Bakos Katalin - Manicka Anna szerk.: Párbeszéd fekete-fehérben, Lengyel és magyar grafika 1918–1939 (MNG, Warszawa–Budapest, 2009)

II. HÁROM SZÓLAMBAN A LENGYEL ÉS MAGYAR MŰVÉSZETRŐL, MŰVÉSZETTÖRTÉNETRŐL ÉS TÖRTÉNELEMRŐL - Szymon Brzeziński: A „kultúra közös alapjáért". Politika és kultúra a magyar-lengyel kapcsolatokban (1918-1939)

OF THE "COMMON BASIS OF CULTURE". POLITICS AND CULTURE IN RELATIONS BETWEEN POLAND AND HUNGARY (1918-1939) After the First World War, the situation of Poland and Hungary differed substantially in comparison to the state before 1914. The Poles regained their independence and succeeded in defending it in the following years. The Versailles order represented international recognition of these efforts. For the Hungarians, the post-war order was established on the basis of a shameful decision of world powers, on the strength of which the Hungarian statehood ceased to exist in its historical shape. The privileged position in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, one of the best periods in the Hungarian history, was replaced by a small country, lacking natural resources, surrounded by unfavourably disposed neighbours and isolated on the international scene. For Poland, the attacks on the Treaty of Versailles meant questioning the Polish statehood. For Hungary, the revision of the peace conference decisions, especially the Treaty of Trianon (4 June 1920), became the primary political objective during the whole interwar period. Due to such a different starting point, Polish-Hungarian relations between 1918 and 1939 were neither easy nor obvious. In its relations with Hungary, Poland had to consider the opinions of the successor states of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and keep in mind its own interests in the region. For Hungary, breaking the international isolation and building lasting alliances were of major importance. Historians generally note two clear stages in the development of the mutual relations.

1 The 1920s were characterized by a lack of initiatives and cooperation in international affairs. Poland strengthened the alliance with Romania and attached importance to good relations with Czechoslovakia. The minorities policy, a key issue for the Hungarians, who cared about the fate of their compatriots left outside the borders of the "small" Hungary, constituted an additional difficulty. Multinational Poland was cautious about raising this matter. Hungarian ideas of an alliance with Poland (1920) did not meet with an enthusiastic reception. The situation changed in the 1930s, and especially in the middle of the decade, when visits of the Prime Ministers of both countries took place: Gyula Gömbös came to Poland in 1934, and Marian Zyndram-Kościałkowski went to Hungary in 1936. The Regent of Hungary Miklós Horthy visited Poland only in February 1938. A close cooperation took place when the fate of Czechoslovakia was hanging in the balance and when the possibility of a common Polish-Hungarian border was emerging. However, the pro-German policy adopted by Hungary determined the divergence between Hungary and Poland. The hopes of Hungarian governments of establishing an alliance with Poland on that basis were incongruous with Warsaw's aims. Despite differences in international policy, there were fields in which cooperation brought about visible effects, and the cultural policy was one of them. The project of tightening the contacts was connected with a political initiative launched in the 1930s. Count Kuno Klebelsberg, the author of modern educational system in Hungary and Minister of Education and Religion for many years, established a programme of international cooperation in the domain of science. In his own words, he treated "the Ministry of Culture as the Ministry of Defence."

2 In order to gain even symbolic allies abroad, a wide cultural collaboration was established with the Finno-Ugric "cousins" of Hungary, namely Finland and Estonia. The same cultural programme also embraced relationships with Poland. During his visit to Warsaw in 1930, Klebelsberg put forward an initiative of a cultural rapprochement between Poland and Hungary. It was then that the project of establishing a Hungarian Institute in Warsaw was set up. This plan was realized as a result of a bilateral cultural agreement signed in October 1934. The Institute was opened one year later, during a visit of Bálint Hóman, historian and Klebelsberg's successor as Minister. The Polish Institute in Budapest was inaugurated in 1939. These contacts became an opportunity for many declarations of mutual friendship.