Author(s): Nóra NEMES-NÉMETH – István Dániel SANDA

Title: AZ EVANGÉLIKUS EGYHÁZ ÉS OKTATÁSÜGYE A TRIANONI DÖNTÉS UTÁN

Source: A. Somogyi (ed.): 12th International Conference of J. Selye University. Theological Section. Conference Proceedings

ISBN: 978-80-8122-374-7

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36007/3747.2020.39

Publisher: J. Selye University, Komárno, Slovakia

PY, pages: 2020, 39-46

Published on-line: 2020

Language: de

Abstract: As long as one hundred years after the inequitable peace treaty, neither our nation, nor our protestant denominations, which are so proud of their schools, have managed to work through the grief. In our study, we examine the effects of this complex set of problems on the education system. The “Happy times of peace” (1867-1914) were an era of peaceful progress for all, including protestants. Their once-renowned schools flourished again and the newly-established ones attained a level that we can be proud of to this day. However, researchers are faced with shocking statistics. For example, the one million one hundred and eighteen thousand members belonging to the Augsburg Confession Lutheran Church in Hungary, which did not include the Saxons living in Transylvania, were reduced to five hundred and forty-eight thousand souls and over half 52 % of church members remained outside the new national borders. The number of congregations shrank from six hundred and fifty-seven to two hundred and forty (37 %). These facts are essential for our study because the majority of congregations also operated schools. The ratio was similar for institutions of secondary and tertiary education: only thirteen out of thirty-four (38 %) remained. Of the three theological academies, which had ensured the training of pastors, only one remained, namely in Sopron, thanks to the referendum held in 1921. Our analyses have led to the following conclusions: on one hand, we must move beyond the slogans “no, no, never” and “everything back…”, which now ring empty and can only provoke helpless and bitter anger, and on the other hand, we must take full account of the losses as well as the positive aspects of the era between the two world wars. In our paper, on the basis of the revealed data, we aim to make factual summary statements about protestant education during the two decades following the imposed peace treaty (1920-1940).

Keywords: Pprotestant education, Trianon Peace Treaty, Augsburg Confession Lutheran Church in Hungary, institutions of secondary and tertiary education

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