Timeline Hungary
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8Mil BC In 2007 Hungarian
scientists discovered a group of fossilized swamp cypress trees
preserved from this time. The trees dated to the late Miocene
geological period at a time when the Carpathian basin, present day
Hungary, was a freshwater lake surrounded by swamps.
(Reuters, 7/31/07)
c0-100AD Hungary was the Roman province of
Pannonia and Pecs was the capital.
(Hem., 6/98, p.128)
375 Nov 17, Enraged by the
insolence of barbarian envoys, Valentinian, the Emperor of the West,
died of apoplexy in Pannonia in Central Europe.
(HN, 11/17/98)
410 Flavius Aetius, the son of
a Roman general, was sent to live as a hostage of the Huns.
(ON, 4/12, p.1)
451 Jun 20, Roman and Barbarian
warriors halted Attila’s army at the Catalaunian Plains
(Catalarinische Fields) in eastern France. Attila the Hun was
defeated by a combined Roman and Visigoth army. Theodoric I, the
Visigothic king, was killed. The Huns moved south into Italy but
were defeated again. Some sources date this on Sep 20. Attila and
his brother Bleda jointly inherited the Hunnish Kingdom,
headquartered in what later became Hungary. Attila later murdered
Bleda to gain full control.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Catalaunian_Plains)(V.D.-H.K.p.88)(ON,
4/12, p.3)
451 Sep 20, Roman General
Aetius defeated Attila the Hun at Chalons-sur-Marne (Battle of the
Catalaunian Plains). Many sources date this on Jun 20.
(http://tinyurl.com/6vaxufu)
896 The founding date of
Hungary. Seven tribes of Magyars settled in the Carpathian Basin.
Kingdom of Hungary was formed under Arpad by seven Magyar and three
Khazar tribes.
(WSJ, 12/26/96, p.4)(SFEC, 8/8/99, p.T5)(TJOK, p.
206)(Reuters, 4/12/05)
933 Mar 15, Henry the Fowler
routed the raiding Magyars at Merseburg, Germany.
(HN, 3/15/99)
955 Aug 10, Otto organized his
nobles and defeated the invading Magyars at the Battle of Lechfeld
in Germany.
(HN, 8/10/98)
1000 Jan 1, Stephen became the
first king of Hungary.
(SFEC, 8/8/99, p.T5)
1038 King Stephen died.
(SFC, 8/7/99, p.A8T5)
1046 Sep 24, In Hungary Gerard
Sagredo (b.980), an Italian bishop from Venice (also known as
Gellert or Gerhard), was placed on a 2-wheel cart, hauled to a
hilltop and rolled down the later named Gellert Hill, and still
being alive at the bottom was beaten to death. He operated in the
Kingdom of Hungary (specifically in Budapest), and educated Saint
Emeric of Hungary, the son of Saint Stephen of Hungary). Gellert
played a major role in converting Hungary to Christianity. He was
canonized in 1083 along with St. Stephen and St. Emeric and became
one of the patron saints of Hungary.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerard_Sagredo)
1077 Apr 24, Geza I, King of
Hungary (1074-7), died.
(MC, 4/24/02)
1096 Jun 26, Peter the Hermit’s
crusaders forced their way across Sava, Hungary.
(HN, 6/26/98)
1096 Jul 12, Crusaders under
Peter the Hermit reach Sofia in Hungary.
(HN, 7/12/99)
1102 Coats were forced to enter
into a union with Hungary and to recognize the Hungarian king as
their own.
(WSJ, 7/14/99, p.A23)
1131 Mar 1, Stephen II, King of
Hungary (1116-31), died.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1172 Mar 4, Stephan III, King
of Hungary (1162-72), died.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1200-1300 The Csango people of Romania's remote
eastern Carpathian mountains began settling around this time,
dispatched by Hungarian rulers to defend the kingdom's easternmost
frontier.
(AP, 3/21/12)
1326 Mar 5, Louis I (the
Great), King of Hungary (1342-1382) and Poland (1370-1382), was
born.
(HN, 3/5/98)(MC, 3/5/02)
1347-1350 The Black Death: A Genoese trading post
in the Crimea was besieged by an army of Kipchaks from Hungary and
Mongols from the East. The latter brought with them a new form of
plague, Yersinia pestis. Infected dead bodies were catapulted into
the Genoese town. One Genoese ship managed to escape and brought the
disease to Messina, Sicily. The disease quickly became an epidemic.
It moved over the next few years to northern Italy, North Africa,
France, Spain, Austria, Hungary, Switzerland, Germany, the Low
countries, England, Scandinavia and the Baltic. There were lesser
outbreaks in many cities for the next twenty years. An estimated 25
million died in Europe and economic depression followed. In 2005
John Kelly authored “The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the
Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time.”
(NG, 5/88, p.678)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R42)(SSFC,
3/6/05, p.B1)(SFC, 10/13/11, p.A6)
1382 Sep 10, Louis I, the
Great, King of Hungary and Poland, died. Mary (1372-1395), daughter
of Louis I, became queen of Hungary.
(PC, 1992 ed,
p.135)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_of_Hungary)
1386 Sigismund (1368-1437), son
of Charles IV, became King of Hungary by his marriage to Queen Mary
of Hungary (1372-1395).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigismund%2C_Holy_Roman_Emperor)
1387-1456 Janos Hunyadi, soldier and national
hero. He was the father of Matthias Corvinus.
(WUD, 1994, p.693,1672)
1396 Sep 25, The last great
Christian crusade, led jointly by John the Fearless of Nevers and
King Sigismund of Hungary, ended in disaster at the hands of Sultan
Bajazet I's Ottoman army at Nicopolis.
(HN, 9/25/98)
1397 Aug 16, Albrecht II von
Habsburg, king of Bohemia, Hungary and Germany, was born.
(MC, 8/16/02)
1420 Jul 14, Jan Zizka
(1360?-1424) led the Taborites in Battle at Vitkov Zizka's hill
(Prague). The Taborites beat forces under Sigismund, the
pro-Catholic King of Hungary and Bohemia. This was part of the
Hussite Wars (1419-1436).
(http://user.intop.net/~jhollis/janzizka.htm)
1429 Jan 10, Order of Golden
Fleece was established in Austria-Hungary & Spain.
(MC, 1/10/02)
1439 Oct 27, Albrecht II von
Habsburg (42), king of Bohemia, Hungary and Germany, died.
(MC, 10/27/01)
1440 Feb 22, Ladislaus V
Posthumous, King of Hungary and Bohemia, was born.
(MC, 2/22/02)
1444
Nov 10, During the Hungarian-Turkish War (1444-1456) , Sultan Murad
II beat the Crusaders in the Battle at Varna on the Black Sea.
(DoW, 1999, p.217)
1448 Oct 19, The Ottoman Sultan
Murat II defeated Hungarian General Janos Hunyadi at Kosovo, Serbia.
(HN, 10/19/98)
1454 Aug 22, Jews were expelled
from Brunn Moravia by order of King Ladislaus Posthumus (1440-1457),
king of Hungary as Ladislaus V, king of Bohemia as Ladislaus I.
(MC, 8/22/02)(Internet)
1456 Mar 1, Wladyslaw Jagiello,
king of Bohemia (1471-1516), Hungary (1490-1516), was born.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1456 Jul 14, Hungarians
defeated the Ottomans at the Battle of Belgrade, in present-day
Yugoslavia. The 1456 Siege of Belgrade decided the fate of
Christendom.
(HN, 7/14/98)
1456 Jul 22, At the Battle at
Nandorfehervar (Belgrade), the Hungarian army under prince Janos
Hunyadi beat sultan Murad II. The siege of Belgrade had fallen into
stalemate when a spontaneous fight broke out between a rabble of
Crusaders, led by the Benedictine monk John of Capistrano, and the
city's Ottoman besiegers. The melee soon escalated into a major
battle, during which the Hungarian commander, Janos Hunyadi, led a
sudden assault that overran the Turkish camp, ultimately compelling
the wounded Sultan Mehmet II to lift the siege and retreat.
(MC, 7/22/02)(PC, 1992, p.150)(HNPD, 7/23/98)
1456 Aug 11, Janos Hunyadi
(69), Hungarian Prince and general strategist died of plague at
about age 49.
(PC, 1992, p.150)(MC, 8/11/02)
1457 Nov 23, Ladislaus V
(posthumous), king of Hungary and Bohemia, died at 17.
(MC, 11/23/01)
1458 Jan 24, Matthias Corvinus
(1443-1490), the son of John Hunyadi, was elected king of Hungary.
Under his rule Hungary was the most important state in central
Europe. For his fighting force he ordered every 20 houses to provide
one horse soldier. "Husz" is 20 in Hungarian and so the light
cavalryman became know as a Hussar. His illuminated breviary is held
by the Vatican library.
(WUD, 1994, p.1672)(Sky, 9/97, p.26)(HN, 1/24/99)
1490 Apr 6, Matthias Corvinus
(b.1443), king of Hungary and Croatia (1458-1590), died. He has
assembled one of Europe’s finest libraries, 2nd in size only to that
in the Vatican. When Hungary later fell to the Turks the library was
lost. In 2008 Marcus Tanner authored “The Raven King: Matthias
Corvinus and the Fate of His Lost Library.”
