Dr. Kubassek János szerk.: A Kárpát-medence természeti értékei (Érd, 2004)
Dr. Gyula Gábris: Jenő Cholnoky, a professor of geography and protector of nature
— O Then the scientist Cholnoky was given an exceptional opportunity for putting his plans and thoughts into practice. His ideas has already been written back in 1923. In the spring and summer of 1945, he wrote 2 the following in his autobiography: "It was a beautiful job as well to be the president of the National Environmental Protection Council. The Minister of Agriculture appointed me president in ... 3 , and since then I have managed to further this important matter with huge steps. I had an indispensable colleague, Miksa FóTdváry, a retired ministerial counsellor, our managing president. He was a paragon of accuracy, order and bureaucracy in the correct sense of the word. He kept the official forms most thoroughly, but he never encumbered the procedure of cases; on the contrary, he kept order. It was a pleasure to work with him. Until that time, the Council was only able to show up few results. 4 Some parts of forests and some old trees were protected, as chiefly the foresters helped in this matter. By now, many other objects have been declared protected. We managed to stop the rough and evil destruction of the basalt columns of the Badacsony and Nagy-hegyestű Hills and prevent the opening of a planned sandstone quany in Alsóörs; the fate of Gyilkos Lake and Békás Pass 5 is also arranged, and in the Balaton region we have started to develop the protection of the region. Tihany will be a natural park 6 , 41 ruins of churches and castles from the time of the Árpád dynasty will be taken into protection, and we have taken the necessary steps against sedimentation in the Keszthely Bay. In the environs of Budapest, we have also taken several monuments and objects into protection, which are scientifically important and interesting. 7 We will take also those ruins into protection, which are not protected by the National Commission of Monuments, as they are not registered as monuments. This awful war has created a terrible obstacle for our magnificent job! Nowadays, the issues of environmental protection look small beside the shocking destruction, but we do not wish to lose sight of them!" Until the end of the Second World War - mostly under the presidency of Cholnoky - altogether 219 natural heritage sites became protected within an area of 2844 hectares. This promising environmental protection activity was interrupted by the war situation in 1945, and was further suspended by politics for another five years.
