In the academic year 1953/54, Professor Gyula Petrányi headed the Debrecen Medical University, which became independent in 1951, as Dean with the power of a rector, and then served as Vice-Rector of the Clinical Faculty of the University from 1971-74. He came to the University of Debrecen in 1950 at the young age of 38, when he was entrusted with the establishment and organization of the II. Department of Internal Medicine. Initially, the clinic was located in Bem Square within the Municipal Hospital, then moved to the clinical premises in July 1951. From 1967 to 1974 he was director of the I. Department of Internal Medicine. Until 1983, he was head of the Internal Medicine Clinic II at Semmelweis Medical University and, at the same time director of the National Institute of Internal Medicine. During his 24 years in Debrecen, he drew on his previous international experience to establish a new clinic that was up to date. He laid the foundations for an integrated approach to internal medicine and sub-disciplinary specialization. His repeatedly published textbooks on internal medicine have underpinned the knowledge and professional work of generations of medical doctors. He is credited with the establishment of the Immunology Laboratory, the Isotope Laboratory, the Intensive Care Unit of the Department of Internal Medicine, the Endoscopy Laboratory, the Dialysis Centre, and the foundation of the Central Clinical Chemistry Laboratory. In his scientific activity, he focused on immunology, which was a pioneering field at the time, and as an academician, he laid the clinical foundations for this field in Hungary. His university leadership was characterized by systemic and quality elevation of teaching, clinical and research activities. As dean and clinical deputy rector, he played a significant role in the Medical University of Debrecen serving as an example for other Hungarian medical universities.

Zoltán Varga, professor of history, had been the rector of Lajos Kossuth University in a quite controversial period. Although, the easing political tensions following Stalin’s death in the Soviet Union could be felt in Hungary as well, the Communist leadership’s insistence on power has prevented any substantial change. The reform-proposals of the university bodies remained ineffective against the political leadership. The lecturers and students thus assumed a leading role in the local events of the October 1956 revolution in Debrecen. University Rector Zoltán Varga - who was removed from his position by the revolutionary leadership – following the aftermath of the revolution, returned to his post and worked hard to save his colleagues and students from reprisals. However, due to his illness, he resigned from his post in the spring of 1957.

Dezső Szabó was professor of history at the University of Debrecen for 35 years from 1924 to 1959. He graduated from the University of Budapest with a degree in History and Latin. It was at the instigation of his patron, Henrik Marczali, that he began his research on the Hungarian assemblies of the pre-Mohács period. He also wrote his doctoral dissertation on this topic. Thanks to his excellent academic achievements, he graduated from the university with a royal gold ring of honour (sub auspiciis regis). He taught for many years in secondary schools and in 1912 became a privatdocent at the Budapest University of Science. In February 1924, Governor Miklós Horthy appointed him full professor of medieval and modern (universal) history at the University of Debrecen. At that time, his research was already focused on the Urbarium of Maria Theresa. In 1931 he was elected a corresponding member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. He published relatively little and concentrated his activities on secondary school teacher training. He was the dean of the Faculty of Humanities for four academic years. He made an invaluable contribution to the reorganisation of university education in 1944. Despite this, he was repeatedly persecuted under the new regime and was only able to retain his chair thanks to the intervention of his influential students. He retired at the age of 77. The second and third volumes of his work, A magyarországi úrbérrendezés története Mária Terézia korában, which is considered the major work of his life, are still awaiting publication.

The expulsion of the well-known Hungarian classical poet, Csokonai, has been studied and reviewed several times. According to the widely-accepted interpretation, the gifted young poet was unjustly dismissed after a show trial, while his talent was not recognised. But can we challenge the whole conception?This paper aims to present the facts and events merely from the point of view of jurisdiction, applying the results, methods, and aspects of modern criminal law, hoping that we can see a more varied new picture of the trial. Hopefully, it can also contribute to the literary discourse about a traditionally accepted figure of the Hungarian literary canon.

