François Fejtő

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François Fejtő (born August 31, 1909 in Nagykanizsa as Ferenc Fejtő ; † June 2, 2008 in Paris ) was a French historian , journalist and publicist of Hungarian origin who lived in France since 1938 and enjoyed international recognition.

Life

Fejtő grew up in a wealthy Hungarian-Jewish family of booksellers and publishers. After the fall of Austria-Hungary , he had to experience that members of his family were suddenly considered to be Yugoslav, Italian, Czechoslovak or Romanian citizens.

He studied humanities in Pécs (Fünfkirchen) and Budapest . Because he had organized a Marxist study group at the university at the age of 22, he was sentenced in 1932 to one year in prison. After his release from prison, he joined the Social Democratic Party and worked for the daily Népszava . Just one year later he founded the legendary anti-fascist and anti-Stalinist literary magazine Szép Szó , the forum of the young intellectual elite of Hungary, with the poet Attila József and the publicist Pál Ignotus .

When he was again sentenced to six months in prison for an article against fascist tendencies in the politics of the Hungarian government, he left Hungary and emigrated to France in 1938. During the Second World War he took part in the Resistance .

In 1945 François Fejtő headed the press office of the Hungarian embassy in Paris. When his childhood friend, the Hungarian Interior Minister László Rajk , was sentenced to death in a political show trial in 1949 , he resigned from this office in protest and severed all relations with Hungary. Only more than forty years later, after the rehabilitation of Imre Nagy , one of the failed heroes of the Hungarian revolution of 1956, did he return to his homeland for the first time.

From 1944 to 1979 he worked as a journalist and commentator on events in Eastern Europe for the Agence France-Presse (AFP). From 1972 to 1984 he taught at the Institute for Political Studies in Paris. The historical and current development of Central and Eastern Europe was at the center of his scientific interest. His History of People's Democracies, published in France in 1952 and translated into 17 languages, became a highly regarded and controversial basic work that was found inconvenient by numerous representatives of the political left. Until his death he wrote for Le Monde , Le Figaro , La Croix , Il Giornale , Corriere della Sera and many other editorial offices.

His grandson is the actor and director Raphaël Fejtö .

Awards

Works (selection)

  • Érzelmes utazás (1935, new edition Magvető 1989)
  • Voyage sentimental (Éditions des Syrtes 2001)
  • Heinrich Heine, biography (Maréchal 1946)
  • 1848 in le monde. Le Printemps des peuples (Ed. De Minuit 1948)
  • Histoire des démocraties populaires (Le Seuil 1952)
  • Un Habsbourg révolutionaire, Joseph II, portrait d'un despote éclairé (Plon 1954; new edition quai Voltaire 1994)
  • La Tragédie Hungroise (Pierre Horay 1956, 1996)
  • Les Juifs et l'antisémitisme dans les pays communistes (Plon 1960)
  • Dieu et son Juif (Grasset 1960, new edition Pierre Horay 1997)
  • Chine - URSS Volume 1: La Fin d'une hégémonie (Plon 1964)
  • Chine - URSS Volume 2: Le Conflit (Plon 1966)
  • Budapest 1956 (Julliard 1966)
  • Histoire des démocraties populaires. L'être de Staline, 1945–1952 (new edition, Le Seuil 1969)
  • Histoire des démocraties populaires. Après Staline, 1953–1968 (Le Seuil 1969)
  • L'Héritage de Lénine (Casterman 1973)
  • Le Coup de Prague 1948 (Le Seuil 1976)
  • La social-démocratie quand même (Robert Laffont 1980)
  • Requiem pour un empire défunt (Balland 1988)
  • La Fin des democraties populaires (Le Seuil 1992)
  • Le passager du siècle (with Maurizio Serra, Hachette Littératures 1999)
  • Dieu, l'homme et son diable (Buchet Chastel 2005)
  • 1956, Budapest, l'insurrection: La première révolution anti-totalitaire (Paris 2006)

The following were published in German:

  • History of the people's democracies (Styria Pichler 1972, Eichborn Verlag 1988)
  • Joseph II. Portrait of an enlightened despot (Matthes & Seitz, 1987)
  • Judaism and Communism (Europa-Verlag 1967)
  • Budapest 1956. The Hungarian Revolution (Styria Pichler 1977)
  • Requiem for a monarchy. The smashing of Austria-Hungary (Bundesverlag 1991, Deuticke 1993)
  • Journey to Yesterday (Matthes & Seitz Berlin 2012)

swell

  • François Fejtő, Maurizio Serra: Le Passager du Siècle. Guerres, révolutions, Europes . Hachette Littératures, Paris 1999, ISBN 2-01-235383-5 .
  • François Fejto: Dieu, l'homme et son diable. Méditation sur le mal et le cours de l'histoire. Essai . Buchet / Chastel, Paris 2005, ISBN 2-283-01922-2 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ List of all decorations awarded by the Federal President for services to the Republic of Austria from 1952 (PDF file; 6.59 MB)
personal data
SURNAME Fejtő, François
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fejtő, Ferenc (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French historian, journalist and publicist of Hungarian origin
DATE OF BIRTH August 31, 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH Nagykanizsa
DATE OF DEATH June 2, 2008
Place of death Paris