20 Forint 1969, Hungary
| in Krause book | Number: 169e |
| Years of issue: | 12.11.1970 |
| Edition: | -- |
| Signatures: | Pulai Miklós, László Andor, Tallós György |
| Serie: | First Series |
| Specimen of: | 30.06.1969 |
| Material: | Cotton fiber |
| Size (mm): | 166 x 72 |
| Printer: | Hungarian Banknote Printing Corp. "Diósgyőri Papírgyár Zrt.", Miskolc |
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Description
Watermark:
Avers:
György Dózsa (or György Székely, Romanian: Gheorghe Doja; 1470 – 20 July 1514) was a Székely man-at-arms (and by some accounts, a nobleman) from Transylvania, Kingdom of Hungary who led a peasants' revolt against the kingdom's landed nobility. He was eventually caught, tortured, and executed along with his followers, and remembered as both a Christian martyr and a dangerous criminal. During the reign of king Vladislas II of Hungary (1490–1516), royal power declined in favour of the magnates, who used their power to curtail the peasants’ freedom.
Dózsa was born in Dálnok (today Dalnic). During the wars against the Ottoman Empire, he was a soldier of fortune who won a reputation for valour.
In 1514, the Hungarian chancellor, Tamás Bakócz, returned from the Holy See with a papal bull issued by Leo X authorising a crusade against the Ottomans. He appointed Dózsa to organize and direct the movement. Within a few weeks, Dózsa had gathered an army of some 40,000 so-called hajdú, consisting for the most part of peasants, wandering students, friars, and parish priests - some of the lowest-ranking groups of medieval society. They assembled in their counties, and by the time he had provided them with some military training, they began to air the grievances of their status. No measures had been taken to supply these voluntary crusaders with food or clothing. As harvest-time approached, the landlords commanded them to return to reap the fields, and, on their refusing to do so, proceeded to maltreat their wives and families and set their armed retainers upon the local peasantry.
The volunteers became increasingly angry at the failure of the nobility to provide military leadership (the original and primary function of the nobility and the justification for its higher status in the society.) The rebellious, anti-landlord sentiment of these "Crusaders" became apparent during their march across the Great Hungarian Plain, and Bakócz cancelled the campaign. The movement was thus diverted from its original object, and the peasants and their leaders began a war of vengeance against the landlords.
By this time, Dózsa was losing control of the people under his command, who had fallen under the influence of the parson of Cegléd, Lőrinc Mészáros. The rebellion became more dangerous when the towns joined on the side of the peasants. In Buda and elsewhere, the cavalry sent against the Kuruc were unhorsed as they passed through the gates.
The rebellion spread quickly, principally in the central or purely Magyar provinces, where hundreds of manor houses and castles were burnt and thousands of the gentry killed by impalement, crucifixion, and other methods. Dózsa's camp at Cegléd was the centre of the jacquerie, as all raids in the surrounding area started out from there.
In reaction, the papal bull was revoked, and King Vladislaus II issued a proclamation commanding the peasantry to return to their homes under pain of death. By this time, the rising had attained the dimensions of a revolution; all the vassals of the kingdom were called out against it, and soldiers of fortune were hired in haste from the Republic of Venice, Bohemia and the Holy Roman Empire. Meanwhile, Dózsa had captured the city and fortress of Csanád (today's Cenad), and signaled his victory by impaling the bishop and the castellan.
Subsequently, at Arad, Lord Treasurer István Telegdy was seized and tortured to death. In general, however, the rebels only executed particularly vicious or greedy noblemen; those who freely submitted were released on parole. Dózsa not only never broke his given word, but frequently assisted the escape of fugitives. He was unable to consistently control his followers, however, and many of them hunted down rivals.
In the course of the summer, Dózsa seized the fortresses of Arad, Lippa (today also called Lipova) and Világos (now Şiria), and provided himself with cannons and trained gunners. One of his bands advanced to within 25 kilometers of the capital. But his ill-armed ploughmen were outmatched by the heavy cavalry of the nobles. Dózsa himself had apparently become demoralized by success: after Csanád, he issued proclamations which can be described as millenarian.
As his suppression had become a political necessity, Dózsa was routed at Temesvár (today Timişoara) by an army of 20,000 led by John Zápolya and István Báthory. He was captured after the battle, and condemned to sit on a heated smoldering iron throne with a heated iron crown on his head and a heated sceptre in his hand (mocking at his ambition to be king). While he was suffering in this way, a procession of nine fellow rebels, who had been starved beforehand, were led to this throne. In the lead was Dózsa's younger brother, Gergely, who was cut in three despite Dózsa asking for Gergely to be spared. Next, executioners removed hot pliers from fire and forced them into Dózsa's skin. After pulling flesh from him, the remaining rebels were ordered to bite where the hot iron had been inserted and to swallow the flesh. Those who refused, about three or four, were simply cut up which prompted the remaining rebels to do as commanded. In the end, Dózsa died on the throne of iron from the damage that was inflicted while the rebels who obeyed were let go without further harm.
The revolt was repressed but some 70,000 peasants were tortured. György's execution, and the brutal suppression of the peasants, greatly aided the 1526 Ottoman invasion as the Hungarians were no longer a politically united people. Another consequence was the creation of new laws, an effort in the Hungarian Diet led by István Werbőczy. The resulting Tripartitum elaborated the Doctrine of the Holy Crown but also greatly enhanced the status of nobility, erecting an iron curtain between Hungarians until 1848 when serfdom was abolished. 
Coat of arms of the Hungarian people's republic.
