Forced track as a solution

The fate of the Lutheran properties in Székesfehérvár in the light of church decisions (1945–1969)

Abstract

The history of the properties of the Evangelical congregation of Székesfehérvár and the care of their creation and preservation, as well as the impact this had on the life of the community, began long before 1945, and it is no exaggeration to say that — although some of them no longer belong to the church — they still exist today. The fate of the plots and buildings is inseparable from each other, and is intertwined even during the forced solution to be detailed in the study, one follows the other.

The reason why the Evangelical congregation of Fehérvár suffered great losses during the nationalization, and why it was forced to make decisions that resulted in the loss of everything except its church, is partly due to the small size of the community. Added to this was the fact that from the very beginning of the congregation, they had to work hard to acquire real estate. All this only intensified during the nationalization, brought an unexpected turn in the mid-1980s, and its aftereffects continued to influence the fate of the congregation even after the change of regime.

Previous research on the history of the Székesfehérvár congregation has been more of an overview and summary of the history of the community, in a descriptive, fact-finding, and less interpretative-evaluative manner. This study, by supplementing previous research, now undertakes to present several connections that could not be realized previously — due to space or missing data.