Rotary arrived in Hungary when the BUDAPEST ROTARY CLUB was
inaugurated on February 20 1926. During the following years,
several clubs were started as follows:- Debrecen on March 27
1928; Kassa on April 12 1928; Szeged on July 6 1928; Pecs on
July 23 1928; Ungvar on September 5 1930; Miskolc on November 5
1930; Oroshaza on March 4 1931; Hodmezovasarhely on March 19
1931; Gyor on September 9 1932; Szolnok on December 8 1932;
Gyula on January 12 1933; Nyiregyhaza on February 26 1934;
Szombathely on March 9 1934; Kolozsvar on December 30 1935.
The Ungvar Club was originally admitted as Uzhorod in
Czechoslovakia. However, in 1938 this area became part of
Hungary and thereafter the club was known as Ungvar Rotary Club.
Kassa appears also as Kusovice in
Czechoslovakia.
According to the RI archives, the Kolozsvar Club of Hungary
became known as the Cluj Club in Romania. The German name of the
town, Klausenburg, is also used but in September 1940 the town
was formally assigned to Romania and thereafter was known as
Kolozsvar. After its revival in 1994, the Cluj Club appears in
District 2241 Romania!!
In the late 1930s, changes in the attitude of the government and
the country's aliance as part of the Axis regimes, led to much
criticism to Rotary and of Freemasonry With the outbreak of the
second world war, most of the clubs ceased functioning although
three continued to meet. These were in Budapest, Pecs and Szeged.
Towards the end of 1941, Szeged stopped meeting and Budapest
decided to suspend activities for a year and in view of the
situation, the District Governor resigned his office. By a
meeting in June 1942, the Board of RI accepted the position and
District 82 and the clubs in it were struck off the list, as of
June 30, 1942.
The revival of Rotary in Hungary began in 1989 with the
re-chartering of the Budapest Club and in subsequent years,
further clubs were inaugurated. District 1910, a large area with
160 clubs mostly in the Balkans, now lists 36 Hungarian Rotary
Clubs in the 2005 International Directory.
Posted 19 December 2005 by
Historian Basil Lewis |