(Econ, 7/19/08,
p.93)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthias_Corvinus_of_Hungary)
1503 Mar 10, Ferdinand I, Holy
Roman Emperor (1558-1564), was born. He was King of Bohemia and
Hungary from 1526-1564.
(HN, 3/10/01)(WUD, 1994 p.523)
1514 George Dozsa, soldier of
fortune, instigated a peasant’s revolt in Hungary. He was later
captured and grilled alive.
(TL-MB, p.10)
1521 Suleiman I, the Ottoman
Sultan, conquered Belgrade and invaded Hungary.
(TL-MB, p.12)
1526 Nov 9, Jews were expelled
from Pressburg, Hungary, by Maria of Hapsburg.
(MC, 11/9/01)
1526 Ferdinand of Austria was
elected King of Bohemia and inaugurated the Austro-Hungarian state.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.13)(WSJ, 7/14/99, p.A23)
1529 May 27, 30 Jews of Posing,
Hungary, charged with blood ritual, were burned at stake.
(MC, 5/27/02)
1529 Sep 8, The Ottoman Sultan
Suleiman re-entered Buda and established John Zapolyai as the puppet
king of Hungary.
(HN, 9/8/98)
1529 The Ottomans sieged Vienna
in a key battle of world history. The Ottoman Empire reached its
peak with the Turks settled in Buda on the left bank of the Danube
after failing in their siege of Vienna.
(WSJ, 3/27/96, p.A-16)(TL-MB, 1988, p.13)
1538 Feb 24, Ferdinand of
Hapsburg and John Zapolyai, the two kings of Hungary, concluded the
peace of Grosswardein.
(HN, 2/24/99)
1541 Suleiman I annexed
southern and central Hungary. The Turkish Ottomans occupied
Budapest, Hungary, until 1546.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.16)(Sm, 3/06, p.76)
1544 The Turks invaded Hungary
for the third time and seized the crown jewels. (TL-MB, 1988, p.16)
1552 The Turks invaded Hungary
again with a victory at the Battle Szegedin. Istvan Dobo led the
defense of Eger against the Turks. The siege of Eger lasted 38 days.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.18)(Hem., 6/98, p.126)
1556 Sep 13, Charles V and
Maria of Hungary marched into Spain.
(MC, 9/13/01)
1575 Hungarian mines abolished
child labor.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R25)
1576 Oct 12, Rudolf II, the
king of Hungary and Bohemia, succeeded his father, Maximillian II,
as Holy Roman Emperor.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.22)(HN, 10/12/98)
1586 The Turks attacked the
fortress at Eger again. The mercenary occupants capitulated.
(Hem., 6/98, p.126)
1595 Oct 28, Battle at
Giurgevo: Sigmund Bathory of Transylvania beat the Turks.
(MC, 10/28/01)
1619?-1637 Ferdinand ruled as king of Hungary.
(WUD, 1994, p.524)
1630 Mate Szepsy Laczko
described the method for producing Tokaj wine made from botrytized
grapes.
(WSJ, 10/5/00, p.A24)
1637 Ferdinand II Holy Roman
emperor, king of Bohemia and king of Hungary, died.
(WUD, 1994, p.524)
1859 The onion-domed Great
Synagogue was erected in the Jewish quarter of Budapest, Hungary.
(Sm, 3/06, p.76)
1664 Jan 21, Count Miklos of
Zrinyi set out to battle the Turkish invasion army.
(MC, 1/21/02)
1664 Aug 1, The Turkish army
was defeated by French and German troops at St. Gotthard, Hungary.
(HN, 8/1/98)
1671 Apr 30, Peter Zrinyi (49),
Hungarian banished to Croatia, was beheaded.
(MC, 4/30/02)
1681 Nov 9, Hungarian
parliament promised Protestants freedom of religion.
(MC, 11/9/01)
1686 Jul 8, The Austrians took
Buda, Hungary, from the Turks and annexed the country. Hapsburg rule
lasted to 1918.
(HN, 7/8/98)(Sm, 3/06, p.76)
1687 Aug 12, At the Battle of
Mohacs, Hungary, Charles of Lorraine defeated the Turks.
(HN, 8/12/98)
1732-1809 Joseph Haydn, Austrian composer, wrote
some 175 baritone pieces for his patron, the Hungarian prince
Nickolaus Esterhazy, who played the complex stringed instrument. The
Canadian scholar David Schroeder wrote: Haydn and the
Enlightenment."
(CFA, '96,Vol 179, p.42)(WUD, 1994,
p.651)(WSJ, 8/26/97, p.A14)
1740 Oct 20, Maria Theresa
became ruler of Austria, Hungary and Bohemia upon the death of her
father, Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI.
(AP, 10/20/06)
1769 Wolfgang von Kempelen of
Hungary invented the Automoton Chess Player. It was 1st demonstrated
to the Austrian court in 1770. In 2001 the deception was analyzed by
James W. Cook in his book "The Arts of Deception." In 2002 Tom
Standage authored "The Turk," an examination of the 18th century
fascination with automatons.
(WSJ, 7/12/01, p.A14)(WSJ, 4/12/02, p.W12)
1795 May 20, Ignac Martinovics,
Hungarian physicist, revolutionary, was beheaded.
(MC, 5/20/02)
1781 May 1, Emperor Josef II
decreed protection of population.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1787 Aug 17, Jews were granted
permission in Budapest, Hungary, to pray in groups.
(SC, 8/17/02)
1802 Aug 13, Nikolaus Lenau,
German poet (Faust, Die Albigenser), was born in Hungary.
(MC, 8/13/02)
1802 Sep 19, Lajos Kossuth
(d.1894), Hungarian statesman and president, was born. "The
instinctive feeling of a great people is often wiser than its wisest
men."
(AP,
7/2/97)(www.thenagain.info/WebChron/EastEurope/Kossuth.html)
1811 Franz Liszt was born near
Sopron. He was the son of a steward of the Esterhazy family.
(Hem., 6/98, p.128)
1818 Jul 1, Ignaz Semmelweis
(d.1865), Hungarian gynecologist, was born. He later connected
childbed fever to doctors who spread of germs due to their failure
to wash their hands. In 2003 Sherwin B. Nuland authored "The
Doctors' Plague: Germs, Childbed Fever and the Strange Story of
Ignac Semmelweis."
(MC, 7/1/02)(SSFC, 11/23/03, p.M3)
1823 Mar 3, Guyla
Andrássy Sr., premier of Hungary (1867-71), was born.
(SC, 3/3/02)
1846 May 29, Albert Gyorgy,
earl Apponyi, Hungarian minister of Education, was born.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1847 Apr 10, American newspaper
publisher Joseph Pulitzer (d.1911) was born in Mako, Hungary. "What
is everybody's business is nobody's business -- except the
journalist's."
(CFA, '96, p.44)(AP, 4/10/97)(AP, 8/30/98)
1847 Hungarian doctor Ignac
(Ignaz) Semmelweis (1818-1865) told his fellow doctors to start
washing their hands.
(SFEC, 12/8/96, Z 1 p.2)(Econ, 3/13/10,
p.57)
1848 Mar 3, Lajos Kossuth made
a speech demanding parliamentary government for Hungary and
constitutional government for the rest of Austria.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lajos_Kossuth)
1848 Mar 15, In Hungary an
uprising against Habsburg rule began in front of the national museum
in Budapest. This was later remembered as a national holiday.
(Reuters, 3/15/07)(Econ, 3/24/12, p.52)
1848 Mar 23, Hungary proclaimed
its independence of Austria.
(HN, 3/23/99)
1848 Nov, Emperor Ferdinand
abdicated in favor of Franz Joseph.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Josef_of_Austria)
1848 Sep 28, Lajos Kossuth,
finance minister, assumed control of the revolution in Hungary.
(www.thenagain.info/WebChron/EastEurope/Kossuth.html)
1848-1849 Lajos Kossuth (1802-1894) led a failed
revolt for Hungarian independence.
(Sm, 3/06, p.81)
1849 Apr 14, Lajos Kossuth was
named Governor and virtual dictator of the newly declared Hungarian
Republic. Hungary proclaimed independence from the Great Church in
Debrecen, temporarily ending 150 years of Hapsburg rule.
(Hem., 6/98,
p.125)(www.thenagain.info/WebChron/EastEurope/Kossuth.html)
1849 Jun 17, Russian troops
invaded Hungary.
(PC, 1992 ed, p.448)
1849 Aug 11, Lajos Kossuth
abdicated in favor of Gen. Gorgey as Russia intervened in the
Hungarian revolution.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lajos_Kossuth)
1849 Aug 13, Hungary’s Gen.
Gorgey surrendered to the Russian forces. Russia gave Hungary back
to Austria.
(PC, 1992 ed,
p.448)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lajos_Kossuth)
1853 Vilmos Zsolnay founded a
pottery in Pecs, Hungary, that became renowned for its colored tile.
The Zsolnay factory used a 5-tower mark from about 1878, which
symbolized the 5 medieval churches in Pecs.
