The forgotten story of “Bimbó Street”

Abstract

The life of the "Good Shepherd" Missionary Subcommittee of the General Convent of the Hungarian Reformed Church, the “Good Shepherd Foundation” of the Hungarian Evangelical Churches and the Hungarian Federation of the International Hebrew Christian Alliance were intertwined through the person of their leader, József Éliás, and also because for half a decade they were located in the same building; the villa at 51 Bimbó Street, Budapest, Rózsadomb.
The building's turbulent history and changes of ownership illustrate the struggle of a country drifting into the world war all to the end, the post-war boom in church life, and the post-war stiffening of attitudes in the churches as the communist regime gained ground. After the end of communism in Hungary, reparations in the life of the churches did not (or could not) fulfil the purpose intended by those who enacted the law, but it did help the functioning of the historic churches.
Among church history studies, it is rare to present the history of a specific building, which is what I attempt to do in my paper. The local history, which describes the events of 1916–2016, but particularly those of 1945–1952 in detail, is supplemented by annotated sources of 33 previously unpublished documents from three church archives and private collections, which are the result of my own several years of research and provide almost complete background information for the issues not detailed in this overview.