1920 (although in a hidden form), and the governmental provisions on public education intended to enforce this principle by terminating and nationalising religious schools and pushing religious education to the background. The negative features of the Czechoslovak nationality politics revealed primarily in educational affairs. The public education policy of the Czechoslovak civil... continue reading →
After the formation of Czechoslovakia, the politics devote great care on the total re-arrangement of the educational system. On the one hand it meant the change of Hungarian laws on educational. The main difference between the Hungarian and the Czechoslovak educational system is that while Hungarian public education wanted to ensure the joint teaching effect of school and religion, the Czechoslovak public educational system wanted to divide religion and school completely. This principle was applied in the Czechoslovak constitutional law in 1920 (although in a hidden form), and the governmental provisions on public education intended to enforce this principle by terminating and nationalising religious schools and pushing religious education to the background. The negative features of the Czechoslovak nationality politics revealed primarily in educational affairs. The public education policy of the Czechoslovak civil democratic country was characterised by the fact that no pedagogue with Hungarian nationality could be in the management of educational institutions, from the Ministry to the district educational inspection, no school master with Hungarian nationality could be in the post of no state grammar-school with Hungarian teaching language. The grammar-school with Hungarian teaching language in Ungvár was even closed by the authorities. Part of the... continue reading →
The study has five chapters that deal with the issues related to the educational level of Hungarian minority in Slovakia. In the first chapter, the author outlines the geographical, territorial division of the Hungarian minority, and its density on the language territories. Consequently, on 410 territories the Hungarian population forms the majority of the population. Therefore, the Hungarian nationality is considered as an economic, and mainly agricultural factor. The second part analyses the educational level, in harmony with the present European directions, focusing mainly on the three-level higher education and life-long education. The third chapter deals with the analysis of the educational level of the Hungarian nationality, dividing it into five thematic parts. These are based on the population sensus made in 1991 and 2001. The detailed analysis show the changes of those who were on the level of those who have elementary, secondary, high school with or without leaving examination, higher education, and the negative and positive development tendencies of the Hungarian nationality. The third chapter analyses the reasons of lower a educational level, discussing in detail the tendencies of changes in the last 15 years in high-school and higher education and how these affect the increase the... continue reading →
This year on 19th it will be eight years of the Bologne process. During this short time European university education changed a big deal, and from 2004 as part of the European University Education and Research Field even more fundamental changes characterized the new joining countries, comprising the Slovak university education, too. This study shows in detail what results Slovakia achieved in the Bologne process. In the short summarizing introduction the study introduces the basic goals of the process and those economic and social motives that started it and powerfully urges it to continue. In the second part the study analyses the situation of the Slovak education before the Bologne process. The application of the one-level educational system, the basic and main study systems, the credit systems served as good starting points for the realization of the Bologne process at the Slovak university institutions. Slovakia between the firts who created the act effective from April 1, 2002 on introducing the Bologne process in its every institution. All organiations have been created and operate in Slovakia that help the realization of the process. In Slovakia, 11 basic fields were defined to adapt the goals of the Bologne process, that follow... continue reading →
This study presents and analyzes the first declarations and programs of the Hungarian organizations of the 1989 Revolution in Slovakia. The analysis extends to the first half of 1990. The examination is based on two methodological aspects. One is the change of regime, that is, the consideration of the objectives and values that were aimed at overthrowing the former dictatorship and introducing a new constitutional democracy characteristic for the Western world. The other aspect is the improvement of the situation of Hungarians in Slovakia, i.e. the formulation of their specific rights and other national needs, and the way how to achieve these goals. Of course, the text raises the issue of combining these two aspects. The study is primarily based on contemporary documents, but it also reflects the aspects of academic literature on the subject. continue reading →
This study presents the findings of the research program ‘Hungárián MinoritySettlements and Regions in the Carpathian Basin in the 20th Century’ conducted in the framework of the NKFP. The site of the research was the microregion situated in the south borderlands of the Sekler land, Erdővidék. Erdővidék is a region populated almost exclusively by ethnic Hungarians withHungárián administrative leadership, Hungárián school networkand significantminority Hungárián (or from Hungary) economic influence. Four settlementsFelsőrákos (Racosul de Sus), Bibarcfalva (Biborteni), Nagybacon (Bátanii Mari) és Bárót (Baraolt) were included int he research of the Erdővidék micro-region. The research was based upon the investigation of everyday life and thecomparative examination of the questions posed by the peculiarities of localsocieties. The analysis was based on many perspectives. First, it examinedinstitutional levels. It was completed by the theme of expression and admittance by the local leading authorities of national peculiarities that feature the micro-region or settlement. The study focused on the functioning of relationships with Hungary and the image of Hungary and Hungarians within local communities. The third theme concerned the existence of (mentái and geographical) borders of the micro-region and the conscious admittance of these borders. Italsó focused on the relationships of local people with... continue reading →
This study examines the 1970 and 1980 census data of municipalities of Slovakia inhabited by national minorities. The data rows of the two censuses related to national minorities could not be examined earlier as they only became available in the years following the turn of the millennium. The data series, besides those concerning the seven national minorities of Slovakia (Czechs, Slovaks, Ukrainian-Ruthenians, Russians, Polish, Hungarians, Germans), also contain data on other national minorities and those with unknown national identity. In this study we analyse data broken down by administrative units (counties, districts), municipality sizes, proportion of national minorities, and the number of members belonging to the individual minority communities. We examine the changes in the consolidated municipal data rows of majority and minority, as well as the changes in the data of the individual national minorities separately. Based on the analysed data, we can see the modifications of the ethnic spatial structure in the reviewed period in Slovakia. For better understanding, the changes taking place over the decades are further detailed by graphs and charts. continue reading →
Security policy of the USA, Great Britain, France, and Germany. Factors of security policy: geographical abilities, geographical environment, geo-political situation and historical traditions of the country, strategy culture, self-definition and relative power of the country, global and regional security environment. Changes of security policy after lltn September 2001 in New York. The author after examining the security policy of the USA, Great Britain, France, and Germany states that there are considerable differences in the security policy of the USA and their European partners, allies that evidently showed up during the war against Iraq. One of the very important reasons of the differences can be found in historical experience and in the events after the Second World War. The USA neither had to face direct threat from the side of strong neighbours, nor the country’s domestic and security policy had to count with considerable enemy in its direct geo-political environment. Consequently, the American strategy culture is much more “free” – comparing it with the European. The new direction of the USA’s security policy after the terrorist attack on 11th September 2001 in New York and later after the Iraq war can be viewed as the reaction of the only... continue reading →
