Csillag András: Pulitzer József makói származásáról. A Makói Múzeum Füzetei 46. (Makó, 1985)

Summary THE HUNGARIAN ORIGINS OF JOSEPH PULITZER by András Csillag The name of Joseph Pulitzer (1847—1911) is known nowadays mainly because of the Prizes endowed by him and awarded annually for notable achievements in American journalism, letters and music. He was one of the greatest figures in modern journalism and a democratic reformer of his age. After taking part in the Civil War, Pulitzer first founded (1878) then made a respectable newspaper of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Meanwhile, he studied law and became active in politics. His career as an innovator of mass-appeal journalism really began in 1883 when he bought the New York World and made it a hard hitting exponent of democracy and social justice based on mass-circulation and initially upon an appeal to the interests of workingmen. He introduced many new techniques and established his credentials as a master journalist by responding quickly and adroitly to the drift of social change. As a publisher, Pulitzer's regard for the dignity and the responsibilities of his profession was also pivotal. Although Democratic in its principles The World became one of the leading independent voices of opinion in the U. S. and frequently attracted notice as a crusading organ. In 1887 Pulitzer established the Evening World and for a period of time served in Congress, being the first Representative of Hungarian birth there. His newspapers temporarily — especially during a competitive war with W. R. Hearst — resorted to sensationalism and other „yellow journal" practices. Pulitzer's chief efforts were bent to the restriction of trusts and other aggregations of wealth at a time of steadily growing industrial capitalism and from 1883 to 1911 The World led all other American newspapers in demanding the break up of monopolies by antitrust laws, and a close watch on the „money power". As Pulitzer left no autobiography or memoir behind, in most of the significant printed sources on him the years before his emigration are treated only briefly and vaguely. His descent and family background have never been revealed with full authenticity owing to a lack of relevant source materials for American biographers. In Hungary, Pulitzer's native land, the number of printed sources on him has been very limited and not based on genuine research. His name has been hardly known even in Makó. his native town. Efforts are being made — and as a result of recent archival research this present study is part of them — to cover up facts about his Hungarian background and thus make it better known in his native country and elsewhere. There is only one thing on which all the printed sources agree: Pulitzer's date of birth. All other particulars referring to his Hungarian origins differ in the biographies published. Such mistaken or disputed particulars are, for example, the exact place of his birth; the nationality and religion of his parents and thence his own descent; the particulars of his brothers and sisters; the occupation and property status of the parents; his education; the circumstances why he left Hungary. The present study points out these common mistakes and by disclosing new details makes an attempt at giving a brief sketch of the Pulitzers in Hungary. The documents and records used for this purpose were discovered by the author in the Csongrád County Archive of Szeged, the Municipal Archive as well as 'he Museum of Makó, and the Metropolitan Archive of Budapest. Significant monographs and biographies claim that Pulitzer's father was a Hungarian Jew while his mother a Christian, an Austro — German Catholic. In fact, the truth, as verified by a number of authentic documents, is that both parents were Hungarian born Jews. The family of the Pulitzers on the father's side was extremely wide-spread in the Hungary of the last two centuries (until World War II). The ancestors had several lines of descent with many branches distantly and vaguely related. The Pulitzers or Politzers, as the name was spelt by other branches of the family, first came to Hungary at the beginning of the 18th century from Moravia. Their name can be derived from a place name there. In southern Moravia, then a province of Austria, the village of Pullitz (Pulice) had a considerable Jewish population at that time. As shown by conscriptions of Jews, in the Hungary of the 18th century one could find Pulitzers living in several localities (e. g. Nyitra County, Buda, 27