COURAGE

savienojot kolekcijas

Zsuzsanna Erdélyi’s collection was the outcome of an unanticipated event in socialist Hungary. The ethnographer and her colleague Sándor Bálint created a collection of objects pertaining to Catholic folk practices in the mid-1970s with the public support of Cardinal László Lékai and the Catholic press. The survival of a significant number of private religious objects during the communist era demonstratd that many citizens lived active spiritual lives and cultivated the heritage of their parents and grandparents, despite the government prohibition against religion.

The Cornel Irimie Collection illustrates how ethnographers managed to negotiate the autonomy of their research activity with the communist state institutions and to conduct ethnographic research in contradiction with some of the official cultural policies. The collection includes more than 300 files of personal documents, student notes, field research notes and reports, drafts of academic works, acquisition reports, and exhibition drafts.

The collection contains documents from the holdings of the largest cultural organisation for ethinc Hungarians in Slovakia. This organisation was one of the few in Czechoslovakia dedicated to issues affecting an ethnic minority, and its holdings therefore offer valuable insight into the status of minority cultures. The society organised cultural events and lectures, and it supported theater, song, and dance groups. It also offered a platform for maintaining cultural identity, and it provided a place for discussion.
During The Hungarian revolution in 1956 CSEMADOK supported the position of the Czechoslovak government on the events. During the Prague Spring CSEMADOK supported the liberalisation policies, tried to change itself into a political interest group, and asked for more rights and privileges for ethnic Hungarians. After the suppression of the Prague Spring the political leadership of CSEMADOK was purged.
The collection includes documents from the CSEMADOK Central Committee and documents related to the organisation of national festivals (Gombaszög/Gombasek festival, Jókai Napok/Days, etc). Publications are also a very important part of the collection.