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The name of Debrecen
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This town had been the heart of the historical Hungary; it had been and is called "Calvin ist Rome" and was the capital of the country two times - in critical times when Hungary could be safely governed only from here.
Famous Debreceners set an example to the whole nation, its schools and scientific life were of European renown two hundred years ago, it was called the city of endurance a hundred years later; those who had left her always longed to be back, those who stayed felt the calling of far-away cultures.
The walls and people of the town are filled with immobility of the east and the restless spirit of the west; as Pál Gulyás , one of the poets born here wrote : "Debrecen, old harbour, welding lands together!"
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Before the conquest
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From the 6th century the region was probably the borderland of the Black-Sea Scythian cultural area till the Scythian population was assimilated into the Celtic community spreading east.
Remainders of the Celtic culture extending from the British aisles to Asia Minor - urns, brazen bracelets and iron appliances - were found in the cemeteries of the Tócó-vale. The Iranian origin Sarmatians succeeded to the weakening Celts, the Yazig tribe which had settled here separated from the Roxolans and turned to agriculture.
Various Germanic tribes occupied the territory in the 3rd-4th centuries - Gepids, Vandals, Western Goths. At the end of the 4th century the dreaded warriors of the East - the Huns - appeared and the area was located near the centre of the expanding empire. The Gepids survived the Hun rule; after the fall of the empire in 453 they established a kingdom in Transylvania. By that time the Avars were approaching - the nomadic equestrian people that had put an end to the rule of the Germanic tribes in the Carpathian Basin by 567 and created political unity in the Danube - Tisza region; thus one of the most important conditions of the formation of an integral European state is given. This state could not be born at that time. The Carpathian Basin disintegrated again and the Debrecen region fell under Bulgarian-Turkish administration. The abandoned areas are inhabited by Turkish and Slavic people.
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Debrecen in the middle ages
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Without written records we can only assume the former location of the village called Debrecen. Most likely the village lay in the place of the Big Church and the once Paptava ( the present Déri square ). This village had vanished nearly entirely. In 1913, at the foundations of Hotel Aranybika seventy-six coins were found; the latest ones are from the age of Stephen V ( 1270 - 1272 ). Traces of the village did not remain because the centre of the town was gradually filling up which process lasted for centuries. The lake had disappeared and the remains sank into the depth.
According to other opinions the old village was located in the vicinity of Domb street . Probably a loose set of villages was formed; it is certain that a village called Szentlászlófalva was situated in the district east of Péterfia street and in the neighbourhood of the railway station another village - Boldogasszonyfalva or Torna - was built. The most precious relics of this era as well were brought to the surface from cemeteries : probably there were graveyards in the vicinity of the Big Church, in Diószegi street and on the banks of the Tócó-stream.
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The name of Debrecen ( as Debrezun ) first appeared in a collection of sentences known as the "Regestrum of Várad" in 1235. The Slavic derivation of the name "Debrecen" is a false idea; more likely, the word is of Turkish ( or Avar - Turkish ) origin and bears the memory of its first owner; it means "live, move" and it had a protective function. An Episcopal tithe-roll from 1295 reveals that the village at that time is the property of three noblemen of the same family - Rophoin, Péter and Dósa. Rophoin was a loyal soldier of king Ladislas (László) IV *071 (the Cuman); he acquired two thirds of the village. The second biggest part belonged to Master Dósa, Mester street bears his name. Péter had the smalleft part, Péterfia street is named after his grandson, Jakab Péterfia. Szentlászlófalva was assimilited into Debrecen around that time; its inhabitants most probably were killed in the Tartar invasion. |
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The rise of Debrecen is due to Dósa
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he marched against the rebellious palatine Kopasz, and gained a victory in the battle of Debrecen. He was appointed bailiff, then judge, voivode of Transylvania and finally palatine in 1322 by the king. The biggest Gothic church of the region, St. Andrew's church was built under Dósa's administration. By 1325, when Charles Robert next visited Debrecen he found a settlement that was hardly behind the other market-towns in development. Palatine Dósa died at the age of fifty but his sons continued his work. Thanks to their efforts the town-council was formed in 1332. Thus Debrecen became a centre of a wealthy estate and an administrative and juridical seat of the eastern region. They switched to extensive animal husbandry; wool and leather processing were progressing quickly, and guilds were formed, like the clothiers' guild the name of which Csapó street bears.
