Tag #156777 - Interview #78659 (Vera Szekeres-Varsa)

In 1911 he graduated from the Public High School in Nagykikinda and wanted to go to university, but my uncle couldn't afford to do it. He knew that his uncle had to educate his own two sons, as well. So, my father, who wanted to be a Hungarian literature and history teacher, became a law student in Budapest, at the Pázmány University.37 It was the only university in Hungary at that time where it was possible to study, as we would say today, on long-distance courses.38 He took various jobs in Szeged as a clerk because, in the meantime, Uncle Dezső moved from Nagykikinda to Szeged. My father did not like law, but he did it properly. He did a lot of sports: athletics, including long and high jump. He was so good at sports that around 1913, even his participation in the 1916 Olympics came up, but the war intervened. The drafted students were allowed to take the final exams earlier, so in 1914, my father finished his studies and filed in. He received his diploma signed by Rusztem Vámbéry in 1918.