Hungary recovered from the life of Prime Minister István Bethlen, sentenced to death in Trian
Hungary recovered from the life of Prime Minister István Bethlen, sentenced to death in Trian
Not only historians and history teachers, but also those interested in the Hungarian past enjoyed the latest video series of the Authentic Arts Workshop, the life of the general Hunyadi family was presented in detail. Encouraged by this success, his next civil thematic video, the organization of the XX. One of the most important statesmen of the 16th century, Count István Bethlen, was examined.
We also talked to history teacher Tamás Märle, who is the brainchild and writer of the video series, about the post-Trianon period and the room for maneuver of the large-format prime minister.
– After the video series about the Hunyadi family, why did Count István Bethlen follow the line?
– Honestly, after the Hunyadi series, our plan was to present the glorious centuries before Mohács with our next materials, instead of a XX. century theme. Speaking of the Bethlen series, on the one hand, there are two anniversaries: István Bethlen was appointed prime minister 100 years ago and passed away 75 years ago. On the other hand, the XX. century According to Bethlen’s policy, Hungary, which was sentenced to death in Trianon, not only recovered, but also began to make serious progress. We want more people to know the life of this brilliant politician.
– Since this is an event of the 20th century, there is a certain abundance of documents as pre-existing source works. Based on this, how did they approach the Bethlen era? What does it feel like to be able to say new things, to come up with new approaches?
“One of our hardest tasks really was when we had to decide what fit in and what didn’t. Our primary goal was to present Bethlen’s work, and with it the historical background of that age. We tried to nuance the image with several themes. To this day, the former prime minister is accused of having developed a limited democracy. In this connection, for example, universal suffrage was not common in other European countries. Bethlen wanted to prevent the extremists from coming to power by not giving voting rights to the uneducated, and there were still a million illiterates in the country in the early 1920s. So the twenties cannot be measured by today’s standards.
Not only the politician but also the man introduces the series
– Do we only get to know Prime Minister István Bethlen from the video series, or do we get an insight into the much lesser-known human face of the politician?
– The focus is, of course, on Bethlen’s public life, but from each episode it will be possible to know something interesting about the personality and customs of the late politician. We show, for example, what elite training he received in Vienna, an interesting case where his son was laughed at by his son, and whoever entered his study could only see a huge cloud of smoke at first and find it very difficult to spot Bethlen, who is constantly smoking. What’s more, we’ve also put contemporary jokes about him in the videos.
– Count István Bethlen became Hungarian Prime Minister after Trianon. In Miklós Horthy’s decision to appoint him prime minister, could Bethlen’s Transylvanian origins play a role, and that he might be able to represent the issue of revision more credibly, or “only” because of his broad vision and political aptitude?
“Surely the Transylvanian thread, but in my opinion, it was more of his notoriously excellent abilities, which Horthy also recognized.” Perhaps few know that even before his appointment, his name was raised several times as a possible prime minister. What was important only for the revision relationship was that he was forced to flee to Vienna during the Soviet Republic and built a serious system there, one of the main envoys of the Trianon peacekeeping mission.
As of Transylvanian descent, revision was especially a matter of heart
– What was Bethlen’s political relationship with the issue of revision as a descendant of a Transylvanian noble family? As Prime Minister, could he afford to express himself at heart, or did he not really have the opportunity to do so?
– The revision was a matter of heart. He considered this to be his most important task, and after resigning from the Prime Minister’s Office, he visited Europe several times and tried to win public opinion and international politics for the Hungarian cause with his lectures.
In the years following the Trianon peace dictatorship, as a prime minister also recognized by the Entente, he could not officially manifest himself at heart. Due to the pressure of the Entente and the Entente, neither he nor Horthy could do that. It is only in the background that it supports several irredenta organizations, and it can be said that it has negotiated with all European states to rethink borders.
He began negotiations with the English, the French, the Germans, the Poles, the Romanians, and even the Soviet Union.
– Are you with the Soviet Union?
“Yes, Bethlen was of the opinion that everyone should try for the revision.” However, after Horthy did not agree that Hungary should negotiate with the Bolshevik Soviet Union, these negotiations were suspended.
– There are many events that provoke a great deal of controversy in this era (numerus clausus, the development of Hungary’s foreign policy orientation, exchanges of prisoners with the Soviets, during which the Bolshevik was released into power by the Soviet Union, etc.). Are these the words in the videos, and if so, from what point of view?
“We’ve taken stock of all the major dust-stirring cases that can be attributed to Bethlen’s prime minister. There is, for example, the Franco counterfeiting scandal. Although we still have no sure today whether he was aware of it all, he is still criticized for it today. On the other hand, the mentality of the given period is interesting: at that time it was believed that, even if it had anything to do with it, he acted for a noble cause. of course, the Jewish question is also mentioned, and then the Austrian customs officers dropped the World War I weapons repatriated from Italy as agricultural machinery parts, and the reasons for his resignation.
He remained a leading politician even after his resignation
– Given that István Bethlen’s term as prime minister coincides with the first part of the Horthy era, how much has been reduced to Bethlen’s activities, and how broader is the context?
– Our goal was to present the entire oeuvre, which we consider important because Bethlen’s work as prime minister is at best. Though he had been a Member of Parliament for twenty years before his appointment, long before Trianon he drew attention to the loss of space for Hungarians in Transylvania and to the way in which Romanians buy Hungarian property from Bucharest money. He remained a member of the political elite throughout his resignation and saw international and domestic developments extremely well. He foretold, for example, that Germany would lose the war, as he was among the first to describe that the Arrow Cross was not much differentiated from the Communists. The historical background appears throughout, so whoever looks through our series will meet IV. Also with Charles, Béla Kun or Hitler, but the focus is on Bethlen’s activities. The presentation of the circumstances is necessary for us to understand him.
“Bethlen is basically more positive about writing at home, which is why Horthy tends to present a story as a negative personality in a highly debatable way. Does the video series nuance anything in this image?
– Of course, spectators can meet Miklós Horthy several times in the series, but in order to really nuance the image of the governor, another series would be needed. We only reveal to the audience that Horthy and Bethlen had an excellent relationship apart for a short period of time. The governor held his prime minister in high esteem, and Bethlen was there among his confidants until the end of World War II. Moreover, on the most important issues he was often Miklós Horthy.
There are parallels between Bethlen and Orbán
– Nowadays, there is sometimes a parallel between the Prime Minister’s Office of Count István Bethlen and the Prime Minister’s Office of Viktor Orbán. Do you think any parallels can be drawn between the two of them?
– Of course you can, since the structure, the regular foreign political attacks, the long prime minister, stability, or significantly valuable infrastructural developments — to name just a few — are very much the same between the two heads of government as heads of government. However, it is too early to take stock, as today’s Prime Minister of Hungary is far from over.
Leading image: Wife of Governor Miklós Horthy and Prime Minister Count István Bethlen. Photo: MTI reproduction