Collector coin to honour the 125th anniversary of Sára Salkaházi’s birth

10 May 2024

The Magyar Nemzeti Bank is issuing a silver collector coin with a face value of 15,000 forints named ‘Boldog Salkaházi Sára’ (beatified Sára Salkaházi) and its non-ferrous metal version of 3,000 forints on 11 May 2024 to honour the life of the nun member of the Sisters of Social Service who died as a martyr. The coin, to be issued in honour of the 125th anniversary of sister Sára, who received the Righteous Among the Nations award, was designed by DLA sculptor László Szunyogh.

Sára Salkaházi was born as Sarolta Schalkház in Kassa on 11 May 1899. After gaining a degree as a teacher, she followed her ambitions and became a writer. She had her writings published in the Esti Újság (Evening Paper) in Košice under a pseudonym. Social issues were in the centre of her attention even then: mostly she wrote about Hungarians giving the minority population, poor workers and distressed, jobless people. She joined the Sisters of Social Service in 1929. That year saw her entering the path of a nun, which only strengthened her social sensitivity. As a social worker, she served the poor, the ones living on the fringes of society and the people in oppression by establishing charitable organisations in Košice and Komárom, by working as a teacher, managing a dining facility for children and a store selling devotional articles in addition to overseeing a poorhouse. In 1941, she became the national manager of the Katholikus Dolgozó Nők és Leányok Szövetsége (Coalition of Working Catholic Women and Girls), edited the movement’s newspaper and gave lectures. In addition, she opened poorhouses and began the foundation of a college for working women. During World War II she saved nearly 100 Hungarian Jewish people from persecution. She also shared common destiny with the people who had been deported On 27 December 1944, members of the Arrow Cross Party shot the sister, who shared her fate with other deportees, into the Danube, along with many other prisoners. Sára Salkaházi was honoured with the Righteous Among the Nations award by Yad Vashem in 1969, and on 17 September 2006, the Catholic Church recognised her entrance into a state of bliss (beatification), which is a step towards canonization.

In order for the ‘Boldog Salkaházi Sára’ collector coins to play their primary role as a store of value and to raise awareness they are not to be used in everyday payments. Their face value serves to preserve the value the coins represent to collectors.

On the obverse, on the left, a full-figure representation of Sára Salkaházi is seen based on her photograph from around 1932. She is standing in an open doorway, referring to her accepting attitude towards people who were in a predicament and in need. To the right of the representation, in four lines, the mint year ‘2024’, the denominations ‘15000’ and ‘3000’, the inscription ‘FORINT’ and the mint mark ‘BP.’ are featured, the wording ‘MAGYARORSZÁG’ is placed in a legend on the right edge of the obverse. Just underneath this, a representation of a tree is seen with the lettering ‘VILÁG IGAZA’ (Righteous Among the Nations) below. In 1969, Sára Salkaházi received the most prestigious award of the Yad Vashem posthumously for her heroic actions in saving human beings. This award is presented to not Jewish people, who saved Jewish people and did not expect anything in return, endangering their own liberty, safety and lives. The tree motif appearing on the obverse suggests that a tree is planted to honour each award-winner.

The obverse of the ‘Boldog Salkaházi Sára’ collector coins

On the reverse, the representation of a portion of the Danube and the Szabadság híd (Liberty Bridge) is found, with a cross indicating the place where Sára Salkaházi was executed on the bank of the Danube in 1944. Inserted into the representation of the Danube, in four lines the motto offered by Sára Salkaházi when she took an oath as a nun in 1940 is placed: ‘ECCE EGO, MITTE ME’ (Here I am, send me). On the edge of the reverse, on the left the lettering ‘BOLDOG SALKAHÁZI SÁRA’ is featured at the top, in a legend, and the years ‘1899-1944’ referring to her birth and death. The designer's mark of DLA sculptor László Szunyogh is positioned on the right, inserted into the representation of the Danube at the bottom.

The reverse of the ‘Boldog Salkaházi Sára’ collector coins

Both collector coins are 38.61 mm in diameter. Their edge is reeded. The silver coin with a face value of 15,000 forint is struck in .925 fine silver and weighs 31.46 grams. The non-ferrous metal coin with a face value of 3000 forint is produced from an alloy of copper (75%) and nickel (25%) and weighs 30.80 grams. 5,000 pieces can be made of the silver collector coin in proof finish and 5,000 pieces of the non-ferrous version in BU finish.

In order to promote the role of these collector coins to raise awareness as widely as possible, the silver coin ‘Boldog Salkaházi Sára’ will be available for purchase for three months, while stocks last, and the non-ferrous version for one year from the date of issuance, at face value in the webshop (https://www.penzvero.hu/) and coin shop of Hungarian Mint Ltd. (Budapest, distr. V, 7 Báthory street), the producer and the distributor of the coins, starting from 13 May 2024.