István Deák (born 11 May 1926) is a
Hungarian-born American historian, author and academic.
![IstvanDeakProf](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/IstvanDeakProf.jpg)
He is a specialist in modern Europe, with special attention to Germany and Hungary.
Life and work
Deák was born at
Székesfehérvár
Székesfehérvár (; german: Stuhlweißenburg ), known colloquially as Fehérvár ("white castle"), is a city in central Hungary, and the country's ninth-largest city. It is the regional capital of Central Transdanubia, and the centre of Fejér ...
, Hungary into an assimilated
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
family that had converted to
Catholicism
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
. His parents were Istvan and Anna (Timár) Deák. He was educated at a Catholic gymnasium (high school) in
Budapest
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
and began his university studies in 1945 at the
University of Budapest
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...
. His studies were disrupted by the war and postwar chaos, and he left Hungary in 1948, following the
communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
takeover. He then studied history at the
Sorbonne
Sorbonne may refer to:
* Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities.
*the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970)
*one of its components or linked institution, ...
in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
and worked as a journalist in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
and for
Radio Free Europe
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a United States government funded organization that broadcasts and reports news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Caucasus, and the Middle East where it says tha ...
in
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
. In 1956, unable to gain residence in France, he settled in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
where he studied modern European history at
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
under
Fritz Stern
Fritz Richard Stern (February 2, 1926 – May 18, 2016) was a German-born American historian of German history, Jewish history and historiography. He was a University Professor and a provost at New York's Columbia University. His work focused o ...
. He obtained an M.A. (1958) and then a Ph.D. (1964), with a dissertation on "Weimar Germany's 'homeless Left': The world of Carl von Ossietzky," and spent the next 33 years teaching at Columbia. He was the Director of Columbia's Institute on East Central Europe between 1968 and 1979. Prior to teaching at Columbia, he was an instructor for one year (1962-63) at
Smith College
Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith (Smith College ...
.
Deák has written extensively on eastern and central European history and politics. His publications include ''Weimar Germany's Left-wing Intellectuals'' (1968); ''The Lawful Revolution: Louis Kossuth and the Hungarians, 1848-1849'' (1979); ''Beyond Nationalism: A Social and Political History of the Habsburg Officer Corps, 1848-1918'' (1990); and ''Essays on Hitler's Europe'' (2001). He edited and partly wrote, together with
Jan T. Gross
Jan Tomasz Gross (born 1947) is a Polish-American sociologist and historian. He is the Norman B. Tomlinson '16 and '48 Professor of War and Society, emeritus, and Professor of History, emeritus, at Princeton University.
Gross is the author o ...
and
Tony Judt
Tony Robert Judt ( ; 2 January 1948 – 6 August 2010) was a British-American historian, essayist and university professor who specialized in European history. Judt moved to New York and served as the Erich Maria Remarque Professor in European ...
, ''The Politics of Retribution in Europe: World War II and Its Aftermath'' (2000). His most recent work is ''Europe on Trial. The Story of Collaboration, Resistance, and Retribution during World War II'' (2015).
He has also written extensively for the ''
New York Review of Books
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...
'' and other periodicals.
In 1964 Deák was able to visit Hungary for the first time since his departure, and thereafter he regularly attended academic conferences in
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...
and worked to re-establish links between American and Hungarian historians. In 1990, following the fall of the communist regime, he was elected to the
Hungarian Academy of Sciences
The Hungarian Academy of Sciences ( hu, Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, MTA) is the most important and prestigious learned society of Hungary. Its seat is at the bank of the Danube in Budapest, between Széchenyi rakpart and Akadémia utca. Its ma ...
. He retired from teaching in 1997 and was later a visiting professor at
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
. He has continued to publish on European history, particularly issues relating to the
Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
.
["István Deák: Memories of Hell" in ''The New York Review of Books'', June 26, 1997] His wife,
Gloria Deak
Gloria may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music Christian liturgy and music
* Gloria in excelsis Deo, the Greater Doxology, a hymn of praise
* Gloria Patri, the Lesser Doxology, a short hymn of praise
** Gloria (Handel)
** Gloria (Jenkin ...
, is an art historian.
Bibliography
Books written
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*
*
Books edited
*
References
External links
Finding aid to the István Deák papers at Columbia University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Deak, Istvan
1926 births
Living people
People from Székesfehérvár
Members of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Eötvös Loránd University alumni
University of Paris alumni
Columbia University alumni
Hungarian emigrants to the United States
Columbia University faculty
21st-century American historians
American male non-fiction writers
Historians of Europe
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty people
Hungarian expatriates in France
Hungarian expatriates in Germany
Hungarian people of Jewish descent
21st-century American male writers