Reference Type: Book Section
Author: Nagyné Lukács, Klára
Year: 2007
Title: A szamosújvári örmény katolikus árvaházak története
Translated Title: [The history of the armanian catholic orpanages in Gherla]
Editor: Őze, Sándor - Kovács, Bálint
Book Title: Örmény diaszpora a Kárpát-medencében II. kötet
City: Piliscsaba
Publisher: Pázmány Péter Katolikus Egyetem Bölcsészettudományi Kar
Volume: II
Number of Volumes: 2
Language: Hungarian
Keywords: Armenian minority, history, minority organizations, education, Catholic Church, politics, economy, health, elites, ethnic identity
Abstract: (En) As a growing socaal deinand of the 1911 century, due to the efforts of the Hungarian-Armenian community, an orphanage for boys, named after St Gregory the Illuminator, and another for girls, given the name of Tivadar Kovrig, were established in Gherla. The economic prosperity in the Dualist-Era provided secure conditions for economic basis created by private foundations.
After sixty years of functioning constantly as an institution of orphan-care, under the pressure of circumstances the management had to modificate its original aims: by this time, the institution had been not only the supporter of the orphans, but also the preserver of Armenian identity. For the children of Armenian community it served also as a boarding school, providing equal opportunities of studying for the children of Armenians who were struggling with bad financial situation and living in the sporady.
It can be concluded that the institution for boys, functioning only with temporary interruptions between 1861 and 1948, and for girls, from 1903 up to 1948, were playing a significant role first in the life of the Transylvanian Flungarian Armenians, then in the life of the region surrounding Szamosújvár. As, during and after the Second World War, they accommodated not only the Armenian orphans and poors but Romanians and not Armenian Catholic Hungarians as well.
Although these institutions, which were maintained by foundations, were able to survive the finacial conditions of wars caused by thc unstable economy, but they suffered always from the heavy blows of politics. The political change after the Parisian peace treaty was the first occasion, which rocked the foundations of the existence of the institutions, but with severe protest they managed to save the institution serving child-interest. Thc second, communist change of regime gave the coup de grace: their nationalization tried to conccal even the memories of the almost eighty year-long sacrificial work. When I inquircd the director of the hospital now working there, he denied with absolute certainty the existence of the orphanage in the same building, furthermore he told me to ask information about this in the local library. He was not the sole person who was not familiar with the orphanage in Gherla.

(Hu) A 19. század második felében a szociális gondoskodás formái megváltoztak. Hosszú ideig az egyház vállalta fel ezek enyhítését a vallásos társulatok létrehozására való buzdítással, a közös erőből fenntartott intézményekért való felelősségvállalásra és teherviselésre biztatva híveit. Ebben a korszakban alapították a legtöbb kórházat, szegényházat és árvaházat. Néhány ezek közül ugyan helyható-ságilag létesült, mint a budai két árvaház, amelynek fenntartása a városi költségvetést terhelte, azonban zömükben egyházi társulatok tartották fenn ezeket, komoly anyagi áldozatot követelve a hívek részéről.1 Az állami szerepvállalás ekkor még igencsak gyermekcipőben járt.
A szamosújvári Világosító Szent Gergelyről elnevezett fiú- és Kovrig Tivadar nevét viselő leányárvaház történetének bemutatásán keresztül megismerhetjük a magyar örménység mentalitását, gazdasági erejét és fogalmat alkothatunk társadalmi összetételéről, vallási és erkölcsi magatartásáról is.
URL: http://www.sulinet.hu/oroksegtar/data/magyarorszagi_nemzetisegek/ormenyek/ormeny_diaszpora_a_karpat_medenceben_II/pages/magyar/014_nagyne_lukacs_klara.htm