Társadalmi mobilitás és a zsidó felekezethez való kötődés. Munk Adolf és családja
Social Mobility and Attachment to the Jewish Community: Adolf Munk and his Family

Summary/Abstract: Through the biographies of Adolf Munk (1830–1907), his ancestors and descendants, the study presents the Hungarian Jewry’s opportunity of social, economic and cultural ascendance between the eighteenth and twentieth centuries. The arch of this upward mobility is not linear from one generation to the next. During this period, members of Jewish society had to face the expectations of the Hungarian society, the challenges facing the Jewish society, and the transformation of the relationship between the individual and the community. The case study of Adolf Munk’s family obeys these social phenomena, and at the same time contradicts them. Although his grandparents settled in the traditionalist haven of Oberland, his maternal grandparents were bearers of modernization. Throughout his life, Adolf Munk fought constantly to uphold and preserve traditional values in an almost unchanged form, while at the same time taking an active part in transforming them. In this way, unlike his fellow conservatives who opposed any change, he joined the ranks of the Maskilim. While his intellectual legacy placed his sons among the defenders of orthodox values, they continued it in different ways. Bernát Munkácsi (1860–1937) turned to Hungarian society and culture, and even engaged in shaping the latter himself. Gábor Munk’s (1865–1955) family ties, on the other hand, led him to become a supporter of Zionism. Despite the variety of individual choices, the family’s attachment to the Jewish community remained a determining force in their lives.

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