“From this movement of great significance, we are now taking our share.”

Attempts to Renew Associational Life in the 1930s and the German Minority in the Diocese of Pécs

Abstract

In the political constellation of state–church entanglement between the two world wars, religious associations appeared at first glance to experience a “renaissance.” In the Diocese of Pécs this was particularly evident due to the high proportion of German-speaking faithful and the embeddedness of their associational life, which was shaped by a distinctive, economically oriented ethos. By the 1930s, the combined impact of the global economic crisis and Jakab Bleyer’s efforts to energize the younger German generation created a situation in which the German population could be mobilized and set on a path of political engagement, thereby disrupting the traditional frameworks of their religious associational life.At the same time, the Catholic Church’s social, political, and social-welfare thinking – intensified during these years and responsive to ongoing changes – proved capable of contributing to a rearticulation of its relationship to the German movement.
By analysing a range of sources, the study examines how these influences were reflected in the associational life of the German villages of the Diocese of Pécs, how these associations came to function as agents of ethnic mobilization, and how the Church’s modernization efforts –  most notably Catholic Action – shaped the redefinition of its pastoral and institutional relationship with German Catholic communities.