The pages found among the documents to be scrapped during the renovation of the University of Tokaj-Hegyalja’s premises faithfully reflect the atmosphere and enthusiasm of the first years of the regime change. It was 33 years ago, on 6 February 1990, when Otto von Habsburg paid a visit to Sárospatak and gave an extraordinary history lesson to the hundreds of people gathered in the hall of the József Árvay Primary School (József Árvay Gyakorló Általános Iskola). He was accompanied to the event, organised by the Sárospatak Students’ Association, by his daughter, Archduchess Walburga, and Bernd Posselt, secretary to Otto von Habsburg, member of the Pan-European Union and later MEP.
The guest of the event was László Tőkés, one of the leading figures of the Romanian “revolution”, whom the eponym of our Foundation met for the first time in person. László Tőkés later became a Member of the European Parliament as well.
The chronicle of the happenings of 5 February 1990 was written in Hungarian by Gábor Bolvári-Takács in the 1999 Yearbook of the Kazinczy Ferenc Society.
We thank István Monok, Director General, who preserved for posterity the previously unpublished stories and photos hidden in the College’s guest book and, at the same time, enriched the collection of the Otto von Habsburg Foundation!
