Kálmán Dervarics

Kálmán Dervarics, the first historiographer of Dolnja Lendava, district and town judge, as well as the official interpreter for Slovenian, was born in Gutorfölde in 1827. His family moved to Dolnja Lendava in 1931 when his father got the job of post warden and the estates related to the job. He started his schooling in Dolnja Lendava, finished six grades of general high school in Varaždin and then the Academy of Law in Győr. As a young lawyer, he returned to Dolnja Lendava in 1847.

Dervarics was also active at the time of the 1848/49 revolution. First, he participated as a cadet, later as lieutenant and, finally, as first lieutenant of the Zala County Mobile Home Guard Unit from Dolnja Lendava. He also participated in different military operations for the prevention of the invasion of the Croatian army.

From 1852 onwards, he filled different administrative positions in the town. He worked at the district board and was also fulfilling tasks as the Guild Commissioner. In 1861, he first became the public notary and, later, also the judge of Dolnja Lendava. For almost ten years, up until his retirement, he worked as district judge and, later on, he worked as an interpreter for Slovenian, which he remained doing until the end of his life.

Besides his interesting administrative work, he also researched local history, and he was especially creative at it. During his research, he tried to use as many available sources as possible: scientific literature, testimonies, people´s memories, stories and legends. He was the initiator of the mummification and the placement of the human remains of Mihael Hadik, which were found in one of the tombs in the cemetery of The Holy Trinity, into a glass coffin.

Kálmán Dervarics died on the 30th of March, 1904, in Dolnja Lendava. His tomb does not exist anymore, yet we may assume that the place of his eternal rest was in the so-called middle cemetery. The house of the Dervarics family stood on the hill behind the former Bilingual Secondary School of Lendava. 

Sources:

• Lendvai Kepe Zoltán 2014. Lyndvamuseum 8. Znameniti Lendavčani – Nevezetes lendvaiak I. Lendava: Galerija-Muzej Lendava.
• Göncz László: Alsólendva nagy krónikása. In: Népújság, 2012. (56. let.) 47. št, str. 15. Lendava: Zavod za informativno dejavnost madžarske narodnosti.