Egyháztörténeti Szemle 18. (2017)
2017 / 2. szám - SUMMARIES IN ENGLISH - Hamerli Petra: The ‘Confusion’ After Signing the Peace Treaty of Versailles–Trianon Seen by the Apostolic Nuncio Lorenzo Schioppa (October–December 1920) - Veszprémy László Bernát: ‘Had I been born a Jew, I would be a Zionist.’ The question of Ottokár Prohászka and his Christian Zionism
Summaries in English 117 The ‘Confusion’ After Signing the Peace Treaty of Versailles— Trianon Seen by the Apostolic Nuncio Lorenzo Schioppa (October - December 1920) Hamerli, Petra The paper summarizes the reports written on the Hungarian situation after it signed the Peace Treaty of Versailles-Trianon on 4 June 1920 by the first Apostolic Nuncio in Budapest, Lorenzo Schioppa, who began his diplomatic mission on 5 October 1920 in Hungary. The reports written between October and December 1920 describe those circumstances that Hungary had to face with after the Peace Treaty, which resulted the loss of two thirds of the original territory of the country, and several Hungarian inhabitants - with a lot of Catholics among them - were forced to live in the Successor States created after World War I (Czechoslovakia, Romania, Yugoslavia). In his reports, Lorenzo Schioppa examined all of the circumstances that could influence Hungary’s political, social, confessional and everyday life. He sent them to the Cardinal Secretariat of State, Pietro Gas- parri, to make the Holy See informed on Hungary’s situation, which he described as a ‘confusion’ in these first period of his mission. The significance of the reports, as primary sources, is that they present Hungary from the point of view of a diplomat, and make some interesting and surprising observations on the Hungarian inner affairs and foreign policy, on the politicians and other important personalities of the country, and, beside this, they examines the confessional and social situation of Hungary, as well. Lorenzo Schioppa was not afraid of making some critical observations, as well, so the reports give several reflections that can help the Historians - and all of those who are interested in the Horthy Era - to understand better the situation of Hungary after Trianon. ‘Had I been born a Jew, I would be a Zionist.’ The question of Ottokár Prohászka and his Christian Zionism. Veszprémy, László Bernát This article explores the complicated views professed by Roman Catholic Bishop of Székesfehérvár Ottokár Prohászka (1858-1927) regarding Zionism. Largely based on new sources from the contemporary Hungarian Jewish press, his views can be summed up as follows: world Jewry has to form a national state and convert to Christianity. His theses, however, do not match those of the mainly Protestant Christian Zionists of Western Europe and the United States, as he also professed openly anti-Semitic views and actively assisted in drafting anti-Jewish legislation in 1920. Our previous picture of Prohászka is further enriched by a newly emerged interview he gave to the Zionist weekly Zsidó Szemle in 1921. In this interview he went so far as to declare: ‘Had I been born a Jew, I would be a Zionist.’ He also offered words of praise to Jewish culture. While assimilationist Jews hardly believed his supposedly good intentions, it would seem that the Zionist press risked giving some positive coverage to Prohászka, at least for a while. Limiting Jewish access to higher education was one of the most important political agendas of Prohászka in the period discussed. This struggle of the Catholic Bishop the Zionists never condoned.
