The Children’s Republic of Gaudiopolis

The History and Memory of a Children’s Home for Holocaust and War Orphans (1945–1950)

Gergely Kunt (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

248 Seiten

2022
Central European University Press (Verlag)
978-963-386-443-2 (ISBN)

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Gaudiopolis (The City of Joy) was a pedagogical experiment that operated in a post–World War II orphanage in Budapest. This book tells the story of this children’s republic that sought to heal the wounds of wartime trauma, address prejudice and expose the children to a firsthand experience of democracy. The children were educated in freely voicing their opinions, questioning authority, and debating ideas.

The account begins with the saving of hundreds of Jewish children during the Siege of Budapest by the Lutheran minister Gábor Sztehlo together with the International Red Cross. After describing the everyday life and practices of self-rule in the orphanage that emerged from this rescue operation, the book tells how the operation of the independent children’s home was stifled after the communist takeover and how Gaudiopolis was disbanded in 1950.

The book then discusses how this attempt of democratization was erased from collective memory. The erasure began with the banning of a film inspired by Gaudiopolis. The Communist Party financed Somewhere in Europe in 1947 as propaganda about the construction of a new society, but the film’s director conveyed a message of democracy and tolerance instead of adhering to the tenets of socialist realism. The book breaks the subsequent silence on “The City of Joy,” which lasted until the fall of the Iron Curtain and beyond.

Gergely Kunt is a social historian and Assistant Professor at the University of Miskolc, Hungary. He is one of the founding members of the European Ego-Documents Archive and Collections Network (EDAC). He was European Holocaust Research Infrastructure (EHRI) Fellow at the Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust-Studies; Core Fellow at Institute for Advanced Study at Central European University; Weickart Postdoctoral Fellow at Fritz Bauer Institut at University of Frankfurt am Main.

Foreword

Susan Rubin Suleiman

Acknowledgements

Introduction

The History of Child Rescue in Budapest

Hungary’s Protestant Churches and the International Red Cross’s Attempts to Rescue Children

From Red Cross Children’s Homes to the PAX Orphanage

A Christian Orphanage with Doors Open to All

The Inhabitants of PAX

Art Therapy as a Means for Processing Trauma: Our Newspaper and On Our Own

The Cultural History of Halandzsa in Hungary

Freedom of Opinion

Gaudiopolis: Democracy as a Game and the Game of Democracy

The Legends and Sources of Inspiration Connected to Gaudiopolis

The Young People’s State of Gaudiopolis

Gaudiopolis in the Contemporary Media

Immortalizing Orphans and the War in a Communist Propaganda Film

The First Post-War Movie in Hungary: Somewhere in Europe (1947)

The Film’s Influence and Reception

Conclusion

Appendix

Sources and Bibliography

Index

Erscheinungsdatum	04.10.2021
Übersetzer	Maya J. Lo Bello
Vorwort	Susan Rubin Suleiman
Zusatzinfo	9 Illustrations, black and white
Verlagsort	Budapest
Sprache	englisch
Maße	155 x 229 mm
Gewicht	500 g
Themenwelt	Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► 1918 bis 1945
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Politische Systeme
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Politische Theorie
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie ► Spezielle Soziologien
ISBN-10	963-386-443-7 / 9633864437
ISBN-13	978-963-386-443-2 / 9789633864432
Zustand	Neuware