Elemér Hantos

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Elemér Hantos (born as Elemér Hecht ; born November 12, 1881 in Budapest ; † June 28 or July 28, 1942 there ) was a Hungarian lawyer , economist and economic politician .

Studies and career

Hantos studied law and political science in Budapest , Leipzig , Paris and Cambridge . However, he first gained fame as a financial expert . From 1904 he was editor of the journals Pénzintézeti Szemle and Pénzügyi Szemle . In the inter-war period he taught finance at the University of Budapest. In addition to his academic and political career, this gave him access to well-paid positions in the financial sector. In 1918 Hantos became president of the Hungarian Postal Savings Bank ( Postatakarékpénztár ), and he was a member of various committees of other banks and interest groups . From 1924 he represented Hungary as an expert on economic issues at the League of Nations in Geneva.

In politics

Between 1910 and 1918, Hantos was a member of parliament for the newly formed, pro-government Party of National Labor . As a finance and economic expert, he became Political State Secretary in the Ministry of Commerce in 1917 . In the same year he, like his political and journalistic companion Gusztáv Gratz , took part in the negotiations on a German-Austrian customs union that led to the Salzburg agreements . He later declared himself satisfied that a full customs union had not come about. This would only have served the imperialist war aims of the German Reich .

As a publicist and scientist

From the end of the First World War , Hantos concentrated on scientific and journalistic work. In monographs and essays, he examined various problems that Hungary and the other successor states of the monarchy faced as a result of the collapse of the common economic area after 1918. The new state borders had become enormous obstacles to regional trade because of the widespread protective tariff policy and because of the forced industrialization policy of the predominantly agricultural neighboring states.

Hantos propagated various forms of regional economic cooperation between Hungary and its neighbors, as a university lecturer, as a publicist, and as an economic expert for the Pan-European Union and one of its best-known representatives in Hungary. In order to stabilize the successor currencies of the crown , he and Georg Gothein proposed the introduction of a common coin base for the currencies of the successor states. Increased cooperation in inland shipping, postal services and rail traffic should restore the economic division of labor in the Danube countries.

Central European Economic Conference and Central European Institutes

But Hantos was not an advocate of unlimited free trade . In 1925, together with Julius Meinl , he called the Central European Economic Conference , which later became the Central European Economic Conference , to promote regional cooperation. He wished for a gradual rapprochement and mutual economic opening only of the Danube countries, explicitly without Germany. In 1931 this led him into a conflict with the German group in the Central European Business Conference and its representative Max Hahn .

Hantos' position towards the German representatives was no longer tenable in the 1930s. He now concentrated on the establishment of a number of new research institutions, the Central European Institutes being established in Vienna (1929), Brno (1929) and Budapest (1930/1931) and a Center d'Études de l'Europe Centrale in Geneva. Hantos had already presented the first statutes for the Central European Institutes in 1926.

But in the wake of the emerging global economic crisis , these institutes had little opportunity to actively influence economic policy in the region, despite their publishing activities. In addition to the resistance of the German group , Hantos was faced with the disinterest of neighboring countries, where, because of his theory, international cartels played an advantageous role as a lobbyist in the service of Hungarian banks and big industry. From the mid-1930s, he appeared in public less and less.

Works (selection)

  • The future of money . F. Enke, Stuttgart 1921.
  • Trade policy in Central Europe . Fischer, Jena 1925.
  • The cultural problem in Central Europe . F. Enke, Stuttgart 1926.
  • The world economic conference. Problems and results . Gloeckner, Leipzig 1928.
  • European Customs Union and Central European Economic Community . Organization Verlagsgesellschaft, Berlin undated [1928].
  • Central European Railway Policy. Merger of the railway systems of Germany, Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Romania and Yugoslavia . W. Braumüller, Vienna / Leipzig 1929.
  • Central European Postal Union . W. Braumüller, Vienna / Leipzig 1929.
  • The rationalization of the world economy . Mohr, Tübingen 1930.
  • Central European cartels in the service of industrial union . Organization publishing company, Berlin 1931.
  • The Central European Agricultural Problem and its Solution . Organization publishing company, Berlin 1931.
  • The reorganization of the Danube region . C. Heymann / Österreichischer Wirtschaftsverlag, Berlin / Vienna 1935.

literature

  • Markó László (ed.): Új Magyar Életrajzi Lexicon. Vol. III. H-K. Budapest 2002, 106f.
  • István Németh: Európa-tervek 1300-1945. Visszapillantás a jövőbe. ELTE Eötvös Kiadó, Budapest 2001, ISBN 963-463-463-X , pp. 216-220.
  • István Németh: The Central European Alternative by Elemér Hantos in the 1920s and 1930s. In: Heinz Duchhardt / István Németh (eds.): The idea of ​​Europe in Hungary and Germany in the interwar period . Mainz 2005, ISBN 3-8053-3591-1 , pp. 71-98.
  • Nils Müller: The economy as a "bridge of politics". Elemér Hantos' economic policy program in the 1920s and 1930s. In: Carola Sachse (ed.): "Central Europe" and "Southeast Europe" as a planning area. Economic and cultural policy expertise in the age of the world wars. Göttingen 2010, ISBN 978-3-8353-0490-1 , pp. 87-114.
  • Pallai László: A közép-európai egységtörekvések egy elfeledett magyar képviselője: Hantos Elemér. Debreceni Szemle, 1996/4, 581-590. O.
  • Zsugyel János: Hantos Elemér útja a nagytérgazdaság eszméjétől a közép-európai országok átfogó együttműködésének gondolatáig, in: Polgári Szemle, 2009/6. sz.V https://polgariszemle.hu/archivum/50-2009-december-5-evfolyam-6-szam/360-hantos-elemer-utja-a-nagytergazdasag-eszmejetol-a-koezep-europai-orszagok-atfogo -egyuettmukoedesenek-gondolataig

Web links

  • Biography in the Magyar Életrajzi Lexicon (Hungarian)
  • Biography in the Magyar Zsidó Lexicon (Hungarian)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ According Új Magyar Életrajzi lexicon in July, according to online edition of Magyar Életrajzi lexicon born in June.
  2. ↑ Jürgen Elvert: Central Europe! German plans for a European reorganization (1918-1945). Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-515-07641-7 , p. 44.
  3. ↑ See trade policy , 1925.
  4. ^ Andrea Tuli: The pan-European section in Hungary (1926-1932). In: Heinz Duchhardt / István Németh (eds.): The idea of ​​Europe in Hungary and Germany in the interwar period . Mainz 2005, ISBN 3-8053-3591-1 , pp. 47-70.
  5. ↑ See Central European Economic Conference , 1927
  6. ↑ See World Economy , 1931
  7. ↑ Because of the ongoing debate with proponents of regional economic cooperation including Germany, Hantos published a great deal in German.
  8. ↑ See The Cultural Problem in Central Europe , 1926
  9. ↑ See Central European Cartels , 1931
personal data
SURNAME Hantos, Elemér
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Pike, Elemér (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Hungarian lawyer, economist and economic politician
DATE OF BIRTH November 12, 1881
PLACE OF BIRTH Budapest
DATE OF DEATH June 28, 1942 or July 28, 1942
Place of death Budapest