Baják László Ihász István: The Hungarian National Museum History Exhibition Guide 4 - The short century of survival (1900-1990) (Budapest, 2008)

Room 17. The Hungary of Trianon from the Election of the Regent to the Last Year of Peace (1920-1938). László Baják

Hungarian culture abroad, for the successful construction of international intellectual relations, for motivating young Hungarians to study in Western countries, for the significant development of our colleges, for restructuring and perfecting our secondary education, for the mass creation of primary schools throughout the entire country, in the interest of a general and wide-reaching strengthening within the Hungarian Nation of the power of knowledge.

..". Naturally Klebelsberg was the first to be awarded the Hungarian Corvin Chain when it was created in 1930 in recognition of his services to Hungarian science, literature, art and general culture. The other names on the honours list also display the preference for culture: the composer Ernő Dohnányi, the writer Ferenc Herczeg, the doctor Baron Sándor Korányi, the writer Sándor Remenyik, the artist Gyula Rudnay etc. (Among those receiving the lower order of the Corvin Wreath were the actress Gizi Bajor, the historian Gyula Szekfű, the biologist Albert SzentGyörgyi, the architect Károly Kós, the writer Áron Tamási and the painter István Szőnyi, but Béla Bartók rejected it.) Kuno Klebelsberg Kuno hardly survived his years as minister, but what he created have preserved their importance to the present day. The process of consolidation in Hungary was impeded by the world economic crisis beginning with the crash of the New York stock exchange on October 24, 1929. With the collapse of the international financial and credit system the difficulties became extreme. Hungary was on the brink of national bankruptcy. Exploiting the situation, the opposition initiated a concentrated attack against Bethlen, who in August 1931 handed in his own and the government's resignation, calculating that with the end of the difficult times he would return to lead the country. That moment never arrived. The crisis reorganised society, putting traditional values in disarray and bringing new individuals and ideas to the surface. In the chaos, order and those advertising hard-handed politics were at a premium. Dictatorships spread and strengthened quickly in the Europe of the 1930s. In Hungary, the traditional, historical elite and the middle-class "gentry", who represented a base for the system, correctly sensed the danger lurking over them. They sought legitimacy and sanctuary from the new barbarity, most overtly embodied in the Germany's National Socialism (Nazism), in the historic past and the outward appearance of the past. This middle-class "gentry" endeavoured to rely on the moral, Christian value system, or its idealization as opposed to the cynism of modern dictatorship. The noted historian Gyula Szekfű inventively characterised the phenomenon as "Neo-Baroque Society". In addition to its appearance in "neo-Baroque" architecture, this self-protective mentality can best be observed in the period's large-scale events. Perhaps the first of these was the celebration organised in honour of the tenth anniversary of Miklós Horthy's regency. Horthy wrote of it, "The vast festive procession which on February 28, 1930 marched into the castle in my honour and the choir of 1,800 that sang the national anthem will remain unforgettable memories." At the same time Horthy's name was immortalised with other, more permanent edifices. For instance, a new hospital and a bridge were named after him. Wall-paintings immortalising the governorships of János