Pál Teleki

Pál Teleki (around 1940)

The Hungarian Foreign Minister István Csáky signs the Second Vienna Award in 1940, Teleki on the left

Ribbentrop, Teleki and Csáky in Munich 1940

Teleki 1933 in scout clothing at the World Scout Meeting in Gödöllő (left)

Pál Teleki [ paːl ˈtɛlɛki ], officially Hungarian Dr. gróf széki Teleki Pál , German  Count Paul Teleki von Szék (born November 1, 1879 in Budapest , Austria-Hungary , † April 3, 1941 ibid) was from July 19, 1920 to April 14, 1921 and from February 16, 1939 to his suicide Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Hungary . In addition to his political career, he also worked as a cartographer and professor of geography and held high positions in the Hungarian scouting movement .

Origin and early years

Teleki was born on November 1, 1879, into a well-educated, cosmopolitan, wealthy family from Transylvania . His father, Count Geisa Teleki (1843–1913) was also a politician and member of the Hungarian Reichstag; in 1871 he married 19-year-old Irene Murati (Muratisz; 1852–1941), the daughter of a Greek merchant in Budapest. Important politicians and natural scientists were among his surroundings. This also gave rise to the son's later career choice as a professor of geography.

Political career

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Before the fall of the Austro-Hungarian dual monarchy , Teleki was a loyal supporter of the House of Habsburg . With the loss of the First World War and its aftermath, he was suddenly pushed into a new reality. Social and political differences broke out; old ropes fell apart. He was a conservative idealist who struggled a lot with the inadequacies of those around him. In the end he was to become the caller in the desert that everyone, scouts and politicians, had abandoned. Teleki's long-term goals also included his striving for a social renewal in Europe, at the end of which a purely Christian system of values ​​based on scouting foundations should be found. Teleki was in poor health in general, which required a lot of strength for his public appearances.

After the First World War, Hungary lost 71 percent of its territory and 59 percent of its citizens with the Treaty of Trianon . The demands for revision remained the main objective of Hungarian foreign policy until 1945 and Teleki, as a politician, remained its most important representative. He went down in the history of Hungary as the “architect and father of auditing”.

In the chaos of his time, the university professor Teleki wanted to create order. Therefore he interrupted his teaching post and embarked on a political career. With his party Keresztény Nemzeti Egyesülés Pártja (KNEP, Party of the Christian National Association), he reached government participation in 1920. The first period as Prime Minister (1920–1921) began with the consolidation of state power. Teleki dissolved the associations of the so-called "White Terror", which repeatedly turned against Jews and left-wing political groups. In the course of this he also ended the activity of the largest anti-Semitic association. At the same time it deprived the communists of their legal basis and restricted the admission of Jews to Hungarian universities through the numerus clausus , which limited the proportion of Jewish students to their percentage of the total population. The numerus clausus was adopted by Poland and should become common there at many universities. After nine months at the head of the government, the Europe-wide recognized geographer returned to his university chair.

Teleki had to deal with the allied German-Austrian-Hungarian right-wing radicals early on. After the failed Kapp Putsch in Berlin (March 12-17, 1920) and in the midst of the civil war in Russia, Horthys Hungary , the camp of the victorious counter-revolution , was the last hope of the extreme right. The Kapp putschists had received support and shelter there. Now the nationalists were looking for new ways to overthrow the order of the Versailles Treaty . General Erich Ludendorff , who was First Quartermaster General next to General Field Marshal Hindenburg at the head of the Imperial Army, now head of the German right-wing radicals, trusted one with anti-Christian and anti-Jewish ideas (including world conspiracy theory : Church - Freemasons - High Finance - Judaism) Roll up "White Internationals" Europe. Among other things, the troops loyal to the Church and the Tsar in Russia, the White Guards , were to be supported in their fight against communism with forged rubles. Imperial Administrator Horthy was enthusiastic; the counterfeiting workshop was to be set up in Hungary. But the Hungarian Foreign Ministry, above all Teleki, then a minister, flatly rejected the plans to print counterfeit ruble bills in Hungary. He was not even available for indirect support from Ludendorff.

