“In the history of West-Hungary, the KRAFT research hypothesis (Creative City, Sustainable Region) identifies networks of institutions and individuals and the interactions between these networks as the key sources of sustained and sustainable creativity and knowledge production. The results of our research so far have drawn attention to a large number of hitherto under-appreciated factors in the networks of the aristocracy and of noble society in general. Edit Balázs has been given the task of leading a small research group on networks related to the region’s Jewry.

Previous projects of the working group have included an overview of the history of Zionism in Western Hungary, the specific world of Jewish women’s associations in Szombathely between the two world wars, and a longer-term comparative study of the role of local Jewry in the economic, social and cultural modernization processes of the 19th and early 20th centuries in some cities of the region. We organized a conference on this topic on 18 February 2020 in Kőszeg, Hungary, under the title “The Participation of Jewry in Civilisation in Different Regions of Hungary”. The topic was the intertwined history of Jewry and civilization in Heves and Békés counties, Szeged, Tapolca, Szombathely and Kőszeg (a volume of papers is in preparation) and a recent result of the latter research is the history of Jewry in Körmend.”

Read the full review by historian Attila Pók in the November 2021 issue of Szombat – Jewish Political and Cultural Journal HERE in Hungarian!