Dobrossy István: Miskolc írásban és képekben 3. (Miskolc, 1996)

Angol nyelvű ismertető

Miskolc in Writing and in Pictures 3. The first volume of the series 'Miskolc in Writing and in Pictures' was published in 1994. At that time we did not know whether there would be a claim for it or whether we could cover the publication costs. Owing to this uncertainty there is no serial number in the first volume. It was only in 1995 that it was worth marking that is was the second volume of the series. The third volume is now available for readers. The first volume was based on the history of the town written in verse by the outstanding lawyer of Miskolc, Sámuel Szrogh. It describes the town situated at the meeting point of the Great Hungarian Plain and the mountains. Former inhabitants of the town formed the character of our famous buildings, squares, statues in accordance with their town development plans. Reading the first volume we must be proud of our churches, schools evoking the past and also of our hospitality. The second volume published in 1995 is about one main idea. It wanted to seek the answers, socio graphers, politicians and leaders of the town in the first half of the 20th century prophesied a fine future for Miskolc. They thought it would be a quickly realizable idea to establish an industrial, intellectual and tourist centre in Upper Northern Hungary. What I wanted to find out in the book was whether the saying, 'You are not born to be a Miskolc inhabitant, you will become one', is true or not. This is why I followed the life of 13 Miskolc mayors between 1873-1950. It was not or not only their fates that I was really interested in. Some of them were the sons of our town, but most of them had come to live in Miskolc from somewhere else. That is why their activties were suitable to make us realize the fact that the number one leader wanting to work for the town, keeping the interests of the whole town in view but at the same time promoting the interests of the board of the local government can become a real Miskolc native. It was obviosly necessary to examine the importance and development of the 'heart' of the commercial city, the 'Zsolcai kapu', (Zsolca Gate), industrial plant. The Zsolcai kapu area once predominantly characterized by industrial railway lines and its far-reaching industrial and commercial activity determined the way of thinking and the attitude of the people living here. This was typical of a certain stratum of the city society or at least a part of it. The mentality and way of living of another stratum or another part of the city society was in connection with banks and money. Their scene was always the banks and commercial houses in Széchenyi Street. The second volume introduces different strata of the city society. The present (third) volume differs from the previous ones so far as it covers periods within bigger limits of time. Apart from this, the question of 'being a Miskolc