The work of László Huszár
Hungarian Heritage Award
Hungarian Heritage Award winner László Huszár (Réte, October 31, 1951 – February 8, 2021) was a Hungarian cultural organizer in Slovakia, one of the most prominent figures in Hungarian cultural organization in the Highlands. Life: He graduated from the Hungarian Language High School in Szent in 1970, graduated as a teacher in 1989 at the Faculty of Humanities of Comenius University, and then as a cultural mediator in 2008 at the Faculty of Pedagogy and Psychology of ELTE, Budapest. Once a bass player in the beat band Bolygó Hollandik, László Huszár has been working for the Csemadok since 1977: between 1977-1979 he was an instructor in the organization department of the Csemadok Central Committee, while from November 1979 to the summer of 1986 he was the organizer of the Dunaszerdahely Regional Committee of the Csemadok. Between 1986-1989 he became the head of the art department of the Dunaszerdahely Urban Cultural Center, and then from 1989 he has been active in the Csemadok again, where he served as the secretary of the regional committee between 1991-2007. Between 2003-2004, László Huszár was the initiator of the establishment of the Csemadok Cultural Institute, of which he was the director from 2007 to 2012. He managed the Hungarian Cultural Institute of Slovakia from its establishment on January 1, 2013 until his death. His work: In the 1990s, László Huszár initiated the idea that, in order to strengthen professionalism, the available financial resources should be coordinated and that a circle of professionals should be formed who would, on the one hand, help prepare amateur ensembles and groups, and, on the other hand, conduct ethnographic collection work, local history research within the gradually developing institutional framework, and contribute to the creation of a Hungarian folk art and folk music document archive in the Highlands. He gradually established the Csemadok Cultural Institute, for which he created not only its financial conditions, but also its legal foundations within Csemadok. The Hungarians of the Mura region (Slovenia) provided an example for the development of the structural form of the institution, who had already established the Cultural Institute in Lendva, and their colleagues also contacted the representatives of the Csemads. Many people were skeptical about this initiative, fearing that it would lead to fragmentation. Finally, after considerable convincing efforts and lobbying, in 2003, it was included in the statutes of the Csemads that the Cultural Institute operates under the auspices of the social and public cultural association, and that its founder is the national presidency of the Csemads, from whose members the board of directors of the institute is drawn. From 2013, the Csemads Cultural Institute changed its name to the Slovak Hungarian Cultural Institute, which was made necessary by certain amendments to the law. The institute will of course continue to operate under the auspices of the Csemadok, but it can apply more easily for certain grants, which of course does not automatically mean that it will receive the approved amount on time following a successful application. This arrives almost every year with a delay of several months, and it is only thanks to the patience and understanding of the organizers and contributors that the events are still realized. The Gyurcsó István Foundation has been operating within the framework of the Cultural Institute since the 1990s, and has published a series of local history and ethnographic publications. The number of these is now approaching 100. The Institute also provided the professional background for several national folk art, stage art and music events (e.g. the Danube Spring competition for children's actors and puppeteers, the national event known as the Purple Beautiful Rose for folk singers and groups since 1997, the Tompa Mihály Poetry and Prose Storytelling Competition, the Ipolyi Arnold Slovak Hungarian Folk Tale Telling Competition, etc.). It also organized various gatherings (e.g. the National Meeting of the Cither Bands) or summer professional camps, where, for example, folk singers, zither players, child actors or puppeteers can acquire not only theoretical but also practical knowledge under the guidance of distinguished professionals. Many people assisted the activities of the Cultural Institute as external collaborators and free of charge (!). They are mostly teachers, museum employees, local historians, ethnographers, musicians, journalists, editors, actors, etc. The internal staff were primarily the managers of the various collections and data repositories of the Hungarian Cultural Institute of Slovakia. The Institute continuously collects documents of authentic Hungarian folklore (folk music, folk dance, folk tales) recorded on audio and video media, and at the same time digitizes the recordings made in the traditional way, which are now also available on the Internet. The institute, based in Dunaszerdahely, also became a member of the Carpathian Basin Public Cultural Roundtable, which is the institutional background of the public cultural activities of Hungarian communities across the border. The roundtable was chaired by László Huszár. A few years ago, László Huszár launched the movement called the Upper Hungarian Value Archive, which aimed to take stock of the intellectual and material values and architectural heritage of individual settlements and regions inhabited by Hungarians. He tried to involve as many people as possible in this activity, from the youngest to the oldest. As a result of the exploratory work, many old customs that had almost been forgotten have come back into the public consciousness, but the research has also revealed a lot of interesting and new data about former sports life and former crafts that were displaced by technological progress. László Huszár sadly stated, among other things, that minority Hungarian politics is proceeding along antagonistic lines, and the political division of the Hungarians in the Highlands makes institution-building very difficult. Support for culture is “ad hoc” in nature and largely depends on politicians, while they are not at all interested in how this whole thing actually works. There are currently about 1,500 civil society organizations in the Highlands (half of which do not operate within the framework of the Csemadok) and of course they compete for grant funding, so individual and community interests inevitably clash. The solution would be cultural self-administration, i.e. autonomy, but there is currently little chance of this. For the survival of the Hungarians in the Uplands, the strengthening of the background institutions, their organization, development plan, and coordination are necessary so that the direction is set and it works in all systems, he said in Nagymegyeren on September 16, 2020. “Over time, tools change, new systems are built. The future speaks of artificial intelligence, electronics, and data storage, thanks to which society and culture will be transformed. Digitalization is an internet challenge, and organizations cannot live without it today. We also provide information about ourselves via the internet, we can include our values in a national register. Thanks to this recording, there is hope that these values can live on even longer. With the internet world, we can now more easily approach it, we can more easily bring into our souls the knowledge that only spreads in this form in the world. With the store of values, we will continue to create value in the future, and in order to strengthen their further existence, we must bring our values into this store of values, into the public consciousness. During the research of values, many interesting things come to light, which are of value not only to locals, but also to those living far away. For example, if we say that a photo speaks, then we are right there with the truth.” – said László Huszár, the former director of the Hungarian Cultural Institute in Slovakia. We can take his last words to consider when he explained that cultural work must be carried out in professional workshops, classes, and rehearsals. A further training program must be created. The leaders of the groups must participate in training courses to be adequately prepared. Today, the tradition is not passed on during everyday life, but during festive occasions, when preparing for them, and during events. This must become a public and political background intention, because it also strengthens identity. His recognitions: in 2008, he was awarded the KÓTA (Association of Hungarian Choirs and Orchestras) Award – patron category, in 2015, he was awarded the Csallóköz Culture Award, in 2018 he received the Gyurcsó István Award and the Hungarian Golden Cross of Merit. 2020 – Illyés Gyula Award László Huszár was known to everyone who had participated in at least one national Csemadok event or professional training. He was known to teachers working with talented children, group leaders, folk musicians, dancers, puppeteers, actors, storytellers, and even rock musicians, as he was even a member of the jury of the Slovak Hungarian Light Music Review. He did the work of at least three or four people enthusiastically, tirelessly, until the last moment, with a passion that would put twenty-year-olds to shame.