87. szám // 2022. Zsidó felemelkedés vagy térnyerés?
Társadalmi mobilitás és a zsidó felekezethez való kötődés
Social Mobility and Attachment to the Jewish Community: Adolf Munk and his Family
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 cen- turies. 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 expecta- tions 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 tradition- alist haven of Oberland, his maternal grandparents were bearers of moderniza- tion. 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 conserva- tives 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 Hunga- rian 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 sup- porter of Zionism. Despite the variety of individual choices, the family’s attach- ment to the Jewish community remained a determining force in their lives.