Vilmos Vázsonyi (born as Vilmos Weiszfeld; 1868–1926) was a Hungarian publicist and politician of

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 ...

heritage. Vázsonyi was born at

Sümeg Sümeg (german: Schimeck) is a town in Veszprém county, Hungary. Sümeg is mostly known for Sümeg Castle. It is north of Lake Balaton. Twin towns – sister cities Sümeg is twinned with: * Aichtal, Germany * Sovata Sovata (; hu, Szov� ...

. He was educated at

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 ...

, where his remarkable eloquence made him the leader of all student movements during his university career. After he had completed his studies, the most vital social questions found in him an earnest investigator. He aroused a national sentiment against

dueling A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two people, with matched weapons, in accordance with agreed-upon rules. During the 17th and 18th centuries (and earlier), duels were mostly single combats fought with swords (the rapier and la ...

, his success being proved by the numerous anti-dueling clubs in

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

. Later, he began a social and journalistic agitation on behalf of the official recognition of the Jewish religion, and kept the matter before the public until the law granting recognition was sanctioned in 1895. In 1894, Vázsonyi founded the first democratic club in Budapest, and became a common councilor. In 1900, he established the political weekly "Új Század" ("The New Century") for the dissemination of democratic ideas throughout the country. At the same time, he organized democratic clubs in all the large Hungarian cities. In 1901, Vázsonyi was elected deputy for the sixth district of the capital, on a democratic platform, of which he was the only public representative in the

Hungarian Parliament The National Assembly ( hu, Országgyűlés, lit=Country Assembly) is the parliament of Hungary. The unicameral body consists of 199 (386 between 1990 and 2014) members elected to 4-year terms. Election of members is done using a semi-propo ...

as of 1906. At the election of 26 January 1905 he defeated Hieronymi, minister of commerce, as a candidate for the deputy-ship from his district. Vázsonyi died on 1 June 1926 from cardiac arrest, after injuries suffered in an assault by Ferenc Gyulai Molnár and the notorious anti-Semite Lászlo Vannay, described as " Ford's protege".

Writings

Besides numbers of articles in the daily press, Vázsonyi wrote the following works: *"Önkormányzat" (1890), on autonomy *"A Választási elv a Külföldi Közigazgatásban" (1891), on the principle of election in foreign governments *"A Szavazás Deczentralizácziója" (1892), on decentralization in voting *"A Királyi Placetum a Magyar Alkotmányban" (1893), on the royal veto in the Hungarian constitution

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vazsonyi, Vilmos 1868 births 1926 deaths People from Sümeg Jewish Hungarian politicians Justice ministers of Hungary Hungarian writers