By the middle of the 14th century the administrational system of Debrecen was so advanced that the descendants of palatine Dósa could rightfully apply for market-town privileges to king Louis the Great. *073 The charter was issued in 1361. Thus, Debrecen could look forward to the 15th century as a prosperous town of a flourishing European empire.
In 1405, with the dying out of the male line of the family owning Debrecen their property had passed to king Sigismund *074 of Luxembourg. Sigismund gave the town rights that only Buda had been endowed with before; the right of holding markets, and permission was given to build a stone wall around the town 
(although for want of building material they were not able to carry it out). From 1411 merchants of the town were not obliged to pay customs duties anywhere in the country and the citizens of the town were relieved from taxation.
Around the middle of the century János Hunyadi *075 became the owner of the town and the estate. In practice his wife, Erzsébet Szilágyi exercised his rights as the landlord was involved in national affairs.
King Matthias *076 exempted the town from paying treasury-tax and made it possible for villains to move in 1459. In 1477 he gave Debrecen the most important privilege - the right to stop passing merchants. In 1484 Matthias relieved the citizens of the town from paying all kinds of personal and property taxes, even permits them to sell salt purchased from the Treasury without restrictions.
The successors of Matthias strengthened the privileged situation of Debrecen. Vladislas II *081 grants the town permission to hold six markets a year and Louis II, *082 the later martyr of Mohács also saw to Debrecen's countrywide exemption from duties.
János Szapolyai , *083 a landlord of the town became sovereign of Hungary in 1526 but he neglected this property of his. He had pawned it to various landlords.
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On the border of three countries
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Ferdinand I of the Habsburgs *084 acknowledged the belonging of Debrecen together with Bihar county to Transylvania. The treaty places Debrecen under the control of János Szapolyai . *083 When the formerly good connections between Transylvania and Habsburg Hungary worsened the imperial-royal forces demonstrated their strength via raiding tours in Debrecen. No wonder if the town - in secret - swore an oath of loyalty to the Emperor in 1567; they paid regular taxes for living in peace.
The Sultan of Turkey also wanted to annex the territory. In 1555 the town submitted to the Sultan and paid a stiff tax to him. Naturally the next landlord - John Sigismund, *087 the Prince of Transylvania - imposed taxes on the town, as well.
Villages and towns fell prey to the marauding Turkish and Austrian troops, one after the other. People fled into the town that offered security. The population of the town reaches 7-8000 and fires ravage the hurriedly built streets. Epidemics break out and in 1594 a huge swarm of locusts overran the territory; they tried to exterminate the insects with cannons.
Yet the outlook of the town is not that of a terror stricken community struggling for life. The industrious Debreceners did not let the opportunity of economic rise slip. The markets attract merchants from more and more distant places.
We can see stallholders selling products of craftsmen from Miskolc, Eperjes, and Kézsmárk, even German cattle-dealers. The merchants of Debrecen sell renowned goods of local craftsmen from honey-cake to harnesses; they had been to places all over the world, they set up shops in western cities and in Istanbul, sold thousands of horses in the east, their stocks were selling well from Belgium to Russia.
Owing to the wartime cattle-drivers turned into armed escorts. Not even religion could remain untouched in those turbulent times. Bálint Török - a Protestant himself - moved a minister called Bálint into the town and thence Reformation comes into force here as well. Márton Kálmáncsehi Sánta, a prominent representative of the Helvetian creed who had arrived into Debrecen in 1551 furthered the spreading of the movement. Next year Catholic churches were taken over by the Reformed Church, the rule of the Roman Catholic Church came to an end. The town became "Calvin ist Rome" under the administration of bishop Péter Méliusz Juhász, the most famous reformer of the town; the Debrecen synod of 1567 issued the "Profession of Christian Creed" that became the charter for the whole reformed Hungary. A close co-operation took shape between the town and the new Church; the citizens supported the Church and the schools run by it with remarkable amounts.
