Hungarian Heritage Review, 1987 (16. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1987-01-01 / 1. szám

Red Cross for distribution to the children and the poor of Budapest.

On leaving the King and Queen, Bandholtz was bade farewell by the Queen who said that she would . .retain recollections of a very pleasant gentleman.” In addition she presented the General with a picture of herself so that... “whenever I felt hard toward the Roumanians,

I could look at that and she hoped it would make me feel more kindly. ’'

This friendly episode contrasts remarkably with comments made by Queen Marie to a Colonel Poisson who later informed General Banddholtz that Marie had told him (Poisson) General Bandholtz . was a Jew, that Colonel Loree was a Jew, that my aides were all Jews; that we were buying up a vast quantity of articles, which was a very bad policy; and, in general, good Queen Marie gave us Hell and repeat. ” (Of Gen. Bandholtz’ staff, only Col. Horowitz, sent by the Supreme Council, was Jewish.) ed.

Not all of General Bandholtz’ stay in Budapest was drudgery and hard work. On occasion he managed to go to the opera. His comments on some of the performances are pithy and amusing:

January 9, 1920: Last night I went to see a snappy little opera called ‘ ‘Don Juan ’ ’ which, not by actual count but from estimate, had fortyeight osculation scenes. A rooster-legged galoot with a face like a Wah-wah monkey and omniverous as regards females, was the main guy. All the girls looked alike to him; whenever he saw a skirt he would run her down, scratch his wing at her, claw the dirt and then bite her in the face. One female who was trying to be the bride of another ass, was repeatedly bitten and seemed to like it.

Things got so animated that even a statue came to life and coughed up a lullaby. In the final scene Don Juan got drunk, the singing statue came in a la Spook, coughed up another lullaby and things got so hot that the house caught fire and Don Juan was asphyxiated in his own gas, and responded to three encores.

And, January 30, 1920: Last night I went to see the opera AIDA, but it was another of those endurance tests, and 1 left after staying three hours. The stage effects were magnificent and the little cockeyed gazelle who took the part of Aida, in a red chemise, had a beautiful voice. As I understand, the last act is devoted to a suffocation scene, in which they kept on howling even after they should have been properly gassed, it was probably just as well that 1 missed it...

But perhaps General Bandholtz’s outstanding feat in Budapest — it is the one particular act for which the Hungarian Government honored him — was his saving of the art treasures in the Hungarian National Museum.

On October 6, 1919, information was

brought to General Bandholtz that the Roumanians had drawn up in front of the National Museum a convoy of trucks accompanied by a detachment of soldiers. They were set upon the recovery of art treasures which they claimed belonged to Roumania since Transylvania was now Roumanian territory. It had been decided at a meeting of the Military Mission that none of the articles should leave the Museum until they had been examined by the International Commission. General Bandholtz, therefore, decided to visit the scene personally. His words tell the story best:

Accompanied by Colonel Loree and one American soldier, / followed Colonel Horowitz back to the Museum, which we found under a strong Roumanian guard. One man tried to stop us, but is did not do him much good, and we went into the building and eventually routed out the Director. It appears that about 8 o 'clock in the afternoon, General Serbescu (a Roumanian officer), accompanied by an entourage of officers and civilians, showed up at the Museum convoying fourteen trucks and a detachment of soldiers. He stated that he was authorized... to take over the objects from Transylvania and demanded the keys. The Director informed him that the Inter-Allied Military Mission had taken over the Museum and he would not give up the keys. General Serbescu then told him that they would return in the morning and that, if the keys were not produced, they would take the objects by force.

I, therefore, had the Director deliver the keys to the storeroom to me and left a paper worded as follows:

“To whom it may concern — As the Inter- Allied Mission is in charge of all the objects in the Hungarian National Museum at Budapest, the key has been taken charge of by the President of the Day, General Bandholtz, the American representative. ”

This was followed by my signature. / then had Colonel Loree place seals on each of the doors, on which was written: 'This door sealed by Order Inter-Allied Military Mission. HH Bandholtz, Pres, of the day. 5 October 1919. ’

Hs the Roumanians and all European are fond of rubber-stamp display, and as we had nothing else, we used an American mail-censor stamp, with which we marked each of the seals.

General Bandholtz’ action — and the seals — effectively prevented the looting of the Museum. And entry in the General’s Diary, dated November 15, 1919, tells the rest of the story:

The Hungarians continued to come into the city and are in actual occupation.

Yesterday afternoon 1 went over to the Hungarian National Museum and returned to them the key which I had taken possession of

.ÍFcahtrc of (El|C IHtntth ==

on October 4, and I removed the seals from the doors. They gave me a receipt for the key and asked permission to retain, as a historical document, the seal from one of the three doors upon which they were placed. 1 gave them one, retained one for myself and gave the other to Colonel Loree.

Early in 1920 General Bandholtz’ duty with the Mission came to an end. He received farewell gifts from his colleagues who told him they would miss his “table pounding and riding crop” actions, as well as from grateful Hungarian officials who expressed their appreciation for what he had done personally and as a representative of the United States. The attitude of the Hungarian people and their government is shown in several excerpts from articles written at the time. From the publication Pester Lloyd, London, January 31, 1920:

Having fulfilled his mission, Harry Hill Bandholtz, Brigadier General of the United States Army, the leader of the American Military Mission, will shortly leave Budapest and return to his country and to his home after an absence of nearly two years. The noble-minded and brave General leaves us after having done his work, and we must say that he could not have won a nobler, a more uplifting and happier victory than the one he achieved in Budapest. He conquered the hearts of millions; the love and gratitude and appreciation of the Hungarian nation accompany him on his journey, and we tie a wreath of victory for him out of the flowers of love.

And from an article in the Hungarian newspaper Ij Nemzedek, January 29, 1920:

The members of the American Military Mission and their chief, General Bandholtz, are soon leaving our capital, probably about the fifteenth of February. The affairs of the Mission are now being handed over to the American High Commissioner. The Magyars will always remember General Bandholtz with the feelings of deepest gratitude, as there is such a lot we must be thankful for to him and to the Mission. In the days of our profound sorrow, during the occupation of our country by the Roumanians, it was he who stood up for our righteous cause, and we don't know of any instance when he did not defend us... The General personally sealed the entrance of our National Museum. . .It was General Bandholtz who initiated the American actions of benevolence and hereby dried a sea of tears on Hungarian faces...

While it is unfortunately true that time has a way not only of healing wounds but of dimming or wiping out memories completely, the story as well as the statue of General Bandholtz should stand as eternal testament to a man who did his duty with rigor, wisdom and, above all, with understanding and compassion.

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HUNGARIAN HERITAGE REVIEW

JANUARY 1987