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

ZOMBORI István: Almai (Aigner-Rengey) Gyula szegedi polgár visszaemlékezése 1848-1849-es honvédszolgálatára

ISTVÁN ZOMBORI THE MEMOIRS OF GYULA ALMAI (AIGNER-RENGEY), A CITIZEN OF SZEGED, OF HIS MILITARY SERVICE IN 1848-49 The study discusses the memoirs of Gyula Almai (1831-1914), a prominent citizen of Szeged, about the Freedom Fight of 1848-49. Today, this manuscript is located in the library of the Museum of Szolnok. The author wrote the manuscript in 1901, since this was the time of the publication of the decree of the minister, which ensured pension for soldiers who participated in the Freedom Fight of 1848-49. For this, however, he needed the testimony of two of his companions from that time. It is likely that the author made this literary work to recall the memories of his one time companions by looking them up. However, it is without question that the memoirs, containing extremely detailed, meticulous and numerous moments in the life of the soldier and the man, was made sometime in 1849, or shortly after. The reports he wrote about these events were probably hidden, by the author, for a long time and in 1901, he had decided to bring it forth and compiled it within a matter of a few days. The family of Gyula Almai, the Aigner family, was a prominent family with German civilian origin of the 19

th century Szeged. His father, uncle and several of his relatives were important public and political figures in Szeged. During the sudden burst of national enthusiasm before the Freedom Fight of 1848, his father changed the family name to "Rengey", but we do not know why the author had decided to change his family name to "Almai" in 1861. It has to be noted here that the author did not fulfill a significant political role later on. The manuscript provides interesting details about the battles against the Serbs in Szeged and the Bácska region. Furthermore, it can also give additional interesting sources of information about the morale of the troops, the opinion and perception of the "simple" people, regarding the revolution and Freedom Fight.