Bartók Béla, ifj.: Chronicles of Béla Bartók's Life (Budapest, 2021)
World War II. Second and Third American Tour (1939–1945)
1 945 CHRONICLES OF BÉLA BARTOK'S LIFE 6 July - Columbia University thanks him for the deposit of the Romanian and Turkish folk music material. 7 July - In his letter from Saranac Lake, Bartok gives an account of the previous days to the Pál Kecskemétis. - He writes Péter about alarming news from Hungary in a letter: "... I learned about the newest disgrace, this time coming from the dear Czechs.... These people went completely insane and they want to outdo even the Nazi beasts. On the same basis and legal grounds they could take down the 2 and a half million Tots as well who bowed to the Nazis in a much uglier way. But the Tót, of course, that’s different!”. 13 July - He writes Wilhelmine Creel about his illness, however, the extremely bad Hungarian news causes him more trouble. In lack of direct news he knows nothing of his older son and his sister Elza. 14 July - From Saranac Lake he writes Boosey & Hawkes regarding the Shilkret Album. 15 July - He writes his son in Panama about his Montreal trip and about the plan of giving one or two lectures per week at Harvard University, starting in February. - He writes with satisfaction that he had double the income from England that year than in other years. Regarding prospects for Middle and Eastern Europe he writes: “but we cannot get news from home through Switzerland anyway as Hungary is completely isolated from abroad by the Russians. - An American newspaperman somehow managed to enter Yugoslavia, but he did everything to get out again very soon. Then from the outside he writes that it was impossible for him to work there; almost all of his news was suppressed by censorship. Great [Tito] tyranny rages there - he says -. Those very few foreigners being there officially are constantly watched by plainclothes men: woe to the native who dares to speak with a foreigner, [nice, isn’t it? Just as if we saw news reels of 10-15 years ago from Russia.] In Hungary we are not yet there for the time being. For the time being 502
