Alba Regia. Annales Musei Stephani Regis. – Alba Regia. Az István Király Múzeum Évkönyve. 20. 1980 – Szent István Király Múzeum közleményei: C sorozat (1983)

Irodalom – Besprechungen - Lukács László: A. Cammann – A. Karasek, Donauschwaben erzählen. p. 271.

Les photographies sont réalisées par Kálmán Kónya avec la délicatesse que nous lui connaissons. Il parart cependant, en ce qui concerne tout au moins l'exemplaire que j'ai à la main, que l'impression est moins réussie que dans le cas des volumes précédents de la collection. J'ai l'impression que je ne suis pas le seul à ne pas trouver la raison de ce que l'éditeur a renoncé à la publication de la version française du volume. Il est possible d'affirmer, sans sondages spéciaux, que l'époque romaine peut particulièrement intéresser le public de langue française et non seulement en France. A mon avis, l'allusion généralement admise à «l'actuelle A. CAMMANN—

A. KARASEK, Donauschwaben erzählen. Volumes 1—4., Marburg, N. G. Elwert Verlag 1976— 1979. Volume 1 (1976): 485 pages, 38 pictures; Volume 2 (1977): 536 pages, 75 pictures, 1 map; Volume 3 (1978): 482 pages, 81 pictures; Volume 4 (1979): 599 pages, 74 pictures, 5 maps. The work of A. Cammann and A. Karasek, with respect to its scope, methods and content, is one of the most noteworthy folk poetry collections published in recent years. A. Cammann, wellknown scholar of Bremen, is the author of numerous similar works {Westpreußische Märchen, 1961; Deutsche Volksmärchen aus Rußland und Rumänien, 1767; Märchenwelt des Preußenlandes, 1973; Volkserzählung der Karpathendeutschen, 1981) and an awardee of the Hamburg F. V. S. Foundation (1975: Europa Preis für Volkskunst). His co-author, A. Karasek, the writer of Schwäbische Türkei and who died in 1970, contributed to the success of the book with folk poetry material collected during the 1930s in the regions of Bachka and Banat. Cammann's collection of material is unique since he began his field-work among Germans born in the Bachka and Banat (primarily from the counties of Tolna, Baranya and Bács-Kiskun) who were relocated in the Federal Republic of Germany after the Second World War. He personally made tape-recordings, published appeals for collections in their newspapers and requested them by letter to record their folk poetry traditions in written form or on tape. Through these appeals he discovered many outstanding story-tellers. He supplemented his research conducted in the Federal Republic of Germany with two visits to Hungary in the early 1970s, above all to Tolna, Baranya and BácsKiskun counties. Throughout his research he enjoyed the support of Hungarian ethnographic institutions and specialists and recognized the success of Hungarian policies towards the national minorities. His collection contains mostly folktales, but representatives of other narrative genres are also to be found: sagas, legends, stories from chap-books, religious parables, humorous stories, jokes and village mockery. The four huge volumes are so rich in concent that in a short review their proper value can only be hinted at. Classic stories known from the Grimm Brothers' collection (Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten, Dornröschen, Rotkäppchen, Schneewittchen) are to be found, as well as fairy tales and animal fables. Noteworthy material represents stories — parables, legends — which originate from German-language religious pulp literature issued in the late 19th, early 20th century by publishers in Budapest (Bucsánszky, Rózsa). We may also read countless historical sagas about the Hungarian crown, King Matthias, Emperors Maria Theresa and Joseph II, the 1848 War situation économique» ne suffit pas de justifier dans notre cas le manque de la version française qui n'est pas négligeable, j'en suis sûr, au point de vue de devises étrangères non plus. Je ne veux invoquer qu'un seul argument que concernant l'époque en question, l'éditeur belge Latomus a fait publier en 1972 et 1976 deux ouvrages importants de l'auteur en langue française. 1 Je veux finalement signaler que l'étude mérite l'attention de tous les spécialistes et des lecteurs — connaissant le hongrois, 'anglais ou l'allemand — qui s'intéressent à l'histoire et à l'art de la Pannonié du II

e et du III

e siècles. Gy. Fülöp of Independence, Lajos Kossuth and Franz Joseph I. In addition we find serious or humorous narratives and stories reflecting the history, everyday life, work, living conditions and cultural relations of the Danube Swabians. Regarding its contents R. Wildhaber justly wrote of Cammann's work: "In diesen vier Bänden ist ein Denkmal der Donauschwaben entstanden, das einzigartig ist; es ist aber auch ein Denkmal für Cammanns Gabe des Sammeins, für seinen Mut und seine Energie geworden." (Schweizerisches Archiv für Volkskunde 76, 1980, 358) To Wildhaber's appropriate characterization I would add that Cammann's work, as accords with his intentions, also documents two centuries of peaceful co-existence among the peoples living together in the southern region of the Danube basin : Hungarians, Germans, Serbs and Romanians. Good examples of the reciprocal cultural influence among the peoples living here are folkbelief narratives published in these volumes, in which, alongside German elements (for example, the snake cult) are to be found well-known figures of Hungarian folk belief (i. e. the garabonciás). Cammann does not just publish texts; he also offers historicalsociological descriptions of the villages, region in which he collected and introduces the more significant story-teller personalities. During his research, in a noteworthy experiment, he sought out those people, who as children served as informants when Karasek collected tales in the 1930s. There was hardly anyone among them who in the 1970s were 50—60 years of age, who remembered the old tales. In contrast their parents, the members of the generation preceding them, at ages 70—80, preserved a rich treasure of tales and other narrative genres. I can corroborate the results of Cammann's experiment with my own experiences in collecting in Mór. Many remarkable historical legends are tied to the battle lost at Mór during the 1848 War of Independence. In the process of the national collection project organized for the centenary of the War of Independence, they recorded these legends from Germans in Mór, in Hungarian. In 1982 I would have liked to record these on tape in German from representatives of the 50—60 year-old generation in the German Club at Mór. They no longer knew them, in Hungarian or German. Yet it is clear that countless times they heard and knew in their childhood the stories related to the Mór Battle, collected in 1948 from their forefathers. Cammann's work is made complete by many archival photos, pictures taken during his research visit, maps, the tale motif index prepared by K. Ranke, as well as E. Lindig's index organized according to themes and story-tellers. A. Cammann's books, methods and intentions may serve as an example for us, Hungarian ethnographers, in the research of the folk culture of Hungarians living beyond our borders. L. Lukács 271