In April 1695, Ferenc Rákóczi II. arrived to the territory of their Szerencs estate with his family: his wife, brother and brother-in-law. They enjoyed the hospitality of the estate for almost half a year. The visit had its antecedents. The prince spent the former year on a cruise in Italy, arriving back from which his brother welcomed him with bad news: their family estates were waiting to be taken over in a dilapidated state. After this impression, the young Rákóczi decided to visit all his family estates. Many of the surviving documents from the visit in 1695 come from the accounts of the neighbouring Regéc estate. This is because food had been sent to Szerencs several times. In our study, we try to reconstruct the said visit on the basis of these resources, asking the question why the economic assistance of the neighbouring Regéc was needed. To answer this, we would try to outline the history of the Szerencs manor, starting from its inception, focusing on the allodial economic system.

Only a few people know the activities of the Szotyori Nagy family, most people only remember that there used to be a Szotyori settlement in Debrecen (today it is part of the Hatvan Street garden). The oldest member of the family from Transylvania, who arrived to Debrecen, was the first cantor organist of the Great Church of Debrecen, and the first organ of the Great Church was inaugurated with his help. His elder son took over his father’s job as a cantor organist of the Great Church. Besides that, he also taught at the Reformed College in Debrecen and composed music. He also learned organ building during his study trips abroad, so he was asked to be an expert in building several church organs in the country. The city’s first music conservatory was also named after him. The members of the family even included a renowned doctor of the city of Debrecen, an inventor, a notary public, a composer, a Catholic priest, an organist and a music teacher. Several family members wrote and edited music publications. The graves of several deceased family members can still be found in the Public Cemetery, and the descendants of one branch of the family still live in Debrecen.

Pursuant to a decree issued by the People’s Commissariat for the Interior on March 26, 1919, the Red Guard succeeded the old police, gendarmerie and border guard. However, during the establishment of the Red Guard, the old law enforcement bodies were not actually disbanded, and the new organization largely took over their staff, and supplemented it by recruiting, mainly workers. It was much easier to organize detachments under communist leadership. The most notable of these is the Cserny detachment, which was formed from the Visegrád Street guard, seamen and sailors, with about 200 people (“Lenin boys”), and on the model of which smaller detachments were set up in the countryside. The Cserny detachment was subordinated to the Political Department of the People’s Security Committee, and its staff was further reduced during May and June. However, after the counter-revolutionary uprising of June 24, it was re-strengthened and assigned to the Second Red Guard district. Ottó Korvin and Tibor Szamuely directed the fight against the counter-revolution. Ottó Korvin was the head of the Political Department of the People’s Security Committee, and since the People’s Commissar for the Interior was mostly at the front, he worked quite independently. Major counter-revolutionary organizations were prevented in the capital, which were then retaliated by unbridled terror.