H. Szilasi Ágota - Várkonyi Péter - Bujdosné Pap Györgyi - Császi Irén (szerk.): Agria 50. (Az egri Dobó István Vármúzeum Évkönyve - Annales Musei Agriensis, 2017)

Bartók Béla: „Az oroszdulta Zemplén”

Béla Bartók

ZEMPLÉN COUNTY RAVAGED BY THE RUSSIANS

During the First World War the northern part of the Hungarian county of Zemplén was used as a battlefield between November 1914 and May 1915, bringing destruction of varying degrees to the towns and villages of the region. Alter the expulsion of the Russian army an extensive national aid programme was launched to rebuild the destroyed settlements. In 1915 the National Inspectorate of Museums and Libraries, which was in charge of the protection ofhistoric monuments, commissioned art historian Kornél Divald (1872-1931) to visit the war-torn areas, survey the damage to historic monuments and take photographs of the mementos of the fighting. Divald visited 9 villages and towns in Zemplén County, took 26 photographs of the ruins of churches and old houses, the soldiers' graves and the military buildings.

The study gives a detailed account of these photographs and the places visited, checks, comments on and corrects the textual information of the postcards, in other words carries out the iconographic study of the photos without their actual publication which was not possible this time due to the constraints of this publication.

The survey ofthe amateur photographer and art historian was subjective and incomplete, but his philanthropic work was nevertheless useful. The photographs of the destroyed villages and historical monuments were turned into picture postcards, the proceeds from the sale of which were used for charitable purposes, thus directly helping to rebuild these villages in Sáros and Zemplén Counties. Many such monuments, fallen victims to the destruction of the first and second world wars, can only be seen in his photographs, which means that they can be regarded as historical sources after 100 years.

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