Bánd
The Mádl family originated from the west of Germany and arrived in the county of Veszprém in the mid-18th century. Here the German settlers moved into some of the villages that had been depopulated during the Turkish wars.
Bánd, home village of Ferenc Mádl (Photo: Endre Domaniczky)
The village of Bánd, where Ferenc Mádl’s ancestors settled, was originally founded during the Era of the Árpád dynasty – the ruins of Essegvár, which towers above the village, are a reminder of the past.
Ruins of Essegvár (Photo: Endre Domaniczky)
Professor Mádl’s ancestors were not among the better-off farmers of the village, which is why his grandfather decided to try his luck in the New World at the beginning of the 20th century. Grandfather Mádl finally returned home after a few years and used his American earnings to buy his own house and land in the village. This was the two-room house where Ferenc Mádl was born on 29 January 1931.
The former house of the Mádl family in the main street of Bánd village (Photo: András Mádl)
Ferenc Mádl was born into a large family, in which three generations worked together helping each other. He was the second child in the family, and over the next decade and a half four more brothers and sisters were born.
The Mádl family around 1948. Ferenc is on far right in the standing row (Photo: courtesy of the Mádl family, with the approval of András Mádl)
The parents’ most important goal was to educate their children. They wanted each sibling to get a university degree – an ambitious goal for a farming family in the first half of the 20th century. As a result, Ferenc Mádl was acquainted with books from an early age and began to learn languages as a young child, out of self-indulgence. He started the elementary school in Bánd, but due to the family’s move he finished it in Szentkirályszabadja.
Szentkirályszabadja
In 1934, Ferenc Mádl’s father decided to rent a large plot of land in Szentkirályszabadja, on the eastern side of Veszprém, where he could be an independent farmer and run his own business. After years of hard work, the farm really blossomed – only for the outbreak of the World War II to put an end to his dreams.
The foundations of the R. Catholic church of Szentkirályszabadja – and the village itself – were laid in the Árpád Era. The Mádl family lived in the village for more than half a decade. Today, their house is the seat of the local government (Photo: Endre Domaniczky)
During this time, Ferenc Mádl finished elementary school in Szentkirályszabadja, then continued his studies at the famous Piarist High School (which was was run by the Piarists, a religious order dedicated to education) in neighbouring Veszprém. At the very end of 1944, when the front approached the village, the family fled to Austria, where they only returned in 1946.
The St Michael’s Cathedral in the Veszprém Castle (Photo: Endre Domaniczky)
After returning from Austria, the Mádl family moved back to Bánd instead of Szentkirályszabadja. Ferenc completed most of the last years of his secondary school education commuting between Bánd and Veszprém. Although he was already an excellent student in elementary school, he was among the best in his last two years of high school. His enthusiasm was not dampened by the fact that the school had been taken by the state and most of the much-loved teachers had been dismissed. Although Professor Mádl later repeatedly emphasised his attachment to the school, and in the 1980s he played a major role in the creation of the school’s alumni circle, the most important community for him was always the pre-1948 Piarist high school, and his primary role models remained the former priest teachers.
The former building of the Piarist High School in the Veszprém Castle. Ferenc Mádl attended here (Photo: Endre Domaniczky)