GÉZA KISS, THE RECTOR STRICKEN WITH ”DAMNATIO MEMORIAE”. Géza Kiss, a jurist, was elevated to the position of rector at the University of Debrecen when he was 36, which is an exceedingly tender age for such an honour. his internationally recognized expert of Roman law made an extraordinarily fast career when he was transferred from the academy of law at Nagyvárad to the Department of Roman Law, University of Debrecen, at the beginning of the academic year in 1914. In the academic year of 1915/1916 he was Dean of the Faculty of Law, and in 1918 he was elected Rector of the University. It was due to the events involving his activities as rector that the career of the young professor and scholar was ruined and, as a result, he was divested of his oice and even his memory was struck of the annals of the university. Not until the beginning of the 2000s was his portrait reestablished in the university rectors’ gallery.

FROM POMÁZ TO PRINCETON: THE LIFE AND WORK OF ANDRÁS ALFÖLDI. András Alföldi was head of the Department of Ancient History, István Tisza University of Debrecen, from 1923 to 1930. Subsequently he joined the Department of Ancient History and Archaeology of Budapest’s Péter Pázmány University of Arts and Sciences. It is owing to his activity in Debrecen that from his estate two suitcasefuls of correspondence and other personal relics have been obtained by the Department of Classical Philology and Ancient History in Debrecen. Despite the fact that Alföldi spent only a short period of his early years in Debrecen, his internationally recognized activity justiies a more detailed discussion of his life career and professional activity. Before 1947, he primarily focussed on the archaeology of the Carpathian Basin. Subsequently he emigrated to Switzerland, where he taught at the University of Bern and the University of Basel. In 1955 he got an invitation to the Institute of Advanced Studies at Princeton, where he continued to work until his death. Cut of from the archaeological materials of Hungary, he initiated new projects overseas, such as the most substantial problems of early or imperial Rome, respectively. Oicially, the representatives of classical studies in Hungary have started to recognize his work since the 1990s; in 1995, on the occasion of the centenary of his birth, several commemorative sessions were held. One of these was hosted by Debrecen.

BÁLINT CSŰRY, PROFESSOR OF THE UNIVERSITY OF DEBRECEN. As professor of Hungarian and Finno-Ugrian linguistics, Bálint Csűry taught at the University of Debrecen from 1932 to 1941. In the course of these few years he made Debrecen the Carpathian Basin center and emblematic scene of vernacular language research. With this he contributed to the realization of his most important scholarly objectives aimed at making vernacular language reseach assume a worthy place among the disciplines of Hungarian linguistics. It is due to his eforts that in 1938, for the irst time in this country, an Institute of Hungarian Vernacular Research was established at the University of Debrecen.

LÁSZLÓ VAJTHÓ’S LINKS WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF DEBRECEN. A literary historian known for his text editions and teacher of Dániel Berzsenyi Secondary Grammar School in Budapest, László Vajthó received habilitation for Privat-docent in 1935 at the Faculty of Arts of Debrecen’s István Tisza University and subsequently he obtained full professorship in 1944. In 1942, following the retirement of literary professor Károly Papp, it was L. Vajthó who was expected to occupy the vacant chair. However, somebody else was nominated for the position, and when the chair fell vacant again in 1945, he was repeatedly by-passed. Relying partly on Vajthó’s recollections at old age and partly on the correspondence between László Vajthó, literary
historian Ferenc Zsigmond, and Margit Kis, a teacher of Nyíregyháza and a muse to both, the study highlights László Vajthó’s connection with the University of Debrecen.

THE PANTHEON OF THE FORMAL COURTYARD OF THE UNIVERSITY OF DEBRECEN. In the plaques of the formal courtyard of the University of Debrecen 23 names are inscribed, which faithfully relect the mentality of the city, as well as its scientiic and scholarly signiicance. he pantheon is a replica of the rich store of Hungarian spirituality, which faithfully renders the speciic heritage of Debrecen and it also comprises within itself the values of Hungarian national culture in the spirit of universitas scientiarum. Based on thorough research, the study is the irst exploration of how the list of names of those chosen was established, and it ofers short biographies of the respective denizens of the pantheon.