In the last few years of the century Zsigmond Báthori , *077 the Prince of Transylvania ceded the supremacy over Transylvania to the Habsburg ruler. The commanders of Rudolf I *085 ravagingly turned on Debrecen extorting money from the burgesses. The subject of the Vienna war council in 1602 was the settling of German people into Debrecen and its vicinity. Help was to come from Transylvania. István Bocskai , *078 the wealthiest landlord of Bihar county, organized an army in order to curb the marauding Austrian troops. The Hajduks played an important role in the success of the swoop. Bocskai signed a secret agreement with the leaders of the Hajduks serving the imperial forces according to which the Hajduks side with him in a battle. On 15th October, 1604 Bocskai and his Hajduks defeated the enemy in a battle near Álmosd and marched into Debrecen. In return Bocskai raised the Hajduks to noble rank and settled them in the area ( in Dorog, Nánás, Hadház, Szoboszló, Polgár , Vámospércs and later Böszörmény ). From 1619 the landlord of the town is the Prince himself. Gábor Bethlen *079 confirmed the former privileges, gives relief from taxation and owing to his support St. Andrew's church could be rebuilt. The town slowly emerged to national importance : the Prince issued his leaflet of great renown, the Complaint of Hungary, here and from 1624 delegates of the town attend the parliaments of Gyulafehérvár. György Rákóczi I also supported the town. His son, György Rákóczi II *080 is not able to maintain the delicate balance of the country and came up against the Porte; he cannot gain the goodwill of Leopold I either. The Turks set out against Transylvania; in the spring of 1660 pasha Szejdi Ahmed - after burning the Hajduk-towns - arrived in Debrecen.
The dreaded pasha demanded 300.000 gold coins from the town; the burgesses were forced to borrow money.
With the failure of Várad the situation of Debrecen became critical since imperial forces marched into the town. The Turks were punishing Debrecen for feeding the Germans, the Germans for submitting to the Turks.
The soldiers of Leopold I *088 grew bold by the weakening power of the Turkish empire. In the year of the liberation of Buda general Caraffa had a million forints tribute collected from the citizens of Debrecen - the yearly payment of the wealthiest burgess was 450 forints at that time - and in return set the town on fire.
This is the time when the 1693 charter of Leopold I is issued. It is an acknowledgement of the contribution of Debrecen to war costs and raises the town to the status of a Free Royal City.
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Debrecen in the 18th-19th century
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The self-protective behaviour and reservedness of the leaders and citizens of the town originated from this. This is the time when to the name "cívis " a pejorative aspect is attached; although the word simply means townsman, citizen. It is true that the cívis have been a peculiar type of people from the beginning : product of the strange, Hungarian way of urbanization and emburgeoisement. A privileged social class that as opposed to noble estates played a leading role in the social-economic life of the town. Owing to its homogeneous economic system, language, culture and religion it was formed into a strong, loyal community. This loyalty had turned into reservedness under external influence. No wonder if the cívis went on the defensive, refusing outer - mainly German and Austrian - influence. Since there was no hope for renewal according to their own taste they set themselves to preserving the old and refused everything that was new - even if beneficial for the community. This backwardness sealed the doom of the cívis society; in the second half of the 19th century the leading branches of economy were taken over by the new-type capitalist bourgeoisie.
During the Rákóczi rebellion the inhabitants of Debrecen were forced to leave their town five times because of fights and raids of marauders. In 1703 town judge István Dobozi swore an oath of loyalty to the prince; although by way of precaution he did not send soldiers to him officially, he supported Rákóczi *086 by means of money, ammunition and advice as long as he could. A group of irregulars recruited from the poorest citizens of Debrecen joined the forces of the prince voluntarily. The successor of Dobozi, György Komáromi Csipkés began negotiations with the commander-in-chief of the imperial forces on Rákóczi's authority; the Treaty of Szatmár closing the rebellion was worded in the residence of the judge.
Debrecen swore an oath of allegiance to Joseph I ; *089 owing to this the parliament of 1715 confirmed the city's royal status.
In the town where a Roman Catholic had not even been allowed to settle since 1552 a site had to be assigned for a Catholic church. The church had been completed by 1745 though the Catholic community ran only to one and a half - two per cent of the population. Catholic and Reformed town judges had to be elected alternately and records were kept in German. Joseph II *091 simply relieved judge Lajos Domokos who resisted his efforts at Germanization. Publications of the renowned printing house were censored. The autonomy of the College *211 is limited, students can visit only universities in Germany - Halle, Göttingen, Berlin. The autonomy of the town practically perishes by the end of the century; it is annexed to Várad, the Catholic cathedral town.
