István Küzmics

István Küzmics also known in Slovene as Štefan or Števan Küzmič (around 1723 - December 22 1779) was the most important Lutheran writer of the Slovenes in Hungary.

He was born in the village of Štrukovci region in what was then the Vas County of the Kingdom of Hungary, and is now part of the Prekmurje region of Slovenia. He studied and successfully graduated in the universities of Sopron, Győr and Pozsony. He later became a pastor and teacher in two Slovene speaking cities of Nemescsó (1751-1755) and Surd (1755-1779), in what is now Zala County, but was then part of Somogy, an area in which numerous Slovene families settled in the 17th and 18th century. He also wrote Cathechisms and schoolbooks and translated the New Testament in his local Prekmurian dialect; the translated text, entitled "Nauvi zakon ali testamentom", was published in the German town of Halle in 1771.

Küzmics died in Surd, Hungary. In 2008, the central community hall of the Evangelical church of Slovenia located in Puconci was named after him.

ee also

*Slovenes in Somogy
*Mihály Bakos
*List of Slovene writers and poets in Hungary
*Primož Trubar

References

* Mária Mukics: "Changing World - The Hungarian Slovenes" ("Változó Világ" - "A magyarországi szlovének") Press Publica ISBN 1219 5235