A Móra Ferenc Múzeum Évkönyve: Studia Historiae Literarum et Artium, 1. (Szeged, 1997)

Cornelius, Deborah S.: Women in the Interwar Populist Movement: The Szeged Youth

among young intellectuals was high and each of the intellectual proletariat, they would not risk their careers through political adventurism. Tensions and splits developed within the group as members completed their university studies. Árvay became less active after she received her degree in 1933 and married the promising mathematician, László Kalmár. At this time, when others were concentrating on their careers, Tomori turned down an assistantship in the Math Department to intensify her study of the peasantry. She began work for a second doctorate, becoming the first Hungarian to take up the new study of social psychology. She travelled the countryside, searching out isolated peasant communities to study in preparation for her dissertation: „The Development of the Peasant's World View." After publishing the dissertation, Tomori went on to study in Berlin in 1936/37 on a Humboldt Fellowship. It was Tomori who organized the last public event held by the Szeged Youth, a conference of international scholars in summer of 1937. Yet it was characteristic that she ded not assume the position of leadership. Only at the last moment when Buday was unable to attend did Tomori become director of the sociographic study. In 1938 the Szeged Youth was officially dissolved, its members scattered by the onset of war. Judit Kárász, forced to leave Germany in 1935, went into hiding Denmark. Árvay remained in Szeged. Tomori returned to Transylvania as a political sociologist working with the peasantry in the Székelyföld. In the immediate postwar years, there was initial promise that the objectives of the young women might be realized, both for an independent, politically empowered peasantry, and for their personal careers. Arvay received a teaching position in mathematics at the university. Tomori became director of a technical school in Romania. Kárász was persuaded to return to Hungary, promised a suitable position by Ortutay, then minister of culture. Yet the change in political climate cut short their career prospects. By the time Kárász returned in 1949, her Western contacts had become suspect. She found work in the Industrial Arts Museum in Budapest. Árvay left teaching for a less exposed position as bookkeeper in the math library. Tomori was removed from her position as director for political reasons. In retrospect it would seem that the interwar period was not an unpropitious time for pioneering women intellectuals such as Árvay, Tomori, and Kárász. Accepted on their scholarly merits at the university, they participated on an equal basis with their male colleagues in the populist youth movement, they shared the men's mission to work for improved social and economic conditions for the peasantry. Yet they carried out the mission with a dedication that the men lacked, addressing the particular needs of peasant families and becoming involved in their lives. Although the limited nature of my materials does not allow for more sweeping conclusions, it would appear that the contributions of young women intellectuals to the reform movements of the interwar period are well worthy of further investigation. 57