From humble beginnings to the halls of power, the life of József Darvas, commemorated by this plaque, is a fascinating study in contrasts. The Darvas József Plaque marks the house where he lived and worked from 1971 until his death in 1973. Born József Dumitrás in Orosháza in 1912, his early life was marked by poverty. His father, a farmhand, died in World War I, leaving his mother to raise four children as a maid. He trained as a teacher in Kiskunfélegyháza, changing his name to Darvas upon graduation in 1932. Unable to find work in his chosen profession, he moved to Budapest. He took on various odd jobs, from bookselling to delivering newspapers and working as a blacksmith’s assistant. During this time, he became involved with the illegal Communist Party. This led to several clashes with authorities and periods of police surveillance.
Darvas began his writing career with poetry. In 1934, he published two novels, “Fekete kenyér” (Black Bread) and “Vízkereztől Szilveszterig” (From Watermill to New Year’s Eve). Both received positive reviews in the prestigious literary journal Nyugat. His work was influenced by prominent Hungarian writers like Endre Ady, Zsigmond Móricz, and Dezső Szabó, as well as Marxist ideology. Some critics considered him a successor to Móricz’s peasant realism. In the 1930s, he joined the populist writers’ movement, aligning himself with its left wing. He contributed to journals like Kelet Népe (People of the East) and Válasz (Response) and became a member of the March Front, a leftist intellectual group. He documented the lives of rural Hungarians in reports and sociographic studies. He chronicled the history of his native village in “A legnagyobb magyar falu” (The Largest Hungarian Village). He explored peasant hardships in the lyrical novel “Egy parasztcsalád története” (Story of a Peasant Family). His historical novels, such as “A törökverő” (The Turk Beater) and “Harangos kút” (Bell Well), featured folk heroes. His semi-autobiographical novel “Elindult szeptemberben” (He Set Off in September) poetically depicts the journey of an intellectual rising from poverty.
After World War II, Darvas focused on public life. He served as a member of parliament from 1945 until his death. He was vice-president of the National Peasant Party from 1945 to 1956. After 1949, he joined the ruling communist parties. He held ministerial positions in education and culture between 1947 and 1956. He was twice elected president of the Hungarian Writers’ Union, in 1951 and 1959. Darvas opposed Imre Nagy’s reformist policies in 1953. He retreated during the 1956 revolution but later supported the Kádár regime. He served as director of the Hunnia Film Studio and editor of the journal Kortárs from 1957 to 1959. He became vice-president of the Patriotic People’s Front in 1960. He joined the Presidential Council in 1971.
After 1956, Darvas returned to literature. His plays, like “Kormos ég” (Smoky Sky) and “Hajnali tűz” (Dawn Fire), explored the plight of communist intellectuals during the revolution. His most successful novel, “Részeg eső” (Drunken Rain), published in 1963, used modernist techniques to examine his generation’s experiences in the preceding decades. He initiated the book series “Magyarország felfedezése” (Discovering Hungary) in 1968. He was awarded the Kossuth Prize twice, in 1956 and 1960. The Darvas József Plaque is a reminder of his complex and often contradictory legacy.