The new Socialist coat of arms was created in late 1957 by combining the general shape of the "Rákosi badge" with a small shield in the middle that had its entire area covered by the Hungarian national tricolor. This so-called "Kádár badge" conveniently omitted the cross from the non-religious Hungarian insignia, but it was scrapped during the change of regime in 1989.
Denominations in numeral are on the left side and at the top. In words at the top and lower.
Revers:
On the bill sculpture nude men in the Greco-Roman style, with ears of wheat and a hammer in his hands, symbolizing Hungarian desire for peace and the labor. Under the sculpture are stylized memorial roses.
The sculpture has stylized face of István Hegedűs.
István Hegedűs born April 15, 1924 in the butcher's family (Catholic). Stephen's mother was Protestant, as christened her son. The family lived on the street Rákóczi 22. Then, on the rural street 16 and 20 (the house was dismantled last). The small shop of his father was under the hotel Crown.
Primary education Istvan received in his hometown, in the Reformed public elementary school in the years 1930-1934, and later graduated from high school Kossuth, from 1934 to 1938. He is well behaved throughout the study, he was industrious and exemplary student.
He often came in Nyíregyháza's lake Bujtosi, where swimming and sunbathing. It is said here, and went his love for swimming.
He graduated from college as physical education teacher. Champion of Hungary, he was a member of the national team, and later became a coach.
Often dubbed roles in movies, especially were famous stunts of Leutenant Rakoczy. Everybody loved and respected István.
At October 24, 1956, at dawn, he went to train at the gym, when stopped at the Sofia street (then Mayakovsky street), where some people have burned communist books. Suddenly, there came a AVH truck (State Protection Authority), which began to shoot indiscriminately. There Istvan received fatal gunshot wound. He was buried in the yard of his house. His body was recovered in the spring of 1957 and reburied in the cemetery Kerepesi.
Many thanks to Sabo Kateryna from Uzhgorod, Ukraine for help with translation of an article from the Hungarian newspaper Kelet from March 5, 2014.
Here is the translation of this article:
"The Association for the Protection of the city of Nyíregyháza cherishes the main business of Fityula's life (Hegedűs István). This nickname he received because of the nickname of his favorite horse - Fityulá. Swimming, running and horse riding were the favorite sports of Istvan.
In Hungary, the bill in HUF 20 were called "fityulásnak".
Nyíregyháza. The time is approaching the 90th anniversary of the birth of István Hegedűs, a native of Nyíregyháza. The famous pentathlon, it was not just a backup in the movies, but also played a role in various theatrical productions.
We in Nyíregyháza, can be proud of him.
Says Denesh Komisar:
- In one of the capital's pools it noted graphic artist Mihai Füle and chose as a model for 20 Forint bills developed by graphic artist Endre Horváth, on the back side of which depicts a naked man with a hammer and ears of wheat in the hands Portrait was stylized. This banknote blue was in circulation from 1948 to 1992. Friends spoke of István Hegedűs: "Impeccable externally - internally flawless". This picture was exhibited many times, and now, if he survived, then, most likely, is the National Bank - concludes a local historian Denesh Komisar.
Prior to the introduction in 1946 in the Forint turnover, violent disputes took place in professional circles that will succeed Pengos, devalued the post-war inflation. The most popular "Maria" and "Thaler", but in the end they were rejected.
- On the front side of the green banknote of 50 Thaler suppose to be depicted portrait of György Dózsa, and on the back, as in the later 20 Forint, depicts a naked man, framed by the last lines of the poem "Song of the Wolves", written in January 1847 year, in Pest, by Sandor Petofi: "though we are shot through our side (as if they foresaw the future fate of István Hegedűs...) and we becoming cold in bitter cold day, but we are free!". To date, these printed probes are a unique rarity. Among the bills of HUF series, par value of five thousand, István Hegedűs was an exception, because he was the only living person on this series HUF - continues to tell Denesh Komisar.
In any case, there arises poem, which chanted several generations, slightly wincing, because of low incomes "In vain sow, reap in vain until amassed on the dates of rags, old will like the György Dózsa on the bill."
After this image were sculpted the statues:
- In one of the lectures held by 1992 at the Museum of stamps, Mihai Fule said, that in the sculptural group "Liberation" (now the Statue of Liberty on Gellért Hill, in Budapest), left figure of the "Torchbearer", modeled after the image of István Hegedűs by sculptor Zsigmond Kisfaludi Strobl. Another aspect, concerning the sculpture in Nyíregyháza, on established in 1928, in front of the Residency control, memorial monument to the 1st World War, the central figure of which, in the Hungarian clothing, "Killing the Dragon" depicts the fight with the dragon, symbolizing Bolshevism, which Zsigmond Kisfaludi Strobl also modeled, although the original plan included a bear, not a dragon.
In the domestic and foreign literature there is no consensus on numismatics of who is depicted on the reverse of the banknote, but we in the Nyíregyháza, can be proud of the fact that "one of us", the champion in pentathlon, more than four decades, was presented at one of the banknotes. Hopefully, these new data will contribute to ensure that any establishment or street in our city were named Stephen Hegedyusha innocently shot by the secret police during the revolution of the 1956 - hoped Denesh Komisar. In October 24, 2011, the day of the 55th anniversary of his death in the house at ul. Rákóczi 22, for the protection of the city of Nyíregyháza Association has established a memorial plaque to Fityula. The ceremony was attended by his daughter Andrew, his former teammates and other athletes."
Denominations in numerals are on right and left sides. In words lower, centered.
Comments:
Circulated from 12 of November 1970 till 30 of September 1992.
Designer: Horvath E. Delet.
Engraver: Nagy Zoltán.
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