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Contents

Foreword

I. GLOBALIZATION AND REGIONALISM
Krisztina Andrássy: At the Border of Two Ages (After Communist Internationalism, Before Liberal Globalization)
György Éger: The Euroregion as a Peculiar Spatial Manifestation of European Integration

II. IDENTITIES AND NATIONAL IMAGES
László Kósa: Changes in Hungarian National Consciousness
László Marácz: Legal Culture as a Feature of Hungarian National and Cultural Identity
Ferenc Gereben: The National Identity of Hungarians in Hungary and in its Neighboring Countries.
György Éger: The Two-sided Mirror (Ethnic Preferences in Some Central European Border Regions)
Ferenc Gereben: National and Language Identity of Hungarians in Voivodina (Yugoslavia)

III. RELIGIOSITY AND DENOMINATIONS
Miklós Tomka: Religiosity in Transylvania
László Gyurgyík: Changes in the Denominational Composition of Hungarians in Czechoslovakia, 1921-1991
László Kósa: Protestantism in Hungarian Culture
László Tőkéczki: Interdenominational Elements in Hungarian History

IV. ON THE HISTORY OF HUNGARIAN AND NON-HUNGARIAN MINORITIES IN CENTRAL EUROPE
Ildikó Nagy: Jenő Rákosi and the Hungarian Empire of 30 Million People
Barna Ábrahám: History and National Image Reflected in the Slovak Book Press in Budapest at the Turn of the Century
Imre Molnár: The Cultural Activity of Hungarians Living in Slovakia, 1920-1945
Ferenc Mák: The Ideological Basis of the Southern Slav Agrarian Reform, 1919-1941
Vilmos Tánczos: Hungarians in Moldavia

V. NATIONAL IDEOLOGIES IN CENTRAL EUROPE
Sándor Őze: "God Punishes the Hungarian People for their Sins"
Pál Attila Illés: Messianism in Central Europe
Csaba G. Kiss: National and Religious Identity in the Central European National Anthems

About the Contributors

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Foreword

The political changes of 1989-1990 resulted into a new situation in Central and Eastern Europe. The fall of Communism made possible the reintegration of the region into Europe. Central and Eastern Europe originally belonged to Europe and were only separated from it during the Soviet occupation. In the meantime, the political constellation of the western part of Europe changed drastically as well. In this part of Europe, the European Union was established replacing the system of the traditional national states. At present, the Central and Eastern European region must resolve the following two issues: First, it has to work out the negative experiences and past conflicts as well as regenerate the national and cultural identities that were suppressed in former times. Second, Central Europe must prepare for integration, including aspects ranging from political, economic and religious life to the legal system and the mentality of its people.

Within the framework of the European Union, Western Europe was largely able to work through the dramatic historic experiences of the 20th century. In Central and Eastern Europe, this process only began in the early 1990s. Non-ethnic Hungarian minorities had suffered traumatic experiences under the Hungarian government during the period of the Hungarian kingdom (1867-1920) and ethnic Hungarian minorities have experienced the same in the post-Trianon (1920) successor states. The fact that some of the articles in this volume are written with a passion unknown to western observers is due to the fact that nowadays these topics can be discussed freely, something not allowed under Communism. Some articles also point out, however, that the emotional side of nationalism is getting weaker among ethnic minorities, especially among the Hungarian ones and is being replaced by cultural and regional identities. Sometimes the revival of national and cultural identities is not free from extremism but this seems to be an unavoidable step in creating a balance between regional, national and supranational identities. It is also observed that linguistic and cultural cross-border cooperation includes the common elements of identity and national self-image consisting of language, literature, art, religious and historic traditions. This kind of cultural community building is similar to the ones that already have a rich historic tradition in Western Europe (see the Netherlands and Flemish Belgium, Southern Tyrol and Austria).

In this volume, several articles discuss the past of the Hungarians and other Central European peoples. The articles do not represent the historic facts in a chronological order but focus on the guiding principles that have been in the background of historic phenomena and have affected individual actors on the historic scene.

The editors are indebted to the Hungarian-Dutch Exchange Program for Higher Education. The Hungarian Ministry of Education represents this program on behalf of Hungary and the Office Cross coordinates the educational cooperation with Central Europe from the Dutch side. This volume is the third installment within the framework of this project. Two earlier volumes, "Magyar tükör" (Hungarian Mirror, textbook of Hungarian studies), Budapest-Amsterdam, 1995.; "Útkeresés és integráció" (Pioneering and Integration. A Selection of the Documents of the Civil Organizations of the Hungarian Minorities in Central Europe, 1989-1999), Budapest, 2000, were published in the Hungarian language.

Dr. László Marácz,
Lecturer, East European Studies,
University of Amsterdam,
Amsterdam, 2001

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