Gyula Szekfü A Study in the Political Basis of Hungarian Historiography

This study explores the connection between politics and historical scholarship in the case of the Hungarian historian, Gyula Szekfü, whose career spanned one of the most significant and eventful periods of Hungarian history. His writing is particularly suited for an inquiry into the relationship between politics and historiography becasue the changes in Szefkü’s political and historical points of view parallelled the drastic changes which occurred in Hungary.

Introduction. Part 1: The Dualist Szekfü: 1904-1918 1. Der Staat Hungarn and the Christian-German Cultural Community 2. A Labanc View of Rákóczi 3. Geistesgeschichte, Szekfü and Hungarian Historiography Part 2: The Conservative Nationalist: 1919-1933 4. After the Catastrophe: Assigning the Blame 5. Széchenyi: The Touchstone of the nation 6. Liberalism: Three Generations of Decline 7. The jews: The Bane of the Nation 8. Nationalism and Nationalities: Historiography and the Revision of the Treaty of Trianon Part 3: The Realist Szekfü: 1933-1955 From St. Stephen’s State to the Hungarian People’s Republic 9. The First Doubts: After Three Generations 10. ‘Somewhere We Lost Our Way’ Szekfü and the Popular Front 11. Volte Face: From West to East Conclusion: Continuity and Change in Szekfü’s Ideas.