Fraternity-Testvériség, 1956 (34. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1956-06-01 / 6. szám
10 FRATERNITY "An Undiplomatic Diary" The opening page of an intimate record of events and observations, aptly entitled “An Undiplomatic Diary”,3 was filled with the General’s bold handwriting within less than twenty-four hours after his arrival. His suitcases were still unpacked in two of the least resplendent among the countless rooms of the immense Palace, which Bandholtz had selected to serve as a combination office and living quarters, when an unexpected visitor rushed in, brushing aside the valet (depicted in the Diary as “Lugubrious Luke who comes in like a cloud of gloom, disturbs my rooms, speaks Hungarian, German, and I believe French, fluently, and understands absolutely nothing”). The visitor was His Royal Highness the Archduke Joseph, provisional President of what one could have called accurately but not with impunity the Hungarian Royal Republic. The Archduke “came into the room scared nearly to death, holding in his hand what purported to be an ultimatum from the Rumanian Government requiring an answer by six o’clock ... to the effect that Hungary must yield to all Rumanian demands, giving up all of her war material and supplies of whatever nature, agree to back Rumanian in taking away the Bánát country from the Jugo-Slavs, and . . . consent to political union with Rumania, with the King of Rumania as ruler of Hungary, along the same lines as the former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy.” Bandholtz told him “not to be afraid, and looking at me and trembling he replied: T am not afraid; I am a soldier just like you . . .’ He asked me what he should do in regard to the ultimatum and was informed that in view of the fact that it had not been presented by the Rumanian Plenipotentiary, he could send word to the sender to go plumb to hell1.” The tonic concocted out of diplomatic protocol and common sense immediately “relieved the strain on the Archducal physiognomy to a great extent, and he retired in good order.” The decisiveness displayed was as typical of the General as the language he used in this first of many subsequent encounters with “Archie” — his playfully irreverent name for the Hungarianized senior member of the fallen House of Habsburg. One crowded week later, of which one would vainly try to offer even a bare outline within this article, “the Rumanians . . . began to loot Hungary, removing all automobiles, locomotives, cars and other rolling stock, took possession of and shipped to Rumania all the arms, ammunitions and war material they could find, and then proceeded also to clean the country out of private automobiles, farm implements, cattle, horses, clothing, sugar, coal, salt and in fact everything of value; and even after they were notified by the Supreme Council of the Peace Conferenece to cease requisitioning, they continued and are stiU continu 3 The Diary, originally not intended for publication, was eventually released by the General’s widow as a contribution to a better understanding of America’s role in the post-World War I period. Edited by Prof. F. K. Krueger of Wittenberg College, Springfield, O., it was published by the Columbia University Press in 1933. Excerpts from it are quoted in this article by permission of the publishers.
