Katalin Varga
Encyclopedia
Katalin Varga was the leader of the Transylvanian Miners' Movement in the 1840s.
. Her father János Varga and her mother Katalin Rosondai were minor landowners, and they worked their land themselves. The only reference to their state of nobility can be found in one petition dating from 1846. From the age of 10, Katalin was raised by her aunt, along with her younger sister Ilonka and her brother. Other than her native language, Hungarian
, she also spoke Romanian
and German
. Confessionwise, she was a Lutheran. At the age of 20, she married György Kelemen, a wealthy wheeler, whose two children she raised. She also joined him in his business, hemp trading. In the early days, the business made profit; but later they gave credit to customers who did not pay it back. In the meantime, Katalin and György divorced, and he died shortly after.
owed her the sum of 631 forints. She brought a suit against him to Braşov's borough council, which brought no results, so she also traveled to Vienna
to ask for help at the royal court there. On August 1, 1839, the Royal Chancery declared that they could not reach a decision, and sent the case back to Braşov. Here the case lingered without resolution, so in April 1840 she returned to Vienna, where the court demanded that the Brasov borough council settle the matter. Again and again no resolution could be reached, and finally the case was dismissed and sent to archive by the district judge. Katalin Varga put her property losses behind her and attempted to start her life anew. In 1840, during the course of her travels to and from Vienna, she had met with mineworkers from the villages of Abrud-Sat, Bucium, and Cǎrpiniş. These villages were part of the Zlatna Treasury Estate (Hung
: zalatnai kincstári uradalom); at the time they were involved in a dispute with their landlord involving his unwillingness to pay them their part of the gold mines' income. The inhabitants of the three villages entrusted Katalin with their case, and from this moment their interests became her own.
While the case was continuing, on May 6, 1843 a group of villagers of Detunata, led by Katalin, armed themselves with staffs and axes and marched against the government officials who had begun planting trees on the villagers' lands. In the end no one was harmed, but the villagers destroyed the saplings. This time around Deputy-Lieutenant Fosztó decided in favor of both the 1841 petition and on the side of the Detunata villagers. The Treasury however was discontented with this, and labeled Katalin Varga a "dangerous rebel" and a "deceiver". This marks the beginning of several unsuccessful attempts on the part of the comitatus to capture Katalin.
to Greek Catholic. Under the guise of this effort, Vienna tried to pacify the peasants by giving 1000 forints for the construction of a new Greek Catholic parish in Bucium. On April 25, 1845, when work should have already begun, the locals rose up against it in the belief that the building was a government office. Dumitru Nicoară and others tried to prevent with pitchforks the construction, claiming that the land belonged to the peasants. Vienna assumed that the instigator of the problems was Katalin Varga. She was no longer allowed to travel to Vienna and many of her newer petitions were rejected outright.
On March 9, 1845, Katalin gave a speech in front of the Abrud-Sat church in which she spoke out against the government officials who continued cutting wood from the villages' forests. She also enlisted the help of local lawyer Sámuel Szakács Mikes to deal with new government restrictions on alcoholic drinks. Because of her rapidly growing influence, pressure was put on Deputy-Lieutenant Fosztó, who began speaking with and trying to advise the villagers personally, with only minor successes. In Bucium, Katalin Varga and 50 followers armed with staffs went to the courtyard of judge Ion Pleşa Danciu; their demands of an explanation about their tax moneys resulted in a minor scuffle. Reports about these events named Katalin Varga guilty of inciting them all, and the Treasury continued to press for her capture.
On August 10, 1846, at the news of a peasant uprising in Galicia, Chancellor Baron Sámuel Jósika and Governor-general Count József Teleky requested military aid from General Anton Freiherr von Puchner. In light to this situation, Katalin Varga personally took a petition to Vienna in which she admitted to the faults in some of her and the villages' actions, asked pardon for their mistakes, and thanked the court for their continued patience in the matter, but also restated the problems of the villages, which had still not been solved. The petition also contained a separate letter from the three villages, in which they took on responsibility for Katalin Varga's actions and thereby legitimized her safe-passage to Vienna. They further requested an independent examination of the issues at the expense of the villages, and that all military intervention should cease until after the examination had concluded. Chancellor Jósika, who feared outright rebellion in the country, suspended military actions and asked for the assistance of Andrei Şaguna, who had been named vicar on June 27, 1846.