(SFC, 8/31/05, p.G3)
1854 Elisabeth of Bavaria (16)
married the Habsburg Emp. Franz Josef II (23).
(WSJ, 12/8/97, p.A13)
1855 Oct 12, Arthur Nikisch,
later conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, was born in
Szent-Miklos, Hungary.
(MC, 10/12/01)
1860 Apr 8, Istvan Szechenyi
(b.1791), Hungarian statesman, committed suicide.
(WSJ, 3/13/09,
p.A9)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istv%C3%A1n_Sz%C3%A9chenyi)
1861 Imre Madach (1823-1864),
Hungarian writer, authored “The Tragedy of Man,” a “Paradise Lost”
for the industrial age.
(Econ, 12/19/09,
p.37)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imre_Mad%C3%A1ch)
1865 Aug 13, Ignaz Semmelweis
(b.1818), Hungarian gynecologist, died from an infection in Vienna
after being beaten up by warders in an asylum.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignaz_Semmelweis)(Econ, 3/13/10, p.57)
1865 Sep 23, Emmuska Orczy
(d.1947), baroness and writer, was born in Tarnaors, Hungary. Her
family moved to London in 1880. Her books included "The Scarlet
Pimpernel" (1905).
(HN,
9/23/00)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baroness_Orczy)
1867-1994 In 1995 "A History of Modern Hungary" by
Joerg K. Hoensch covered this period and was translated by Kim
Traynor. 2nd edition. New York and London: Longman.
(http://h-net2.msu.edu/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=14189848616848)
1869 Mark Pick founded a
sausage company in Szeged.
(SFC, 3/21/97, p.D2)
1870 The Gerbeaud confectioner
opened on Vaci Utca, a pedestrian street in Pest.
(SFEC, 8/8/99, p.T5)
1870-1948 Franz Lehar, composer of operettas. His
work included "The Merry Widow."
(WUD, 1994, p.819)(WSJ, 6/10/97, p.A16)
1873 Jan 7, Adolph Zukor, movie
producer, director, executive (Paramount), was born in Hungary.
(MC, 1/7/02)
1873 Nov 20, Budapest was
formed from 2 Rival cities, Buda and Obuda on the west bank of the
Danube and Pest on the east bank.
(WUD, 1994, p.193)(MC, 11/20/01)
1874 Mar 24, Harry Houdini
(d.1926), magician, escape artist, was born as Erik Weisz (Ehrich
Weiss) in Budapest. Young Ehrich Weiss emigrated with his parents to
New York and then to Wisconsin (1878). Sometime around 1891 he and a
partner in a magic act billed themselves as the Brothers Houdini, in
homage to French magician Eugène Robert-Houdin. As Harry
Houdini, Weiss became world-famous for his mind-boggling escapes. At
age 43 he had a volcanic love affair with the widow of Jack London,
Charmian. In 1996 Kenneth Silverman wrote the biography: "Houdini!!!
The Career of Ehrich Weiss."
(WSJ, 10/29/96, p.A21)(HN, 3/24/98)(SFC, 7/7/98,
p.B3)(WSJ, 4/22/99, A10)(HNQ, 5/16/99)
1877 Jul 27, Ernst von
Dohnanyi, composer (Message to Posterity), was born in Hungary.
(MC, 7/27/02)
1878 Jan 12, Ferenc Molnar,
Hungarian-US playwright (A Pal Utrai Fiuk), was born.
(MC, 1/12/02)
1878 Bosnia came under
Austro-Hungarian. This continued until 1918. A representative from
Vienna governed the area.
(Econ, 11/26/05, p.65)(Econ, 10/20/07, p.72)
1879 The Tisza River overflowed
and destroyed 5,500 of 5,800 houses in the town of Szeged.
(Hem., 6/98, p.127)
1882 Oct 20, Bela Lugosi
(d.1956), film actor, was born in Lugos, Hungary, as Bela Blasko. He
is famous for his portrayal of Count Dracula (1931).
(Internet)
1884 The Hungarian State Opera
House in Budapest was built in Italian Renaissance style.
(SFEC, 8/8/99, p.T4)
1885 Apr 16, Leo Weiner,
composer (Fasching), was born in Hungary.
(MC, 4/16/02)
1888 Dec 19, Fritz Reiner, US
conductor (Chicago Symphony Orch), was born in Budapest, Hungary.
(MC, 12/19/01)
1892 Mar 29, Jozsef Mindszenty,
[Joseph Prehm], Hungarian cardinal, was born.
(MC, 3/29/02)
1892 Sep 5, Joseph Szigeti,
Budapest Hungary, violinist (Violinist Notebook 1933), was born.
(MC, 9/5/01)
1894 Mar 20, Lajos Kossuth
(91), Hungarian freedom fighter, president (1849), died.
(www.thenagain.info/WebChron/EastEurope/Kossuth.html)
1895 May 26, Paul Lukas, actor
(Watch on the Rhine, Sphynx), was born in Budapest, Hungary.
(MC, 5/26/02)
1895 The Central Market Hall
was built in Budapest, Hungary.
(Sm, 3/06, p.82)
1896 The first subway in Europe
was installed under Andrassy Ut in downtown Pest.
(WSJ, 12/26/96, p.A4)
1897 Jun 7, George Szell,
conductor (Metropolitan 1942-45), was born in Budapest, Hungary.
(SC, 6/7/02)
1897 The 500 foot long Central
Market Hall in Budapest opened.
(SFEC, 8/8/99, p.T5)
1898 Sep 10, Empress Elisabeth
of Bavaria (60), Queen of Hungary and wife of Emp. Franz Josef II,
was assassinated in Geneva by the Italian anarchist Luigi Luccheni.
(EWH, 1968, p.744)(WSJ, 12/8/97, p.A13)
1899 Nov 18, Music conductor
Eugene Ormandy was born in Budapest, Hungary.
(AP, 11/18/99)
1900 Jan 5, Dennis Gabor,
Hungarian-British physicist, inventor of 3D laser photography, was
born. He was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1971. [see Jan 5]
(HN, 6/5/98)(MC, 1/5/02)
1900 Jan 13, To combat Czech
nationalism, Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary decreed that
German would be the language of the imperial army.
(HN, 1/13/99)
1901 Apr 29, Anti Semitic riot
took place in Budapest.
(MC, 4/29/02)
1902 Mar 23,
Kálmán Tisza (71), premier of Hungary (1875-90), died.
(SS, 3/23/02)
1902 Jun 23, Germany,
Austria-Hungary, and Italy renewed the Triple Alliance for a 12 year
duration.
(HN, 6/23/98)
1902 Nov 17, Eugene Paul
Wigner, Hungarian-born mathematician and physicist, was born. He won
the Nobel Prize in 1963.
(HN, 11/17/00)(MC, 11/17/01)
1903 Jan 3, The Bulgarian
government renounced the treaty of commerce tying it to
Austro-Hungarian empire.
(HN, 1/3/99)
1903 Feb 19, The
Austria-Hungary government decreed a mandatory two year military
service.
(HN, 2/19/98)
1903 The Gresham Palace Hotel
was completed in Budapest, Hungary.
(Sm, 3/06, p.81)
1905 Sep 5, Arthur Koestler
(d.1983), Hungarian novelist and essayist, was born. He wrote about
communism in “Darkness at Noon” (1941) and “The Ghost in the
Machine.”
(HN, 9/5/98)(SFEC, 1/2/00, BR p.5)(WSJ, 8/26/06,
p.P8)
1905 Oct 14, Eugene Fodor,
Hungarian-born travel writer, was born.
(HN, 10/14/00)
1905 The neo-Gothic Parliament
building was constructed in Budapest, Hungary.
(Sm, 3/06, p.79)
1906 Jun 26, Ferenc Szisz of
Hungary won the first French Grand Prix. Szisz won the race in a 13
liter, 90 horsepower Renault.
(HNQ, 7/25/00)(AHDD, p.262)
1906 Dec 2, Peter Carl Goldmark
(d.1977), engineer, was born in Budapest, Hungary. He developed the
first commercial color television and the long-playing phonograph
record.
(HN, 12/2/00)(AP, 12/2/06)
1907 Apr 18, Miklos Rozsa,
movie composer (Atomic Cafe, Fedora), was born in Budapest, Hungary.
(MC, 4/18/02)
1908 Jan 15, Edward Teller
(d.2003), US physicist known as the "Father of the H-bomb," was born
in Budapest. In 2001 he authored his "Memoirs."
(HN, 1/15/99)(WSJ, 10/30/01, p.A21)(SFC, 9/10/03,
p.A1)
1908 Feb 1, Movie producer and
animator George Pal was born in Austria-Hungary.
(AP, 2/1/08)
1908 Victor Vasarely, the
father of op art, was born in Pecs.
(Hem., 6/98, p.128)
1909 Feb 16, Serbia mobilized
against Austria and Hungary.
(MC, 2/16/02)
1909 Mar 8, Pope Pius X lifted
the church ban on interfaith marriages in Hungary.
(HN, 3/8/98)
1909 Ferenc Molnar (1878-1952),
Hungarian dramatist and writer, wrote “Liliom,” which later was
turned into the musical “Carousel” (1945). During WWII he emigrated
to the US.
