Association of Hungarian History Teachers

The Association of Hungarian History Teachers (Hungarian: Történelemtanárok Egylete, TTE) is a Hungarian non-governmental, public-benefit professional and advocacy organization for history teachers and history education, founded in 1989 during Hungary's regime change. It is independent of school type and represents the professional interests of history teachers across Hungary. Membership is open to both Hungarian and non-Hungarian citizens, and its public-benefit services are available beyond its membership. Its core aims are information provision and exchange within the pedagogical professional community, and raising the standard of education and history teaching through teacher initiative. The TTE was initiated on 4 April 1989 by four history teachers — Bacskay Beáta, Foki Tamás, Miklósi László and Szarvas Zsolt — who published a call to establish the association. A program-setting meeting followed in May, and the TTE was formally founded on 30 September 1989. Miklósi László served as its executive officer until 1995 and has been its president since then; the association's leadership body is the Bizottmány (Committee). The TTE has established two awards, the Szebenyi Péter Prize and the Szabó Magdi Plaque. The association maintains an extensive network of professional contacts. In 1995 it founded the Information Centre of Budapest Professional Teacher Organizations. From 1995 to 1998, jointly with other professional organizations, it organized major national conferences on the National Core Curriculum, the basic education examination, the school-leaving examination, and teacher further training. The TTE president and delegates have been members of numerous education-policy bodies until their dissolution. It has operated its own website since 1997, and in 2013 launched the Tényleg!/? fact-checking and myth-busting site edited by Lőrinc László, which analyzes and refutes false historical legends; the site won a Bronze EFFIE award in October 2013 in the social communication category. From 2024 the site's editor is Bárány Balázs. The association also previously ran the Tankönyvbázis site to help textbook selection, which was discontinued when the textbook market was abolished. The TTE has run numerous innovative projects. Since 1991 it has held its National Conference of History Teachers every autumn, with speakers including Hankiss Elemér, Tőkéczki László, Bod Péter Ákos, Gyáni Gábor, Csepeli György, Schmidt Mária, Gyarmati György, Sólyom László, Romsics Ignác, Kosáry Domokos, Ormos Mária and many others. In 2003, jointly with the Ministry of Education, it launched the National Memory Program. In 2005, together with the international Shoah Foundation, it published a Holocaust education package, presented at the Alternative Secondary School of Economics with film director Steven Spielberg, founder of the Foundation, attending. Since 2009 it has published a methodology series. In 2010 it conducted family-history life-path interviews and organized the "Let's Reconcile with the Past!" roundtable series on historical processing of the past and false legends spreading among young people. Its 2013 "Acquaintances? Strangers?" workshop series encouraged tolerance education among history teachers. In 2015 the association undertook a comprehensive and detailed analysis of experimental state history textbooks. In 2025, together with Napunk, the Hungarian-language outlet of the Denník N news portal, it launched the joint project "Common Past: Knowledge to Dispel Historical Misconceptions," supporting Slovak and Hungarian history teachers with publications and conferences. Internationally, the TTE is a founding member of Euroclio, the European association of history educators. It hosted Euroclio's 1997 conference and general assembly, opened by President of the Republic Árpád Göncz.