Another action by the Hungarian government aimed at forging French franc notes was supported by Teleki. This was not least about harming France, the alleged main culprit of Trianon. The forgery workshop was set up in the basement of the state cartographic institute, of which Teleki was the head. By autumn 1925, around 35,000 French thousand franc notes had been completed. The bundles with the forged notes were even solemnly blessed by the Catholic Bishop István Zadravetz .

Teleki was Minister of Education in 1938/1939 and again Prime Minister from 1939 to 1941.

The great geographer

To this day, Teleki's geographical activity as a member of the Mosul Commission is regarded by experts as a convincing lesson in modern minority protection . Around 1920, the northern Iraqi province of Mosul became a dispute between Turkey and Great Britain. Great Britain had occupied this Turkish province militarily after the First World War in order to secure the oil reserves there. After the failure of negotiations, Turkey went to the League of Nations to enforce its rights; it also dealt with ethnic issues. The League of Nations then set up a commission of inquiry with Teleki as the geographer. He visited the province and made detailed maps. After three months of thorough work, he was able to come up with a solution to the issue. His proposals implied a forward-looking minority policy. In 1939 he was accepted into the Leopoldina .

Scouting

Teleki was inspired by international scouting at an early age . He became a member of the Magyar Cserkészszövetség (MCsSz), the most important Hungarian scout association. In the 1920s, its impact on German scouting can only be compared with that of the ideas of John Hargrave . There is no doubt that the number of boy scout novels, plays and educational pamphlets translated from Hungarian into German exceeded all other foreign new publications in the German scout publishers of the time. In addition, almost all German scout associations of the time had connections with Hungary. Scouting became Teleki's most important sideline, to which he was committed all his life. With him he believed that he could make his dreams of a modern Hungary come true. In 1922 Teleki received his appointment as federal field master. He was also chairman of the Federal Council, but gave up this office again after a short time.

The heyday of the Hungarian scouts

The Boy Scout Association had elected Teleki in its highest office because of his reputation; Horthy also wanted him to be at the head of the youth. Now the federal government was shocked when Teleki wanted to do more than just represent. In his memorandum for the election he wrote:

“The office of field master can either be an office of arrogance or a real control point at the top of a recognized important movement. No word is needed in the first case. We can't need such a federal leader. In the second case it is different. The work here only makes sense if the government recognizes and recognizes the value of scouting. Only in this case will the movement become a general educational fact in society. "

Teleki made the scout movement a first-rate Hungarian cause. It was now simply part of Hungary that the children went to the Boy Scouts. The government supported the leaders as best it could; Trunks grew like mushrooms from the ground; There were campsites and scouting squads all over the country. In 1933 there were five airfields for scout pilots alone. All of these achievements were due to the work of countless enthusiastic known and unknown scouts and supporters, but Teleki certainly played a major role in this. Because of his poor health, however, he soon had to give up the highest office in the federal government, but remained honorary federal field master. In 1924 he protested in public against the growing accusation that the scouting was a militant and political movement. These unjustified allegations have been repeated over many years.

Teleki became important for Germany's scout movement through his work at the International Office of the World Scout Association in London. In this capacity, he worked with leading representatives of the German scouting community at the time, particularly District Court Judge Eberhard Plewe from the German Scout Association (DPB). In 1931, at the international conference in Baden near Vienna, the Teleki-Plewe team achieved international recognition by the German Scout Association (DPV), an umbrella organization to which the most important German scout associations of the time belonged. Teleki was also able to convince the representatives of this conference that the Hungarian Gödöllő was the venue for the World Scout Meeting from August 1st to 16th, 1933. The MCsSz appointed Teleki camp manager, and the Hungarian cabinet gave him the title of government commissioner. Last but not least, these successes were certainly a result of his very personal friendship with the founder of the World Scout Movement, the former General Lord Robert Baden-Powell .