(SFC, 12/31/08,
p.E2)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferenc_Molnar)
1910 May 28, Kalman Mikszath
(b.1847), Hungarian satirical novelist, died.
(Sm, 3/06, p.79)(www.imdb.com/name/nm0586690/)
1911 Oct 29, Joseph Pulitzer
(1847), Hungary-born American newspaperman, died in Charleston, S.C.
In 2002 Denis Brian authored "Pulitzer: A Life." In 2010 James
McGrath Morris authored “Pulitzer: A Life in Politics, Print , and
Power.”
(WSJ, 1/30/02,
p.A16)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Pulitzer)(SSFC, 3/7/10,
p.F4)
1912 Oct 21, Georg Solti,
conductor (Fidelio), was born in Budapest, Hungary.
(MC, 10/21/01)
1913 Oct 18, Austrian-Hungary
demanded that Serbia and Albania leave.
(MC, 10/18/01)
1913 Andre de Toth (d.2002),
film director, was born in Mako, Hungary, as Sasvrai Farkasfalvi
Tothfalusi Toth Endre Antal Mihaly.
(SFC, 11/1/02, p.A28)
1914 Jun 28, Austrian Archduke
Francis Ferdinand, heir to Austria-Hungary, and his wife, Sofia,
were assassinated in Sarajevo, Bosnia, by a Serb nationalist. As the
royal couple rode through the streets of Sarajevo in an open touring
car, seven young radicals from an obscure Serbian-Bosnian
nationalist group, called the Black Hand, lay in wait. An initial
assassination attempt failed, but a wrong turn brought the car near
Gavrilo Princip, who fired two shots at point-blank range into the
couple's bodies. Within minutes, both the Archduke and Sophia were
dead. Princip was arrested, but political tensions were so high
between Austria-Hungary and Serbia that war broke out as a result.
Like falling dominoes, international alliances brought one country
after another into the conflict. The event triggered World War I. In
2011 Adam Hochschild authored “To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty
and Rebellion.”
(V.D.-H.K.p.252, 284-285,290)(AP, 6/28/97)(HNPD,
6/28/98)(Econ, 6/4/11, p.93)
1914 Jul 23, Austria and
Hungary issued an ultimatum to Serbia after the assassination of
Archduke Ferdinand; the dispute led to World War I.
(AP, 7/23/98)
1914 Jul 26, Austrian-Hungary
condemned a Serbian ultimatum.
(MC, 7/26/02)
1914 Jul 28, Austria-Hungary
declared war on Serbia, beginning World War I. The New York Stock
Exchange closed for 4 1/2 months.
(CFA, '96, p.50)(HN, 7/28/98)
1914 Aug 12, Great Britain
declared war on Austria-Hungary.
(MC, 8/12/02)
1915 Jan 2, Karl Goldmark
(b.1830), Hungarian composer (Queen of Saba), died in Vienna.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Goldmark)
1915 May 23, Italy declared war
on Austria-Hungary in World War I.
(AP, 5/23/97)(HN, 5/23/98)
1916 Nov 21, Franz Jozef I,
King of Austria and Hungary, died.
(MC, 11/21/01)
1916 Charles I took the throne
and worked for peace as the Austro-Hungarian empire neared its end.
He abdicated at the end of the war in 1918 and died in Portugal in
1922 at age 34. In 2003 the Vatican attributed a miracle to the last
emperor of Austria-Hungary, paving the way for the eventual
beatification and sainthood of Charles I.
(AP, 12/21/03)
1917 Dec 7, The US declared war
on Austria-Hungary with only one dissenting vote in Congress and
became the 13th country to do so.
(HN, 12/7/98)
1918 Mar 3, Germany,
Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire and Russia signed the
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which ended Russian participation in World
War I. Germany and Austria forced Soviet Russia to sign the Peace of
Brest, which called for the establishment of 5 independent
countries: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine. The
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which ended Russian participation in World
War I, was annulled by the November 1918 armistice. The treaty
deprived the Soviets of White Russia.
(HN, 3/3/99)(LHC, 3/1/03)(AP, 3/3/08)
1918 Oct 18, Czechs seized
Prague, renounced Hapsburg's rule and declared independence from the
Austro-Hungarian Empire. Masaryk proclaimed the foundation of
Czechoslovakia from Pittsburgh, Pa.
(HN, 10/18/98)(http://tinyurl.com/856hg)
1918 Oct 31, Stephen Tisza,
Hungarian PM (-1917), was assassinated by soldiers.
(MC, 10/31/01)
1918 The Gellert Pool was
constructed at the Gellert Hotel on the Buda side of Budapest,
Hungary.
(SFEC, 8/8/99, p.T1,4)(Sm, 3/06, p.76)
1919 Jan 27, Endre Ady
(b.1877), Hungarian lyric poet, died.
(Sm, 3/06, p.79)(www.kirjasto.sci.fi/ady.htm)
1919
Feb 11, Eva Gabor (d.1995), actress, was born in Budapest, Hungary.
(http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001247/)
1919 Aug 1, In Hungary Bela
Kun's government fell in the face of invasions from both the Czechs,
Romanians and a French-sponsored counter-revolutionary force, led by
Admiral Miklos Horthy de Nagybanya, which succeeded in establishing
Horthy in government for many years.
(www.firstworldwar.com/bio/kun.htm)
1920 Jun 4, The Treaty of
Trianon, signed at Versailles, was forced upon Hungary by the
victorious Allies after WWII and resulted in Hungary giving up
nearly three-fourths of its territory to Romania, Czechoslovakia and
the Kingdom of Serbs, Croat and Slovenes. Hungary lost more than
half its population, including some 3 million Hungarians. Hungary
ceded the hills of Transylvania to Romania.
(HNQ, 7/5/98)(WSJ, 1/2/97,
p.1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Trianon)
1921 Nov 5, Gyorgy Cziffra,
Hungarian-French pianist, was born.
(MC, 11/5/01)
1922 Apr 1, Karl I (b.1887),
leader of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, died. Also known in the West
as Charles I, he took the throne in 1916 and worked for peace,
abdicating at the end of World War I, a few years before his death.
In 2004 he was beatified by Pope John Paul VI.
(AP,
10/3/04)(www.dhm.de/lemo/html/biografien/KarlI/)
1922 Oct 31, Andras Hegedues
(d.1999), made Premier in 1955, was born in Szilsarkany.
(SFC, 10/26/99, p.B4)
1922 Their was a rainfall of
spiders over Hungary.
(SFC, 5/30/98, p.E4)
1923 Dutch physicist Dirk
Coster (1889-1950) and Hungarian chemist George Charles de Hevesy
(1889-1966) found element 72, Hafnium. It was identified in zircon
(a zirconium ore) from Norway, by means of X-ray spectroscopic
analysis. It was named in honor of the city in which the discovery
was made, from the Latin name "Hafnia" meaning
"Copenhagen."
(www.chemistryexplained.com/elements/C-K/Hafnium.html)(http://tinyurl.com/kj24t)
1924 Jul 5, Janos Starker,
cellist (Chic Symph 1953-58), was born in Budapest, Hungary.
(MC, 7/5/02)
1924 Ferenc Molnar (b.1878),
Hungarian playwright, wrote "The Play’s the Thing."
(WSJ, 5/2/96, p.A-13)
1925 Jul 17, Laszlo Nagy,
Hungarian poet, was born.
(HN, 7/17/01)
1927 Erno Laszlo (1891-1973)
opened the Laszlo Institute for Scientific Cosmetology in Budapest.
In 1939 he opened the Laszlo Institute on Fifth Ave in NYC.
(Econ, 11/29/03, p.18)
1928 Feb 1, Tom Lantos, a
Jewish Holocaust survivor, was born in Budapest, Hungary. Lantos
later earned a doctorate in economics at UC Berkeley and served as a
US Congressman from California (1980-2008).
(SFC, 1/3/08, p.A10)
1929 Aug 28, Istvan Kertesz,
conductor (Budapest Opera 1953-57/London Philharmonic), was born in
Budapest, Hungary.
(MC, 8/28/01)
1929 In Nagyrev, Hungary, some
40 men were poisoned by their wives or daughters-in-law with arsenic
laced duck soup, tea and wine. 6 local women were sentenced to die,
but only 2 were executed. The midwife ringleader, who extracted the
arsenic from flypaper, committed suicide. The 2003 Hungarian film
“Hiccup” was based on the poisonings.
(WSJ, 5/20/04, p.A1)
1930 George Soros, billionaire,
was born in Budapest.
(SFEC, 10/1/96, p.A1)
1934 Oct 9, In Marseilles, a
Macedonian revolutionary associated with Croat terrorists in Hungary
assassinated King Alexander of Yugoslavia and French Foreign
Minister Louis Barthou. The two had been on a tour of European
capitals in quest of an alliance against Nazi Germany. The
assassinations brought the threat of war between Yugoslavia and
Hungary, but confrontation was prevented by the League of Nations.
(HN, 10/9/98)
1935 Denes Koromzay (d.2001 at
88) founded the Hungarian String Quartet. In 1962 he moved to
Boulder, Colorado, and the group was named resident ensemble at the
Univ. of Colorado.
