History paper by Lieli, Pál
University of Debrecen

British and American Participation in the Summer School Of Debrecen University Before the Second World War

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
British and American participation in the Summer School between 1927 and 1943 - the last event organized during the war years - seems to have been quantitatively negligible (15 Britons and 19 Americans for the whole period), especially as compared to the figures representing Germans (382) and Italians (561). The reasons for this are obvious and the explanation is to be found in the official line of Hungarian foreign policy of the time. Still, British and American presence "could be sensed in the climate" of the Summer School throughout. Examining the history of the Summer School of Debrecen in general and the British-American presence in particular, the researcher has to: 1/ identify as many persons having visited the Summer School from the UK and the US as possible; 2/ trace the role and weight of the British/American oriented part of the programme of studies; 3/ document how the (management) of the Summer School advertized itself in the English-speaking countries; 4/ present and possibly evaluate any statements - from cursory hints to direct remarks - made on British/American-Hungarian relations by local or national government representatives, university and Summer School officials and foreign visitors.
Three facts are mentioned here to corroborate the foregoing points: 1/ A government official's speech at the closing ceremony in 1937, which speculated what might have occurred in Trianon, had a young American history teacher, a certain Woodrow Wilson turned up at one of the summer courses in Debrecen;
2/ The world-famous British historian C.A. Macartney's talk in English on the nationality problem in Central Europe in the programme of the 1939 Summer School; 3/ The 1942 lecture by professor Sándor Fest, founder and then head of the English Department in Debrecen, on English-Hungarian spiritual contacts.



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):