Hungary p.7 History and Context
Unitarians in particular, set a minimum salary scale for teachers that the Unitarians couldn’t cover. Before the government could take control of the Unitarian schools and establish a Catholic curriculum, British Unitarians raised enough money to meet the salary requirements and even sent a delegation to deliver it in person (Howe, 1997). Still, Hungarians resented Austrian rule and on March 15, 1848, young Hungarian intellectuals led a revolt to restore Hungarian independence. They declared their independence and formed a national government at Budapest. One of the leaders of the revolution was János Pálfy, a Transylvanian Unitarian who was elected vice-president of a united TransylvanianHungarian parliament. The movement grew until 1849, when, with the help of the Russian army, Austria was able to quash it. “The Unitarians, like all Hungarians, suffered heavy losses of both life and property” (Howe, 1997). However, the Austrian government was never able to destroy the fierce independentmindedness of the Hungarian people. They continued to press for rights and freedom. It was during this time that Unitarians in Budapest were finally given the right to practice their religion freely. Although it was not until 20 years later in 1867 that the first steps towards setting up a Unitarian parish in Budapest could be made. Organizational leadership and ministerial training was still centered in Transylvania. In 1869, the Unitarian bishop from Koloszvar in Transylvania, József Ferencz, preached the first public Unitarian sermon in Budapest, an event still celebrated among Unitarians there. Also during this time several Unitarian churches were established in the part of Hungary that lay outside of Transylvania, the first in that region for more than a century. The long-tended cutting from the oak could finally take hold in soil outside of Transylvania. Budapest became an important center of Unitarianism, second only to Koloszvar in the Transylvanian part of Hungary. In 1890, the construction of the First Unitarian Church in Budapest was completed. And in 1896, Budapest was the site of an International Conference of Unitarians (Howe, 1997). Meanwhile, troubles with the Hungarian people coupled with military losses against Italy and Prussia led to a dual Austro-Hungarian monarchy from 1867 to 1918. Under the dual monarchy, the Hapsburg rulers granted the Hungarians full internal independence except in the areas of finance, foreign affairs and defense (Lundrigan, 2002). Under these conditions, Hungary entered World War I on the losing side of the Germans. When the war ended, the Austro-Hungarian monarchy was dissolved and the Treaty of Trianon was drawn up. Many modern Hungarians are still suffering from the effects of this treaty. Signed in Paris in 1920, it reduced Hungarian territory by more than two-thirds and the seized land was distributed among neighboring countries. Hungary was forced to give up almost 72 percent of the country’s land area. (See Map of Dismemberment of Hungary, p. 9 or at http://www.hungary.org/users/hipcat/trianon.htm). The population of Hungary went from 18 million to 8 million. Nearly 64 percent of Hungary’s population became subjects of other countries overnight. Millions of Hungarians suddenly became “immigrants” even though they had not moved an inch. Among them were tens of thousands of Unitarians from the Transylvanian region. These Hungarians, forced to adopt new nationalities, have generally been subjected to harsh laws that seek to limit if not eliminate altogether many basic human rights (Lundrigan, 2002). The development of the Unitarian Church was also interrupted by the Treaty of Trianon. The Unitarian Church found itself on Romanian territory and was subjected to a Romanian ecclesiastical authority. Many Unitarians decided to emigrate to Hungarian territory. Far from