Hungarian manual for learning Russian
Artist / Maker
Date
Publication: 1950 - 1970
Object Name
Inventory Number
C.2016.011.001
Physical Description
Yellowed book with a brown spine, entitled ‘Az orosz nyelv képes szótára: II. Rész’ (Picture dictionary of the Russian language: Part II). The cover of the book shows an adult dressed in white and a group of children. Two of them are wearing pioneer uniforms – a white shirt with a red scarf. They are walking in nature, next to a forest, and some of the children are holding flowers. The publisher’s name and the date of publication (Tankönyvkiadó, 1951) are listed below the picture.
Content Description
Russian was the only foreign language that was obligatory to learn in the Eastern Bloc satellite states. This subject was imposed on students in primary, secondary and higher education from the late 1940s until the revolutions of 1989. This school manual was published and used in Hungary in the 1950s.
Exhibition Theme
4. Shattering certainties (1970s-today) -> 4.6. Milestones of European integration 3 -> 4.6.7. Linguistic diversity (on display)
Material / Technique
Paper, ink, textile and cardboard
Dimensions
H x W x D 27,30 x 20,70 x 0,80 cm
Curator’s Note
After 1949, the communist regime exercised control over the Hungarian school system, as well as book publishing and textbooks. In 1950, new primary and secondary school curricula were introduced in public schools, establishing school regulations aimed at spreading the communist ideology. All public and higher education institutions abolished optional foreign language teaching and Russian became the only official compulsory language.
Most Soviet satellite states followed the same approach. Russian was intended to become the ‘lingua franca’ of the Eastern Bloc and to be used as a vehicle for the political indoctrination of the younger generations.
Compulsory Russian language teaching was abolished alongside the Communist regime in 1989.
N. V. Chekhov’s picture dictionary for ‘students of non-Russian elementary schools’ was originally published in Moscow, in 1945. This edition was likely one of the first official Russian textbooks published in Hungary after the 1950 reform.
Inscription
Inscription
Az orosz nyelv képes szótára; II. Rész
Translation: Picture dictionary of the Russian language; Part II
Label
N.V. Csehov
Tankönyivkiadó, 1951
Credit line
Acquired 2016. EU, EP, House of European History, Brussels
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