A Religious Order on Trial. Cistercians in Socialism

Abstract

In this historical retrospection, as a member of the order concerned, I recall the disgraceful harassment our convent underwent as I myself experienced or heard as a contemporary. Although others have also described these events with historical impartiality, personal evidence is perhaps not futile at a point when the last “witnesses of great times” are passing away. With my comments and evaluations I do not intend to pass infallible judgements on people, rather I would like to give graphically render all the likeable and annoying people I met in my life. In order to present unity, continuity and interrelationships in the historical period and in the interest of maintaining the accuracy of certain dates, I rely strongly on the doctoral thesis written by Eszter Cuth Gyoni in 2014 (The history of the Cistercian order in Hungary after 1945), who based her research to a major extent on the minutes of the security organisations of the single-party state. I feel obliged to follow the “sine ira et studio” principle, i.e. to remain unbiased, and instead of summary generalisations I make efforts at understanding the considerations of the organisation that persecuted us.