Postai és Távközlési Múzeumi Alapítvány Évkönyve, 1998
Rövid tartalmi összefoglaló angol nyelven
office. On 26 May 1848, a decree was issued on the use of Hungarian-language stamps and stamp impressions carrying the Hungarian crest. The press in spring 1848 and the subsequent period took on a new importance. The newspapers appearing in the territory of Hungary, Transylvania and Croatia-Slavonia were distributed by the post offices. The Ministry of the Interior gave permits for their distribution. Applications were judged by the content, the provisions of the publishing law, and the deposit of the required securities. After notification by the Interior Ministry, the Post Office could accept subscriptions. A joint Hungarian and German language decree was issued covering newspaper publication. Ministerial decree documents showing the changes in postal administration were posted on the boards opposite the entrance booth. Between 7 April and 11 September 1848 the Minister of Agriculture, Industry and Trade was Gábor Klauzál. In Act III of 1848 he ordered that “Office-bearers subject to the ministry or working in any sector of public government shall swear an oath to the constitution. ” State office bearers, postmasters and their deputies and inspectors all took the oath in accordance with this law on 11 June 1848. Until 1848, the postal coach service was under the control of the Austrian postal administration. In 1848, the Hungarian postal administration also obliged postal coach employees to take the new oath. The officers of the Nagyszeben Postal Coach Administration swore the official oath at the Royal Treasury. Starting on 1 June 1848, the Postal Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, Industry and Trade issued postmasters with new letters of appointment and deeds of gift in place of those issued by the Austrian government. Because of the hostilities, there were severe obstacles to the execution of the Ministerial decrees in the south of the country. Imperial General Jellasic, Governor of Croatia, chief of the southern army’s field post office, took Croatian postal affairs under his control. On 16 September 1848 the National Defence Committee was formed. On 28 November, Lajos Kossuth appointed László Madarász to the head of the Interior Ministry Police and Postal Department. Between the resignation of Gábor Klauzál and this date, the temporary postal arrangements were overseen by Mihály Ambrus. László Madarász took over the Police and Postal Department form Mihály Ambrus on 28 November 1848. He only announced reorganisation of the post office to the Ministry of Finance on 23 December. Madarász’ first instruction to “Every chief postal administration” requested a report within 15 days on the managers of post stations and letter collection offices and on the conditions under which postal packets were being handled. The course of hostilities necessitated restrictions on international postal traffic. Stipulations for the handling of letters arriving were set out in a document of 6 December 1848. The administration of Hungarian areas that came under the control of imperial forces was organised on a temporary basis by Windischgrätz, to meet military demands. He set up a committee entitled “Hungarian Royal Temporary Civil Administration". Postal affairs were re-appropriated, if for a short time, by Vienna. The historical changes are conveyed by a row of post office signs on the wall above the entrance booth. The Austrian crest signs with the black eagle were first replaced by individually-made signs. Particularly interesting is the shield-shaped sign of the Dorog Post Office, whose emblem and inscription is Hungarian on one side and German on the other. 242