The Articles of the Student Welfare Committ ee of the University of Debrecen. The textual source material published below is an attempt to acquaint the larger public with the articles and statutes of the Student Welfare Committee of the University of Debrecen, which was presided over by Nándor Láng and which was the supreme body of the university welfare institutional network united in 1930. The articles were approved by the higher authorities on July 1, 1931. The document offers an insight into the inner composition and concrete activities of the committee which oversaw the respective student welfare institutions and which co-ordinated the whole of the university-level student welfare programme. The most important tasks, as laid down in the articles, included ”the promotion of the educational and material interests of the student body” and ”the support of all sorts respecting poor students making good study progress”. Despite the fact that the committee’s personal composition underwent various changes, it continued to remain faithful to the spirit of the statutes, thus becoming the most significant mainstay of the most indigent students.

THE ARCHONTOLOGY OF LAJOS KOSSUTH UNIVERSITYOF ARTS AND SCIENCES I (1950–1990): THE DEPARTMENT, THEN INSTITUTE OF MARXISM–LENINISM. The archontology of Kossuth University’s Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Sciences, and the so-called central units for the period of January 1, 1950, through December 31, 1990, has been prepared on the basis of the personal cards and the personal iles of the Personnel Department of the Rector’s Oice, and it was supplemented with the less substantially documented yearly arranged material of the Personnel Department for the 1950s. Even so, however, the extant material is not complete; indeed, a totally reliable compilation of the archontology is not possible. Part I is a presentation of the day by day complete list—from institute director (department head) to junior clerk—of the teaching faculty and the non-teaching staf of the interdepartmental institution of the Institute (before 1966: Department) of Marxism–Leninism.

A HISTORY OF THE HONOUR DOCTORAL AWARDING CEREMONY IN DEBRECEN (1912–2012). his factually substantiated overview ofers, for the irst time in the past century, a compilation of the names of distinguished university students who throughout their studies attained top grades and hereby proved worthy of the acknowledgement of the head of state in the form of an Honour Doctoral Awarding Ceremony. A brief outline of the prehistory of honour doctoral awards is followed by an overview of the varied history of distinguished promotio in Hungary and in Debrecen (promotio sub auspiciis Regis, promotio sub auspi ciis Gubernatoris, promotio sub laurea Almae matris, promotio sub auspiciis Rei Publicae Popularis, promotio sub auspiccis Praesidentis Rei Publicae), which is supplemented with a survey of legal and regulatory dispositions. Finally we are given an opportunity to get acquainted with the names of distinguished honour doctors. An equally valuable part of the disquisition is a compilation of pictorial material representing
lashes of rare moments.

Flashes of Memory: About Professor Béla Fornet and Our Home at the Clinic of Internal Medicine One. Retired internalist head physician, titular professor, and writer-doctor János Hankiss reminiscenses about his years spent in Debrecen. The guiding spirit of the clinic of internal medicine headed by Professor Béla Fornet was this: the patient comes first. Moreover, it is not the disease that has to be treated, the sick man has to be cured, at the highest possible level of science and at the same time with a humane attitude. Forms of refresher training, reading, scientific research are required to make treatment ever more efficient. The mode of presentation is unusual: it assumes the form of a dialogue, and concrete memories elicit distilled ideas.

Mudrák József: A Debreceni Tudományegyetem Bölcsészettudományi Karának története (1914–1949) - recenzió

Quellen zur frühneuzeitliche Universitätsgeschichte: Typen, Bestände, Forschungsperspektiven - recenzió

A CENTENARY CALENDAR. In the previous issue of our periodical the proceedings of the Opening Event of the Series of Centenary Programmes of the University of Debrecen were given a detailed presentation. he current assortment ofers a chronological introduction of the most important university events of the Centenary Year of 2012. he calendar can make mention of a wide selection of respective programme events: in addition to various festive commemorations, exhibitions and conferences there is a salutation of the university’s irst Olympic champion, further sports and festival events are also mentioned.

OUR AGRICULTURAL HERITAGE: PEASANT ECONOMY IN THE 18TH AND 19TH CENTURIES. In joint co-operation between the Agricultural and Economic Centre of the University of Debrecen and the Board of Directors of the Museums of Hajdú–Bihar County (Déri Museum), in April, 2013, a permanent exhibition was opened at the Agrarian Centre with the title ”Peasant Economy of the Plains Region in the 18th and 19th Centuries”. The permanent display of the museum presents the traditions of the plains-region economy from the end of the 18th century to the beginning of the 20th century in the most characteristic areas of a primarily market-town economy: agriculture, animal husbandry, and viniculture. he text printed here treats original objects, archival photographs and graphic material made at the beginning of the 20th century.