H. Bathó Edit – Kertész Róbert – Tolnay Gábor – Vadász István szerk.: Tisicum - A Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok Megyei Múzeumok Évkönyve 11. (1999)

The Chronicler of our Century? The Moral Way of István Danyi's Life

áldásával benneteket, adjon jó egészséget, igazi evangéliumi boldogságot és egykor adja meg az igazak örök juta/mát. A jó kívánság zálogául kedves hívemnek és a szeretteinek szeretettel küldöm áldásomat. Eger, 1983, április 4. Krisztusban főpásztoruk: Kádár László." ISTVÁN SZABÓ During my work on the Lowland I met a peasant family, which has excellent documentation of its member's life. The family's branch is rich, the number of children is numerous. The fellows differently, but with the same mentality inserted into a new regions society. In their surroundings all of them became determined persons, but at the same time — getting a stranger into another places - guarded a part of their family traditions identity. Scattering the family constituted and constitutes a closed community. Earlier I wrote about persons, who were able become important individuality by their manner of life or behaviour. In order to study this problem I researched role of country intelligentsia in community. I wrote paper about a schoolmistress, a pharmacist, a museum director, a physician and in my opinion was: these persons are model patterns for the whole community. But I thought, there are such persons not only among the qualified peoples. Such are those tradesmen, farmers too, who like the country intelligentsia also win special positions in the country folk by their similar behaviour and honest, by their excellent professional knowledge. In Besenyszog such a man was István Danyi the older. Not only he lived all through his life in this village, but his wife Az egyháztól nyert fó'pásztori levélnek híre ment, s nemcsak a család, de az egész falu lakossága alig fért el a templomban. Az egyház gondoskodása egy tisztséget viselő, nagyidejű tagjáról ismét megerősítette a hitet, nemcsak a családban, de az egész falu népében. Levelek és elbeszélések sora adott hírt egy-egy családban a nagy eseményről, s erősítette nemcsak a vallási, hanem a besenyszögi közösséget, az összetartozás tudatát. Jusztina Tarjányi and all his family. All his children were born and lived here, and two from ten lives here now too. István Danyi the older was born in 1902 and married in 1923. Brought ten children. Experienced two world war, revolutions and more changes of political system. He was a born survivor, who always weighed everything before he stepped, but when he came to a decision, precisely did the best. If the historical conditions pressured him to modify his profession, he did it immediately. The changes of political systems, wars, alterations of relationship to the owner: all uniformly trained his character. In 1967 he became pensioner. Two years later he began to write his reminiscence in order "...to put down all, what dictate the ideas of a peasant from Besenyszog throughout a long - sometimes simple sometimes hard - way of a long life". His notes rhymes with thousands of Hungarian peasants. And can be in service for the others in persistency, will-power and to survive all and to start again. Presenting his career, to complete his writing, we used his children's reminiscences and guarded at the family documents. This paper is based on the István Danyi's manuscript, which presents the career of the Danyi family till the '60s. THE CHRONICLER OF OUR CENTURY? THE MORAL WAY OF ISTVÁN DANYI'S LIFE 316