With the support of our institute, the book by Róbert-István Antal: The Socialist Who Loves His Nation. Lajos Jordáky (1913-1974) was published in Cluj by Kriterion Publishing House and Transylvanian Museum Society.

Can a good communist be a good Transylvanian Hungarian? As a social-democratic and then communist politician, and as a devout Marxist who was displaced into the cultural sphere after the establishment of the state socialist dictatorship, he was confronted with the dilemma: Can the class emancipation of the Transylvanian Hungarian communities solve the challenges of minority existence?

The book's introduction and table of contents can be read here (in Hungarian). 

The book József Gagyi: Villanyos and His Community. Electrification, Modernization: History of the Nyárád Area (1945-1989) was published by Kriterion Publishing House and Transylvanian Museum Society in Cluj-Napoca with the support of our institute.

Domokos Sztrátya, a well-known electrician in the Nyárád region, was much more than just a data provider. In addition to reflecting on his own life and that of his community, he was also a curious observer of the villages and the times. He was a peasant farmer from a serf village, a civil servant, and a social scientist in „disguise”.

The book's introduction and table of contents can be read here (in Hungarian). 

Our colleague, Béni L. Balogh's article about the friendship between Petru Groza and Unitarian bishop Elek Kiss was published by Erdélyi Krónika. The article can be read here (in Hungarian).

The Blinken Open Society Archives and the Embassy of Ukraine in Hungary will organize a roundtable discussion entitled "Quo vadis Ukraine? Two Years of War and Future Perspectives" on 18th April 2024 at the Central Gallery in Budapest with the participation of András Rácz, Russia expert, István Balog, Ukraine's interim ambassador, Szabolcs Vörös, journalist of Válasz Online, and our colleague, Csilla Fedinec. You can find the detailed programme here.

Our colleague Eszter Neumann spoke to Mérce about the privatisation of education and the motivations and social processes behind it.

On April 9, 2024 at a book launch in Cluj Napoca, Nándor Bárdi presented and analysed the 25 volumes of the book People and Contexts, edited by Vilmos Keszeg and published by the Transylvanian Museum Association

Our colleague Ferenc Eiler will give a lecture at the international conference "Brückenbauer – Grenz- und zeitüberschreitende Minderheitenfragen am Beispiel der deutschen Minderheit" organised in Budaörs by Jakob-Bleyer-Heimatmuseum and Deutsch-Ungarisches Institut (MCC) on 13th April 2024. His presentation is entitled: Die Frage der Ansiedlung in den identitätspolitischen Bestrebungen der ungarndeutschen Organisationen (1924–1945).

A research fellow of our institute, György Szerbhorváth, will give a lecture in Subotica on April 13, 2024, at the 14th Vojvodina Hungarian Scholars' Meeting, at the conference of the Vojvodina Hungarian Academy Council.

In the latest, 2024/4 issue of Magyar Tudomány, the journal of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, a thematic block entitled The Hebrew Bible from 21st Century Perspectives was published. The reader can get an insight into the results of Hungarian Hebraic-Judaic research. including one from our colleague Viktória Bányai.

Tamás Biró "Who Circumcised Abraham? Biblical Exegesis and the Cognitive Science of Religion", applies the approach, concepts and methods of a contemporary religious studies discipline, cognitive religious studies, to the story of Abraham's circumcision (Genesis 17). Kornélia Koltai, in her study "Restrictions on Poetic Freedom: Lessons from the Comparison between the Book of Amos and the Targum of Amos", compares the biblical book and its ancient-late ancient Jewish Aramaic translation, with a historical-social-historical perspective. Dóra Zsom, "The Magical Use of the Psalms: Shimmush Tehillim Manuscripts in the Kaufmann Collection of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences", presents a work on the magical use of the Book of Psalms and manuscripts preserved in the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Viktória Bányai's paper "Desecrated Torah Scrolls in the Light of Two Surveys" focuses on Torah scrolls desecrated in the Holocaust, using a published survey from 1945 and an as yet unpublished archival material from 1956.

The thematic block is available here and the full issue here.

The study by Csilla Fedinec, published in the Fórum Társadalomtudományi Szemle 2024/1, is freely available here. (In Hungarian language, English version forthcoming)