(SFC, 7/18/01, p.C16)
1936 Mar 8, Gabor Szabo,
Hungarian jazz pianist (Perfect Circle), was born.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1936 Mar 23, Italy, Austria and
Hungary signed Pact of Rome.
(SS, 3/23/02)
1936 Bela Kun (b.1886),
Hungarian leftist revolutionary, died. He is believed to have met
his end in one of Stalin's innumerable purges.
(Sm, 3/06,
p.79)(www.firstworldwar.com/bio/kun.htm)
1937 A Hungarian brigade joined
the Spanish civil war to fight the fascists.
(MT, Fall. ‘97, p.4)
1938 Apr 27, King Zog of
Albania married Geraldine Apponyi (22) of Hungary.
(SFC, 10/28/02, p.A17)
1938 Sep 29, British, French,
German and Italian leaders signed the Munich Agreement, which was
aimed at appeasing Adolf Hitler by allowing Nazi annexation of
Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland, inhabited by a German-speaking
minority. The treaty ceded three areas of Czechoslovakia to other
powers: the Sudetenland was annexed into Germany, the Teschen
district was given to Poland, and parts of Slovakia went to Hungary.
British PM Neville Chamberlain gained a brief peace agreement from
Hitler at Munich and without consulting the Czechs agreed that Nazi
forces could occupy Sudetenland. Some mark this "appeasement policy"
as the decisive event of the century. Chamberlain predicted "peace
in our time." French PM Edouard Daladier was very depressed from the
meeting. In 1980 Telford Taylor published "Munich: The Price of
Peace." It is a detailed political & diplomatic history of the
1930's in Europe, culminating in the Munich conference. Taylor later
helped write the rules for Nuremberg Trials. In 2008 David Vaughan
authored “Battle for the Airwaves: Radio and the 1938 Munich
Crises.”
(http://www.humboldt.edu/~rescuers/book/Chlup/chluplinks/munich.html)(SFC,
6/9/96, Z1 p.5)(SFC, 6/16/96, Z1 p.6)(WSJ, 6/8/98, p.A21)(AP,
9/29/06)(SFC, 5/26/98, p.B2)(Econ, 10/11/08, p.115)
1938 Lazlo Biro [Laszlo Biro]
of Hungary invented the ball-point pen. He fled Hungary in 1943 and
patented the ballpoint in Argentina.
(TL, 1988, p.111)(SFEC, 5/23/99, p.B7)
1939 Feb 2, Hungary broke
relations with the Soviet Union.
(HN, 2/2/99)
1939 Feb 24, Hungary signed an
anti-Communist pact with Italy, Germany and Japan.
(HN, 2/24/98)
1939 Mar 15, The Republic of
Carpatho-Ukraine, led by Avhustyn Voloshyn (d.1945), declared
independence amid the Nazi dismemberment of Czechoslovakia.
Independence ending that same evening by an invasion from Hungary.
In 1946 the area became part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist
Republic, as the Zakarpattia Oblast ('Transcarpathian Oblast').
After the break-up of the Soviet Union, it became part of
independent Ukraine as Zakarpattia Oblast.
(Econ, 3/14/09,
p.57)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpatho-Ukraine)
1939 Nov 30, Bela Kun (53),
[Balazs Kolozsvary], Hungarian revolutionary, died.
(MC, 11/30/01)
1939-1945 The Hungarian Gendarmerie carried out
orders to round up Jews for Nazi death camps where some 550,000
perished.
(SFC, 2/25/00, p.A16)
1940 Sister Ida Peterfy (d.2000
at 77) founded a religious education order of nuns. She kept the
order together during the war under the cover of a secretarial
school and moved to Los Angeles in 1956.
(SFC, 2/12/00, p.A21)
1940 Bela Bartok, Hungarian
composer, fled Budapest, Hungary, and arrived in New York.
(WSJ, 8/18/95, p.A-1)
1941 Apr 3, Pal Teleki-von Szek
(61), PM Hungary (1920-21, 39-41), committed suicide.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1941 Aug 2, Jews were expelled
from Hungarian Ruthenia.
(MC, 8/2/02)
1941 Arthur Koestler
(1905-1983), Hungarian novelist and essayist, authored “Darkness at
Noon,” a story of life in Stalin’s Russia.
(HN, 9/5/98)(SFEC, 1/2/00, BR p.5)(WSJ, 8/26/06,
p.P8)
1942 Jan 23, At Novi Sad,
Serbia, some 1200 people (predominantly Jewish), rounded up over a
period of three days, were shot along the shores of the Danube.
Their bodies were dumped into the frozen waters. Sandor Kepiro
(1914-2011), a Hungarian gendarmerie officer, participated in the
mass murder. In 1944 he was sentenced to 10 years in prison for his
part in the atrocities, but conviction was later annulled. Kepiro,
who was at the top of the Simon Wiesenthal Center's most-wanted war
criminals list, returned to Hungary in 1996 after living for decades
in Argentina. In 2011 Kepiro (96) was charged with war crimes in the
slaughter, but was cleared by a court on July 18, 2011.
(http://tinyurl.com/o5n5j3)(AP, 9/15/09)(AP,
2/14/11)(AP, 7/18/11)(AP, 9/3/11)
1942 Sep 4, Soviet planes
bombed Budapest in the war's first air raid on the Hungarian
capital.
(HN, 9/4/98)
1942 The novel "Embers" by
Sandor Marai was published in Budapest. Marai committed in San Diego
in 1989. An English translation was published in 2001.
(WSJ, 10/26/01, p.W10)
1943 Dec 11, U.S. Secretary of
State, Cordell Hull, demanded that Hungary, Rumania, and Bulgaria
withdraw from the war.
(HN, 12/11/98)
1943 Laszlo Biro, fled his
native Hungary to Argentina, where he patented his ballpoint pen.
England soon manufactured some 30,000 pens for use by RAF navigators
in unpressurized cockpits, where fountain pens failed.
(SFEC, 5/23/99, p.B7)
1944 Jan, In Hungary Sandor
Kepiro (1914-2011) was sentenced to 10 years in prison for his part
in the Jan, 1942, atrocities at Novi Sad, Serbia, in which 1,200
Serb and Jewish civilians were killed by Hungarian forces, who
raided Serbia in the wake of the Nazi occupation of Yugoslavia. He
was freed by Hungary's fascist regime shortly after his trial and
fled to Argentina after the war. In 1946, the Communist government
of Hungary tried him again and sentenced him to 14 years in
absentia. He returned to Budapest in 1996.
(www.nytimes.com/2006/09/28/world/europe/28iht-hungary.2970014.html?_r=1)(AP,
9/15/09)
1944 Mar 19, Nazi German
soldiers occupied Hungary.
(AP, 3/19/03)
1944 Mar 31, Hungary ordered
all Jews to wear yellow stars.
(MC, 3/31/02)
1944 Apr-Jul, Hungarian
authorities facilitated the deportation of some 437,000 Hungarian
Jews to Auschwitz.
(SFC, 6/7/99, p.A9)(Econ, 4/24/04, p.48)
1944 May 16, The 1st of over
180,000 Hungarian Jews reached Auschwitz.
(MC, 5/16/02)
1944 Jun 30, A US B-24H bomber
nicknamed "Miss Fortune," which was returning from a mission in
Germany to its base in Italy, flew into bad weather with 3 others
and were shot down by German gunners over western Hungary. The
remains of Staff Sgt. Martin F. Troy, the tail gunner on the “Miss
Fortune,” were recovered in 2007.
(AP, 8/11/07)
1944 Jun, The "Kasztner Train,"
with 1,684 Jews on board, departed Budapest for the safety of
neutral Switzerland. Rudolf Kasztner's negotiations also saved
20,000 Hungarian Jews by diverting them to an Austrian labor camp
instead of a planned transfer to extermination camps. Kasztner, a
Zionist leader in Hungary, headed the Relief and Rescue Committee, a
small Jewish group that negotiated with Nazi officials to rescue
Hungarian Jews in exchange for money, goods and military equipment.
(AP, 7/23/07)
1944 Jul 7, Hungary’s regent
Miklos Horthy issued an order suspending Nazi deportations of
Hungarian Jews.
(ON, 10/20/11, p.1)
1944 Jul 9, Raoul Wallenberg, a
Swedish National Guardsman, arrived in Budapest to head the local
office of the US-sponsored War Refugee Board. He had been recruited
in June by a US Embassy official in Stockholm and sent to
Nazi-controlled Budapest under Swedish diplomatic cover. He used US
funds to bribe Nazi officials and saved over 20,000 Hungarian Jews
from Nazi death camps.
(SFC, 5/5/96, p.A-7)(MT, Spg. ‘99, p.18)(WSJ,
2/28/09, p.A7)
1944 Jul 13, Erno Rubik,
inventor (Rubik's cube), was born in Budapest.
(MC, 7/13/02)
1944 Jul 19, Swedish diplomat
Raoul Wallenberg 1st met SS ober Sturmbannfuhrer Adolf Eichmann.
