Balogh_Torok_Gal_Janos_fiumei_gyarmataru_kereskedo

The portrait and business of János Gál of Olasztelek (1865–1944), a Fiume merchant of colonial goods, reveal hitherto unexplored phenomena in the history of commerce: how a Székely nobleman could become a proficient merchant at the end of the nineteenth century and how one can gain insight into the brief history of a successful Hungarian enterprise in the Port of Fiume. The figure of János Gál can be reconstructed from fragmented historical and museological sources from the decades before and after the turn of the nineteenth century. The economic and industrial development of the port city of Fiume prompted Gál to move from Székelyföld to the Hungarian-Croatian seaside where he started his own business under the name Első Magyar Kávé Beviteli Üzlet (First Hungarian Coffee Import Business). János Gál became an active member of local Hungarian community life, for example, he became the president of the Fiumei Magyar Kör (Hungarian Association of Fiume). Ten years into his career, he was awarded the title of purveyor to the imperial and royal courts. He was a supplier to the Austro-Hungarian Navy and the Royal Hungarian Gendarmerie. His professional history provides a glimpse into the business and social difficulties caused by the First World War and the subsequent Trianon Peace Treaty. Due to the unsettled conditions of Fiume and the termination of Hungarian state subsidies, several trading companies left the city, and in the end, János Gál also did the same: he moved to Budapest in the 1920s.