A Móra Ferenc Múzeum Évkönyve: Studia Historica 5. (Szeged, 2002)

FORRÁSOK - NAGY Ádám: A Kossuth-bankók sorsa Szegeden (1849-1854)

ÁDÁM NAGY KOSSUTH-BANKNOTES IN SZEGED (1849-1854) Lajos Kossuth, the financial minister of the first Hungarian responsible government in 1848 issued the independent modern Hungarian currency ignoring the monopoly of the Austrian bank in issue of banknotes. The Kossuth-banknotes came into general use around the country becoming the most significant financial means of everyday life and war in 1848-49. The history and significance of the banknotes issued during the war of independence have been discussed in special literature thoroughly. However, little is known about what happened to the banknotes after the war of independence was defeated. The Austrian authorities ordained strictly the surrender of arms and handing over of banknotes without compensation as well as the public incineration of banknotes. Nevertheless the implementation of the orders was incomplete so the time limits were to be prolonged again and again. The study presents the issue of orders alongside with the practice and difficulties of collection, the complexity of the legal problems arisen and the changes in the procedure lasting for years with the help of documents of the town council. The collection of banknotes was carried out by the civil servants of the town council involving the obligation to make out a receipt together with a tabular statement. The collected banknotes were handed over to military headquarters, then the incineration of notes was accomplished under military control as well. In Szeged between 1849-51 Kossuthbanknotes were committed to the flames ten times worth altogether 750 000 forints. In December 1854 the town reported that Kossuth-banknotes had not been delivered in the past 3 months, and in the following year Kossuth-notes were not mentioned in the documents at all. Unfortunately, the statements are preserved defectively in the archives, and their handling of the period was not satisfactory either. Thuswise an exact sum of money is not possible to be counted, although beside the 4-5 lists and tables already published in special literature with the help of a nationwide survey more can be known about the amount