The Stipendium Bernardinum in Utrecht, founded in 1761, played an important role in the history of Hungarian students’ university studies in the Netherlands in the 20th century. Many Hungarian theologians have been awarded scholarships. Imre Forró was admitted to Utrecht after completing his theological studies in Debrecen. He spent first three years in Utrecht, and then applied for and won another year of scholarship from the scholarship committee to continue his research. The present paper examines several aspects of Forró’s student years: his studies, his student life at the time, and the research work he began in the 1930s, and the history of the Hungarian peregrination to Franeker. Each life story is unique, yet the studies and daily lives of the students abroad share many similarities.

This study aims to present the path leading to the establishment of independent Hungarian-language higher education in Transcarpathia. Transcarpathia, as a region and administrative unit, was established within the territory of the Czechoslovak Republic following World War I. After World War II, the region became part of Soviet Ukraine. The first higher education institution in Transcarpathia was the Uzhhorod State University, established by the Soviet regime in 1945. In 1963, a Hungarian department was established at the university, followed by the Department of Hungarian Philology two years later. The establishment of the Hungarian college of Higher Education in Berehove, which currently operates as the only independent Hungarian-language higher education institution in Transcarpathia, established the power shifts following Ukraine declares its independence and the period of higher education expansion. Local advocacy organizations and the Hungarian government played a decisive role in the establishment of the Ferenc Rakoczi II Transcarpathian Hungarian College of Higher Education, ensuring the supply of teachers for Hungarian-language schools in Transcarpathia.

The Repertorium Academicum Germanicum (RAG) is a long-term digital project that has been researching the students and scholars of the Holy Roman Empire (HRE) between 1250 and 1550. In 2020, the RAG was integrated into the larger project Repertorium Academicum (REPAC), which now also includes the Repertorium Academicum Helveticum (RAH) and the Repertorium Bernense (RB). The three sub-projects analyse different European regions: the HRE in the RAG, the Swiss Confederation in the RAH and the territory of the city of Bern in the RB. REPAC is based at the Historical Institute of the University of Bern. The common goal of the projects is to create prosopographical foundations for the history of the impact of scholars and their knowledge in order to clarify the origins and developments of the modern knowledge society.

Methodologically, the projects combine approaches from social, university and knowledge history with digital prosopography. At the centre is a research database in which the biographical events of students and scholars are recorded. This data is localised geographically and temporally to enable dynamic visualisations on maps, in networks and time series. The analyses focus on the geographical and social mobility of individuals and on the dissemination and application of academic knowledge by individuals and institutions such as universities, schools, churches, monasteries, ecclesiastical and secular courts and tribunals. In addition, this digital methodology enables together with the tools for data visualisation the reconstruction of specific knowledge spaces analysing their determining factors.

This article explains this methodologies using the Hungarian scholars documented in the RAG. This group is a vivid example of the study of academic knowledge circulation and spaces in European networks, with the University of Vienna playing a central role as a mediator of knowledge. The Hungarian scholars demonstrate fundamental research perspectives that are particularly relevant for collaborative approaches: Since biographical data collection requires in-depth knowledge of the historical background of the respective region, an in-depth study of the Hungarian scholars in the RAG would be particularly insightful if their biographies could be digitally supplemented with information from regional or local libraries and archives.

In February, we commemorated the 100th anniversary of the birth of János Váradi-Sternberg (Nagyvárad, January 10, 1924 – Budapest, February 12, 1992), a Transcarpathian historian, professor and specialist writer. The renowned researcher was the excellence of Hungarian historiography beyond the border, who, as a university teacher, trained generations in conscientious, objective research work. Unfortunately, he did not receive the recognition he deserved during his lifetime, so it is the task of posterity to cherish his memory in a dignified manner.

Book review of Béla P. Szabó

Book review

Book review

Book review

The French Department of the University of Debrecen has existed in its present form since 1957, that is when after several years of forced hiatus, Western language departments were reopened in  universities in the country. The following summary covers the period since then.

Painted portraits of former institution leaders - almost all of them painted by János Dienes - still decorate the Rector's Council Room and the corridor of the University of Debrecen's Main Building. The paintings were once part of a gallery of more than thirty portraits of the great figures of the university. The Hall of Portraits - the existence of which is attested by documents and photographs from the period - has survived only in fragments. However, research has revealed that several pieces of the collection are currently kept in the Déri Museum in Debrecen.