Pálné Veres
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Hermína Karolína Benická Verešová commonly known as Pálné Veres (née: Hermina Benická or Beniczky, 1815–1895) was a teacher and feminist from the Slovak Region of the Kingdom of Hungary. Her family were German-speaking Lutherans. Her father was an official in Nógrád County, but after his death in 1816, the family moved to Buda. She was educated until the age of sixteen by her mother, a teacher who died in the cholera epidemic of 1831. Taken in by her grandfather, she embarked on a period of self-study from his library. After moving to Pest with the help of an aunt, Benická worked to improve her Hungarian and continued her studies. Upon her marriage, she adopted the name Pálné Veres.
Pálné Veres | |
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Born | Hermína Karolína Benická (1815-12-13)13 December 1815 |
Died | 28 September 1895(1895-09-28) (aged 79) |
Other names | Hermin Beniczky, Hermin Veres von Farád, Hermína Benická, Hermína Benická-Verešová, Hermína Verešová, Hermína Verešová-Beniczká, Pálné Veres |
Occupation(s) | Education activist, teacher |
Known for | Opening the first secondary school for women in Hungary |
Children | 2 |
Relatives | Márton Sturmann [hu] (grandfather) |
From the 1840s Veres became an advocate for women and girls' education. She gave speeches and wrote articles about the importance of training to create mothers who could educate their children and students who would become productive citizens. She organized a conference in 1867, which resulted in establishing the Hungarian National Association for Women's Education and became its president. In 1868, the Diet of Hungary passed legislation making primary schooling for children compulsory, but refused to sanction secondary education for girls. After organizing a petition drive to press the legislature on the issue failed, the association opened the first secondary school for women in Hungary, for which Veres became director. She received the Golden Cross of Merit with the Crown for her efforts on women's education. In a street in Budapest bearing her name, a statue was erected to honor her in 1906.