The Eighth Hungarian Tribe, 1985 (12. évfolyam, 1-11. szám)
1985-04-01 / 4. szám
ABOUT THE AUTHOR BOOK REVIEW — by — Harry G. Ladanye BETWEEN RUSSIA AND THE WEST Hungary and the Illusions of Peacemaking 1945-1947 “...a revealing account of the tragic history of Hungary in World War II and its aftermath. Seen through the eyes of a deeply-involved senior diplomat...it tells a poignant and graphic story of the ordeal in Hungary through the war, the attempted armistice and ensuing German seizure of power, the Soviet occupation, and finally the subsequent years of Soviet domination. Professor Kertesz has given us a thoroughly documented, first-hand report, which adds greatly to our knowledge and understanding. ” —General Andrew J. Goodpaster Institute for Defense Analyses “To understand the dilemmas of today’s Eastern Europe, one must have an appreciation of the region ’s turbulent and complicated history...Kertesz’s study casts new light on an important facet of that history.” —Professor Zbigniew Brzezinski Columbia University BETWEEN RUSSIA AND THE WEST is an eyewitness account of the intricate and doomed effort to secure a just peace for Hungary before the Iron Curtain descended on Eastern Europe. A member of the Hungarian Foreign Ministry from 1931-1947, Stephen Kertesz was in charge of peace preparations during the war. Yet from the seige of Budapest to the disappointments of the Paris Conference, his efforts to achieve a fair settlement from the maelstrom of competing allegiances and to fashion a cooperative state system along the Danube were undermined. In part a memoir, Kertesz’s book offers a richly informed perspective of this tragic denouement which transcends conventional diplomatic history. His account of prison life in occupied Hungary, of back-channel negotiations in Budapest and Geneva, and dinner-table diplomacy in Paris dramatically conveys the chaos of the time. With an unerring eye for human detail, Kertesz reveals the cost of Western failure to effectively oppose Soviet designs on Eastern Europe. Stephen D. Kertesz, an international lawyer and diplomat who rose to the highest rank in the Hungarian Foreign Service, is Professor Emeritus of Government and International Studies at the University of Notre Dame. From 1935-37, Kertesz was a Rockefeller fellow at Yale, Oxford and Geneva. During the war he was in charge of peace preparations in the Hungarian Foreign Ministry. Under German occupation of Hungary, he cooperated with the resistance, was imprisoned and court-martialled for treason by the Germaninstalled Arrow-Cross government. Following the seige of Budapest, he escaped Soviet kidnapping and was appointed head of the peace preparatory division of the newly organized Foreign Ministry. He participated in the 1946 Paris Conference—the first confrontation between wartime Allies—as secretary general of the Hungarian Peace Delegation. On the basis of his experiences, he appraised the virtues and shortcomings of peacemaking and in particular, the freedom and limitations of ex-enemy delegations. After the Paris Conference, as envoy to Italy, Kertesz refused to return to Hungary because of a Communist coup that began the liquida-, tion of the freely elected coalition government. From his post in Rome, he tried to persuade the Hungarian government to assure free elections and to participate in the Marshall Plan. The book contains the pertinent exchanges of coded telegrams. In the United States, he was a visiting Associate Professor at Yale Law School (1948-1950) and at Notre Dame (1950-1975), he was Director of Eastern and Western European area programs, Chairman of the Committee on International Relations and Director of the Institute for International Studies. He has continued to serve as advisor to various foundations and public agencies in the United States and Europe. JUST PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME PRESS *** PRICE $20.00 (Including Postage) Make Check Payable To: BETHLEN PRESS And Mail Your Order To: THE BETHLEN PRESS P.O. BOX 2203 UNION, NEW JERSEY 07083 Between Russia and the West HUNGARY AND THE ILLUSIONS OF PEACEMAKING, 1945-1947 Stephen D. Kertesz April, 1985 Page 9
