Budapest, 1946. (2. évfolyam)
8. szám - BENEDEK ANDRÁS: Színházi esték
HOTEL ST. GELLÉRT BUDAPEST BUDAPEST ILLUSTRATED HISTORICAL AND SOCIAL REVIEW PUBLISHED BY THE CITY OF BUDAPEST FROM THE PENGOE TO THE FLORIN At the close of 1945, it proved necessary to re-organise the financial system of a country that had suffered such immense losses during the war. It should be recalled, however, that inflation, as such, began already in 1937, when the bank-note circulation amounted to P. 545,000.000. By the end of 1944, the bank-note circulation had reached the figure of around twenty billion pengoe and it was clear that the measures introduced in 1939 played a very considerable role in the realisation of this state of affairs. In other words, the blame for the growth of the inflation must be laid at the door of earlier Governments. On account of the immense difficulties of printing paper money, it did not prove possible to start issuing bank-notes immediately after the liberation of the country. At that time, the Soviet Russian Government granted Hungary a substantial loan in pengoe currency. The first one thousand pengoe bank-note was issued on July 16th 1945. The Treasury attempted to cover the deficit in the slate household by largely increasing the volume of bank-notes in circulation ; this tendency was speeded up still further by the continually increasing shortage of consumer's goods. The result of the lack of confidence was the start of a mad race between wages and prices, a factor that had both a paralysing and demoralising effect on the community. In December, 1945, the Hungarian Government ordered a levy on bank-notes, but the relief brought by this measure was temporary only and did not last more than a fortnight. On this account, the Government then introduced a new unit of calculation, the tax-pengoe, with the object of inducing the population to pay their taxes without delay and also with the purpose of establishing a stable unit of calculation. The tax-pengoe soon became a popular form of calculation and payment and replaced the ordinary pengoe whose only real purpose at that time was to enable the computation of the daily tax-pengoe figure. The velocity reached by the inflation inay be seen if we recall that the banknote and bill circulation amounted in 1937 to 545 million pengoe or roughly 103 million dollars and that it rose by the end of June 1945, to 23,572 million pengoe, which calculated at the rate of 627 pengoe to the dollar, represented a sum of around 37 5 million dollars. On December 31« 1945, the bank-note circulation had risen to 765,466 million pengoe, which at the rate of 285.000 pengoe to the dollar, equalled an amount of 2-7 million dollars. On July 15t h 1945, the total bank-note circulation in Hungary had reached the figure of 760,470,754,175,318,000,000.000 pengoe. At the same time, the bank-note of the largest denomination ever issued, that representing 100 quadrillion pengoe, was printed in Hungary. From July 9t h 1946 onwards, the pengoe bank-note ceased to be regarded as a means of payment, its place being taken by the tax-pengoe vouchers originally issued by the State for the purpose of facilitating the collection of taxes and dues. Naturally, even the tax-pengoe vouchers were unable to halt the vicious spiral though it must be admitted that they did bring about some lessening in the speed of the depreciation of the currency. József Büky M E N U HIN Alma is the name of a quitet hamlet in California, somewhere not far from San Francisco. It is also the home of brilliant and happy young man, his wife and their two lovely children. The skies there are always blue and full of sun, a range of tall grey mountain is etched in the background ; on every side there is a sea of cream-white orange blossoms and the music of the waves is never stilled. From the house itself comes the song of a Stradivarius, that magical instrument born at Cremona centuries ago, shaped out of cunningly formed pieces of wood covered with varnishes, the secret of which is unknown to this day. The message of that song is one of solace and encouragement to the tired and sorrowful heart of mankind. Across the waters a terrible total Avar rages and the voice of man, even if strengthened by magic fumes of music, does not reach us. The brains of men drunk with the lust for blood do not pass the message on to us and the machines only radiate only the din -of a madhouse. At that period, the great Hungarian musical genius in whom we had placed such hopes was still alive. Now, he has become a memory, but a memory that will live for ever in our hearts. He heard this wonderful music from California and, in his turn, the brilliant virtuoso came to know and admire the flowers in the garden of Bartók's music. The two men, whose music brought them together, formed a close friendship and it may be well be that this union will one day decide the future of modern music. During his recent visit to Budapest, Menuhin said how anxious he had been when he first met Bartók and how he played the violin sonata the great Hungarian composer had dedicated to him. Bartók listened to Menuhin's music with a pencil in hand, ready to correct the score. Naturally no corrections were needed and Bartók, with the following words, laid the foundations of a close and beautiful friendship ». . . I am happy,« said Bartók, »to be the rare composer who was allowed to hear the ideal rendering of his works during his lifetime«. Menuhin recently visited Budapest and brought with him Bartók's last musical O il r p(i b ihiujs * HOFFMANN FERENC BUDAPEST, IV., GERLÓCZY-UTCA 5 307
