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Cécile Tormay (8 October 1875/76 in
Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...
– 2 April 1937 in Mátraháza) was a Hungarian writer, intellectual, far-right political activist, literary translator, and social theorist.


Early life

Tormay was born in Budapest into a German speaking family that assimilated into Hungarian culture. Her father, Béla Tormay (1839-1906), was widely recognized as an expert on agriculture. He served as a member of the
Hungarian Academy of Sciences The Hungarian Academy of Sciences ( , MTA) is Hungary’s foremost and most prestigious learned society. Its headquarters are located along the banks of the Danube in Budapest, between Széchenyi rakpart and Akadémia utca. The Academy's primar ...
and a State Secretary. A private student, Cécile studied literary works in
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
,
Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
, French and
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
. She translated the ''Little Flowers'' of St. Francis of Assisi into Hungarian.


Literary career

Her first two novels were ''People of the Rocks'' (''Emberek a kövek között'', 1911) and ''The Old House'' (''A Régi ház'', 1914). She also wrote five short stories. Her best known work is 1923's ''Bujdosó könyv'', which is translated literally as ''The Proscribed Book'', but an English translation was published as ''An Outlaw's Diary''. It provides a hostile account of the 1918–1919 revolution and the subsequent
Hungarian Soviet Republic The Hungarian Soviet Republic, also known as the Socialist Federative Soviet Republic of Hungary was a short-lived communist state that existed from 21 March 1919 to 1 August 1919 (133 days), succeeding the First Hungarian Republic. The Hungari ...
led by
Béla Kun Béla Kun (, born Béla Kohn; 20 February 1886 – 29 August 1938) was a Hungarian communist revolutionary and politician who in 1919 governed the Hungarian Soviet Republic. After attending Franz Joseph University at Kolozsvár (today Cluj-N ...
. She also bemoaned the division of the
Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...
which led to territorial concessions to the
Kingdom of Romania The Kingdom of Romania () was a constitutional monarchy that existed from with the crowning of prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen as King of Romania, King Carol I of Romania, Carol I (thus beginning the Romanian royal family), until 1947 wit ...
. This book is cited as evidence of Tormay's
antisemitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...
as she claims that "The demon of the revolution is not an individual, not a party, but a race among the races. The Jews are the last people of the Ancient East who survived among the newer peoples of shorter history." She was nominated for the
Nobel Prize in Literature The Nobel Prize in Literature, here meaning ''for'' Literature (), is a Swedish literature prize that is awarded annually, since 1901, to an author from any country who has, in the words of the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, "in ...
in 1936 and in 1937. In 1936 she became a member of the International Institute of Intellectual Co-operation.


Private life

Cecilé Tormay never married, did not have children, worked as an independent writer, and led a traditionally “male” life. It was in stark contrast to her radical right-wing political positions in favor of the traditional family. She became a part of a big public scandal when on October 30, 1923, Count Rafael Zichy filed for divorce with his wife, Countess Eduardina Pallavicini (daughter of the economist Ede Pallavicini), based on charges of an “unnatural” relationship between his wife and Cecilé Tormay. This relationship caused a great scandal at the time and was widely commented on by the contemporary press to the point that the two women, to protect their image, decided to sue Count Zichy who was eventually—on the personal intervention of
Miklós Horthy Miklós Horthy de Nagybánya (18 June 1868 – 9 February 1957) was a Hungarian admiral and statesman who was the Regent of Hungary, regent of the Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946), Kingdom of Hungary Hungary between the World Wars, during the ...
himself—sentenced to one and a half years in prison. Despite the colossal legal documentation of the case, the only materials that survived were the decisions and sentencing of the courts and the testimonials of the servants. None of the minutes, expert opinions, and testimonials of prominent witnesses survived. The servants referred to Tormay as ''csira'', a sprout - a rural dialect word, widely used to describe and conceptualize non-normative sexualities there (as servants claimed that Tormay loved Pallavicini "like a man"). Countess Pallavicini, however, was not the only woman in Tormay's life: as a young woman she travelled Europe with an Italian woman, Francesca D’Orsay, for fifteen years before the war. in the last decade of her life, they lived in Mátraháza, in the villa they bought together with Count Lajosné Ambrózy-Migazzi.


Far-right figure

She was a great admirer of
Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 un ...
. In 1932, on the tenth anniversary of the
March on Rome The March on Rome () was an organized mass demonstration in October 1922 which resulted in Benito Mussolini's National Fascist Party (, PNF) ascending to power in the Kingdom of Italy. In late October 1922, Fascist Party leaders planned a march ...
, she met the Italian dictator, presenting him the good wishes of her Hungarian women's league in a speech in Italian. From the 1990s Tomay has been revived by political groups such as
Jobbik The Jobbik – Movement for a Better Hungary (, ), commonly known as Jobbik (), and previously known as Conservatives () between 2023 and 2024, is a Conservatism, conservative List of political parties in Hungary, political party in Hungary. Ori ...
, who share her
far-right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...
and antisemitic views. Gábor Vona praised her in a speech made in November 2009. In 2012
Fidesz Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Alliance (; ) is a national-conservative political party in Hungary led by Viktor Orbán. It has increasingly identified as illiberal. Originally formed in 1988 under the name of Alliance of Young Democrats () as ...
, the party of the governing coalition, also was promoting Tormay. Máté Kocsis and Sándor Lezsák, both Fidesz members of the
National Assembly of Hungary The National Assembly ( ) is the parliament of Hungary. The unicameral body consists of 199 (386 between 1990 and 2014) members elected to four-year terms. Election of members is done using a semi-proportional representation: a mixed-member m ...
unveiled a statue of Tormay, hailing her as a “great patriot". This was followed by an attempt to rename streets in
Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...
after such antisemites as Tormay and
József Nyírő József Nyírő (July 18, 1889 – October 16, 1953) was a Hungarian writer of popular short stories and novels; a politician associated with fascism who was accused of war crimes; and briefly a Catholicism, Catholic priest in Miluani. Biography ...
, a member of the
Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
Arrow Cross Party The Arrow Cross Party (, , abbreviated NYKP) was a far-right Hungarian ultranationalist party led by Ferenc Szálasi, which formed a government in Hungary they named the Government of National Unity. They were in power from 15 October 1944 to ...
. However, following an international outcry,
István Tarlós István Tarlós (; 26 May 1948) is a Hungarian politician who served as the mayor of Budapest from 2010 to 2019. He also served as the mayor of the 3rd district of the city (Óbuda-Békásmegyer) between 1990 and 2006 as an independent candidate ...
, the
mayor of Budapest The Mayor of Budapest (, ) is the head of the General Assembly in Budapest, Hungary, elected directly for 5-year term since 2014 (previously municipal elections were held quadrennially). Until 1994 the mayor was elected by the General Assembly. ...
, suspended this initiative.


References


Sources

* ''An outlaw's diary'' (1923)
vol. 1vol. 2

Budapest wants to name a street after the antisemitic writer (in German, cites Tormay in English)

Jewish federation asks Budapest mayor to withdraw renaming of street after alleged anti-Semite


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tormay, Cecile 1870s births 1937 deaths 20th-century Hungarian novelists 20th-century Hungarian women writers Antisemitism in Hungary Hungarian-German people Hungarian lesbian writers Hungarian LGBTQ novelists Hungarian people of the Hungarian–Romanian War Hungarian women novelists Lesbian novelists Women fascists Writers from Budapest