Aalders Maarten Johan

This article examines the establishment and significance of the Reformed Study Fund, which enabled Hungarian students to pursue theological education at the Free University in Amsterdam or the Theological University in Kampen. Established in 1921, this fund continued the tradition of the 1761 Bernardinum Scholarship, which facilitated Hungarian and Palatine students’ studies in Utrecht. The research explores the fund’s initiator, Jenő Sebestyén, an advocate of neo-Calvinist Abraham Kuyper, founder of Amsterdam’s Free University and influential leader within the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands – a denomination emerging from the 1892 schism in the Reformed Church. The paper analyses this ecclesiastical division, the strengthening Dutch-Hungarian relations following the First World War, and the subsequent foundation of the Reformed Study Fund.

Between 1920 and 1930, the relationship between Hungary and the Netherlands was extra¬ordinarily intense. Famous are the so-called children’s trains, with which more than 28 000 Hungarian children travelled to the Netherlands to recover for a while in host families from the hardships that the and revolution had brought to the Hungarian people. But there was also help in the theological and ecclesiastical fields. Especially the followers of Abraham Kuyper (1839–1920) waged a fierce struggle. In Hungary it was and still is rumoured that this Kuyper church was bent on splitting the Calvinist church of Hungary. In this article, the author shows that this was not the intention of the Dutch leaders. Jenő Sebestyén, the main ally of the Dutch theologians, was also not out for a schism.

Towards the end of 1918, the Kingdom of Hungary was close to a collapse. Diplomatic interventions of all kinds tried to prevent this, and the Protestant churches were also asked to intervene. The Hungarian churches sent a delegation to The Netherlands. Members of these delegations, among them Géza Antal and Jenő Sebestyén, spoke with a number of Protestant sympathizers, like A. Kuyper and H. Colijn. The Dutch Protestant churches issued a statement warning against the danger that was threatening the Protestants in Hungary. According to Antal they were the first to issue a warning. But was there really an official report? Until now my research has not led to any firm indication in this respect.