(MC, 7/19/02)
1944 Aug, Hungary’s regent
Miklos Horthy fired his pro-German prime minister and opened peace
talks with the Russians.
(ON, 10/20/11, p.2)
1944 Oct 6, Soviets marched
into Hungary and Czechoslovakia.
(MC, 10/6/01)
1944 Oct 15, Hungary’s regent
Miklos Horthy announced in a radio broadcast that the German Reich
has lost the war and that he was negotiating with the Russians for
Hungarian self-determination. Nazi operatives kidnapped Horthy’s son
and forced him to abdicate and surrender to the Germans.
(ON, 10/20/11, p.2)
1944 Oct 16, In Hungary the
Horthy government fell as Adolf Eichmann returned to Budapest and
immediately ordered the resumption of the Jewish deportation
program. Ferenc Szalasi (1897-1946) of the Arrow Cross Party became
the prime minister.
(ON, 10/20/11,
p.2)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferenc_Sz%C3%A1lasi)
1944 Oct 23, Soviet army
invaded Hungary.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1944 Oct, In Hungary Eduard
Benedek Brunschweiler, a Swiss representative of the International
Red Cross, took charge of the Pannonhalma Abbey and kept it under
Red Cross protection until Soviet forces expelled him in April 1945.
Some 3,000 people, mostly children, spent the end of the war in the
abbey, including dozens of Jews. In 2006 Hungarian officials
unveiled a memorial at the abbey honoring Brunschweiler.
(AP, 10/16/06)
1944 Oct, Ferencz Szalasi,
leader of the extremist right-wing organization Arrow Cross, was put
in charge of the Hungary by the occupying Germans when the Hungarian
government sought an armistice with the Soviet Union.
(HNQ, 5/7/99)
1944 Nov 3, Pro-German
government of Hungary fled.
(MC, 11/3/01)
1944
Nov 7, Hannah Senesh (23), Jewish poet, was executed by Nazis in
Budapest. Hannah Szenes was tortured for several months by the
Gestapo before being executed by the Nazis because she was a member
of the Jewish underground.
(www.jbuff.com/c031303.htm)
1944 Nov 8, In Hungary Jews
under Nazi custody and the command of Adolf Eichmann began marches
of 120 miles to the Austrian border.
(ON, 10/20/11, p.3)
1944 Nov 8, In Hungary Peter
Balazs (18) was fatally beaten to death for failing to wear a yellow
star marking him as a Jew. In 2009 Australia agreed to extradite
Charles Zentai (87) to face charges regarding the fatal beating of
Balazs.
(SSFC, 2/15/09,
p.A4)(www.shalom-magazine.com/Article.php?id=480310)(AP, 11/12/09)
1944 Dec 3, Hungarian death
march of Jews ended.
(MC, 12/3/01)
1944 Dec 15, In Hungary a gold
train departed Budapest on orders from Adolf Eichmann. In May it was
intercepted by American forces in Austria. Some of the valuables
were requisitioned by US commanders and the rest was later auctioned
in NY and the proceeds given to a UN agency to help Jewish refugees.
Kenneth Alford later authored "The Spoils of World War II."
(SFC, 10/15/99, p.A18)
1944 Dec 24, Adolf Eichmann
fled Hungary to Austria as Soviet troops encircled Budapest. He left
orders for German forces to massacre all the Jews in Budapest.
German Gen. August Schmidthuber, assigned to oversee the mass
execution, cancelled the operation after receiving word from Swedish
diplomat Raoul Wallenberg that the impending carnage would mark him
as a war criminal.
(ON, 10/20/11, p.4)
1944 Dec 27, Sister Sara
Salkahazi was killed by the Arrow Cross, the Hungarian allies of the
Nazis, for hiding Jews in a Budapest building used by her religious
order, the Sisters of Social Service. In 2006 she was beatified by
Pope Benedict XVI.
(AP, 9/18/06)
1944 Some 150,000 Hungarian
troops fought under Nazi command at the Don River. The Red army
killed about 90,000 and thousands died trying to walk back to
Hungary.
(SFC, 8/12/00, p.A11)
1944 Elemerne Marsovsky (aka
Foto Ada), a Hungarian photographer, disappeared, presumably a
victim of the Holocaust.
(SFC, 5/14/98, p.E3)
1944-1956 The apartment building at 60 Andrassy
Blvd. in Budapest was used by the fascist Arrow Cross Party from
1944-1945. The party was responsible for the deportation or
execution of some 500,000 Hungarian Jews. It was then taken over by
the Communist secret police until 1956. The basement was used for
torture. It was later converted to a museum named the "House of
Torture."
(SFC, 6/14/02, p.E1)
1945 Jan 17, Swedish diplomat
Raoul Wallenberg, credited with saving tens of thousands of Jews,
disappeared in Hungary while in Soviet custody. Raoul Wallenberg was
jailed by the Soviets who believed that he was an American spy. He
had saved more than 20,000 Hungarian Jews from Nazi death camps.
Wallenberg was a graduate of the Univ. of Michigan and studied there
from 1931-1935.
(SFC, 5/5/96, p.A-7)(AP, 1/17/98)(MT, Spg. ‘99,
p.18)
1945 Jan 18, The German Army
launched its second attempt to relieve the besieged city of Budapest
from the advancing Red Army.
(HN, 1/18/99)
1945 Jan 20, The Allies signed
a truce with the Hungarians.
(HN, 1/20/99)
1945 Jan 24, A German attempt
to relieve the besieged city of Budapest was finally halted by the
Soviets.
(HN, 1/24/99)
1945 Feb 13, During World War
II, the Soviets captured Budapest, Hungary, from the Germans ending
a 50-day siege in which 159,000 people died.
(HN, 2/13/98)(AP, 2/13/98)(MC, 2/13/02)
1945 Feb 14, The siege of
Budapest ended as the Soviets took the city. Only 785 German and
Hungarian soldiers managed to escape.
(HN, 2/14/99)
1945 Mar 14, Sgt. 1st Class
Marvin Steinford, a native of Iowa, was part of a 10-man crew of a
B-17 bomber which was hit, while returning to its base in Italy from
a mission over Hungary. In 2004 his remains were found in a grave in
the town on Zirc in western Hungary, where he had been buried with
26 Soviet soldiers. In 2009 his remains were returned to the US.
(AP, 8/4/09)
1945 Apr 4, Hungary was
liberated from Nazi occupation (National Day).
(MC, 4/4/02)
1945 May, In Austria US Army
officers and troops plundered a “gold train” on its way to Germany
from Hungary that carried gold, jewels, paintings and other
valuables seized by the Nazis from Jewish families. A 2001 suit
filed in Miami said the army falsely classified it as unidentifiable
and enemy property, which avoided having to return the goods to
their rightful owners. The suit alleged that the US made no effort
to return the goods and lied to Hungarian Jews who sought
information about their property after the war. In 2004 the property
was estimated to be worth ten times its original $200 million
valuation. In 2005 the US government reached a $25.5 million
settlement with families of the Hungarian Holocaust victims for
distribution to needy Holocaust survivors.
(AP, 12/20/04)(SFC, 3/12/05, p.A5)
1945 Sep 25, Bela Bartok,
Hungarian composer, died at 64. [see Sep 26]
(MC, 9/25/01)
1945 Sep 26, Bela Bartok,
Hungarian pianist and composer, died at 64. [see Sep 25]
(MC, 9/26/01)
1945 The AVO, Hungary’s State
Security Agency, was formed under Soviet masters. Its first leader
was a Hungarian called Gabor Peter. The role of the AVO was to hunt
out anyone who was even vaguely against the rule of Moscow over
Hungary.
(www.historylearningsite.co.uk/hungarian_secret_police.htm)
1945-1956 Matyas Rakosi served as General
Secretary of the Hungarian Communist Party.
(Econ, 12/18/10,
p.102)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A1ty%C3%A1s_R%C3%A1kosi)
1945-1990 The era of the Soviet occupation.
(WSJ, 12/27/96, p.A5)
1946 Feb. 1, Hungary declared
itself a republic.
(G&M, 2/1/96, p.A-2)
1946 Jul, Hungary’s
hyperinflation peaked at 42 quadrillion per cent a month.
(http://goldnews.bullionvault.com/inflation_history_Zimbabwe_USA_101620073)(Econ,
7/19/08, p.57)
1946 George Mikes (1912-1987),
a Hungarian living in England, published “How to Be An Alien.” It
was about a foreigner’s view of England.
(Econ, 12/19/09, p.110)
1946 Prime Minister Laszlo
Bardossy was executed for his role in the deaths of hundreds of
thousands of Jews.
(SFC, 5/5/01, p.D2)
1947 May 30, In Hungary
Soviet-backed communists forced PM Ferenc Nagy (1903-1979) into
exile. Dinnyés Lajos (1901-1961) was appointed as successor
and served as the last non-communist Prime Minister of Hungary until
December, 1948.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lajos_Dinny%C3%A9s)
1948 Oct 24, Franz Lehar,
Austrian-Hungarian composer (Wiener Frauen), died at 78.
(MC, 10/24/01)
1948 Dec 26, Hungarian Cardinal
Mindszenty was arrested.
