McWilliams, David: Peniaze. Príbeh ľudstva. Bratislava : N Press, s. r. o., 2025. 413 s. ISBN 978-80-8230-365-3 (Preklad: Jana Melcerová). (P. Molnárová)

Storočnica profesora Júliusa Albertyho (1925 – 2019)
Správa z vedeckej konferencie (P. Molnárová)

Piť, či nepiť?
Hodnotenie témy alkoholu vo vybranej súčasnej literatúre

PATRÍCIA MOLNÁROVÁ
Privátna bádateľka

To drink or not to drink? Evaluation of the topic of alcohol in selected contemporary literature

Abstract: The issue of alcohol is extremely broad and has been appearing more frequently as a topic in non-fiction literature in recent years. The aim of this text is to examine the chosen topic through three selected titles – A Brief History of Drunkenness, In Praise of Alcohol, and Alcohol as a Cultural and Historical Phenomenon. Although these are different genres (popular historical literature by Slovak and foreign authors and a collective monography by the Historical Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences), they have one thing in common. They view alcohol as a phenomenon that has accompanied humans throughout history. They do not interpret it primarily as a problem. On the contrary, they emphasize its origins, where it came from, and its use in the past. The use of alcohol has often been positive throughout history – in medicine, cosmetics, food, and everyday life. Problems associated with excessive consumption appeared later. My intention is to evaluate selected publications in a broader context – scientific, historical, cultural, and linguistic.

Keywords: alcohol, history, society, book review.

Školská politika vo Vojvodine po zrušení Vojenskej hranice (1872 – 1918) na príklade Kovačice

JAN HRĆAN
Metodické centrum, Univerzita Mateja Bela v Banskej Bystrici

School Policy in Vojvodina after the Abolition of the Military Frontier (1872–1918): The Case of Kovačica

Abstract: The study examines the development of educational policy in Vojvodina from the abolition of the Military Frontier in 1872 until the end of World War I, using the Slovak community of Kovačica as a case study. This period was marked by significant political, administrative, and cultural transformations within the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, which strongly influenced the organization and functioning of local schools. The transition from the centralized military administration to local self-government initially resulted in institutional uncertainty and conflicts between teachers, church authorities, and the population. The introduction of state control, compulsory Hungarian-language instruction, and Aponyi’s school reforms illustrates how education became a tool of nationalizing and assimilationist policies. Despite these pressures, the Slovak community in Kovačica actively sought to preserve its cultural and linguistic identity through church institutions, community engagement, and educational initiatives, including the construction of a new school and the defense of Slovak as the language of instruction. World War I brought severe disruptions to schooling due to the mobilization of teachers and wartime conditions, underscoring the fragility of education in times of crisis. The political changes of 1918 and the establishment of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes opened new opportunities for Slovak education, including official support for instruction in the mother tongue and the emergence of Slovak secondary schools and teacher-training institutions. The case of Kovačica demonstrates the complex interaction between state power, church authority, and local communities in shaping educational practices, as well as the central role of schooling in safeguarding cultural identity within a multiethnic environment.

Keywords: Slovaks abroad, Vojvodina, Kovačica, educational policy, Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, Military Frontier, Aponyi Laws, Slovak minority, language policy, national identity, school history.

„I am come with his Forces (…) to reduce it to his Obedience”
The 1663 Siege of Neuhäusel (Nové Zámky)
Through the Eyes of an Englishman

KRISTÓF SZUROMI
Institute of History, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences,
Péter Pázmány Catholic University (Hungary)

Abstract: The Habsburg-Ottoman War of 1663 was a turning point in the history of the Hungarian military theatre, as for the first time in decades, open warfare broke out again with the „Arch nemesis of Christianity.“ The main forces of the Sublime Porte marched again Westward under the leadership of the Grand Vizier and, on top of all this, they also managed to capture the fortress of Neuhäusel (Érsekújvár, Nové Zámky), which protected the approaches to Vienna. The significance of these events and the international interest they attracted is well illustrated by the 17th century work of the author presented in this study, Sir Paul Rycaut, an English diplomat, who devotes considerable attention to the military and political events taking place in the Kingdom of Hungary. In this paper, I would like to briefly present Rycaut’s reports on the siege of Érsekújvár, focusing on their accuracy and his possible sources.

