Gyula Ortutay

Gyula Ortutay
Minister of Religion and Education of Hungary
In office 14 March 1947 – 25 February 1950
Preceded by	Dezső Keresztury
Succeeded by	József Darvas
Personal details
Born	(1910-03-24)24 March 1910 Szabadka, Austria-Hungary
Died	22 March 1978(1978-03-22) (aged 67) Budapest, People's Republic of Hungary
Political party	FKGP
Profession	ethnographer, politician

The native form of this personal name is Ortutay Gyula. This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals.

Gyula Ortutay (24 March 1910 – 22 March 1978) was a Hungarian ethnographer and politician, who served as Minister of Religion and Education between 1947 and 1950.

Biography

Early life

Born in Szabadka (now: Subotica, Serbia) to a Catholic petty bourgeois family. His parents were István Ortutay journalist, editor of the Szegedi Napló and Ilona Borsodi. He finished his secondary school studies at the piarists in Szeged. After that he attended the Franz Joseph University from 1928. His psychology teacher was Hildebrand Dezső Várkonyi. Soon he was making left-wing friends such as Miklós Radnóti, Gábor Tolnai, Dezső Baróti, Ferenc Erdei, György Buday and Viola Tomori.

He married to Zsuzsa Kemény, who served as chairperson of the Hungarian Dance Association from 1948, in 1938. They have three children: Mária (psychologist), Tamás (ceramist) and Zsuzsanna (district nurse).

Political career

He got into contact with the communist intellectuals (László Orbán, Gyula Kállai, Ferenc Hont) in the end of the 1930s. but Endre Bajcsy-Zsilinszky had the largest effect on him. From 1942 he participated in the antifascist movements. In the next year he joined to the Independent Smallholders, Agrarian Workers and Civic Party (FKGP). He was Secretary-General of the National Council of The People's Patriotic Front.

References

• Magyar Életrajzi Lexikon