The World Scout Meeting ( Jamboree ) of Gödöllö

An important point in the choice of Hungary as the venue for the World Jamboree, which previous German Jamboree research has neglected, was Lord Rothermere's influence in the British press. In addition to the London daily Daily Mail , the multimillionaire owned other papers with a circulation of millions. In 1927 he was drawn to the fate of Hungary after 1918 while looking for scandals and stories for his newspapers at a roulette table in the Monte Carlo casino . Rothermere was concerned and devoted himself to the Hungarian cause in a personal and journalistic way in the following decade. In Hungary there were serious efforts to proclaim Rothermere king, and the boy scouts also maintained a wide range of contacts. His influence on the choice of Hungary as the venue for the Jamborees has been proven. Since Trianon, the Hungarian scouts wore the heron feather steppe grass from the Puszta on their hats as a sign of mourning for the unity of their country . This was a valuable means of propaganda, as the Hungarians immediately attracted attention at international camps and were asked about the meaning of this exotic plant. Teleki, however, did not want the Hungarian scouts to appear on international camps as one-sided politicized revisionists, thereby losing the movement's unifying spirit. Rather, he wanted the Hungarian scouts to represent the highest level of world scouting. Therefore, for example, he issued the following instructions to the leaders for the Jamboree in Hungary in 1933:

“We know the great misfortune of Hungary is Trianon, and we know that the Jamboree is excellent national propaganda. But our scouts are not allowed to talk about Trianon in the camp - only if they are asked about it. But then they must be able to give precise information about everything. "

The suicide

When Hitler immediately made plans to occupy Yugoslavia after the coup in Belgrade, he offered Hungary the recovery of all territories lost in the Treaty of Trianon if it participated in the campaign. He even held out the prospect of the annexation of Croatia and promised to work with Mussolini for the return of the port city of Rijeka , which had been annexed by Italy . In response to this tempting offer, Horthy, the military leadership and the majority in the cabinet and parliament quickly changed their mood in favor of entering the war as quickly as possible, against which Prime Minister Teleki was alone with his strict course of neutrality. Rabid anti-Yugoslav propaganda with alleged atrocities against the Hungarian minority began in the press.

At the meeting of the Supreme Military Council on April 1, 1941, Teleki could only come up with a compromise: Hungary should only invade when Croatia declared itself independent and Yugoslavia de facto ceased to exist. In addition, the Hungarian troops were only to advance as far as the historic frontier of 1918, but not annex any other areas. This solution was adopted with 7 to 4 votes (who voted for a full entry into the war without reservations).

When Teleki received the message that Great Britain would see this as a reason for war against Hungary, he had to admit that his policy had failed completely. Shortly after midnight on April 3, he wrote two letters to the Reich Administrator (see below) and shot himself.

The farewell letters

Hungarian original of the two letters:

“Főméltóságú Úr!
Szószegők lettünk - gyávaságból - a mohácsi beszéden alapuló örökbéke szerződéssel szemben. A nemzet érzi, és mi odadobtuk becsületét. A gazemberek oldalára álltunk - mert a mondvacsinált atrocitásokból egy szó sem igaz! Sem a magyarok ellen, de még a németek ellen sem! Hullarablók leszünk! A legpocsékabb nemzet. Nem tartottalak vissza. Bnös vagyok. Teleki Pál "

“Főméltóságú Úr!
Ha cselekedetem nem is sikerülne teljesen, és még élnék, ezennel lemondok. Mély tisztelettel, Teleki Pál "

German translation:

"Excellence!
We broke our word - out of cowardice - against the Treaty of Perpetual Peace based on the Mohács speech . The nation feels it, and we have tossed our honor. We have taken the side of the villains because not a word is true about the atrocities caused by the hair! Neither against the Hungarians nor against the Germans! We become corpse molesters! The wretched nation. I did not hold you back. I am guilty.
Pál Teleki "

"Excellence!
Even if my deed does not entirely succeed and I am still alive, I hereby resign. With deep admiration,
Pál Teleki "

anti-Semitism

As a politician, Teleki has made a decisive contribution to the introduction and implementation of anti-Semitic legislation in Hungary. During the 1919 peace negotiations at Trianon, in which the aim was to show as many "Hungarians" as possible in a certain area, the Hungarian Jews called "Hungarians", "the outstanding Hungarian writers, artists and scientists", he described 1920 the alleged conflict between “Christian Hungarians” and “Eastern Jews” as “a matter of life and death”. Under his government, Hungary was the first European country to introduce anti-Jewish laws after the First World War in September 1920, the numerus clausus , which only allowed Jews access to Hungarian universities according to their absolute population. In 1939 he played a decisive role in the introduction of Law No. IV “Concerning the Restriction of Jews in Public and Economic Life”, which set appropriate quotas for participation, or rather for the exclusion of Jews from economic and intellectual life.

