Hungarian Studies Newsletter, 1985 (13. évfolyam, 43-46. szám)
1985 / 45. szám
\tt / VI1 AM6RICAN HUNGARIAN FOUNDATION HUNGARIAN STUDIES NEWSLETTER EDITOR'S CORNER In issue no. 12 (Winter 1976-77) we provided our readers with a questionnaire in regard to their degree of satisfaction as to the HSN’s content, form, and impact are concerned. The number and content of the responses were gratifying and led to healthy changes in editorial policy and publication practices. We promised not to burden you with aquestionnaire for at least four years. Now, after nine years have elapsed, the opportunity to express your wishes re: HSN is knocking on your door again. Please fill in the enclosed questionnaire (use the back page for answers to which we posed no questions) and send it back right away. We thank you in advance for your cooperation in making HSN a better publication. Some of our regular readers developed the healthy habit of sending us reprints of their articles. It is really a great help. Many thanks to Paul Demeny, Nándor Dreisziger, Karoly Nagy, Ferenc Mozsi, Barnabas Racz, and Béla Vassady, Jr. for their reprint and/or encouragement. The Editor BOOKS Body, Paul JOSEPH EÖTVÖS AND THE MODERNIZATION OF HUNGARY, 1840-1870; A Study of Ideas of Individuality and Social Pluralism in Modern Politics. (Second, revised edition.) East European Monographs no. 174. Distributed by Columbia University Press, 562 West 113th Street, New York, NY 10025, 1985. 134 pages, biblio, illus. $18.00 cloth. The first edition of this study was published by the American Philosophical Society in its Transactions series (1972) and reviewed in HSN no. 27, p.2. Its original purpose was to offer a documented case study of the complexities of nationality conflicts and social change in 19th century Hungary. It focused on the intellectual and political role of Eötvös, a prominent leader of reform and advocate of minority rights. He saw in nationalism the gravest danger to individuality and a free society. During the 12 years which elapsed between the first and second edition of this study, academic and political interest in ethnic studies and nationalism has greatly increased, warranting a refined look at Eötvös’ philosophy and activities designed to protect the rights of minorities, in terms of cultural diversity, and political freedom. The author is a planner at the Urban Redevelopment Authority, Pittsburgh. Braham, Randolph L., ed. THE HUNGARIAN JEWISH CATASTROPHE: A Selected and Annotated Bibliography (Second revised and enlarged edition.) East European Monographs, no. 162. Social Science Monographs and Institute of Holocaust Studies of the CUNY. Distributed by Columbia University Press, 562 West 113th Street, New York, NY 10025, 1984. xvi + 501 pages. $40.00 cloth. NO. 45, AUTUMN 1985, HUNGARIAN STUDIES NEWSLETTER “The German occupation of Hungary on March 19, 1944, brought a virtual end to what had once been one of the most prosperous Jewish communities in East Central Europe. Yet, ironically, this Jewish community suffered the most concentrated destruction in the last year of the war . . .” The racially defined total Jewish population of Hungary in 1944 numbered 762,000 of whom 565,000 perished (100,800 of the Budapest Jewery). The scope of the bibliography is to bring under one cover all important references to these tragic events, thereby providing bibliographic information for interested scholars. The bibliography includes some 3,000 entries in a variety of languages. Most of the entries are in Hungarian, with next largest groups in English, German, Hebrew, and Yiddish. References to Hebrew, Russian, and Yiddish works are rendered in transliteration. The entries are grouped in fourchapters arranged in historical-chronological order: General Reference Works; Background of the Holocaust; The Holocaust; and The Postwar Era. A glossary of the non-English terms and acronyms, a table of abbreviations and symbols, as well as four indices make the volume a useful tool to researchers of the era and the region. The author is head of the Institute for Holocaust Studies, CUNY, and editor of Hungarian-Jewish Studies. Biró, Dávid, Peter Józan, and Karoly Miltenyi eds., POPULATION AND POPULATION POLICY IN HUNGARY. Budapest: Akadémiai kiadó, 1984. 231 pages, graphs, tables. $14.00 cloth. Revised edition of Népesedés és népesedéspolitika ed. by István Monigl. Trsl. by Mrs. Zoltán Polyánszky. The unfavorable population trends of Hungary and their economic and political ramifications have long been of interest to social scientists. The mounting criticism of contemporary government policies prompted a one-day conference for interested scientists and government administrators and arranged jointly by the Division of Economy and Law of the HAS and the Central Statistical Office. The stated purpose of the conference was the discussion of the causes and remedies of the extremely low natural increase of population. The conference was also to achieve a consensus useful in drafting future government population policies. The cycle of low and high birth rates shows that Hungary is now on a downward trend as far as population movements are concern, and is likely to remain so for the immediate future. The trend should soon be reversed into an upward direction, which should peak in the mid-1990s. The social and economic aspects of the demographic observations continue to hold the concentrated interest of the social and economic scientists and public administrators alike. This volume contains the transcripts of nine papers presented at the conference and the minutes of the concluding debate. Those interested in population studies will find this volume a useful source. Dömötör, Tekla. HUNGARIAN FOLK BELIEFS. Budapest: Corvina, 1982. (T ranslated from the Hungarian A magyar nép hiedelemvilága, Corvina, 1981 by C. M. Hann) 324 pages, 61 black-and-white and 16 color plates, biblio. $9.80 cloth. (Continued on page 2)
