A Móra Ferenc Múzeum Évkönyve: Studia Historica 3. (Szeged, 2000)

RIMASZOMBATI Károly: Dr. Pálfy József (1874-1944) szegedi polgármester pályafutása

Szeged története kronológia — a kezdetektől 1944-ig. Szerk.: KRISTÓ Gyula. Szeged, 1992. T. MOLNÁR Gizella: Változások Szeged kulturális életében az 1920-as években. In: Tanulmányok Csongrád megye történetéből XXIV. 43-65. p. KÁROLY RIMASZOMBATI THE ACTIVITIES OF MAYOR JÓZSEF PÁLFY (1933-1944) The political portray of József Pálfy becomes quite clear throughout this study. This particular mayor of Szeged, who was in power during a rather critical period of time, left a lasting cultural and intellectual mark not only on the city, but in the world of the south region as well. József Pálfy was basically a city politician, who believed in decentralisation. He was involved in national politics excluding here his short lived parliamentary representative career at an early time - only to the degree that was demanded by the interests of the National Association of Hungarian Cities. The second important aspect of his mayor profile was his exceptional social sensitivity, which could be seen in practically all aspects of life. This included, among others, his activities associated with regional development, through which he made attempts to raise the rural population, in other words, to bring them closer to the level of development of the city, not only financially, but intellectually as well. Furthermore, we cannot forget his actions concerning unemployment, healthcare, orphans, poverty and refugees. From the point of view of the present day image of the city, the dedication of József Pálfy to art is very spectacular even today and testifies to his refined esthetical taste. Under his wings, did the old Palota Kapu [Palace Gate] turn into Porta Heroum. Its beautiful frescoes had to be restored only recently, three quarters of a century after their creation, to regain their original condition. Looking through modern day eyes, it can be seen that although József Pálfy believed in decentralism, he adopted and supported the conservative values of the Horty era. This could be seen well by his work in the organisation of the "double holy year" in 1938. Finally, I believe that the wide range of perception of this great mayor of Szeged was exceptional, more specifically, he did not find the traditional cultural centre role of the city satisfactory, but instead, he aimed for more. This is the reason why he gave his support to the administration of Szeged, to industrial exhibitions which went beyond the interest of the county borders, and the open air theatrical festival that is being held by tradition even up to our day, attracting large numbers of foreign visitors.