Statue of Pál Teleki in Balatonboglár

Afterlife

In 2004, a private association with the support of Mayor Gábor Demszky wanted to erect a statue for him in the courtyard of the Budapest Castle on the anniversary of Teleki's death on April 3 . However, as Teleki had not only spoken out against his country's entry into the war on the side of Germany, but had also twice passed anti-Jewish laws that prepared administratively and socially for the Holocaust in Hungary, which affected 564,500 Hungarian Jews, of whom only in the nine weeks from 15 From May 7th to July 9th 1944 437,402 were deported to Auschwitz, which was the sixtieth anniversary of 2004, there were violent protests, which Demszky's party SZDSZ also joined, whereupon the mayor withdrew his support. A few weeks later the memorial (by Tibor Rieger) was erected in the garden of the Catholic Church in Balatonboglár . In this small town on Lake Balaton , a grammar school for Polish refugees was run during the Second World War, which was set up by the Teleki government. Until its closure after the beginning of the German occupation of Hungary (March 19, 1944), it was the only free Polish-language teaching institute in continental Europe.

literature

• Randolph L. Braham : The Politics of Genocide. The Holocaust in Hungary. Volume I, Chapter V, The Teleki Era, New York 1981, pp. 140-191 (with extensive annotations and secondary sources).
• István Csicsery-Rónay: A Hungarian Fate . In: Neuer Pester Lloyd - Hungary's German-language newspaper. November 10, 1999.
• Holger Jürgenliemk: "The misfortune is Trianon" - life and work of Count Paul Telekis . Part 1. In: Scouting . Issue 1 (2001) pp. 14-17.
• Holger Jürgenliemk: "I've tried everything" - life and work of Count Paul Telekis . Part 2. In: Scouting . Issue 2 (2001) pp. 14-18.
• Holger Jürgenliemk: The international recognition of the German Scout Association in 1931 . In: Scouting . Issue 3 (2006).
• István Klinghammer, Gábor Gercsák: The Hungarian geographer Pál Teleki as a member of the Mosul Commission . In: Cartographica Helvetica. Issue 19 (1999) pp. 17-25 ( full text ).
• Denis Silagi: Teleki von Szék, Pál Graf . In: Biographical Lexicon on the History of Southeast Europe . Volume 4. Munich 1981, pp. 279-282.
• RUBICON, történelmi magazine, XXVII. évffolyam, 2016/5 - 6, p. 84ff (Hungarian), HU ISSN 0865-6347

Web links

Commons : Pál Teleki  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Wikiquote: Pál Teleki  - Quotes (Hungarian)

• Literature by and about Pál Teleki in the catalog of the German National Library
• Newspaper article about Pál Teleki in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economy .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Rubicon, történelmi magazin, 2016 / 5-6, p. 87
2. ^ Member entry of Paul Graf Teleki at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on March 16, 2015.
3. ↑ Randolph L. Braham: The Politics of Genocide , p. 142.
4. ↑ Randolph L. Braham: The Politics of Genocide , p. 143.
5. ↑ Randolph L. Braham: The Politics of Genocide , p. 143
6. ↑ Randolph L. Braham: The Politics of Genocide , pp. 153-156.
7. ^ Israel Gutman, Eberhard Jäckel, Peter Longerich, Julius H. Schoeps: Enzyklopädie des Holocaust. The persecution and murder of the European Jews . Munich / Zurich 1995, p. 1468
8. ^ Raul Hilberg: The annihilation of the European Jews . Frankfurt 1993, p. 915