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• Corruption as a concomitant phenomenon of the lack of democratic traditions or thoughts on the margin of failure of the democratic experiment in 1945

  15-26

  Attila Csönge

  Views:

  58

  For decades, there has been an open debate among historians about whether there was democracy in our country in 1945, and if so, what those few transition years were like, and what caused the failure of democracy. The study, – instead of the democratic state of the electoral system, the rule of law, respect for freedoms, self-government and civil society organization, – attempts to highlight the presence or absence of democratic traditions, which is generally less attended to, but undoubtedly was also part of the failure of the democratic experiment in 1945. Perhaps surprising, but the political and moral traditions of a society determine the chances for the development and survival of a democracy. In a corrupt, morally inferior society, it is more difficult to establish and operate democracy. Thus, democracy is guaranteed not only by the appearance of institutions and elections, but also by the thinking of the people living in it and by the norms that determine their behavior. The study illustrates the peculiarity of Hungary with examples mostly from Szolnok that in the 20th century the interchanging systems were struggling with a serious deficit of democracy, and therefore no democratic traditions could be formed in the society, and in 1945 they could not go back to such antecedents. Therefore, after 1945, Hungarian society appears as corrupt as it did before 1945. Corruption has affected not only politicians but also those at lower levels of society and has engulfed society as a whole. Thus, in order to consolidate democracy, it will not be enough in the future to replace politicians and reform institutions, but the society as a whole must change too, especially in its way of thinking and behavior.

• The Internal Sources of the Jews in the Source Material of MNL (Hungarian National Archives) 1760-1848

  149-160

  Erzsébet Mislovics

  Views:

  72

  The study is focused on the collection and complex analysis of the original, yet unpublished Jewish documents in the feudal source collections of MNL, Hungarian National Archives from the second half of the 18th century until 1848. The search for original internal sources began with a review of government records during the period under review. The collections in the Chancellery Archives, Acta Generalia (A 39) and the Council of Governor-General Archives, Departamentum Judaeorum (C 55) maintain the documents of the first and second instance bodies of the public administration in their relations with the intermediate administrative authorities. The source material in the Chancellery Archives presents mostly records of general affairs, whereas the Departamentum Judaeorum collection of the Council of Governor-General contains Jewish-related issues. In support of the presumptions, the collections are rich in Jewish-related internal, historical sources. The documents allow for a complex analysis of the time, number, geographical distribution, and content of the document collections. The sources contribute to a better understanding of the history of the Jews, their settlement, their economic, cultural, religious life, and their system of relations with Christian society. The document pages present their content to researchers in the wording of the members of contemporaneous Jewish society. Based on the research experience, it can be concluded that the vast majority of the sources come from Pest County, more closely from the town of Pest. Research on these inner sources in the collections of other counties is expedient to increase awareness of Jewish history in the modern Kingdom of Hungary. Therefore, the future goal of the research may be to review the materials of the county archives. It provides an opportunity to compare how the archival material in the national archives is complemented by archival collections from the counties. The development of a database could also be a step forward and could integrate the sources in national and county archives by indicating headings, names, locations, indexes, and short regestas. The available internal source material can refine and enrich the known history of 17-19th century Jews.

• Questionnaire analysis of the situation of the artisans of the Debrecen Folk Crafts Festival in 2021

  67-78

  Zsuzsa Kardosné Riz

  Views:

  60

  Debrecen Folk Craft Festival faithfully preserves the cultural, social and economic traditions of Debrecen. As a tourist event, the festival provides an opportunity to learn about the centuries-old folk crafts, the artisans, their tools and their products. The traditional fair character of the event is given by the street stalls and the possibility to buy the products. The fair is part of Debrecen's history (it has had the right to hold fairs since the early 1400s), which has given a strong impetus to its economic development. The town's geographical and social characteristics made it a market centre. On the one hand, it was built at the junction of land routes and, on the other, it was owned by lords of national rank who helped to create a farming town and a local society of artisan-traders. In Debrecen, handicraft and trade fair past is still preserved in street names such as Külsővásártér, Mester street, Faraktár street, Csapó street, which is also the venue of the 11th Folk Craft Festival. The aim of the research is to investigate the extent to which Debrecen Folk Craft Festival is a Debrecen event, as well as the composition of the local artisans still operating (craft, age, gender, experience), their business strengths and weaknesses, and their presence on the internet. This representative quantitative survey was carried out with 23 representatives of 15 crafts (leatherworkers, potters, beadworkers, embroiderers, straw weavers, enamelers, furniture makers, woodcarvers, textile toy makers, honeycake makers, etc.) using a self-completion questionnaire. The survey is representative as all participants completed the questionnaire. Since folk crafts are part of the Debrecen identity, and the local culture, their survival is in the interest of the city. The survey covered the forms of their businesses, their sales opportunities, their financial background, etc. The structure of the paper: Introduction presents the festival itself, Material and Methodology, Results and Conclusions chapters describe the questionnaire survey’s results. Conclusions of the research: the cultural and social impact of the Folk Craft Festival is significant, especially through the promotion of folk art heritage, community organisation and its impact on consumer habits. There is still a wide variety of folk crafts in Debrecen, but the masters of some folk crafts are ageing. Traditionally, these one-man businesses still prefer to sell at fairs, because they are weak in marketing and advertising, and nearly a third of them have online presence on the association's website only. Their strength is their expertise, with 40, 50 or even 60 years of experience. The majority of products are qualified by the Hungarian Heritage House, which protects the masters from having their products copied and mass-produced by others.