Abstract
130BOOK REVIEWS erences to the notorious Crystal Night pogrom of 1938 against theJews and ignores the churches' total failure to assist their feUow victims on this occasion. No mention is made of the complete absence of episcopal protest. Huttner's study is thus conditioned by the continuing desire of the German Catholic scholars to portray the Church Struggle as a heroic defense of CathoUc interests . By showing how British journaUsts ofthe 1930's upheld this view, Huttner glosses over the moral failings of German CathoUcism, and thus presents too partial a picture. In summary, this voluminous tone must be seen as yet another example of the German CathoUcs' exercise in self-justification. John S. Conway Vancouver De l'oppression à la liberté: L'Église en Hongrie, 1945-1992. Chronique des événements ordinaires et extraordinaires, témoins et témoignages. By Paul G. Bozsóky and László Lukács. [PoUtiques & Chrétiens.] (Paris: Beauchesne . 1993. Pp. vi, 381. 198 F.) In this volume one finds a short overview of the history of the Church in Hungary after 1945. Several essays and testimonies pubUshed here help us to understand the vicissitudes of the CathoUcs in Hungary before and during the Communist regime, and in the time of the poUtical changes about the year 1989. The first part—a chronicle of the time—is written by the two authors. The first, Paul G. Bozsóky, a Franciscan Father who Uves in Paris, has entitied his essay: "The long night of the Hungarian Christians" and deals with the period between 1945 and 1986. The second, László Lukács, a Piarist Father who Uves in Budapest, has written about the period after 1986; his tide is: "From oppression to freedom," similar to the title of the whole book. A better title for the book could have been: "From freedom to freedom." In the second part of the volume one finds some testimonies. Two historic personaUties,Vilmos Apor,bishop of Györ.who was kuled by a Soviet soldier in 1945, and Cardinal Josef Mindszenty, the "two columns of God's presence," are presented by Bozsóky. A third author of the book, a CathoUc journalist, István Elmer,has pubUshed here interviews with five personaUties persecuted in these times: Vendel Endrédy, abbot of the Cistercians; István Tabódy, a CathoUc priest who organized clandestine priestly ordinations; Pius Halász, a Cistercian monk; György Bulányi, a Piarist father, the founder of his movement, and Agnes Timar, a Cistercian nun and founder who started with the monastic Ufe in the time of persecution and whose community survived the clandestinity. In the appendix there are two chronologies edited by Bozsóky. Five geographical maps show mostly the borders of dioceses. BOOK REVIEWS131 It is rare to have soUd information about the evolution of Hungary in principal languages. This is a reason why this volume is to be appreciated. The authors as weU as the pubUsher are aware that some time needs to elapse for the historian to make a scholarly examination; so in this report they wanted to give only a basic evaluation of the facts enumerated from the point of view of contemporaries . The interviews enable us to have an insight into these years and to understand the conditions of Christians under Communist rule. The rawness of this report and the lack of detaüed analysis as weU as imprecise formulations do not reduce the merits of the volume. It is important to reaUze that in the period between 1945 and 1964 three-fourths of the Bishops' Conference were persecuted: two of them killed, two of them deported, fourteen imprisoned. Three hundred and sixty diocesan priests (10% of the total) were imprisoned or deported, as weU as 940 reUgious priests (66%), 200 reUgious brothers (16%), and 2,200 sisters and nuns (22%). Adam Somorjai, O.S.B. Collegio di SantAnselmo Rome American The American Questfor the Primitive Church. Edited by Richard T. Hughes. (Urbana: University of Illinois Press. 1988. Pp. ix, 257. $14.95 paperback.) The Primitive Church in the Modern World. Edited by Richard T. Hughes. (Urbana : University of Illinois Press. 1995. Pp. xvUi, 229. $14.95 paperback.) Trying to transform...
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