Count István Csáky de Körösszeg et Adorján (14 July 1894 – 27 January 1941) was a Hungarian nobleman and politician, who served as

Minister of Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between co ...

between 1938 and 1941.

Early life

István was born as the only son of Count Zsigmond György Csáky de Körösszegh et Adorján (1866-1945) and his wife, Ilona Apáthy de Nagytóth (1874-1934). He had a one sister Irma (1897-1967), who never married.

Political career

A descendant of King

Stephen Báthory Stephen Báthory ( hu, Báthory István; pl, Stefan Batory; ; 27 September 1533 – 12 December 1586) was Voivode of Transylvania (1571–1576), Prince of Transylvania (1576–1586), King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania (1576–1586) ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

, Csáky was born in Segesvár (today Sighișoara,

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

), which belonged to the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...

at that time. He studied law 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 attended the Imperial Consular Academy in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. After the end of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, he participated as a diplomat in the peace negotiations that led to the

Treaty of Trianon The Treaty of Trianon (french: Traité de Trianon, hu, Trianoni békeszerződés, it, Trattato del Trianon) was prepared at the Paris Peace Conference and was signed in the Grand Trianon château in Versailles on 4 June 1920. It forma ...

. After that he worked at the Hungarian embassies to the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum The Holy See * The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...

and in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

and Lisbon, and filled several positions in the Foreign Ministry in Budapest. TelekiCsakySegundoArbitrajeDeViena

As an official observer of Hungary in 1938 he took part in the negotiations and the

Munich Agreement The Munich Agreement ( cs, Mnichovská dohoda; sk, Mníchovská dohoda; german: Münchner Abkommen) was an agreement concluded at Munich on 30 September 1938, by Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and Italy. It provided "cession to Germany ...

was signed in November 1938 with subsequent negotiations on the

First Vienna Award The First Vienna Award was a treaty signed on 2 November 1938 pursuant to the Vienna Arbitration, which took place at Vienna's Belvedere Palace. The arbitration and award were direct consequences of the previous month's Munich Agreement, which ...

as a member of the Hungarian delegation. On 10 December 1938 he was appointed as Minister of Foreign Affairs by Prime Minister Béla Imrédy. Kálmán Kánya was is predecessor as foreign minister. As a minister Csáky was involved in the negotiations leading to the

Second Vienna Award The Second Vienna Award, also known as the Vienna Diktat, was the second of two territorial disputes that were arbitrated by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. On 30 August 1940, they assigned the territory of Northern Transylvania, including all o ...

in August 1940, which aimed to recover the territories lost to Romania in the Treaty of Trianon. Even Hungary's accession to the

Tripartite Pact The Tripartite Pact, also known as the Berlin Pact, was an agreement between Germany, Italy, and Japan signed in Berlin on 27 September 1940 by, respectively, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Galeazzo Ciano and Saburō Kurusu. It was a defensive milit ...

was during the office of Csáky. On 17 December 1940, he signed a friendship agreement at the behest of

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

between Hungary and

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

, that the Hungarians would break by letting the German troops use the territory of Hungary for the invasion of Yugoslavia. Csáky, however, did not live to see the breach of the agreement, as he died in January 1941 due to a serious illness.

Personal life

He was married to Countess Maria Anna Irma Helene Camilla Chorinsky von Ledske (b. 1912), daughter of Count Karl Chorinsky von Ledske (1873-1948) and his wife, Ilaona Maria Jozefa Szögyény-Marich de Magyarszőgyén et Szolgaegyház (1879-1950). They didn't have issue.

References

Magyar Életrajzi Lexikon

External links

* 1894 births 1941 deaths Foreign ministers of Hungary Istvan, Csaky People from Sighișoara Unity Party (Hungary) politicians {{Hungary-politician-stub