(MC, 12/26/01)
1948 In Hungary the Manfred
Weiss Steelworks was nationalized and renamed after Matyas Rakosi
(1892-1971), Hungary’s Stalinist leader.
(Econ, 12/18/10,
p.102)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A1ty%C3%A1s_R%C3%A1kosi)
1949 Feb 8, Cardinal Mindszenty
was sentenced to life imprisonment for high treason.
(TOH, 1982, p.1949)
1949 May 15, A general election
with open voting gave complete victory to the Communist controlled
National Independence Front.
(EWH, 1968, p.1188)
1949 May-Dec, Hungarian
Communists were victorious at the polls. They purged their
opponents, proclaimed a new constitution, nationalized all major
industries, and announced a five-year plan.
(WUD, 1994, p.1684)
1949 Jun 16, Laszlo Rajk, the
Hungarian Communist foreign minister, was arrested on charges of
conspiracy. This set off a purge of Hungarian Communists accused of
deviating from the Soviet line.
(EWH, 1968, p.1188)
1949 Aug 7, Hungary announced a
new constitution, similar to that of the Soviet Union.
(EWH, 1968, p.1188)
1949 Oct 15, Laszlo Rajk,
Hungarian Sec. of State and Foreign minister, was hanged.
(MC, 10/15/01)
1949 Dec 28, Hungary decreed
the nationalization of all major industries and announced the start
of a 5-year plan.
(EWH, 1968, p.1188)
1951 Nov 9, Sigmund Romberg
(64), Hungarian-US composer (Blossom Time), died.
(MC, 11/9/01)
1951 Nov 26, Illona Staller,
Italian member of Parliament (La Cicciolina), was born in Budapest,
Hungary.
(MC, 11/26/01)(AP, 11/26/02)
1951 Dec 28, The U.S. paid
$120,000 to free four fliers convicted of espionage in Hungary.
(HN, 12/28/98)
1952-1953 The Alba Regia was a Hungarian microcar
project produced by both the Ministry of Metallurgy and Machine
Industry in conjunction with the Vehicle Developing Institute.
(Econ, 12/18/10,
p.102)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alba_Regia_%28car%29)
1953 Jul 4, Imre Nagy succeeded
Matyas Rkosi as premier of Hungary.
(Maggio)
1954 Mar 21, Paul Selenyi
(b.1884), Hungarian physicist, died in Budapest. He was the first to
record images with an electrostatic marking process. This was the
foundation for Chester Carlson’s Xerox copiers.
(www.thehungarypage.com/sciencemathandtech.htm)
1954 Mar 24, Britain opened
trade talks with Hungary.
(HN, 3/24/98)
1954 Jul 4, West Germany beat
Hungary 3-2 to win the 5th World Cup soccer match in Bern, Switz.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1954_World_Cup)
1955 Mar 20, Count Mihaly
Karolyi (b.1875), a nationalist who helped form modern Hungary’s 1st
government (1918), died.
(Sm, 3/06,
p.79)(www.britannica.com/eb/article-9044761)
1955 May 14, Representatives
from eight Communist bloc countries: Soviet Union, Albania,
Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland &
Romania, signed the Warsaw Pact in Poland. Andras Hegedues signed
for Hungary.
(AP, 5/14/97)(SFC, 10/26/99, p.B4)(MC, 5/14/02)
1955 Andras Hegedues
(1922-1999) became Hungary's youngest premier.
(SFC, 10/26/99, p.B4)
1956 Oct 23, An anti-Stalinist
revolt began in Hungary. As the revolution spread, Soviet forces
started entering the country, and the uprising was put down within
weeks. In 2001 Bela Liptak authored "A Testament of Revolution." In
2006 three books were published that covered Hungary’s October
Revolution: “Failed Illusions” by Charles Gati; “Journey to a
Revolution” by Michael Korda; and Viktor Sebestyen’s “Twelve Days:
The Story of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution.”
(SFC, 10/23/96, p.A8)(WSJ, 6/19/01, p.A20)(WSJ,
10/20/06, p.W4)(Econ, 10/21/06, p.94)(AP, 10/23/07)
1956 Oct 24, Soviet troops
invaded Hungary and Imre Nagy became PM of Hungary.
(http://tinyurl.com/yydkfe)
1956 Oct 31, President Dwight
D. Eisenhower praised the promise by Moscow made the previous day of
major concessions to Hungarians in revolt as "the dawning of a new
day" in Eastern Europe. Anti-government demonstrations in Budapest a
week earlier had forced a reshuffling of the Hungarian government
and demands that the new government denounce the Warsaw Pact and
seek liberation from Soviet domination.
(HNQ, 10/1/99)
1956 Nov 2, Hungary appealed
for UN assistance against Soviet invasion. The Soviets chose Janos
Kadar to form a counter-government.
(http://tinyurl.com/yydkfe)
1956 Nov 4, Russian troops and
tanks attacked Budapest and crushed the Hungarian revolt under
Premier Imre Nagy. Soviet troops marched into the country. Martial
law was proclaimed and mass arrests followed. The UN censured the
USSR. The repression was organized by Yuri Andropov who later became
Chief of the KGB in 1967. 25,000 people were killed. Janos Kadar was
installed by the Soviet Union as head of Hungary's Communist Party.
(WSJ, 12/14/95, p.A-12)(SFC, 10/23/96, p.A8)(WSJ,
12/27/96, p.A5)(AP, 5/22/98)
1956 Nov 8, UN demanded USSR
leave Hungary.
(MC, 11/8/01)
1956 Nov 14, The Hungarian
revolt was put down.
(MC, 11/14/01)
1956 Nov 22, Melbourne opened
the 16th Olympiad. 65 countries and 4,276 athletes competed. Closing
ceremonies were held on Dec 8. The Netherlands and Spain withdrew
from the summer Olympics in support of Hungary following Russia’s
invasion. 45 athletes from Hungary defected during the games. Egypt,
Lebanon and Iraq boycotted the games in protest over British and
French actions over the Suez Canal. China boycotted protesting the
inclusion of athletes from Taiwan.
(SFEC, 9/10/00, p.T8)(WSJ, 9/15/00, p.A1)(WSJ,
4/12/08, p.R2)
1956 Nov, Austria provided
humanitarian aid to nearly 200,000 Hungarians fleeing their homeland
after Soviet tanks crushed freedom fighters aiming to overthrow
repressive communist rule.
(AP, 10/20/06)
1956 In Hungary Bela Biszku
became interior minister in the wake of the anti-Soviet revolution,
when over 220 people who participated in the uprising were executed
and many thousands imprisoned or persecuted.
(AP, 1/27/11)
1956 In Hungary the Festival
microcar, designed by Kalman Szabadi (d.2010), was introduced in
Vac. The car was three meters long, had a conventional door for the
passengers and a gull-wing for the driver, and weighed 380 kilos. It
was powered by the same 298cc engine that BMW built for its Isetta.
Only one car was completed.
(Econ, 12/18/10,
p.103)(http://tinyurl.com/23p2gt2)
1956 George Soros (b.1930), a
Hungarian-born financier, emigrated to the United States.
(AP,
10/6/11)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Soros)
1957 Janos Kornai (b.1928),
Hungarian economist, authored “Overcentralization.” This was the 1st
book by an economist behind the Iron Curtain to examine the command
of “actual socialism” and to criticize central planning.
(WSJ, 1/30/07, p.B15)
1958 Jun 16, Imre Nagy
(b.1896), former Hungarian premier (1956) and symbol of the 1956
uprising against Soviet rule, was hanged by the Communist government
of Janos Kadar.
(www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/kbank/profiles/nagy/)(Econ, 10/21/06,
p.95)
1960 Sep 13, Leo Weiner,
Hungarian composer (Toldi), died at 75.
(MC, 9/13/01)
1964 May 30, Leo Szilard (66),
Hungarian-US nuclear physicist, died.
(MC, 5/30/02)
1967 Mar 6, Zoltan Kodaly
(b.1882), Hungarian composer, died. His major works, notably the
comic opera Hary Janos, the Psalmus hungaricus, the Peacock
Variations for orchestra and the Dances of Marosszek and Galanta
drew on Magyar folk music.
(www.malaspina.org/kodalyz.htm)
1968 Aug 3, The Bratislava
statement conceded Czechoslovakia’s right to pursue its own path.
The conference was held in Bratislava, Slovakia, for representatives
of the communist and workers' parties of the People's Republic of
Bulgaria, the Hungarian People's Republic, the German Democratic
Republic, the Polish People's Republic, the Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics, and the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic.
(WUD, 1994,
p.1687)(http://library.thinkquest.org/C001155/documents/doc41.htm)
1969 Clifford Irving (b.1930),
American writer, published "Fake," the story of Hungarian art forger
Elmyr de Hory (1906-1976). The int'l. de Hory scam became public in
1967. Irving and De Hory were featured in the 1975 Orson Welles film
"F" for Fake.
(SFC, 7/29/99,
p.E6)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clifford_Irving)
1970 Jul 30, George Szell (73),
Hungarian-US conductor (Cleveland Orch), died.