The Association of Hungarian History Teachers (Történelemtanárok Egylete, TTE) was founded during Hungary's regime change, as part of that process. On 4 April 1989, four history teachers — Bacskay Beáta, Foki Tamás, Miklósi László and Szarvas Zsolt — published a call to establish the TTE. In May they held a program-setting meeting, and on 30 September 1989 the TTE was formally founded. In the early period, besides the president and the founders, Gyarmati György, Knausz Imre, Rácz Árpád, Száray Miklós and Kopcsik István played important roles in the association. Miklósi László served as executive officer until 1995 and has been president since then. The association's leadership body is the Bizottmány (Committee). The TTE has established two awards: the Szebenyi Péter Prize and the Szabó Magdi Plaque. The association's network is extensive. In 1995 it founded the Information Centre of Budapest Professional Teacher Organizations. From 1995 to 1998, jointly with other professional organizations, it organized nationally important conferences on the National Core Curriculum, the basic education examination, the school-leaving examination, and teacher further training. The TTE president and its delegates were members of numerous education-policy bodies until their dissolution. It has operated its own website since 1997. In 2013 it created the Tényleg!/? — "was it so, was it not?" — site, edited by Lőrinc László. The website's aim is to analyze and refute false historical legends that deform national consciousness (Etruscan, Hun, Sumerian origins, the Trianon conspiracy, a Pilis capital in the Middle Ages, a beautified Kádár era, Holocaust denial, etc.). It also aims to present the forgotten, marginalized real values of the Hungarian past ("Melldöngetős" column) and to present how other peoples process their past ("Mások háza tája"). The core materials, built on the dialogue of false claims and refutations ("Cáfolós"), are written by historian experts on the topic, as are many articles in the "Aktuális" and "Tanulmányok" sections. Short educational and humorous videos were also made for the site, the latter with the involvement of Dolák-Saly Róbert. The Tényleg!/? Facebook page has several thousand followers. In October 2013 the TTE won a Bronze EFFIE award in the social communication category in recognition of the Tényleg site's opening campaign. From 2024 the site's editor is Bárány Balázs. Earlier, the Tankönyvbázis site helped textbook selection; its operation became unnecessary when the textbook market was abolished, so the TTE discontinued it. Numerous novel, creative projects are tied to the TTE. Since 1991 it has held its National Conference of History Teachers every autumn, with speakers including Hankiss Elemér, Tőkéczki László, Bod Péter Ákos, Gyáni Gábor, Csepeli György, Schmidt Mária, Gyarmati György, Paczolai Péter, Sólyom László, Tölgyessy Péter, Pálinkás József, Kónya Imre, Ungváry Krisztián, Kopper Judit, Kriza Ildikó, Kállai Ernő, Hanák Gábor, Sára Sándor, Lányi András, Rainer M. János, Romsics Ignác, Németh György, Rostoványi Zsolt, Maróth Zsolt, Gerő András, Kosáry Domokos, Ormos Mária, Vámos Tibor, Hahner Péter, Hanák Péter, Závodszky Géza, Fodor Gábor, Szabad György, Révész T. Mihály, Zsigó Jenő, Lóránd Ferenc, Komoróczy Géza, Glatz Ferenc, Várszegi Asztrik, and many other excellent speakers. In 2003 the TTE, jointly with the Ministry of Education, launched the National Memory Program. In 2005, together with the international Shoah Foundation, it published a Holocaust education package, whose professional presentation at the Alternative Secondary School of Economics was attended by film director Steven Spielberg, founder of the Foundation. Since 2009 it has published a methodology series. In 2010 it conducted family-history life-path interviews. In the same year it organized the "Let's Reconcile with the Past!" roundtable discussion series on historical processing of the past and false legends spreading among young people; participants included historians, teachers and social psychologists. The TTE's 2013 "Acquaintances? Strangers?" workshop discussion series encouraged tolerance education among history teachers. In 2015 the association undertook a comprehensive and detailed analysis of experimental state history textbooks. In 2025 the association and Napunk, the Hungarian-language outlet of the Denník N news portal, launched a joint project titled "Common Past: Knowledge to Dispel Historical Misconceptions," supporting the work of Slovak and Hungarian history teachers with publications and conferences, and dispelling misconceptions and prejudices. Internationally, the TTE is in contact with many organizations. It is a founding member of Euroclio, the European association of history teachers. The TTE hosted Euroclio's 1997 conference and general assembly, opened by President of the Republic Árpád Göncz. It maintains contacts with organizations and colleagues beyond the borders, with regular cooperation with the Association of History Teachers operating in Slovakia. The TTE considers publicity decisive. It regularly publishes statements. Its activities are followed by the media and the interested general public beyond the profession. It is present on social media: Facebook page, textbook blog, Picasa (TTE galleries), YouTube channel.

• Four history teachers publish a call to establish the TTE.

• Program-setting meeting held.

• TTE formally founded.

• First National Conference of History Teachers held (annual since).

• Miklósi László becomes president; TTE founds the Information Centre of Budapest Professional Teacher Organizations.

• TTE co-organizes national conferences on the National Core Curriculum, basic education examination, school-leaving examination, and teacher further training.

• TTE begins operating its own website; hosts Euroclio conference and general assembly opened by President Árpád Göncz.

• TTE and Ministry of Education launch the National Memory Program.

• TTE and Shoah Foundation publish Holocaust education package; Steven Spielberg attends presentation.

• TTE begins publishing a methodology series.

• TTE conducts family-history life-path interviews and organizes "Let's Reconcile with the Past!" roundtables.

• TTE launches Tényleg!/? website; wins Bronze EFFIE in social communication; organizes "Acquaintances? Strangers?" workshops.

• TTE undertakes comprehensive analysis of experimental state history textbooks.

• Bárány Balázs becomes editor of Tényleg!/?.

• TTE and Napunk launch joint project "Common Past: Knowledge to Dispel Historical Misconceptions."

Independent, public-benefit professional and advocacy organization for history teachers in Hungary, known for fact-checking historical myths and promoting quality history education.

• National Conference of History Teachers

  Annual professional conference held every autumn since 1991.

• Tényleg!/? website

  Fact-checking and myth-busting site analyzing false historical legends.

• National Memory Program

  Launched in 2003 with the Ministry of Education.

• Holocaust education package

  Published in 2005 with the international Shoah Foundation.

• Methodology series

  Published since 2009.

• Szebenyi Péter Prize

  Award established by the TTE.

• Szabó Magdi Plaque

  Award established by the TTE.

1. 1Történelemtanárok Egylete - A Történelemtanárok Egylete (TTE) honlapjatte.hu
2. 2Association of Hungarian History Teachers - Wikidatawikidata.org
3. 3Történelemtanárok Egylete - Wikipediahu.wikipedia.org