This blog by Adrienn's is her third installment. Her previous blogs can be found here:
A Hungarian University Health Protection System in the
Reflection of Treaty of Versailles [1]
(1924-1947)
by Adrienn Sztana-Kovacs
In our blog post we would like to point out why it was so important to
organize a proper health-care system at the Royal Hungarian Elizabeth
University[2].
Surprisingly the examination of the question showed more aspects than appeared
at first. Under the analyzing process of the documents it became clear there
were some larger objectives behind the acts than the benefits of the students.
There were two elements of the initiatives, the acts of the government and the
universities on the field of the health protection of students.[3]
Naturally the first and most important element of the
examinations was to get a general knowledge about the state of the students’
health and to provide treatment if needed. Chiefly the high death rate from
Tuberculosis (TB) justified the steps.[4]
Earlier we mentioned
there was another element behind the scenes, rooted in the terms of the Treaty
of Versailles.[5] Among these other
elements, was the limitation of the army and the prohibition of the universal
compulsory military service.[6]
The Hungarian government’s answers to those points were to introduce compulsory
physical education[7] to every man under 21, and
to establish a special Hungarian paramilitary youth organization Levente.[8]
Its declared purpose was physical training and a kind of not stated one was
giving some basic military education.[9]
Compulsory Physical Education and the Related Healthcare Examination
At the Elisabeth University, compulsory physical education for men was
introduced from the 1926/1927 academic year,[10]but
the related healthcare examination only began in the 1927/28 academic year. In
its first year of the 380 freshmen only 205 attended and from these 54 were
sent for further treatment because of diffrent pathological changes.[11]
The great depression had broken this initiative. In 1933 dr. János Ángyán[12]
laid his proposal before the Council of Medical Faculty about
institutionalizing the examinations of the students at Elisabeth University, which
in the new settings took place in the school year of 1936/37.
Source: mcdn.blog.hu/pe/pecs2010/image/2010okt/angyanj.JPG
There are only three reports about three consecutive academic years.[13]
The participation rate differed among the faculties. It was high among the
freshmen of the Medical Faculty and of the Faculty of Arts, however, only 22%
of the Faculty of Law participated at the begining and only showed a minimal
rise later.[14]
Source: Pécs
University Archives, reference number: VIII. 105. a. 1936/37. academic year,
XI. meeting, 21st of June in 1937. 49. point
Edited by the
author
The examination included a gauge of case histories of the families,
physical qualities and mental abilities. Students were questioned about their
training habits and it turned out there were some serius issiues around the
compulsory PE.
Sources: Pécs
University Archives, reference number: VIII. 105. a. 1936/37. academic year,
XI. meeting, 21st of June in 1937. 49. point. VIII. 105. a. 1937/38. academic
year, X. meeting, 22nd of June in 1938. 30 point; VIII. 105. a. 1938/39. academic
year, IX. meeting 26th of May in 1939. 18. point
Edited by the
author
The most important was that the examiners didn’t find anyone with
Tubercolosis in those three years, despite the fact that most of the students
had been healed from primary or secondary TB infection. There was a difference on
the field of the venereal diseases. Every year the doctors found some students
with previous gonorrhoea and in the last year two students had primary syphilis infection and two students
had inherited syphilis.
There were some students every year suffering from
high bloodpresure or arrhythmia.[15]
Also there was a high rate of different physical deformities, for example: flat
foot, chest disfiguration or joint problem. Almost 50% of the freshmen needed
some sight correction. According to professor Ángyán’s reports most of the
students’s families had difficulties with personal hygiene. This was proven by
the high number of seborrohea and mycosis.
The data from the 1937/38 academic year allows us to
get a glimpse of the nutritionalstate of the students and their smoking habits
as well.
Source: Pécs
University Archives, reference number: VIII. 105. a. 1937/38. academic year, X.
meeting, 22nd of June in 1938. 30 point
Edited by the
author
Sources: VIII. 105. a. 1937/38. academic year, X. meeting, 22nd of June in 1938. 30 point; VIII. 105. a. 1938/39. academic year, IX. meeting 26th of May in 1939. 18. point
Edited by the author
Unfortunately we don’t have the latest record before the examinations
were suspended during the war after 1940. The managment planned to restart it
again in 1947, however, no data survived from this period. From these reports
we can form an opinion of the different aspects of the students’ health, of the
state of the general health and nutrition conditions and of the health
education of the families. At the end of the 1940s the political climate had
changed in the country but the fight against the infectious diseases remained
the focus point for the managment of the universities and the government as
well.
[1] The original paper was published in Hungarian: Kovács, Adrienn: Az
Erzsébet Tudományegyetem hallgatóinak egészségvédelme 1924–1950. [Health
Protection of the Students of the Elisabeth University. 1924-1950] Orvostörténeti
Közlemények, Communicationes De Historia Artis Medicinae 214–217 (2011), 155–172.
[2] You can read about the deatils of the foundation and the movements in
our previous blog post: Summer Universities, within the international
relationships of the Hungarian Royal Elisabeth University between 1920 and
1946.
http://historyofeducationsociety.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/summer-universities-within.html
[3] Beside the University Council of Royal Hungarian Elisabeth University
there were other universities and civil organizations in the country to stand
up and fight against contagions such as Tuberculosis (TB) and venereal diseases
(VD). Their initiatives were carefully considered by the University Council and
it took proper action in each and every case.
[4] In 1920 the population of the country was 7. 9 million and the number
of the deaths caused by TB was 25000. In 1940 17000 people died from TB out of a 9.1 million population. People
called TB ’Morbus Hungaricus’ [Hungarian disease] since the begining of the
20th century. (Originally typhus was called Morbus Hungaricus in the 16th
century.)
[5] In the case of the Hungary Kingdom it was the Treaty of Trianon named
after the palace where the Hungarian deputation signed it in 1920. The
Hungarian Kingdom lost three-quarters of its territory. The population of the
newly formed country was 7.9 million in contrast to the former 20.9 million and
31% of the Hungarian nationals were left outside the new borders.
[6] The army was limited in 35000 officers and men. Heavy artillery, tanks and air
force were prohibited. Romsics, Ignác: Magyarország története a XX. században.
[History of Hungary in the 20th Century] Budapest. 2000. 145.
[7] LIII/1921. Act of Physical
Education
[8]VKM 9000/1924 Enacting clauses of the LIII/1921 of the Ministry of Religious
and Cultural Affairs. The Levente organization worked from January 1924 to
March 1945. In January 1944 there were 1.3 million members. The leaders were retired
officers who gave basic firearms training.
[9] II/1939. Act of Defence. All boys between ages 12 and 21 were required
to enroll in the Levente organization. The organization was regulated by the
Ministry of Defence since 1939.
[10] For
female students the physical education was on a voluntary basis in separate
groups under the lead of a lady PE teacher.
[11] Pécs
University Archives, reference number: VIII. 105. a. 1927/28. academic year,
VIII. meeting, 23rd of March in 1928. 13th point.
[12] János Ángyán (1886-1969) medical professor of the Hungarian Royal
Elisabeth University.
[13] 1936/37; 1937/38; 1938/39
[14] Only one third of the law students went to the university classes. The
other two-third of them usually had a job and they just travelled to Pécs to
take their exams.
[15] In the 1937/38 academic year, 25% of the students had arrhythmia.
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