Dénes Dienes: History of the Reformed Church Collég in Sárospatak (Sárospatak, 2013)
SPIRIT AND MOOD - On the traditional path - the humanities section of the secondary school and theological education 199 A New Crown Jewel: The English Residential School
206 plan. Teachers of the College and influential leaders of the church district feared that, at a time requiring major spiritual and material sacrifice, the main function of the College - training pastors and theologians - would be shunted aside and could thus fatally change the overall image and ethos of the school. The new plan also collided with the interests of the secondary school teachers who taught Greek and Latin given that the new plan ultimately meant the implementation of the ‘Secondary Schools for Modern Languages, Sciences and Latin’ concept. Serving the Alma Mater - the Alumni movement of Patak The idea of gathering into some united form all former students came during World War I, in 1916, and was promulgated under the banner of‘The Protection League of Sárospatak’. By September 1917, in the context of a workshop meeting, the idea became reality with the establishment of the organization. Among others, Gyula Szánthó, Lajos Rácz, József Trócsányi and Mór Moskovits agreed on the goals put forward, that being to support the school and the town and to promote an intellectual community for the students. The statutes were adopted a few months later, in December. The president was Gerzson Szinnyei. An independent committee and a literary circle were organized in Sárospatak and plans were laid to launch a publication. Their first major undertaking, however, proved unsuccessful. Although the former students organized collections and charity dinners in Budapest, they were not able to prevent the closing of the Academy of Law. But they were successful in other, smaller, but important endeavours, such as initiating the placing of a World War memorial plaque, collecting unique anecdotes from the unmatched treasure store of anecdotes pertaining to student life in Patak and producing publications guarding the memory of the deceased from amidst their ranks, the latter two being the inspiration of Károly Panka. By the end of the 1920s, the organization entered a veritably active period. It despatched delegations to the government for current matters and took on the lion’s share of the preparations for the 400th year anniversary celebrations. The growing importance of the organization was coupled to an expansion in geographic representation. At the outset of operations, the organization functioned in the capital and in Patak but, during the 1930s, it established branch offices in Debrecen, Nyíregyháza and Miskolc. Through various local newspapers, the organization determinedly endeavoured to keep alumni who lived beyond the borders abreast of relevant events. It is no coincidence that the in-house periodical, Journal of the Alumni described the organization as surprisingly well-organized and most active. And it is perhaps no exaggeration to say that the organization (PADOSZ for short in Hungarian) set an example for other student associations throughout the country. The 400th year anniversary celebrations were held on the last day of September and first day of October in 1931. The one thousand four hundred official guests were able to view, hear or participate in an exhibition, the inauguration of the statues of Kazinczy and Zsuzsanna Lorántffy, theater plays suitable for the occasion, a festive dinner for all alumni, a ceremonial worship service and, last but not least, the Governor’s speech. The celebrations were brought to a close with a formal dance. The element of the celebrations which stimulated perhaps the most effect was the inauguration of the English Residential School. It was during these two days that the alumni organization reached the very first peak in its history. Throughout the coming years, however, the president Károly Panka often complained about the decline in membership fees and, from 1934 on, the number of members also began to decline. The members continued to organize public reading events and inaugurated plaques, but the yearly regular general meeting to be held in the summer of 1937 was cancelled without another being convened in that year. Panka resigned from his position in November of 1939 on the grounds that he was unable to forestall the disintegration of the community. In reality, the situation was not nearly as acute and although the organization never rose again to its former heights nor regained its former vitality, instead of regular varied activities, the members at least gathered in Sárospatak in June of each year. THE STRUGGLE AGAINST MARGINALIZATION
