Klára Andrássy

Countess Klára Andrássy de Csíkszentkirály et Krasznahorka (later Princess Caja Odescalchi) was a Hungarian noblewoman, social and political activist and British agent between autumn 1939 and April 1941.

Born in Budapest in 1898, Klára was the youngest granddaughter of Count Gyula Andrássy, the statesman. She had three elder sisters: Ilona, Borbála and Katalin.

Count Tivadar Andrássy, her father, died young in 1905. In 1909 her widowed mother, Eleonora Zichy, married her brother-in-law Count Gyula Andrássy the Younger, who became step father as well as uncle, to Klára.

Klára married Prince Károly Odescalchi in Oct 1921 at the Batthyány manor at Polgárdi, the home of her aunt Ilona Batthyány Andrássy. Their honeymoon at Dénesfa (home of her elder sister Ilona Cziraky Andrássy) was interrupted by the arrival of King Charles in the second attempt at the restoration of the monarchy. This resulted in a short prison term under Regent Horthy for her step-father Gyula the younger, as he had been proposed as Foreign Minister in the restored government of the King.

Klára had one son Pál, born in 1923, and divorced Károly in the late 1920s. As a leading Legitimist (supporter of the restoration of the Hungarian monarchy) she was a close supporter of her uncle and step-father. Klára served as president of the Hungarian Women's Holy Crown Association until her resignation in 1937. She was also active in the support of women's issues.

In 1938 Klára visited Spain for 2 months to cover the Civil War for Danish and French newspapers.  The following year Klára was asked to become Deputy President of the Hungarian Polish Committee for Refugee Care by József Antall, State Secretary at the Ministry of the Interior. She was very active in the support of this Committee with Countess Erzsébet Szapáry and Countess Daisy Károlyi.

Klára also worked closely with British Minister to Hungary, Owen O’Malley, in assisting the escape of Polish servicemen through Hungary. It is estimated that in total up to 100,000 Polish servicemen escaped from the Nazis though Hungary. Some stayed, others travelled on to Yugoslavia. Several thousand Polish Jewish refugees also found sanctuary in Hungary.

Klara offered space in the Andrássy Palace in Budapest, to the Polish Health Services, the Polish Red Cross in Hungary and the Hungarian Polish Committee for Refugee Care, free of charge.  

When Horthy allowed Hitler to send the German Army through Hungary to attack Yugoslavia, in April 1941, O’Malley warned Klára that she was on the Gestapo hit list and risked imprisonment or worse if she remained in Hungary and advised that she should leave immediately. O’Malley organised for her to travel to Yugoslavia with British Naval Attache Captain Larkin in order to meet a submarine at Kotor. ( Klara obtained an exit permit from Horthy which he signed personally ) When they arrived in Dubrovnik Klara was out walking in the center when two Italian Air Force planes dropped a stick of bombs in the only raid of the War. She was fatally injured and is buried there.

The erroneous claim that Klára Andrássy was a member of the Czech Communist Party.

A German/English version of Wikipedia has claimed that Klara was a member of the Czech Communist Party. There is absolutely no evidence of this.

There are several sources on the life of Klara such as a long PhD thesis by Éva Bittera, articles by a chapter on Klára by Ivan Boldizsár in his autobiography, extracts from the large file on Klára in the British National Archives and extracts from the files of the Special Operations Executive. The British author Adam LeBor has drawn on these in his account of Klára's life. None of these documents contain any reference or mention that Klára was a communist or even had communist leanings/sympathies let alone was a Czech Communist Party member or was involved in sabotage activities in Poland.

The Wikipedia reference appears to come from the Hungarian version of the memoirs of Catherine atalinKárolyi Andrássy, her sister. There is one statement in this book based on no evidence.

This should be understood in context.

-              The Catherine Károlyi autobiography was first published in English in 1966 in which there is no mention of any socialist let alone communist activities of her younger sister Klára.

-              Between 1919, when the Károlyis left Hungary as exiles, to 1941 when Klara died, the two sisters barely spoke to each other. During this period Klara was a leading legitimist as President of the Hungarian Women's Holy Crown Association until her resignation in 1937 because of organisational changes. In 1939 she was asked to become Deputy President of the Hungarian Polish Committee for Refugee Care. If she had been a communist this position would never have been offered to her. She was trusted by the Hungarian Government of 1939 as a figurehead, along with Countess Erzsebet Szapáry and Countess Daisy Károlyi, to promote support for refugees from Poland.

-              Klára provided extensive support for British Minister, Owen O’Malley, in helping the movement of Polish military personnel. It is difficult to imagine that this relationship would have been possible if Klara was a member of the Czech Communist Party.

Catherine Károlyi was keen to get on with the Communist government in Hungary in the 60s and 70s. Her autobiography was published in Hungary, in Hungarian, two years after the English version in a very expanded two volume version, with much more stress on her socialist activities. The false narrative that her sister was a member of the Czech Communist Party was part of this.          

The papers that Klára left with Károly Odescalchi and only found by Mark Odescalchi in 2024 are further proof of her support in the movement of Polish military personnel in 1939/40.     

References

External links

* Iván Nagy: ''Magyarország családai czimerekkel és nemzedékrendi táblákkal. I-XIII.'' Bp., 1857–1868
*
* Tóth Vásárhelyi Éva: ''Gróf Andrássy Klára, a szociális legitimista.'' Múltunk, Budapest, 2008/2. 105-121.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Andrassy, Klara
1898 births
1941 deaths
Noblewomen of the Kingdom of Hungary
Politicians from Budapest
Hungarian nobility
Klara
Communist Party of Czechoslovakia politicians
Hungarian communists
Czech resistance members
Czechoslovak civilians killed in World War II
Hungarian civilians killed in World War II
Deaths by Italian airstrikes during World War II
Hungarian amputees