, she was arrested on trumped-up charges in January 1847. First she was held in the prison at Aiud
, and then at Alba Iulia
, where she was held for nearly four years without judgment.
The trial finally took place in 1851, with a sentence of three months given. After serving her time, Katalin was exiled to the village of her birth, Hălmeag. It is assumed that she lived out the remainder of her life there, and died sometime after 1852.
, the Hălmeag collective farm was named after her. In 1951, the Secondary School for Girls in Szolnok
, Hungary
, adopted the name "Varga Katalin Secondary School
", which it retains to this day. Also, in Romania
, several streets are named Ecaterina Varga, the Romanian form of her name.
Family and early life
Katalin was born into a family of impoverished nobility on August 22, 1802, in Hălmeag, TransylvaniaTransylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
. Her father János Varga and her mother Katalin Rosondai were minor landowners, and they worked their land themselves. The only reference to their state of nobility can be found in one petition dating from 1846. From the age of 10, Katalin was raised by her aunt, along with her younger sister Ilonka and her brother. Other than her native language, Hungarian
Hungarian language
Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....
, she also spoke Romanian
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
and German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
. Confessionwise, she was a Lutheran. At the age of 20, she married György Kelemen, a wealthy wheeler, whose two children she raised. She also joined him in his business, hemp trading. In the early days, the business made profit; but later they gave credit to customers who did not pay it back. In the meantime, Katalin and György divorced, and he died shortly after.
Ropemaker's case
A certain rope-maker of BraşovBrasov
Brașov is a city in Romania and the capital of Brașov County.According to the last Romanian census, from 2002, there were 284,596 people living within the city of Brașov, making it the 8th most populated city in Romania....
owed her the sum of 631 forints. She brought a suit against him to Braşov's borough council, which brought no results, so she also traveled to Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
to ask for help at the royal court there. On August 1, 1839, the Royal Chancery declared that they could not reach a decision, and sent the case back to Braşov. Here the case lingered without resolution, so in April 1840 she returned to Vienna, where the court demanded that the Brasov borough council settle the matter. Again and again no resolution could be reached, and finally the case was dismissed and sent to archive by the district judge. Katalin Varga put her property losses behind her and attempted to start her life anew. In 1840, during the course of her travels to and from Vienna, she had met with mineworkers from the villages of Abrud-Sat, Bucium, and Cǎrpiniş. These villages were part of the Zlatna Treasury Estate (Hung
Hungarian language
Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....
: zalatnai kincstári uradalom); at the time they were involved in a dispute with their landlord involving his unwillingness to pay them their part of the gold mines' income. The inhabitants of the three villages entrusted Katalin with their case, and from this moment their interests became her own.
Three villages' case
After Katalin moved to Bucium, she prepared a petition which she herself signed and brought to Vienna. It outlined the complaints of the three villages: harassment by the officers; an increase in forced labor; and a general breaking of the villagers' privileges. In January 1841 the petition came before the ruler; in 1842 the comitatus did send a fact-finding commission, but regarding a separate matter: the illegal use of the forest by the villagers. The representative, Deputy-Lieutenant Menyhért Fosztó, ruled against the villagers. In his report, he concluded that "the reason for the villagers' restlessness [was that they were being] incited by certain well-paid writers and officials, who profit from this trouble-making." In response to this, Katalin Varga advised the villagers to continue using as much wood as they wanted for their homes and furnaces, and to chase away the forest rangers. Presumably they did, and predictably in March 1843 the Royal Chancery reopened the case.While the case was continuing, on May 6, 1843 a group of villagers of Detunata, led by Katalin, armed themselves with staffs and axes and marched against the government officials who had begun planting trees on the villagers' lands. In the end no one was harmed, but the villagers destroyed the saplings. This time around Deputy-Lieutenant Fosztó decided in favor of both the 1841 petition and on the side of the Detunata villagers. The Treasury however was discontented with this, and labeled Katalin Varga a "dangerous rebel" and a "deceiver". This marks the beginning of several unsuccessful attempts on the part of the comitatus to capture Katalin.
