Csilla Baroness von Boeselager

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Monument to Csilla Baroness von Boeselager in Miskolc

Csilla Külly Baroness von Boeselager (born May 17, 1941 in Budapest ; † February 23, 1994 in Arnsberg - Voßwinkel ) was the founder and chairwoman of the Hungarian Malteser Caritas Service (UMCD), co-founder of Magyar Máltai Szeretet Szolgálat (MMSz) and lady of the Order of Malta .

Life

Csilla Baron von Boeselager , née Csilla Fényes von Denlegerh, was the wife of Wolfhard Freiherr von Boeselager . Her father was the engineer Ivan Fényes von Denlegerh, and her mother was Marianne Zrobay von Zboró. Born in Budapest, she fled to Bavaria in 1945 and two years later to Venezuela , where she spent her childhood and youth and attended a Franciscan school for ten years . She traveled to the United States on a scholarship and studied chemistry at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie until 1961 . During her studies she got to know Dela von Boeselager and her cousin Wolfhard von Boeselager, who were studying in New York. After graduation, she was employed by the American Cyanamid Co. She then returned to Europe and worked as a manager, most recently as a marketing manager , at Farbwerke Hoechst AG in Frankfurt-Höchst . In 1973 she married Wolfhard von Boeselager. From this marriage the daughters Ildikó and Ilona were born. She became the managing director of her own tourism company.

Since 1982 she was an active member of the Malteser Relief Service . In 1987 she started collecting donations for Hungary and sent first aid deliveries. After the Hungarian government had given its approval, on February 4, 1989 the Magyar Máltai Szeretetszolgalat was founded in Budapest, as a counterpart to the Hungarian Malteser Caritas Service eV in Germany, which was launched on December 14, 1988, at Frau von Boeselager's initiative Chairwoman Baroness von Boeselager was. Her intervention in the Hungarian government enabled pastors to officially work in hospitals again.

In the summer of 1989 she spontaneously organized the emergency aid and accommodation for over 30,000 refugees from the GDR in Budapest and Prague, among others, with the two new services . It became the intersection between the international media, the GDR refugees, the German embassy and Hungarian politics by calming people down, informing the world press, holding talks behind the diplomatic scenes and thus contributing to the peaceful opening of the Iron Curtain . In Budapest she interpreted the words of the Hungarian Foreign Minister Gyula Horn for the refugees: “The citizens of the GDR are allowed to leave Hungary to the west”. After this mission she was given the nickname “Angel of Budapest” in the media. In 1989 she became a German citizen.

The aid initiated by Csilla Freifrau von Boeselager contributed to peaceful change in Hungary and the Eastern Bloc . Due to the tireless collection of donated goods, Csilla Freifrau von Boeselager managed at peak times to send a truck to Eastern Europe every day, which earned her the nickname “Europe's best beggar”.

The mother of two daughters and a foster son ( Raphael von Hoensbroech ) died in February 1994 as a result of a long-standing tumor disease . The burial took place in the grave chapel of St. Benediktus at Höllinghofen Castle.

Csilla-von-Boeselager-Stiftung Osteuropahilfe

After her death, her association became the "Csilla-von-Boeselager-Stiftung Osteuropahilfe eV" (member of the Paritätischer Wohlfahrtsverband ).

The focus is on emergency aid for people in Central Europe , but also for those countries that are not yet in the European Union.

The foundation association founded in 1991 by Csilla von Boeselager in Arnsberg-Voßwinkel has over 300 members. In private, voluntary and independent work, they mostly support smaller non-governmental initiatives in Central Europe in establishing and continuing social and charitable aid. Active members, as sponsors for certain projects, locations or regions, maintain close relationships with friends and helpers and sponsorships with people and groups on site.

The foundation association was continued on a voluntary basis by Csilla von Boeselager's husband Wolfhard von Boeselager, her children and friends until 2007. Wolfhard Freiherr von Boeselager has been honorary chairman and on the foundation's advisory board since 2007 . The new, honorary board consists of Raphael von Hoensbroech (chairman), Ildiko von Ketteler-Boeselager (vice chairman), Michael von Boeselager (treasurer), Ilona von Boeselager (public relations), Christina von Hoensbroech (members and donors) and Georg von Eichendorff-Strachwitz (projects and sponsors).

Commemoration

In 1994 a street in Páty in Pest County was named after Csilla Freifrau von Boeselager, and in 2008 in the Arnsberg district of Vosswinkel. There is also such a street in the Schloss Neuhaus district of Paderborn . A monument was erected in Páty in 1994 and in Miskolc in 2011 .

In 1996 the "Csilla-von-Boeselager-House" in Miskolc was opened . Wolfhard von Boeselager came to this occasion with his second wife, Katalin Pitti von Boeselager , who sang the Ave Maria of “Bach / Gonoud” .

honors and awards

literature

  • Jörg Ernesti :  Boeselager, Csilla von. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 24, Bautz, Nordhausen 2005, ISBN 3-88309-247-9 , Sp. 257-258.
  • Marianne Dobos: A szeretet önkéntesei . Fórum Rt.Könyvk., Budapest 1990, ISBN 963-02-8433-2 . (Hungarian)
  • The peoples of the East also belong to Europe. Documentation on the award of the St. Liborius Medal for Unity and Peace to Csilla Freifrau von Boeselager on October 25, 1992 . Ed .: Archbishop's General Vicariate Paderborn, Press and Information Office, Bonifatius, Paderborn 1993, ISBN 3-87088-760-5 .
  • Jürgen Malte Markhoff: I became the best beggar in Europe. Memories of Csilla Freifrau von Boeselager . Ruhr Nachrichten Verlag, Dortmund 1994.
  • Csilla from Boeselager. In: Joachim Jauer : Urbi et Gorbi. Christians as pioneers of the turning point . Herder, Freiburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-451-32253-2 .
  • Csilla from Boeselager. In: Joachim Jauer: Identifier D. Peaceful detours to German unity . Camino, Stuttgart 2015, ISBN 978-3-460-50001-3 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Report: Csilla von Boeselager - The Angel of Budapest
  2. ↑ The Angel of Budapest † Cilla Baroness von Boeselager
  3. ^ Csilla-von-Boeselager-Straße, Paderborn
  4. ↑ Memorial for Csilla von Boeselager ( Memento of the original from January 11, 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.presseecho.de
  5. ^ Csilla-von-Boeselager-Haus Miskolc
  6. ↑ “Help must have faces” - Csilla-von-Boeselager-Haus
personal data
SURNAME Boeselager, Csilla Freifrau von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Boeselager, Csilla Külly Freifrau von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German aristocrats, co-founder of the Hungarian Malteser Caritas service
DATE OF BIRTH May 17, 1941
PLACE OF BIRTH Budapest
DATE OF DEATH February 23, 1994
Place of death Arnsberg - Vosswinkel