A Veszprém Megyei Múzeumok Közleményei 21. (Veszprém, 2000)

V. Fodor Zsuzsa: Adalékok a nemzettudat múzeumi dokumentumaihoz a két világháború közötti Magyarország iskolai oktatásában

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL TO THE NATIONAL AWARENESS MUSEUM DOCUMENTS ON SCHOOL EDUCATION IN HUNGARY BETWEEN THE TWO WORLD WARS With the loss of the First World War, revolutions, and the dictate of the Treaty of Versailles, a dramatic change occurred in the history of Hungary, which could not only be measured in material losses, but was also expressed in serious social problems, and in increasingly dangerous political thought and practice. Schools had a deciding role in this system, as political goals could be attained most effectively through education and training. The basic aims remained constant in the period, but these were subjected to repeated modification, corresponding to changes in the politicalideological viewpoint. On 1 August 1919, after the defeat of the Hungarian Soviet Republic, Hungarian new nationalism took shape with undisguised crudity. With the reintroduction of compulsory religious education in the schools, the course not only wished to achieve the consolidation of a religious-moral basis for education, but qualitatively and structurally, the new mechanism of faith education was made the backbone of the training programme. As an intermediate compromise of cultural-political concepts totally opposed to the left-wing viewpoint, the essence of the national educational programme became the artificial incitement of nationalism and the popularisation of a militarist mentality. Trauma was caused by the Peace Treaty of Versailles, and there was no social stratum, group or political party in the county which would not have demanded revision. Legislation brought by the Ministry of Religion and Public Education in 1920, prescribed the nurturing of a patriotic spirit by means of the schools system. In October 1920, legislation on "national prayer" also appeared. The national education spirit was also reinforced by the fact that the slogans of irredentism were constantly present in text books and on the covers of exercise books. Exercise books, atlases and photographs from elemen tary schools of the county are preserved in the documentation department of the Museum "Laczkó Dezső", and are evidence of this mentality throughout the period. There are many documents with regard to the Scout and Levente (a paramilitary youth movement) organisations, which promoted the achievement of culturalpolitical militarism. At the time of the Bethlen consolidation, thanks to the Minister of Education Kuno Klebelsberg, neonationalism was manifested in a more moderate form, where in the revisionist propaganda, peaceful cultural competition and the suggestive idea of the cultural superiority of Hungary came to the forefront. Klebelsberg wished to implement his national education programme in the area of public education policy by reformation and further development of the system of cultural institutions. From the 30s, changes also occurred in cultural policy, which were followed by changes, the great majority in an extreme right-wing direction, to the face of the political system. The comprehensive and aggressive national education programme brought a turning point, in the development and realisation of which in the cultural area, the Minister of Education Bálint Hóman played a significant role. The totalitarian education attempts, in the interests of revenge and the political-military goal, were mobilised and increasingly openly embodied in the school documents and study plans of the thirties, and in the activities of the movements which also affected the school education work. Out of the situation in Hungary after Versailles, a cultural policy came into being in the course of two decades, which by the end of the period had become embodied in a distorted, antidemocratic public education system, where school education reflected the political and ideological aspirations and promoted the deformation of national consciousness. 163