Active resistance
Beginning with the 18th century, there had been an ongoing effort to convert the local Romanian populace from OrthodoxEastern Christianity
Eastern Christianity comprises the Christian traditions and churches that developed in the Balkans, Eastern Europe, Asia Minor, the Middle East, Northeastern Africa, India and parts of the Far East over several centuries of religious antiquity. The term is generally used in Western Christianity to...
to Greek Catholic. Under the guise of this effort, Vienna tried to pacify the peasants by giving 1000 forints for the construction of a new Greek Catholic parish in Bucium. On April 25, 1845, when work should have already begun, the locals rose up against it in the belief that the building was a government office. Dumitru Nicoară and others tried to prevent with pitchforks the construction, claiming that the land belonged to the peasants. Vienna assumed that the instigator of the problems was Katalin Varga. She was no longer allowed to travel to Vienna and many of her newer petitions were rejected outright.
On March 9, 1845, Katalin gave a speech in front of the Abrud-Sat church in which she spoke out against the government officials who continued cutting wood from the villages' forests. She also enlisted the help of local lawyer Sámuel Szakács Mikes to deal with new government restrictions on alcoholic drinks. Because of her rapidly growing influence, pressure was put on Deputy-Lieutenant Fosztó, who began speaking with and trying to advise the villagers personally, with only minor successes. In Bucium, Katalin Varga and 50 followers armed with staffs went to the courtyard of judge Ion Pleşa Danciu; their demands of an explanation about their tax moneys resulted in a minor scuffle. Reports about these events named Katalin Varga guilty of inciting them all, and the Treasury continued to press for her capture.
On August 10, 1846, at the news of a peasant uprising in Galicia, Chancellor Baron Sámuel Jósika and Governor-general Count József Teleky requested military aid from General Anton Freiherr von Puchner. In light to this situation, Katalin Varga personally took a petition to Vienna in which she admitted to the faults in some of her and the villages' actions, asked pardon for their mistakes, and thanked the court for their continued patience in the matter, but also restated the problems of the villages, which had still not been solved. The petition also contained a separate letter from the three villages, in which they took on responsibility for Katalin Varga's actions and thereby legitimized her safe-passage to Vienna. They further requested an independent examination of the issues at the expense of the villages, and that all military intervention should cease until after the examination had concluded. Chancellor Jósika, who feared outright rebellion in the country, suspended military actions and asked for the assistance of Andrei Şaguna, who had been named vicar on June 27, 1846.
Imprisonment and subsequent years
The authorities were not pleased with these claims, and took action to imprison Katalin Varga as the instigator. With the assistance of resident bishop ŞagunaAndrei Saguna
Andrei Şaguna was a Metropolitan bishop of the Romanian Orthodox Church in Transylvania, and one of the Romanian community political leaders in the Habsburg Monarchy, especially active during the 1848 Revolution...
, she was arrested on trumped-up charges in January 1847. First she was held in the prison at Aiud
Aiud
Aiud is a city located in Alba county, Transylvania, Romania. The city has a population of 28,934 people. It has the status of municipality and is the second-largest city in the county, after county seat Alba Iulia. The Aiud administrative region is 142.2 square kilometres in area.- Administration...
, and then at Alba Iulia
Alba Iulia
Alba Iulia is a city in Alba County, Transylvania, Romania with a population of 66,747, located on the Mureş River. Since the High Middle Ages, the city has been the seat of Transylvania's Roman Catholic diocese. Between 1541 and 1690 it was the capital of the Principality of Transylvania...
, where she was held for nearly four years without judgment.
The trial finally took place in 1851, with a sentence of three months given. After serving her time, Katalin was exiled to the village of her birth, Hălmeag. It is assumed that she lived out the remainder of her life there, and died sometime after 1852.
Posthumous recognitions
In 1977, the villagers in Hălmeag erected a monument to Katalin Varga in the courtyard of the local church. During the communist eraCommunist Romania
Communist Romania was the period in Romanian history when that country was a Soviet-aligned communist state in the Eastern Bloc, with the dominant role of Romanian Communist Party enshrined in its successive constitutions...
, the Hălmeag collective farm was named after her. In 1951, the Secondary School for Girls in Szolnok
Szolnok
Szolnok is the county seat of Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok county in central Hungary. Its location on the banks of the Tisza river, at the heart of the Great Hungarian Plain, has made it an important cultural and economic crossroads for centuries....
, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, adopted the name "Varga Katalin Secondary School
Varga Katalin Secondary School
The Varga Katalin Secondary School is a secondary school in Szolnok, Hungary established in 1930, which was named after Katalin Bánffy between 1936 and 1951. It is located in the former Obermayer-Hubay apartment house, which is one of the oldest buildings in the town...
", which it retains to this day. Also, in Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, several streets are named Ecaterina Varga, the Romanian form of her name.