Keywords: Hungarian-Ottoman wars, War of 1663, Neuhäusel/Érsekújvár/Nové Zámky, Paul Rycaut, Kingdom of Hungary.

Changes in traditional culture, language and identity issues in Slovak communities in Hungary in the context of historical research

MIROSLAV KMEŤ – PATRIK KUNEC
Katedra histórie, Filozofická fakulta, Univerzita Mateja Bela v Banskej Bystrici

Abstract: In the study authors critically reflect on selected research on the Slovak national minority living in Hungary, carried out in the period 1945 – 1990 by some ethnographers, historians and linguists from Slovak and Hungarian territory. Their research focused on the problem of change in three areas: traditional culture, language used and ethnic identity. More intensive research on Slovak communities in the Lower Land began in connection with the post-war population exchange between Czechoslovakia and Hungary, and it is interesting that ethnographic research played a dominant role in it. The authors of the analyzed outputs came to conclusions that some manifestations of traditional material and spiritual culture, which migrants brought from Slovakia, survived in a foreign-language environment for a surprisingly long time, but at the same time gradually underwent adaptation. In the case of the language used, the majority of Slovaks first transitioned to bilingualism at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries and then to the dominant use of Hungarian after the 1950s. The persistence of spiritual culture, the use of the mother language and the ethnic identity of Slovaks in the Lower Land were supported mainly by social and cultural traditions, the patriarchal model of life and the closed nature of peasant communities.

Keywords: Lower Land Slovaks, Changes of Culture and Identity, Historical and Ethnographic Research, 20th Century.

„Mali sme páchateľov a nemali sme trestný čin. Ten musel byť… hľadaný“. Činnosť komisie pre vyšetrovanie príslušníkov Ukrajinskej povstaleckej armády (banderovcov) v Československu v rokoch 1947 – 1948

MAREK SYRNÝ – MICHAL ŠMIGEĽ
Katedra histórie, Filozofická fakulta, Univerzita Mateja Bela v Banskej Bystrici

„We had the perpetrators, but we didn’t have a crime. It had to be… sought out.“ The activities of the commission investigating members of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (Banderites) in Czechoslovakia in 1947–1948 

Abstract: As a result of combat operations by the Czechoslovak army and security forces aimed at eliminating units of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UIA), which had been crossing Czechoslovak territory into the American zone in Germany since June 1947, and in view of the increasing number of Ukrainian insurgents captured and surrendering to the Czechoslovak authorities, there was a need for their lawful investigation and possible prosecution for crimes committed on the territory of the country. As part of this, the Czechoslovak Ministries of Defense and the Interior proceeded to establish a special investigative body called the „Commission for the Investigation of Crimes Committed by Bandera’s Bands on the Territory of the Czechoslovak Republic.“ Its task was to investigate the activities of the UIA units in Czechoslovakia from a criminal law perspective and to prepare the groundwork for the prosecution of captured and surrendered Ukrainian partisans. During the Commission’s activities, a total of 132 captured Ukrainian insurgents were interrogated between October 1947 and February 1948, and criminal charges were brought against them. From the perspective of today’s research into the activities of the UIA in Czechoslovakia, the Commission’s general findings regarding the organization and activities of UPA units in 1945–1946 and especially in 1947 summarized in the final documents, are particularly interesting. Although these summaries of the Commission do not always correspond to the current state of research on the activities of Ukrainian insurgents in Czechoslovakia and are largely biased by the political assessment of the UIA at the time, they nevertheless provide a wealth of valuable original information and are a valuable research source.

Keywords: Ukrainian Insurgent Army, UIA raid on the West, UIA investigation, Czechoslovakia 1947–1948.