Nation-Building and Contested Identities: Romanian & Hungarian ...

ZOLTÁN PÁLFYuniversity youth organizations in Budapest, see Kornis, Education in Hungary,pp. 143-144.18 Kornis, Education in Hungary, pp. 173 – 174.19 Szögi, “Párhuzamos utak,” p. 52.20 Yet, together with those placed at universities and academies outsideBudapest, the overall number of refugee students in 1921 may have wellamounted to 6,000. See Mócsy, The Effects of World War I, p. 192.21 Thus: 1,980 from Romania, 1,589 and 1,100, from the other two countries,respectively. See Mócsy, The Effects of World War I, p. 192.22 Országos Levéltár (Hungarian State Archive, OL) K636, VKM, 1921/86.726,lV. a. The document also underlines the deficiencies regarding the determinationof the number of refugees. It was impossible to state exact figures, sincethe criteria of the refugee-status (permanent residence, citizenship, place ofbirth, even the political status of given territories) were themselves confusingat that time. In most cases, the calculation was based on the declaration of thestudents themselves. It may well be presumed that these statements werebiased. Yet, it also seems probable that the number of those incorrectly takenas refugees and the number of those who were, again incorrectly, excludedfrom this category, is relatively small, and by and large equal each other.23 See for instance József Asztalos, “A fõiskolai hallgatók az 1926-27-estanévben” (University students in the 1926-27 academic year), Magyar StatisztikaiSzemle 11 (1927); Gyula Janik, “A fõiskolai hallgatók újabb adatai”(Recent data on university students), Statisztikai Szemle 4 (1928).24 For the pre-war data, place of origin and mother tongue/nationality are disregardedfor reasons of irrelevance. Nevertheless, in the mentioned academicyear, the University of Kolozsvár had 1,785 ethnic Hungarians, 215 Romanians(that is about 10%), 101 Saxons, and 18 others. See the above-mentioned StatisticalYearbook for 1914.25 See Laky, A M. Kir. Ferencz József, p. 30; Magyar statisztikai évkönyv, 1914, p.290; and Magyar statisztikai évkönyv, 1916-1917, 1918, p. 213.26 Such comparison, nevertheless, remains inaccurate regarding the actual numberof refugee students from Romania, since it does not include students of theacademies.27 According to Laky, already at the turn of the century one can witness a significantshift in professional orientation: more and more future intellectualsopted for the so-called “free careers” (engineering, medicine), mainly to thedetriment of law. The aura of the “lawyer-nation” almost dispersed by the1910s. Yet, with the saturation of the professional market, preference for the“liberal professions” once again decreased by the end of the decade. The ensuingwar-conjuncture changed the balance. With a quickly passing downfall inthe number of law students in 1919 (especially in Budapest), there came anunprecedented increase in 1922-1923. These fluctuations relate to a more generalproblem: the professional orientation of Hungarian students in the late19 th and early 20 th century followed the conjuncture of the day. While thesediplomas, upon completion of studies, seemed to secure steady careers, thesegenerations were nevertheless deceived in their expectations by a saturated jobmarket. Laky, A M. Kir. Ferencz József, pp. 30 -39.28 Mócsy, The Effects of World War I, pp. 192-193.194