The flourishing trade is arrested by history by now; only four markets are kept a year instead of the former eight.
Merchants and craftsmen cannot make their living; they have to purchase or rent land. The customs order of Maria Theresa *090 cut off traditional trade-routes towards the Baltic states, Moldavia, Augsburg and Turkey.
Back in 1715 still every other person lives on some trade and every fifth was a merchant and only one third of the population is engaged in economy. Sixty years later a half of the population earn their meagre living by agriculture. The foundation of saltpetre shareholding company by Miklós Vay in 1799 marks the beginning of a new era in Debrecen.
The " biggest village in Europe ", as the town was still described by an English traveller at the end of the 18th century, starts to assume a more urban appearance in her outlook, too. After the largest fire of her history in 1802 Debrecen rises again from her ashes with the vitality of the phoenix, the symbol bird of the town.
Several decades pass and the architecture of the centre shows the puritan disciplined style of Classicism. The vigorous town keeps growing and it is the second largest in size populated by about fifty thousand people at the turn of the century.
History shakes the town searching for her new identity in January 1849 when the Hungarian Government moves here. It is true though that the high winds of the revolution had swept the streets before and the General Assembly of the town have passed the twelve articles of 15 March, just two days after they were published.
In August equal civil rights are proclaimed for everyone who has a property in Debrecen. The National Guards is formed instantly and the seventy-year-old mayor is the first to volunteer and soon they have 1300 infantry-men and 40 cavalry-men in their ranks.
The famous Reformed College *211 with all the teachers and students interrupted its normal activities to join the struggle for one and a half year. The college was the centre of the capital of the revolution where the Kossuth banknotes were printed and the oratorio 
*225 was the site of the meetings of parliament. No sooner did Lajos Kossuth the governor proclaim independence in the Big Church *210 on 14 April 1849 than the Russian army were on their way to outnumber the troops of József-Nagy Sándor in a battle near Debrecen.
Having won an overwhelming victory general Paskievits occupied the town and tormented her people. Services and masses had to be held for the oppression of the Hungarian revolution and they had to proclaim the constitution of the Habsburg Empire which knows nothing about a place called Hungary. The self-government of the town and the autonomy of the Protestant Church was wiped off with a single stroke.
After the town regained her autonomy in 1861 Franz Joseph *092 visited the scene of his dethronement first in 1852 and then in 1857. Capitalism in its own ways ( subjected to Austrian interests ) starts to develop in both the country and the town. In the year of the second visit of the emperor the first railway line is opened between Szolnok and Debrecen.
New capitalist industries open one after the other: István Steam-mill (1848), Alföld Raw Beet Sugar Refinery (1863) Gas Works and Tobacco Factory (1887), Railway Repair Shop (1890), Brush Factory and Furniture Factory (80's), Brick Factory (1894). After the Austro-Hungarian Settlement the progress is further accelerated by the establishment of banks.
Insurance companies are founded and the Budapest General Social Security and Invalid Support Company is formed.
By the 20th century Debrecen ranks among the first in the economy of the country: it has 71 holding companies in 1912 and only Budapest and Nagyvárad have more. Her population grows by 150 % in fifty years (75.000) and serious social problems arise in the rapidly capitalizing town revealing themselves in occasional strikes after 1910.
Life stirs up in the rapidly growing city, the theatre (1865), the town railways (1884) to be replaced by the tram in 1911, modern telephone system
(1910's), the first electric street light bulbs (1908) are more or less the results of the same period.
Famous people visit the town from a number of countries. Mr. Sommerville a Scottish minister of the free church has a lecture in the crowded town-hall and a delegation of fifty farmers from England visit Debrecen in 1902.
Raymond Reconly French scientist came here to study the country's ethnography and ethnic minorities in the same year and a year later Kai Laitinen arrived with similar purposes.
As early as 1911 the public can hear about radium at the lecture-experiment of Hermann Schaffer a famous German scientist. The same year sees the visit of British, Scottish, Swiss and American delegates of the Presbyterian World Association. In 1912 Austrian farmers arrived to study agriculture.
