Rónai András (szerk.): Atlas of Central Europe (Budapest, 1993)
1906-1991 Andrew Rónai was born in 1906 at Nagyszeben (Transylvania). His family came of the Székely land (Csikdelne). He passed the secondary school at Kolozsvár in the Piarist Grammar School and graduated at the József Nádor University of Technical and Economic Sciences, at Budapest. Thanks to his professor, Count Paul Teleki, from 1927 he worked in the Institute of Political Sciences, between 1940 and 1945 as director of the Institute. In the latter period his activity was focussed on the elaboration of the ATLAS OF CENTRAL EUROPE of which he was the editor. Despite the war-time difficulties - with the devoted assistance of the staff of the Institute - the Atlas could be published in provisional form (printed by an in-house “rotaprint” machine) by mid-March, 1945. Due to the short-sighted domestic policy of that time, the Atlas intended for the peacenegotiations after Word War II could not fulfil its function. In May 1945 Andrew Rónai was ousted from his post and soon thereafter even the Institute itself was dissolved. From January 1941 till December 1949 - as professor and head of department he taught political and economic geography at the University of Technical and Economic Sciences at Budapest. At the end of 1949, as a result of the reorganization of the University along the lines of the Marxist conception, he was discharged, i.e. put on the retired list. Nevertheless, without pension as he was not yet of pensionable age. (He was 43 years old!) In February 1950 - thanks to Mr. Sándor Vitális, director of the Institute - he got employment in the Hungarian Geological Institute. There he had to start a new career, again from the bottom. Due to his ambitious work also this career was shaping well: as a geologist he became a front-ranker of the profession, too. He was awarded the degree of Academic Doctor of Geology and his work was acknowledged also by several scientific honours. He had a good name also in international professional circles. He retired in 1986, at the age of 80. He has never been a member of any party or any political movement. His life was centred on his work that he wanted to do honestly, with full commitment. 1 I i 1