Upper Hungary Magyar Educational Society

The Upper Hungary Magyar Educational Society (Hungarian: Felvidéki/Felsőmagyarországi Magyar Közművelődési Egyesület, FEMKE, also FMKE; Slovak: Hornouhorský maďarský vzdelávací spolok) was an organisation in Upper Hungary, founded on 20 November 1883,[1][2] that conducted Magyarisation initiatives among the region's predominantly ethnic Slovak population.[3] By sponsoring cultural activities, education for children, and the establishment of libraries and courses in the Hungarian language, the Society aimed to assimilate Slovaks into the country's Hungarian population while spreading the general use of Hungarian, then the official state language.[4] It was based in Nyitra, now the city of Nitra in western Slovakia, and was supported by the prominent Hungarian nationalist Béla Grünwald[5] and the Bishop of Nitra, Imre Bende.[6] The organisation met some success: between 1900 and 1910, the proportion of self-identified Slovaks in Nyitra County dropped by over 6 percent, thanks in part to its efforts,[7] and by 1910, it was estimated that 21 percent of the Slovak population in the country as a whole had learned Hungarian.[8] The Society came to operate 227 libraries across Upper Hungary.[8] Its establishment was followed by the setting up of a similar society in Transylvania.[9] FEMKE was ultimately dissolved in 1919 after the breakup of the Kingdom of Hungary.[3]

The flag of the Upper Hungary Magyar Educational Society

References
  1. Škvarna, Dušan; Bartl, Július; et al. (2002). Slovak History: Chronology & Lexicon. Translated by David P. Daniel. Bolchazy-Carducci. p. 110.
  2. Judson, Pieter M. (2016). The Habsburg Empire: A New History. Harvard University Press. p. 305.
  3. Tomiš, Karol (1999). "A magyar irodalom fordítások útján való fogadtatása a szlovák irodalmi kultúrában (1860–1918)". Irodalomtörténeti Közlemények (in Hungarian). 1/2: 41–77.
  4. Škvarna et al. 2002, pp. 110–1.
  5. Kirschbaum, Stanislav J. (2010). "Upper Hungarian Educational Association". The A to Z of Slovakia. The Scarecrow Press. pp. 300–1.
  6. Lőrinczy, György (1896). "Nyitra vármegye társadalma". In Sziklay, János; Borovszky, Samu (eds.). Magyarország vármegyéi és városai (in Hungarian).
  7. Mace Ward, James (2013). Priest, Politician, Collaborator: Jozef Tiso and the Making of Fascist Slovakia. Cornell University Press. p. 16.
  8. Maxwell, Alexander (2009). Choosing Slovakia: Slavic Hungary, the Czechoslovak Language and Accidental Nationalism. I.B. Tauris. p. 151.
  9. Köpeczi, Béla (2002). History of Transylvania: From 1830 to 1919. Columbia University Press. p. 654.
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