On (Thursday) April 9th, 2015, at 2 o’ clock in the afternoon, the Hungarian National Museum and the VERITAS Research Institute for History will introduce three new volumes: Iván Bába’s The System Changeover in Hungary, Eszter Zsófia Tóth’s József Antall’s Road to the Prime Ministership (1932-1989) and János Sáringer’s Writings about the Antall Administration’s Foreign Policy and Diplomacy I (May 1990 – December 1990). This event marks the first books published in the VERITAS Books series. Károly Kapronczay, György Granasztói and Ferenc Miszlivetz will appraise the books. Following the premier, our guests may enjoy a guided tour of the recently renovated permanent exhibition about the Hungarian Conquest.
The VERITAS Research Institute of History has come out with three noteworthy volumes this year; that is, after the foundational year of 2014, the institute will publish works on a regular basis going forward. The 2014 yearbook will see the light of day, and the institute, in collaboration with “Magyar Napló”, shall introduce its VERITAS Books series, which will gather the works of the three research teams (dealing with the 1867-1918, the 1918-44 and 1945-90 eras, respectively) into volumes. As stated in the founding charter, the published books’ objective is to present authentically and without distortion the respective eras’ momentous events, participants and public traditions, serving modern Hungarian historiography with a multi-disciplinary approach that supports educational needs, communal memory and national consciousness. These three new volumes accomplish all of the listed objectives. Both professional and civil circles will find them beneficial to read based on their newly uncovered findings, context and approach.
Iván Bába’s The System Changeover in Hungary is a detailed overview of that turning point – from the perspective of an eyewitness and participant of the transformation. It is a document of the era. Concerning the circumstances of his investigative and illustrative work, the author had this to say: “Unlike the other Central European countries, here in Hungary we have heard the complaint many times over the last twenty-five years that the historical catharsis has gone missing. The moment when communism had truly failed has never been obvious, clear or certain. If the question is approached from this perspective, then indeed we must admit that there was not a single great cathartic moment. But there were several (lesser) ones. For example we can remember the protests in Transylvania, the protest about the Danube, the events of March 15th in 1989, the reburial of Imre Nagy and his martyred colleagues, the declaration of the republic, and the first freely held elections. To different extents and in different ways, all of these were cathartic experiences. In Hungary, a great violent break was not how ‘existent socialism’ was done away with, but rather it was through the hard work of tens of thousands of people over many decades.”
Eszter Zsófia Tóth and János Sáringer, who both belong to the new generation of historians, have chosen to focus on József Antall, the first freely elected prime minister. Eszter Zsófia Tóth’s József Antall’s Road to the Prime Ministership (1932-1989), uses heretofore unpublished documents to chronicle József Antall’s life path. Standing out among these is the following: Even twenty-two years after his death, it is little known that the prime minister was the custodian of his father’s spiritual heritage, József Antall Sr., the WWII-era humanitarian, Minister of Reconstruction and member of parliament. The chapters on the prime minister’s participation in the 1956 Revolution, his suffering during the course of the reprisals and how he was capable of making life bearable under the dictatorship are all interesting. His professional solace and fulfillment working at the Semmelweis Museum, Library and Archives of the History of Medicine also make for interesting reading. The volume ends with the System Changeover, when József Antall – after years of preparation – stepped into the political arena. The value of the compilation is further enhanced by the use of archival (both personal and state) materials, written correspondences, and period photographs that have never before been published.
János Sáringer’s Writings about the Antall Administration’s Foreign Policy and Diplomacy I (May 1990 – December 1990) begins its story with József Antall forming his administration at the end of May 1990, which placed Hungarian foreign policy on a new path. Still to this day, these foreign policy objectives are significant: the reestablishing of Hungarian sovereignty, the nullification of the Warsaw Pact and Comecon, the proposal to withdraw all Soviet troops from Hungarian territory and treaty-based good relations with neighboring countries. Similarly, his attempts at Euro-Atlantic integration, as well as the improvement of the circumstances of those Hungarian minority populations living in the bordering countries and respect for their collective rights. In addition to the European Counsel and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), regional and sub-regional cooperation took on increased importance for the leadership of Hungarian foreign policy. The concepts of human rights and collective human rights, closely related to minority issues, took on an emphasized role within Hungarian diplomacy. Budapest's international network expanded dramatically, which the leadership of Hungarian foreign policy and diplomacy actively took advantage of. Moving down the list of explicit foreign policy priorities, already in 1990 the Antall administration had achieved important results.
