Benjámin Kállay

Benjámin von Kállay , also Béni Kállay de Nagy-Kálló (born December 22, 1839 in Pest , Austrian Empire , † July 13, 1903 in Vienna , Austria-Hungary ) was a Hungarian-Austrian politician and from June 4, 1882 until his death (long-serving) Reich Finance Minister of Austria-Hungary. He was also governor of Bosnia and Herzegovina .

Benjámin from Kállay

Life

On his father's side, Kállay came from an old Hungarian family, and on his mother's side from an originally Serbian , but already Magyarized, family. After studying language and history - he mastered Greek , Turkish and several Slavic languages - Kállay entered the diplomatic service and in 1867 became consul general in Belgrade .

In 1873 he married Vilma Bethlen , with whom he had three children. In 1875 he was elected to the Hungarian Diet as a supporter of Gyula Andrássy . In the kuk Ministry of the Imperial and Royal House and Foreign Affairs in Vienna, he was the first section head under the ministers Heinrich Karl von Haymerle (1879–1881) and Gustav Kálnoky (1881–1895).

As the last Reich Finance Minister (his successors were given the title of “joint finance minister” at the request of Hungary), who had to administer the areas of Bosnia and Herzegovina occupied by the dual monarchy in 1878 , he succeeded with his expert knowledge and as a scholarly author on Balkan issues, the conditions in Bosnia to consolidate somewhat. This made Kállay the main architect of religion and nationality politics in the south of Austria-Hungary.

He advocated the idea of ​​creating a “ Bosniak identity” as a basis for nation building , based on the local Muslim elites of the administrative apparatus, open to Serbs and Croats as well . His promotion of the Bosniaks as a separate, not only religiously defined ethnic group was a means of fighting South Slav efforts to unite.

In research, Kállay is regarded as the most important person in the administration of Bosnia-Herzegovina by the Danube Monarchy. His term of office as kuk finance minister, 21 years, far exceeded that of his predecessors since 1867 and that of his successors until 1918.

Fonts (selection)

• History of the Serbs. Lauffer, Budapest / Vienna 1878.
• The history of the Serbian uprising 1807–1810. Holzhausen, Vienna 1910.
• Andrija Radenić (ed.): Dnevnik Benjamina Kalaja 1868–1875. (Benjamin Kállay's diary.) Belgrade 1976. (Serbo-Croatian)

literature

• Gerhard Seewann : Kállay from Nagykálló, Benjamin . In: Mathias Bernath, Felix von Schroeder (Ed.), Gerda Bartl (Red.): Biographical Lexicon for the History of Southeast Europe . Volume 2. Oldenbourg, Munich 1976, ISBN 3-486-49241-1 , pp. 322-324.

Web links

• Literature by and about Benjámin Kállay in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ^ Ernst Rutkowski: Letters and documents on the history of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy . Volume 1: The Constitutionally Loyal Large Estate 1880-1899 . Verlag Oldenbourg, Munich 1983, ISBN 3-486-51831-3 , p. 42.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Biography ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. in the Encyclopedia of the European East 
3. ↑ ^{a b} Kállay from Nagy-Kálló, Béni. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 3, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1965, p. 196.
4. ↑ Viktória Radics: Bosnian Language Lesson (PDF; 417 kB)
5. ^ Sabrina P. Ramet: Religion and nationalism in Soviet and East European politics. Duke University Press, Durham 1989, ISBN 0822308916 , p. 57.
6. ^ Robin Okey: Taming Balkan nationalism. The Habsburg “civilizing mission” in Bosnia, 1878–1914. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2007, ISBN 978-0-19-921391-7 , p. 55.

predecessor	Office	successor
József Szlávy from Érkenéz and Okány	Imperial Finance Minister Governor of Bosnia and Herzegovina June 4, 1882 - July 13, 1903	Agenor Graf Gołuchowski (interim)