Gizella Drávai (1911–1981), educator, writer, poet, of Beregszász (Berehove)

Gizella Drávai was a decisive figure in the culture of the whole of Subcarpathia (Kárpátalja). She helped many educators, writers, poets, and public figures realize their professional calling.

She was born on May 8, 1911, in Kovászó (Kvasovo) into the family of Jenő Legeza, a Greek Catholic priest, and Gizella Skira. She was only four years old when her father unexpectedly passed away.

She and her mother then moved to Beregszász (Berehove). Gizella completed her civilian school there, and then prepared for a teaching career. She worked for a year at the Kálvin Printing House in Beregszász, and then studied at the teacher training college in Ungvár (Uzhhorod).

She married, and although she did not have children from her marriage, she became the adopted mother of hundreds of children.

During her teaching career, she taught at several schools in Bereg County in addition to the two Hungarian-language schools in Beregszász.

She offered this opinion on teaching: “The truth is that teaching is not a heart-felt career choice for everyone. Strong will enables the less talented educator to achieve great things, whereas a lack of perseverance means that many talented contemporaries do not fulfill the hopes placed in them. The latter is very unfortunate, because every lost potential represents a loss for society.”

She was more than just a teacher: she wrote textbooks and methodological books, translated, published in newspapers, and mentored writers and poets.

In 1952, she founded a Hungarian literary studio in Beregszász.

Mária Punykó, one of her students, remembers her this way: “…Besides loving children, she also saw the potential abilities within them and strove to unleash them. As Béla Erdélyi said about her: she was yeast that set others in motion. She paved the way for everyone in whom she saw a spark of talent. Many regarded her as a role model, a champion of the Hungarian language, and a custodian of Hungarian culture. She gave us not only knowledge but also a worldview. I inherited everything from her after my parents.”

Gizella Drávai passed away on August 28, 1981.