Vajk Éva szerk.: Textil-és Textilruházati Ipartörténeti Múzeum Évkönyve (IX) 2001 (Budapest, 2001)

Jeszenszky Sándor: Dr. Endrei Walter (1921-2000)

Sándor Jeszenszky Dr. Walter Endrei (1921-2000) It was a grievous loss to scientific circles when Dr. Walter Endrei, polyhistor of the history of technics passed away at the age of 80. He was a real polyhistor since he did not restrict his activities to a single discipline. He was equally familiar with history in general, with the history of science and technics, with literature and arts. He played a decisive role in raising research in the field of history of technics to the level of scientific work in Hungary. He pursued extensive studies. From 1943 to 1947 he was a student at Péter Pázmány University in Budapest but at the same time he also worked as technician in textile factories. This was the time when his relations to the textile industry started. Beside his daily work he became interested in the history of textile manufacture and later he became a scientist of Europe-wide reputation in this field. In his theses for the scientific degrees of C. Sc. (Candidate of Sciences, 1966) and D. Sc. (Doctor of Sciences, 1979), both conferred on him by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, he dealt with this subject intensely, and achieved outstanding results mainly in the field of technics used in the Middle Ages. Research work must be based upon authentic sources — this was the principle underlying his work. He enthusiastically collected written records and objects related to the history of science, from ancient books to tools of the prehistoric man or to marked bricks. He carried on research work in archives in Hungary and abroad, going back to really authentic information. His excellent knowledge of foreign languages helped him in this work. He not only spoke German, English and French but understood many other languages, as well including Latin, which is essential for understanding medieval documents. Moreover, he could read technical descriptions written in medieval German language. The principle of "only from authentic sources" led him to publish the humorous popular work Technical Rumours. In this work he wittily and amusingly unmasked the attractive but unfounded tales of the history of technics. His book showed the way to write scientific and popular works on the history of technics. Since that time every author has taken good care not to enrich Walter Endrei's collection of hearsay. Apart from his wide sphere of interests his work was linked mainly to the textile industry. He worked for the Organisation and Control Ltd. (1946-1948), the Textile Industry Directorate (1948-1949), the National Patents Office (1949-1952), the Ministry of Light Industry (1952-1957) and Hungarotex Foreign Trade Company (till 1981). While he was on business abroad, he was looking also for historical relics of the textile industry, at a time when delegates' investigations focused not so much on the sources of science but rather on trade sources of transistor radios and fashionable consumer goods. His first publications dealt, in the first place, with current problems of the textile industry such as his early work Knowledge of Textile Materials and Defects in Cotton Woven Fabrics. However, in a short time he also published books on history, among them the outstanding History of Medieval Technics. This work shows that Endrei's scientific interests were not confined merely to the questions of textile technics. He dealt with general problems too, like the origins of programming and the fate of innovations in Hungary. The titles of some of his books characterize his versatile, vivid personality better than any appreciation: Games and Entertainment in Ancient Europe, Peasants' Calendar. He even wrote a thriller of scientific level on the reasons of Rudolf Diesel's mysterious death as supposed by him. Endrei readily imparted his knowledge to anybody: to his colleagues, students, to professional or amateur researchers, even to the television programme on city protection. In 1981 he joined the Department of General History of Technics at Loránd Eötvös University, where he lectured on the history of technics. Later, as honorary professor, he lectured not only to students but also to university and college lecturers. The two-volume lecture notes History of Technics, used at Eötvös Loránd University and of which Endrei was a co-author, are standard works in university and college education and have helped many candidates in obtaining scientific degrees.