No matter how far someone goes, if the roots are strong, they will not forget their homeland. At the same time, the homeland does not forget those who watch and help its development even from afar.
It is due to this duality that, on the initiative of the Demecser Heritage Association, the Demecser representative body awarded the title of honorary citizen to Dr. To Tibor Elek Pazonyi for enhancing the good reputation of the town of Rętköz and in recognition of his life path. On August 21st, Zsombor Vitalís, the president of the NGO, handed over the diploma, plaque and city key with the title of honorary citizen at the home of Tibor Elek in Mölndal, Sweden, on the authority of the municipality.
They were the saviors of the settlement
Tibor Elek Pazonyi is a descendant of a noble family with a long history. He is a member of the family that got its noble name after Pazony, but in the XIX. In the 19th century, a branch of the family chose Demecser as their home. The family gave Demecser outstanding personalities, they were present in the county administration, and their members took on a significant military role in the 1848/49 War of Independence and World War I.
The II. During World War II, during the German and then the Soviet occupation, the family members were the saviors of the village. Today, two mansions in Demecser preserve the memory of the Pazonyi Elekek of a bygone era
- began the presentation of the family to our interest by the president of the NGO responsible for traditional care.
He spoke several languages
Tibor Elek is the only living descendant who still has ties to Demecseri. He was born on March 11, 1926 in Demecser. His brothers and he himself were students of the former Roman Catholic elementary school. He began his secondary school studies in Nyíregyháza, then went to Gödöllő, to the Premontrei High School, where he graduated in 1943. Here he learned the tricks of swordsmanship, in which he represented his school with good results.
He was preparing for a career in economics, but became a language teacher. He was predestined for this by the historical era in which he grew up, as well as the fact that he grew up in a multilingual family. Thanks to his German grandmother and a German Fräulein, as well as his Russian mother and grandmother, he was brought up in a trilingual home, and then the high school language education (Latin, German, French) contributed to his language skills in other ways.
This knowledge helped him in the age when the family was deprived first of its land and then of its home - continued Zsombor Vitalís, who also told us that although the storms of history drove him to Sweden in 1956, Tibor Elek never forgot his homeland, Demecser.
In the beginning, he took care of his living with a temporary job at a Hungarian high school and with the help of evening courses, so he was able to financially support his parents and siblings who stayed at home. In addition, he obtained a secondary school teacher's degree in English and Russian at the University of Gothenburg. During an evening course, he met one of his students, who was a strikingly good-looking girl blessed with exceptional language skills and many beautiful individual qualities, with whom the teacher-student relationship led to engagement and then marriage. He and his wife, Swedish national Barbro Nyberg, were happily married for almost 52 years. Unfortunately, a serious illness took his beloved wife too soon. Two sons were born from their marriage: Christian and Fredrik.
He is an associate professor at the University of Gothenburg
After teaching high school, he worked at the University of Gothenburg until his retirement. In addition to the new workplace, he was preparing for his doctorate in parallel, which meant another four years of study. He also took part in a study trip abroad: he spent a year and a half in the United States, where he taught several foreign languages. After obtaining his doctorate in 1973, he soon received the appointment of associate professor. His university work consisted of leading projects related to the development of tests for English and Swedish as a foreign language, which were needed due to increasing immigration. He also gave lectures in various cities in Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Israel.
He received his diamond diploma this year, in 2023.
After many decades, he returned to the ancient family estate and their eternal home for the first time in 1999, because in this year their family crypt was renovated and consecrated. After that, he returned to Demecser several times, now with his wife, children and grandchildren. He considers it important that his descendants get to know the family roots. In the spirit of this, in 2010 he published a revised version of his father's diary, and in 2012 he recorded several episodes of his life under the title Memories Despite his advanced age, he has excellent mental freshness, his retired days are mostly spent reading, and he tries to spend as much time as possible in the fresh air. Her favorite sport is tennis, which she played on a weekly basis until three years ago. His gray everyday life is made more colorful by his four grandchildren: Victoria, Daniel, Marcus and Amanda, said the president of the association.
Active social life
Tibor Elek looks back on his long and eventful life with satisfaction. He tries to forget the injustices committed against his social class and only tries to think back on the positive experiences. Together with his wife, they tried to live an active social life: they kept in touch with relatives, school and work colleagues, and tennis club athletes. They loved to travel, and their most memorable trips were to Brazil, South Africa and the Maldives.
He turned 97 in March this year. There is a high probability that he is the oldest living person born in Demecser.
The seventh honorary citizen
Dr. Elek Pazonyi is Tibor Demecser's seventh honorary citizen after the regime change. Long organization preceded the "big meeting".
We spoke several times on the phone with Uncle Tibor, who was waiting for the meeting with the same excitement as I was
- Zsombor Vitalís revived the antecedents of the organization of the meeting.
The honoree organized a gala dinner at his home in Mölndal, which was attended by his two sons and a former student of Hungarian origin. He was very moved when he was presented with the souvenirs associated with the title of honorary citizen. He expressed his gratitude to the Demecser Heritage Association and the Demecser municipality, and noted that the title of honorary citizen is not only for himself, but also for almost all the ancestors of the Elek Pazonyi family, especially his father, Endre Elek Pazonyi. The evening was spent in a very good atmosphere, the informal conversation was mostly in English.
It was a great honor to meet the last member of a bygone era. Despite the big age difference, I believe that Uncle Tibor and I developed a friendship.
I am confident that we will have the opportunity to meet each other again - Zsombor Vitalís added in conclusion.
Featured image: Demecser Heritage Association
