The Memory of the First World War in the Family Tradition Cover Image

Az első világháború emlékezete a családi hagyományban
The Memory of the First World War in the Family Tradition

Author(s): László Kósa
Subject(s): Cultural history, Military history, Social history, 19th Century, Pre-WW I & WW I (1900 -1919)
Published by: Eötvös Loránd Tudományegyetem, Új-és Jelenkori Egyetemes Történeti Tanszék
Keywords: First World War; family story; oral history; battlefield diary;
Summary/Abstract: A family may cherish some typical information about a soldier’s life, which otherwise would not have survived. A ticket-inspector, Dániel Zsengellér (1889–1979), a corporal in the 38th Infantry Regiment of the Austro–Hungarian Monarchy was seriously wounded in the war against Serbia on September 8th 1914. First it was presumed that he died but thanks to a series of lucky chance survived. The story of his survival, which he later told his family members several times, became a family legend. Even during the communist era, when the First World War had no official cult, the story was handed down by his descendants to the younger generations as a piece of oral history. The paper presents and analyzes the humble objects related to the story, which have also been kept – a battlefield diary, photographs, medals, rings, shells, military records.

  • Page Range: 701-713
  • Page Count: 13
  • Publication Year: 2015
  • Language: Hungarian