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• PORTRAIT OF DEZSŐ SZABÓ, PROFESSOR OF HISTORY

  Attila Marosvári

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  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.