A Hajdú-Bihar Megyei Levéltár évkönyve 19. 1992 (Debrecen, 1992)

Balogh István tiszteletére - Rácz István: A 75 éves Balogh István tudományos és politikai pályája

EIGHTY-YEAR-OLD ISTVÁN BALOGH’S SCIENTIFIC AND POLITICAL CAREER

István Rácz

István Balogh is considered to be one of the great old men in Debrecen. His life and activities had a major impact on the history of the town in two fields. Above all, his scientific accomplishment needs to be mentioned. He directly continued and elaborated the scientific research etablished by Lajos Zoltai and István Ecsedi. The largest part of his research deals with the past of Debrecen. He has published about 250 books and scientific papers on the history of the town sheding light on a good number of unknown detalis of economic, social and cultural history. But his research covered the regions of Szabolcs and Szatmár as well as the history of the ’’broader” Eastern region of the country. In his monographs, he also treated problems of nation-wide importance. All his studies are characterized by coupling of traditionally historical methods with those of ethnography. As a proof of the durability of his scientific achievements, his findings were incorporated in the large synthetic works on both history and ethnography.

A leading political figure for a short while, he beceme a long-term victim of the communist era. In the aftermath of WorldWar II, he was nominated Lord Lieutenant (főispán) of Szatmár then Hajdú counties as a representative of the Peasant Party. He ЪеМ this trying position for about 3 years. At that time, he truly beblieved that a democratic transformation was possible in Hungary. But the changes in the political climate pushed the country towards a totalitarian regime. In the following decades his life was an ordeal inflicted upon him by the political authorities of the age. In 1957 he was dismissed from his Debrecen job and had to go Nyíregyháza to make a living until he retired.

He has now become a well-honored citizen although he still bears imprints of the hard times. We are glad that in spite of all his sufferings he still continues to add to the treasury of science.

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