Some Debreceners earned a reputation abroad as well: in 1897 the flute of Soma Schmitt won the first prize at the London Music Exposition, in 1909 György Harangi, a local painter was awarded a gold medal by the English jury at the Hungarian Exhibition, also in London.
In 1896 a festive general assembly, thanksgiving service and a mass entertainment in the Big Forest are held in honour of the Millennium. In the first half of the 20th century the world-famous violinist, Coltberson gave a concert in Debrecen, as well as the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra and the Wiener Tonkünstler-Orchester. In 1910 twenty thousand people attend the spectacular air-display of a French pilot.
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The 20th century
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After the victorious revolution of 1919 the National Council which had provided the political background for the Károlyi-Government assumed power in Debrecen, as well. Debrecen is relatively peaceful for the national guard protect civil property from raiders.
The Károlyi-Government had no means to handle the overall crisis. When the word came that the Hungarian Soviet Republic had taken over armed workers overran public buildings and offices. A directorate of three members was formed which immediately began taking factories, lands into public ownership. The measures evoked a wide-ranging protest and in answer to it representatives of the proletarian dictatorship introduced summary jurisdiction. On 23 April the Rumanian army marched into Debrecen. In a few days six thousand Debreceners ( most of them workers ) volunteered to defend the country.
The town suffered a damage of several million crowns in the year of the Rumanian rule. Withdrawing they took all they could. In 1920 the French colonel of the Allies handed Debrecen to the Hungarian authorities. In April regent Miklós Horthy himself visited the town. Clean-ups began.
As a result of the Treaty of Trianon Debrecen is in the frontier region again. This time, however, connections with Transylvania are entirely broken and thousands of refugees arrived from the disannexed territories.
Consolidation started in 1921. Thanks to the, so called, Speyer-loan the town can modernize its old sewerage system, can build schools and kindergartens, surface some of its roads with asphalt, raise a museum, thermal bath and a crematorium. The building of the university starts and the Déri Museum is completed. Several industrial works are being developped.
Advancement is broken by the Great Depression of 1929. The town ran into debt, unemployment rose and by 1933 it reached seven thousand. The Fascist Germany put a hardly bearable pressure on the country in 1937. In the age of Anti-Jewish laws the famous bishop of the Reformed Church of Debrecen, Imre Révész stood out openly against anti-Semitism.
The Second World War meant a dark page in Debrecen's history, as well. In 1944 the town became a seat of operations; those who could, took flight. Multiple bomb raids destroy the southern district.
Every second building is ruined or damaged. Bomb attacks killed five thousand people, nine thousand Jews were carried off. By 20 October the front line had passed the town.
The people of Debrecen began the removal of ruins immediately. On 21 October there was electricity and the first train set off eight days later.
In November schools were opened, the Public Library was brought into action, in December the first concert and a literary celebration are kept. The ruined city is preparing to be the capital for the second time. The Provisional National Assembly is opened in December. Following the traditions the sessions are held in the oratorio of the College. The president is Béla Zsedényi , the renowned lawyer-politician from Miskolc. One of the two vice-presidents is a brain surgeon from Debrecen, Kálmán Sántha, the other is Sándor Juhász-Nagy. The following day the Provisional National Government is formed, headed by general Miklós Béla Dálnoky, the Minister of Agriculture is Imre Nagy , the former mayor, and the Minister of Finance is István Vásáry . The armistice negotiations, the agrarian reform and the organization of the new army began in Debrecen. The Association of Hungarian Writers is formed and on the initiative of a painter from Debrecen, Kálmán Gáborjáni Szabó, the Association of Hungarian Artists is founded. The first literary magazine, the Hungarians was edited by Géza Juhász, a son of Debrecen.
The energetic, arbitrary industrialization of the fifties did not leave Debrecen untouched; but the environment lacking energy sources and raw material and transportation prevented the city from being the capital of steel and iron. Traditional processing factories survived and were even extended ( Canning Factory , Poultry Processing Plant ) and new branches of industry requiring little raw material but much care were founded ( Bearing Factory, Medicor Surgical Instruments Factory, Biogal Pharmaceutical Works ). The town itself was also rebuilt gradually; although it could not be proud of the buildings raised at that time since they were products of the schematism spreading through Eastern Europe.
