Hungarian Studies Newsletter, 2000 (17. évfolyam, 58-61. szám)
2000 / 58-61. szám
Foundation News and Notes (Continued) honored were Dr. Árpád Göncz, former president of the Republic of Hungary, and Ambassador Donald Blinken, former United States Ambassador to Hungary. Serving as co-chairmen for the Awards dinner were Lionel I. Pincus and John C. Whitehead. The Abraham Lincoln Award is paired with the George Washington Award and is presented by the Foundation elsewhere than in New York City. Laureates of the Abraham Lincoln Award in 1999-2000 were László Makk, M.D. of Louisville, KY, eminent pathologist and research scientist; Samuel Szor, conductor of the Toledo Symphony Orchestra and choral director; Andrew Kalman of Detroit, distinguished former executive vice president and director of Indian Head, Inc.; Dr. George C. Szegő, P.E. of Annapolis, MD., who has established an eminent career in thermodynamics; Dr. Julianna Puskás of Budapest, the premiere historian of the Hungarian emigration to the United States; and Dr. Leslie Koltai, former Chancellor of the Los Angeles City Colleges. Distinguished Service Awards were presented by the Foundation in 2000 at the 37th annual Carousel Ball in New )ersey honoring Andrea Horvath AJstrup, Johson & Johnson corporate vice president for advertising; Anthony C. Beke, chairman of the board, William Penn Association; and Hon. John A. Lynch, )r. New Jersey State Senator. Ms. Alstrup is a member of the board of directors of the American Hungarian Foundation and Mr. Beke serves as a member of the Foundation's Advisory Council. To be honored at the annual Carousel Ball on May 5, 2001, as Laureates of the Distinguished Service Award are Stephen M. Brenner, founder of The Brenner Company; Elizabeth Nemeth, eminent businesswoman and broker; and George Pluhar, retired general manager of the Shackamaxon Golf and Country Club. The Carousel Ball, which benefits the American Hungarian Foundation, will be held in Scotch Plains, New Jersey, at the Shackamaxon Golf and Country Club. BOOKS/PUBLICATIONS: RECENT AND NEW In the revived recent issues of the Hungarian Studies Newsletter we indicated that we would attempt to make up for the reviews we missed during the past eleven years. The number of such works is legion and will require the assistance of everyone who reads our Newsletter. Please bring to our attention the titles of books you think we should review and also let us know if you would be willing to review some of these works. The main criteria should be that the books have "staying power" as contributions to Hungarian studies, are still available for purchase, and are written in English or Hungarian. The Nazis' Last Victims. The Holocaust in Hungary, Edited by Randolph L. Braham with Scott Miller. Wayne State University Press, Detroit, 1999. To commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Holocaust in Hungary, an international scholar's conference was held in Washington, DC under the auspices of the US Holocaust Museum. Nine of the contributed essays are contained in the book under review. Randolph L. Braham gives a scholarly and well-nuanced survey of the history of the Jews in Hungary from the Compromise of 1867 to the present. He takes the reader from the golden Era through the First World War, the Red and White Terrors and the introduction of the "Jewish Laws". The Holocaust, the Communist years and the present day situation round off the essay. Rudolf Vreba recounts his harrowing escape from Auschwitz and his attempt to warn the Jewish leadership in Hungary of the impending deportations. He claims that the leadership never warned those in greatest danger, but instead made their deals with the Germans to escape unscathed. As usual, Charles Fenyvesi uses his considerable literary skills to describe with remarkable poignancy the lives of some prominent Hungarian Jews. Attila Pok probes the psychological underpinnings of mass hatred and, in another essay, László Karsai details the sordid events, which unfolded during the brief, but murderous, Szalasi regime. Menachem Schmeizer’s contribution is an essay on personal recollections as a ten-year-old witness. It is unfortunate that some of his riveting anecdotes are not documented. Robert Rozett details the diplomatic attempts at a rescue. The essays make clear that no attempt at armed resistance was tried. Hungarian Jews remained loyal to their country to the end. Thus it is doubly perplexing that Horthy, whose cultural background strongly emphasized loyalty, allowed deportations from the rural areas, especially since he knew the fate that awaited the victims. The argument has been made by apologists of Horthy that he failed to disengage Hungary from the embrace of the Nazis because he was afraid that Hungary might lose its sovereignty. A country that agrees to and participates in the deportation of its citizens, even though occupied by a foreign power, has given up its sovereignty. Despite its extremely difficult circumstances, the Hungarian government should never have agreed to the German demand regardless of the consequences. In this the Danes and the Bulgarians defied the Germans and lived to tell about it. An oversight of the editors is that none of the essays directly mention the foiled Baky putsch, the attempt to deport the Jews of Budapest in July 1944. Thanks to Horthy's intervention, when he ordered the First Hungarian Armored Division to Budapest, the attempt was thwarted. It was the only instance that an Axis power used its armed forces to protect Jews. Asher Cohen’s claim in his essay "The Dilemma of Rescue or Revolt" of the escape of Hungarian Jews to the "safety" of (Antonescu’s) Romania is largely unfounded. Randolph Braham in an earlier article debunked this myth. It is unfortunate that all the contributors are “insiders". An overview by a historian without an emotional attachment to the events described would have enhanced the volume. Missing too is a chapter on the returnees and the reception they received. The history of the retribution by the victims still needs to be written. The book is an excellent source on the Shoah and on a dark chapter in the eleven hundred-year history of Hungary. Missing is a discussion why the Shoah happened. The answer must be sought in the accepted norms of the times and the realization that human nature is universal. All societies harbor those who, in the topology of Young-Bruehl, fantasize about the threat from a minority and seek to destroy it. Here is where a society’s tradition of democracy and the rule of law make a difference in outcomes. Undisputedly Hungary during this era was still emerging from feudalism. Both the establishment and the Jewish elite did not consider the Orthodox Jews their equals. They were seen as "alien" and thus in a sense expendable. Add to this the knowledge that the Allies’ discrimination against some of their citizenry along the same lines as the Axis powers. This in no way exonerates the Hungarian government and its helpers for its role in the Holocaust. The West clearly signaled its intention with regard to the plight of Jews in German occupied Europe at the Evian Conference in 1938. Of the 32 countries present, including the US, only the small and impoverished Dominican Republic offered to take in Jewish refugees. In the US Senate, the Wagner-Rogers refugee bill died in committee. There is an uncomfortable parallel between the Jewish (Continued on page 7) 6 NO. 58-61, WINTER/SPR1NG/SUMMER/AUTUMN 2000, HUNGARIAN STUDIES NEWSLETTER
