The life of Béla Pap (1907–1957)

Abstract

Béla Pap was born in Gyalu, a town in the Kalotaszeg (Țara Călatei) region. As a result of the Treaty of Trianon, his family fled to Budapest, where they lived in great poverty. After years of studying theology, he joined the SDG Youth Mission and later served in the Református Szeretetszövetség (National Reformed Charity Federation). He moved to Vác in 1937, and from there to Karcag in 1942. After the war, his strong stance took him to increasingly higher positions, while he found himself in a growing confrontation with power. The great turning point was the watershed synodal meeting of October 24, 1951, where, after skilful tactics and organization, he carried out a “small synodal revolution.” As a result, he was arrested by the state security authorities. He was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison and total confiscation of his assets. He was released in 1956. Confrontation and punishment were followed by administrative repression. The next phase of his life leads from uncertainty to disappearance. Pap Béla went missing on August 10, 1956. We are trying to reconstruct the circumstances of his disappearance through case files, reports and personal recollections. His disappearance was followed by the removal of his intellectual work. As Tibor Bartha put it to Erzsébet Németh in 1984: “Your ex-husband was an enemy of this system, and we cannot allow his case to be brought up again.”

By getting to know the life of Béla Pap, we can learn about an adventurous, truly 20th century pastoral life, which did not vanish without a trace in the Reformed Church.