The city became the centre of Hajdú-Bihar county, established in 1950.
The suffocating spirit of the fifties tied up Debrecen, as well. No wonder if in 1956 demonstrations broke out at the same time as in the capital - a few hours earlier in fact. The demonstrators were lead by delegates from the universities, on the other side party secretaries, presidents of the council sat. The Socialist Revolutionary Committee was formed in the party centre in Perényi street. It immediately qualified the events as revolution, three days before the statement of Imre Nagy .
Boomings were heard in the streets of the city on 23 October, already: the state security authorities tried to provoke armed clashes but the solemnity of the officers prevented this; they secured public buildings but refused to fire at the crowd, younger officers even sided with the rebellion. To the Party headquarters in Akadémia street reports came that "fascist gangs had taken over and were chasing communists". In fact, communists were running without being chased - to the Soviet military airport and returned together with the invading forces. On 4 November events follow each other according to the central scenario : officers of the Soviet army arrest the members of the Revolutionary Committee; their leaders are carried off to the Soviet airport and the barracks in Sámsoni street.
Officers supporting the revolution were also taken there. After that they were taken to Uzghorod and were brought back in November. They were interrogated by policemen, former state security executives. By January indictments were completed and retaliations could begin; political cases are created one by one, witnesses of the defence could not even attend the trials. Two of the local leaders of the revolution were sentenced to death, others to imprisonment from one year to life. Judgements of the second appeal court were more lenient. The martyr of Debrecen was József Szilágyi , police superintendent of the city, the personal secretary of Imre Nagy . People with a bad record could get jobs only at the goodwill of leaders of some institutions (like the Reformed College) even in the sixties.
In the strongly centralized country Debrecen was pushed to the edge both in the economic and cultural aspects of the word. In 1961 a great celebration was held on the sixth centennial of the acquisition of the rank of market town.
Leaders of the city laid great stress on urbanization. Garden suburbs perished and huge blocks of flats were raised instead.
Properties of the Church were no longer confiscated; the building of the Reformed Grammar School and the university church were taken into municipal property through legal business transaction.
The city was progressing in spite of every perversity. The High Street and Kálvin square were renewed and traffic was enlivened by a new transversal road (Hunyadi street).The sewerage system was expanding at an increasingly rapid pace and owing to the gas fields in Hajdúszoboszló the number of flats with gas installed is higher than the national average, new hospitals, consulting rooms, pharmacies were built.
In the place of Kölcsey's house a cultural centre was built; the Csokonai Theatre and the Reformed College were renewed.
In 1970 the trolley system between Debrecen and Budapest was completed and the railway station was furnished with a subway. In the summers hundreds of thousands of tourists visit the capital of the plains.
The university preserved its standards and even improved them, so first the Faculty of Economy was started then the Faculty of Law, cancelled in the dark Fifties, was re-established. With her three universities, one academy, two technical schools, eight grammar schools, several secondary schools Debrecen remained a school-city in the eighties. Its cultural life is becoming more and more unique in the country (see next chapter).
The dismemberment of the Communist block in 1989 brought fundamental changes into the city's life. The first symptoms were macabre: the flourishing industries of Debrecen went under one after the other, because more than anywhere else in the country they were dependent on the undemanding Eastern markets. Nevertheless, freedom accelerated the economic transformation of the area and finally the city's life was in her own hands. The Opposition’s Round Table (ORT) was formed in 1989 and they made an agreement with the management of the city in the local council about the general political etiquette to be followed until the elections. The first freely elected government of the city took office in 1991. Dr. József Hevessy, physicist from the Biophysics Department of the Medical University was elected by a majority formed by the Free Democratic Party, the Young Democratic Party and the National Democratic Forum. The ways of the future were from now decided with the participation of the general public and the majority of the citizens of Debrecen.
The grudges - sometimes going back to centuries - will perhaps be healed at last. The historical reconciliation was initiated by the visit of John Paul II in August 1991. The Pope lay a wreath on the Memorial of the Galley Slaves to commemorate the Protestant ministers taken prisoners in 1675 and to help the process of forgiving in the political climate of the day.