Hungarian Studies Newsletter, 1981 (9. évfolyam, 27-30. szám)

1981 / 27-28. szám

HUNGARIAN STUDIES NEWSLETTER

NO. 27-28 ISSN:0194-164X Spring, 1981

Published quarterly by the Hungarian Research Center of the American Hungarian Foundation: Winter, Spring (two numbers included), and Autumn. Founder and editor: Bela Charles Maday. Journal editor: Enikő Molnár Basa. Corresponding editor: Lorant Czigany (London). Communications concerning content should be addressed to the Editor, 4528-49th Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20016. Communications concerning subscriptions, advertising, and circulation should be addressed to American Hungarian Foundation, 177 Somerset Street, P.O. Box 1084, New Brunswick, N.J. 08903. Annual subscription in the USA. $4.00. Abroad $5.00 Current single copy $2.00; back issues $2.50 each.

BOOKS (Continued)

Braham, Randolph L. THE POLITICS OF GENOCIDE; The Holocaust in Hungary. Columbia U. Press, 136 South Broadway, Irvington, NY 10533, 1981. xxviii + 1269 pages in two volumes (vol. 1: xviii + 594 pages, and vol. 2: x + 675 pages), tables glossary, indices, appendices, biblio, illus. $60.00 cloth.

This is a monumental and significant piece of political historical research. It constitutes the most extensive cyclopedic work on the subject, and will serve as the principal source of reference for a long time to come. It synthesizes various dimensions of interaction between the Hungarian Jewry and their leadership, on the one hand, and the multifarious Hungarian governments and the Hungarian people, on the other. The emphasis is on the impact of Nazi ideology and German political and military pressure, culminating in the destruction of all but 230,000 Jews during the last days of World War II. The some 800,000 Jews of Hungary had been relatively prosperous until the German occupation of Hungary on March 19, 1944. Patriotic and secure, they paid little attention to the fatal anti-Jewish measures implemented indiscriminately against the opponents of national socialism. By ideology this included all persons of Jewish origin. The author follows the evolution and emancipaton of Hungarian Jewery from the “Golden Era” preceeding World War I, through the various regimes and political movements of the twentieth century. He describes the demographic, economic, and social dimensions of the Jewish community as it existed in the broader contexts of Hungary and Europe. He follows the deterioration of relationships, the gradual disenfranchisement, the draft into the labor service system, ghettoization, deportation, and final destruction of Hungarian Jews at Auschwitz and other deathcamps in Germany. A detailed, region by region, city by city description with hundreds of names is given, with special treatment of the case of the Jews of Budapest and their rescue. The treatment of foreign Jews in Hungary, and of Hungarian Jews in Slovakia and Romania constitute a unique addition. A chapter on rescue and resistance, another on the attitudes and reactions of the Christian churches, of foreign governments, and international organizations preceeds a chapter on liberation, restitution, and retribution. The volumes are prefaced by a list of geographical names, Hungarian military ranks and terms, German military and SS ranks and their U.S. equivalents, and a list of source abbreviations used in the text. Two appendices give data on the forced labor service system; one lists major anti-Jewish government decrees; another lists Hungarian and foreign Jewish authors whose works were banned; and one appendix gives a chronology of events. A

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glossary of acronyms, Hungarian, German, and Hebrew terms is very helpful. Name, geographic, and subject indices conclude the work.

The author is prof, of political science at the City Coll, of CUNY. His previous books were reviewed in HSN nos. 1,11, and 16.

Body, Paul JOSEPH EÖTVÖS AND THE MODERNIZATION OF HUNGARY, 1840-1870. A study of Ideas of Individuality and Social Pluralism in Modern Politics. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society. (104 South Fifth Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106), New Series, Vol. 62, Part 2 (1972). 134 pages, biblio, illus. $2.00 paper.

This study focuses on the reformist ideas, writings, and actions of Eötvös (1813-1871), which he developed when the winds of liberalism and social romanticism swept over Western Europe. Eötvös became attracted to literature as a good vehicle of protest against social injustice. He presented his ideas in novels, the first of which appeared in 1839, nine years before the outbreak of the Hungarian war of independence. Between 1848 and 1867 he engaged in a series of political experiments addressing himself mainly to the resolution of the nationality problem and to the restructuring of the state along constitutional lines. His forceful description of Western liberal forms of government, and the formulation of a detailed reform plan served as models for the Hungarian reform laws of 1848. He was fascinated by other cultures and believed in the advantages of cultural pluralism. The author traces Eötvös’ intellectual evolution and its impact on Hungarian society in nine chronological chapters covering the beginning of the reform era; the revolution of 1848; a critique of nationalism; the transition from absolutism to dualism; the reforms of the post-Compromise era; and Eötvös' educational and church policies.

The author is on the faculty of St. Lawrence College at Kingston, Canada.

Csáth, Géza. THE MAGICIAN’S GARDEN AND OTHER STORIES. Selected and with an introduction by Marianna D. Birnbaum. Translated by Jascha Kessler and Charlotte Rogers. Columbia U. Press, 136 South Broadway, Irvington, NY 10533. 1980. 206 pages, illus. $15.00 cloth.

Géza Csáth (1887-1919), an early figure of Hungarian modernism, belonged to the generation of Franz Kafka, Robert Musil, and Miroslav Krleza, a restive and rebellious avant-gardist in an era which was groping for new directions. He wrote fiction, drama, and essays, as well as art and music critiques. He made neurology his profession and read the early writings in psychoanalysis. At the age of 32, he fell victim to morphine addiction. The 24 short stories were selected and prefaced by Birnbaum. They range from impressionistic, metaphoric, and surreal pieces to straight forward naturalism. “Like his life, Csáth’s stories are conflicts acted out at the crossroads of sobriety and insanity, on the borderline between dream and real life," says Birnbaum. “The ‘magic’, märchen-like stories reveal Csáth as a poet manque, showing an affinity to the great artistic fairy-tale writers, E.T.A. Hoffmann, Andersen, and, particularly, to Oscar Wilde in the lyric quality of some of his prose that can be conceived almost as prose poems.”

The volume is illustrated with etchings by Attila Sassy, who was a contemporary and friend of Csáth. Birnbaum is adjunct associate professor of Hungarian language and literature at the U. of California, Los Angeles.

NO. 27-28, SPRING, 1981, HUNGARIAN STUDIES NEWSLETTER