Simont Attila - Tóth László: Kis lépések nagy politikusa. Szent-Ivány József, a politikus é művelődésszervez (Somorja, 2016)
XIV. Személynévmutató
XVI. Summary A Great Politician of Small Steps József Szent-Ivány, the Politician and Culture Organizer József Szent-lvány (1884-1941) was one of the most important personalities of politics, public life and cultural learning of Hungarians in Czechoslovakia of the interwar period. It was an emblematic figure, one of the firsts to recognize that the representation of interests of around one million Hungarians having become citizens of Czechoslovakia often requires new, previously unknown forms and possibilities of policy making, political strategy and tactics. It is impossible to separate or treat separately his mutually coherent political and cultural activities taking place simultaneously in his life and carrier, covering organization of politics, economy, society and culture, once he was a landowner, politician, patron, public and creative writer, manager of culture, and also a good family man. After his death in 1941, however, he was forgotten by historiography, and his name also disappeared from public consciousness. As a consequence, we do not really know the due weight and significance of József Szent-lvány 's person and example in such detail and context as he would deserve it. This book endeavours to explore József Szent-Ivány's career according to the present state of research, and it undertakes to add many, yet unknown or little known data, facts, and new dimensions about him, and also about the epoch. József Szent-lvány was on the father's side born in the historical milieu of the Szent-lvány family in Liptószentiván (today Liptovský Ján), but, thanks to his Slovak mother, he also had a more immediate insight into the lives and situation of the Slovaks and the disadvantaged social groups than most of his contemporaries. Therefore, his sensitivity to community concerns had accompanied him throughout his life. The first phase of his public career lasted until the political turn in 1918-19. Its scenes, resulting primarily from his duties as a landowner, were the regions of Gemer and Liptov. Although before 1918 he was best known as organizer of the society of Gemer ranchers and as an enthusiastic supporter of the Evangelical church, the civil democratic revolution in Budapest in the last days of World War I quickly moved him towards high politics. He had an irreplaceable role in the fact that the Hungarian public of Gemer almost immediately joined the supporters of the democratic transition led by Mihály Károlyi, thus helping preserve the unity of historical Hungary. When, in the summer of 1919, his home in Beje (today Behynce), as well as the county centre Rimaszombat (today Rimavská Sobota) got definitely under Czechoslovak control, he immediately became leader of the local Hungarian public life and head of the Hungarian group of representatives in the newly established public administration committee of Gemer-Malohont County, which group had actually happened to occupy a minority position in the committee. From autumn 1919, he began to organize the political life of the region, building upon the economic organizations of the county lead by him, and the local organizations of Országos Földmíves Párt (National Agrarian's Party), what finally resulted in the establishment of Országos Magyar Kisgazda-, Földmíves és Kis -245
