Béla Ferenc József Grünwald de Bártfa ( hu, bártfai Grünwald Béla Ferenc József; 2 December 1839 – 4 May 1891) was a Hungarian nationalist politician and historian who was active in
Upper Hungary
Upper Hungary is the usual English translation of ''Felvidék'' (literally: "Upland"), the Hungarian term for the area that was historically the northern part of the Kingdom of Hungary, now mostly present-day Slovakia. The region has also been ...
(today mostly
Slovakia
Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...
).
Life and career
Born in
Szentantal to a
Zipser German
Zipser German (German: Zipserisch, Zipserdeutsch, Hungarian: ''szepességi szász nyelv'' or ''cipszer nyelv'') is a Germanic dialect which developed in the Upper Zips region of what is now Slovakia among people who settled there from central G ...
father, Augustin Grünwald and a noblewoman with Polish ancestry, Johanna Majovszky, Grünwald trained as a lawyer, receiving a degree from the
Royal University of Pest
Royal may refer to:
People
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* A member of a royal family
Places United States
* Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community
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. He attended universities in Paris, Berlin, Heidelberg, received a law degree and attended philosophy lectures. After a few months in Belgium and France, he returned to his parents' house in Besztercebánya. Serving first as administrator (''
alispán'') of
Zólyom County
Zólyom county (in Latin: ''comitatus Zoliensis'', in Hungarian ''Zólyom (vár)megye'', in Slovak ''Zvolenský komitát/ Zvolenská stolica/ Zvolenská župa'', in German ''Sohler Gespanschaft/Komitat Sohl'') was an administrative county (comita ...
, in the
1878 elections he was elected a member of the Hungarian
House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
for Szliács (modern
Sliač
Sliač ( hu, Szliács) is a small spa town located in central Slovakia, on the Hron river, between Banská Bystrica and Zvolen. The town is known for its healing hot springs and for an airport which has been used for military as well as civil pu ...
) in that county as a member of the
Liberal Party
The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left.
__TOC__ Active liberal parties
This is a li ...
; he subsequently left the Liberals in 1880, serving as an independent before joining the
Moderate Opposition party.
Grünwald was an activist for the assimilationist policies of
Magyarisation
Magyarization ( , also ''Hungarization'', ''Hungarianization''; hu, magyarosítás), after "Magyar"—the Hungarian autonym—was an assimilation or acculturation process by which non-Hungarian nationals living in Austro-Hungarian Transleithan ...
in the predominantly Slovak region of Upper Hungary, founding and supporting the
Upper Hungary Magyar Educational Society. He viewed the construction of a centralised state as a political priority. He explained his views on the policy in his 1876 book ''Közigazgatásunk és a szabadság'' ("Our Public Administration and Freedom"), in which he urged Hungarian politicians to act as effectively and inexorably as
the French in France and the English in the United Kingdom.
As a historian, Grünwald became a corresponding member of the
Hungarian Academy of Sciences after the publication of his 1888 work, ''The Old Hungary'' (''A régi Magyarország''). In his historical works, he pursued a
"democratic" method of
historiography
Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians ha ...
. He stated in ''The New Hungary'' (''Az új Magyarország''), the sequel to his 1888 book, "The genius, too, is born. He is born in a particular age, as a member of a particular nation, a class and a family, and the stamp these circles press onto his personality in his youth stays on him even if he later comes come into conflict with them." He charged the Hungarian nobility with a lack of national sentiment, and feeling greater solidarity with nobles from other nations than with the Hungarian nation; the nobles, he argued, had neglected the development of Hungary as a
nation-state. Nevertheless, on 22 April 1889, he accepted
ennoblement
Ennoblement is the conferring of nobility—the induction of an individual into the noble class. Currently only a few kingdoms still grant nobility to people; among them Spain, the United Kingdom, Belgium and the Vatican. Depending on time and reg ...
from
Emperor Franz Joseph I, becoming "de Bártfa" (''bártfai'').
Grünwald committed suicide by gunshot wound to the head in unclear circumstances while visiting Paris on 4 May 1891. Shortly before his suicide, he sent a telegram to
Albert Apponyi
Albert György Gyula Mária Apponyi, Count of Nagyappony ( hu, Gróf nagyapponyi Apponyi Albert György Gyula Mária; 29 May 18467 February 1933) was a Hungarian aristocrat and politician. He was a board member of the Hungarian Academy of Sc ...
, the leader of the Moderate Opposition, briefly notifying him of his death: "Béla Grünwald has died after a long period of suffering". In his famous dramatic 1929 account, ''The Paris Story'' (''A párizsi regény''),
Dezső Szomory describes Grünwald's death and burial:
Grünwald's
epitaph
An epitaph (; ) is a short text honoring a deceased person. Strictly speaking, it refers to text that is inscribed on a tombstone or plaque, but it may also be used in a figurative sense. Some epitaphs are specified by the person themselves be ...
reads, "Here lies Béla Grünwald, unbreakable apostle of the Hungarian theory of the state."
[ Pók 1982, p. 24. "Itt nyugszik Grünwald Béla, a magyar állameszme törhetetlen apostola."]
Works
*''Közigazgatásunk és a magyar nemzetiség''
'Our Administration and Hungarian Nationality''(1874). Budapest: Ráth Mór.
*''Közigazgatásunk és a szabadság''
'Our Administration and Liberty''(1876). Budapest: Ráth Mór.
Available at the Hungarian Social Science Digital Archive
)
*''A Felvidék''
'Upper Hungary''(1878). Budapest: Ráth Mór.
Available at archive.org
)
*''A törvényhatósági közigazgatás kézikönyve''
'Handbook of Municipal Administration''(4 vols., 1880–1889). Budapest: Ráth Mór (vols. 1–3), Franklin Társulat (vol. 4).
Available at archive.org
)
*''Kossuth és a megye. Válasz Kossuth Lajosnak''
'Kossuth_and_the_County:_Response_to_Lajos_Kossuth''.html" ;"title="Lajos_Kossuth.html" ;"title="'Kossuth and the County: Response to Lajos Kossuth">'Kossuth and the County: Response to Lajos Kossuth''">Lajos_Kossuth.html" ;"title="'Kossuth and the County: Response to Lajos Kossuth">'Kossuth and the County: Response to Lajos Kossuth''(1885). Budapest: Ráth Mór.
Available at oszk.hu
)
*''A régi Magyarország, 1711–1825'' [''The Old Hungary, 1711–1825''] (1888). Budapest: Franklin Társulat.
Available at archive.org
)
*''Az új Magyarország. Gróf Széchenyi István''
'The_New_Hungary:_Count_István_Széchenyi''.html" ;"title="István_Széchenyi.html" ;"title="'The New Hungary: Count István Széchenyi">'The New Hungary: Count István Széchenyi''">István_Széchenyi.html" ;"title="'The New Hungary: Count István Széchenyi">'The New Hungary: Count István Széchenyi''(1890). Budapest: Franklin Társulat.
Available at archive.org
)
References
Bibliography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Grunwald, Bela
1839 births
1891 deaths
19th-century Hungarian politicians
Austro-Hungarian politicians
Burials at Montmartre Cemetery
19th-century Hungarian historians
Hungarian politicians who committed suicide
Liberal Party (Hungary) politicians
Members of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Suicides by firearm in France
1890s suicides