Ildikó Györfy
Retired Director
Loyalty
(The life and work of Károly Székely)
The preservation, care and enhancement of values is a key issue for the future of a geographically and economically defined area. It was this idea that guided us sixteen years ago when we chose Károly Székely as the school's namesake, a man whose life and work were intertwined with the interests of the local community for many decades, who as a teacher and secretary of the industrial association was the heart and soul of the former industrial life.
The Szekler community, living in a self-contained and closed national unit, was dependent on itself to produce everything it needed from its own resources from the very beginning. Therefore, it also produced the necessary craftsmen from its ranks, some of whom were needed to replace and repair the military equipment and followed the fighting army to the various battlefields. An important and epoch-making change in the life and organisation of industry was brought about by Act XVII of 1884, the first section of which stated that "in Hungary any person of age, regardless of nationality, may freely carry on industry." This opened the way for free development and healthy competition, organised the institution of the Corps of Crafts, and assigned to it the peaceful settlement of disputes between masters, assistants and apprentices, the levying of expropriation and emancipation, and brought it into an integral relationship with the first-tier industrial authority. In this way it opened the way to free development and healthy competition, organised the institution of the Corps of Crafts, and gave it the power to settle amicably the disputes between masters, assistants and apprentices, to levy and free them, and brought it into an integral connection with the first-tier industrial authority. As a result of this, boards of trades were set up at the headquarters of the first-instance industrial authorities, where they were sufficiently numerous.
Without tradition and without a history, it is much more difficult and time-consuming to build a civil urban society. In 1884, the Csíkszereda Industrial Association was founded, which brought together master carpenters, joiners, tinkers, tinsmiths, shoemakers, photographers, hairdressers, stove fitters, upholsterers, chimney sweeps, blacksmiths, masons, locksmiths, butchers, printers, watchmakers, bakers, belt makers, furriers and embroiderers.
In the history of industrial organisation, the most important factor is the backbone which, with exemplary foresight, sought to unite the small trades. The members of the Industrialists' Association have worked hard to ensure that small craftsmen and their families have a dignified place in society.
Károly Székely, the headmaster of the state elementary school in Csíkszereda, was a leading figure in this struggle. For eighteen years, he was the secretary of the Industrial Association of Csíkszereda and a friend of the small industry of Csíkszereda for better or worse. His work as secretary brings together, through his great pearly writing, all the many fine industrial aspirations that the outstanding industrial leaders had conceived. His figure provides the framework for this past, the cohesive framework for all these fine struggles. In this work, he has become one with local industry, with all its professional, cultural and social aspects.
Károly Székely was born in 1862, in the village of Csíkmenaság-Újfalju. He graduated from the teacher's college in Csíksomlyó. He taught in Menaság for 2 years, in Miklósvár for 6 years, in Felsőporumbák for 5 years, in Csíkszereda for 25 years and in Dunaföldvár for 2 years, 40 years in total. As a teacher, he taught general knowledge subjects in the local school for apprentices of craftsmen and merchants for 25 years, and thus trained the industrial generation from the school bench for a quarter of a century in the good and the beautiful.
Károly Székely performed his teaching duties conscientiously. He gave an excellent testimony to his talents both as a teacher and as an organiser. An example in this sense is the letter from the inspector of education, which he received on 30 March 1898, in recognition of his successful teaching and dissemination of the mother tongue in the Upper Porumba school. ”In recognition of your Lordship's diligence in the successful teaching and dissemination of the Hungarian language at the Upper Porumba station, he has been graciously authorised to grant a reward of 50 forints.
Fogaras, 30 March 1898. Fogaras County Scool Inspectorate”
In 1920 he resigned his post as secretary and soon afterwards repatriated to Dunaföldvár, where he retired after two years of teaching.
He was a dear, kind-hearted man, who is still remembered with grateful affection by the city's industrial society. He spent all his leisure time in the cultural activities of industry. He was a supporter and the soul of all his resolutions. A certificate issued in 1911 by the Board of the Industrialists' Association pays tribute to his diligence, to his work for the spiritual advancement of the industrialists.
"... for the intellectual advancement of the craftsmen, he carries out all the intellectual affairs of the Craftsmen's Association, providing each member of the Association, as well as the assistants and apprentices, with guidance."
Csíkszereda, 10 October 1911.
Károly Filó, President of the Board of Trade
Many other similar documents testify to the fact that Károly Székely spent his whole life in a blessed and good work, which had a beneficial effect on the public life of our town.
”Károly Székely was known not only as a conscientious teacher, who fulfilled his duties with devotion, but also earned the respect, esteem and recognition of all through his social and teaching activities. He received no salary from the denominational school except a small allowance.
Csíkszereda, 21 January 1922 Dr. Károly Szekeres, school district president, parish priest."
In 1998, at a commemorative ceremony for the dedication of the plaque of our namesake, Dr. Béla Rónai, a retired teacher of the Theological College of Pécs, the spouse of the only then still living granddaughter of Károly Székelyn, recalled his personality from family memories with the help of an audio recording: ”In Károly Székely, a family man ready to make any sacrifice for his family, an educator who taught and educated by profession, a patriot loyal to his people and his nation until death, were inseparably united. In the tragedy of Trianon, he chose to go into hiding, in defiance of the new power. In the new, mutilated homeland, only his sons, who had also joined him, offered any security, but the family felt, and knew from his words, that the better half of him had stayed at home. He was one of the first to return to his homeland after the annexation of Northern Transylvania. He could no longer reach Csík, Menaság, the deadly disease having slayed him in Cluj, despite the care of his sweet daughter. Patriot in body and soul. This is not only a matter of oral tradition, but also of numerous written proofs. The key word for his short name is PURITY. Loyalty to family. Loyalty to his people-nation. Loyalty to principle, without compromise."
Like the work of its namesake, the activities of our school are inextricably linked to the economic life of the city and its surroundings. The community of our institution strives to enrich the knowledge of craftsmanship that is typical of the countryside, to build on its traditions and to ensure its future, and to live up to the life's work of Károly Székely.