(MC, 7/30/02)
1971 Sep 28, Cardinal Josef
Mindszenty (1892-1975) of Hungary, who had spent 15 years in refuge
in the US Embassy in Budapest, ended his exile and flew to Rome.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B3zsef_Mindszenty)
1973 Feb 20, Joseph Szigeti
(80), Hungarian-US violinist, died.
(MC, 2/20/02)
1973 Apr 16, Istvan Kertesz
(b.1929), Hungarian-born German conductor, drowned. Kertész
was the principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra from
1965 to 1968,
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istv%C3%A1n_Kert%C3%A9sz)
1973 Andras Hegedues, former
premier, was expelled from the Hungarian Communist Party for his
criticism of the government.
(SFC, 10/26/99, p.B4)
1974 Hungarian professor Erno
Rubik designed the Rubik's Cube. Sales peaked at 100 million in
1980. Some 250 million units were sold worldwide.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R34)(SFC, 8/8/03, p.D1)
1975 May 6, Jozsef Mindszenty
(83), [Joseph Prehm], Hungarian cardinal, died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B3zsef_Mindszenty)
1976 Dec 11, Hungarian art
forger Elmyr de Hory (b.1906) died of a lethal overdose of
barbiturates in Ibiza, Spain. The 1969 book "Fake" by Clifford
Irving was about De Hory and both Irving and de Hory were featured
in the 1975 Orson Welles film "F" for Fake.
(SFC, 7/29/99,
p.E6)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmyr_de_Hory)
1982 Feb 26, Gabor Szabo
(b.1936), Hungarian jazz pianist (Perfect Circle), died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%A1bor_Szab%C3%B3)
1983 Mar 1, Arthur Koestler
(b.1905), Hungary-born British writer (Dialogue With Death), died in
a double suicide with his wife in London. His novels included
"Darkness at Noon" (1940). In 1998 David Cesarani authored "Arthur
Koestler: The Homeless Mind." In 2009 Michael Scammell authored
“Koestler: The Literary and Political Odyssey of a Twentieth-Century
Skeptic.”
(SSFC, 1/3/10, Books
p.F3)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Koestler)
1984 Gyula Halasz, Hungarian
born photographer (aka Brassai), died. He was a friend of Picasso
and Henry Miller and was known as the "Eye of Paris" for his night
time photographs in the 1930s. His "Secret Paris of the 30s" was
published in 1976. He published 2 books on Henry Miller and
"Conversations With Picasso."
(WSJ, 1/15/98, p.W12)
1986 Oct 22, Albert
Szent-Gyorgyi (b.1893), Hungarian-born bio-chemist, died. He
received the Nobel Prize in 1937 for discovering vitamin-C and the
biochemical steps of catalysis of the fumaric acid in the
tricarboxylic acid cycle.
(www.britannica.com/eb/article-9070804/Albert-Szent-Gyorgyi)
1988 May 22, Janos Kadar,
installed by the Soviet Union as head of Hungary's Communist Party
in 1956, was replaced by Prime Minister Karoly Grosz.
(AP, 5/22/98)
1988 Sep 26, A Trade and
economic cooperation agreement between the European Community and
Hungary was signed in Brussels.
(http://europa.eu.int/abc/history/1988/index_en.htm)
1988 Nov 13, Antal Dorati (82),
Hungarian-US conductor and composer, died.
(www.classical-composers.org/comp/dorati)
1989 Jan 28, In Hungary
official Imre Pozsgay described the 1956 Hungarian Revolution as a
popular uprising, a startling contradiction of the official
Communist view that the revolt was a counter-revolution.
(AP, 1/28/99)
1989 Jun 16, Hungarians paid
homage to former premier Imre Nagy and four associates executed for
leading the anti-Soviet revolt of 1956. At least 250,000 people
attended the ceremonial reburial of PM Imre Nagy and four others
hanged 31 years earlier and buried face down in unmarked graves. The
reburial, broadcast live on TV from Budapest's Heroes' Square, came
as Hungary's communist leadership and the democratic opposition were
beginning to negotiate the country's transition to democracy. Sandor
Racz, a 1956 veteran, called on the world to "help the Soviet Union"
withdraw its troops from Hungary. Viktor Orban, then 26 and later to
become prime minister, also urged the Russians to withdraw but
blasted the country's communist leadership for making the 1956
revolution a taboo subject.
(AP, 6/16/99)(AP, 6/16/09)
1989 Jul 6, Janos Kadar, who
helped restore Soviet domination and led Hungary for over 30 years
before being replaced in May 1988, died. This same day Hungary's
Supreme Court finally rehabilitated the 1956 revolutionaries.
(AP, 6/16/09)
1989 Jul 12, President Bush
continued his visit to Hungary, where he held talks with officials
and made a speech at Karl Marx University in Budapest.
(AP, 7/12/99)
1989 Aug 19, The "Pan-European
Picnic" helped precipitate the fall nearly three months later of the
Berlin Wall. Members of Hungary's budding opposition organized a
picnic at the border with Austria to press for greater political
freedom and promote friendship with their Western neighbors. Some
600 East Germans got word of the event and turned up among the
estimated 10,000 participants. They took advantage of the excursion
to escape to Austria.
(AP, 8/19/09)
1989 Aug 23, Hungary removed
its physical border defenses with Austria, and in September more
than 13,000 East German tourists in Hungary escaped to Austria.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Wall)
1989 Sep 10, Hungary gave
permission for thousands of East German refugees and visitors to
emigrate to West Germany.
(AP, 9/10/99)
1989 Oct 7, Hungary's Communist
Party renounced Marxism in favor of democratic socialism during a
party congress in Budapest.
(AP, 10/7/99)
1989 Oct 23, Hungary proclaimed
itself a republic and declared an end to communist rule.
(http://tinyurl.com/qrnfm)
1989 Nov 26, In a national
referendum, voters decided that Hungary's next president would be
chosen by parliament, following free elections.
(AP,
11/26/99)(www.world66.com/europe/hungary/budapest/history)
1989 Nov 28, Romanian gymnast
Nadia Comaneci arrived in New York after escaping her homeland by
way of Hungary.
(AP, 11/28/99)
1989 Andras Torok (34)
published “Budapest: A Critical Guide.”
(Sm, 3/06, p.79)
1989 The end of Communism and
the economic cooperation pact of the former Eastern Bloc countries.
(WSJ, 12/4/95, p.B-8A)
1990 Mar, Several people were
killed and hundreds injured in clashes between Romanians and ethnic
Hungarians in the Transylvanian city of Targu Mures. The Szeklers
make up about a third of Romania's 1.4 million Hungarian minority.
(AP, 10/8/06)
1991 Feb 15, In Visegrad,
Hungary, a declaration of co-operation was signed by Poland,
Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The 4 became known as the
Visegrad countries.
(Econ, 11/22/03,
p.10S)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visegr%C3%A1d_Group)
1991 Aug 16, Pope John Paul the
Second began the first-ever papal visit to Hungary.
(AP, 8/16/01)
1991 Dec 16, "Europe
Agreements" are signed with Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia.
(http://europa.eu.int/abc/history/1991/index_en.htm)
1991 Dec, Hungarian officials
discovered 11 tons of rocket launchers and automatic weapons being
loaded on trucks headed for Croatia in violation of a UN arms
embargo. They had been labeled as Chilean humanitarian aid for Sri
Lanka. In Chile Col. Gerardo Huber, who directed purchases at the
army's weapons manufacturer, turned up dead shortly after testifying
in a military investigation. His head had been blown apart by a
blast from a machine gun. In 2009 former Chilean Army Gen. Guillermo
Letelier and Air Force Gen. Vicente Rodriguez were sentenced to
prison for shipping arms to Croatia at the time of its battle for
independence from Yugoslavia. 11 people were sentenced by a military
court in June, 2009, for their roles in the deal. In October, 2009,
retired Gen. Victor Lizarraga and retired Col. Manuel Provis got 10
and eight years, respectively, for conspiracy and homicide. Gen.
Carlos Krum and Col. Julio Munoz, also both retired, got nearly 2
years for conspiracy and murder, respectively. The identity of the
gunman in Huber's murder remained unknown.
(AP, 6/10/09)(AP, 10/5/09)
1993 Jun 29, In Budapest,
Hungary, the Szobor Park Museum held its grand opening. It was a
collection of Communist era sculpture about 20 minutes from
Budapest.
(WSJ, 12/27/96,
p.A5)(www.szoborpark.hu/en/en_museum_faq.php)
1993 Dec, Ameritech Corp. and
Deutsche Telekom AG teamed up to by a 30% stake in Matav Rt., the
state telephone system. By 1995 their stake was 67%. The government
permitted Matav to maintain a monopoly status for 8 years.
(WSJ, 6/25/96, p.A10)(WSJ, 8/27/97, p.A8)
1993 Voluntary pension funds
operated by private financial institutions became available.
(WSJ, 10/21/97, p.A18)
1993-1999 Attila Ambrus, Romanian-born hockey
player, robbed 29 banks in Hungary. In 2004 Julian Rubinstein
authored “Ballad of the Whiskey Robber: A True Story of Bank Heists,
Ice Hockey, Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling, Moonlighting Detectives
and Broken Hearts.”
(SSFC, 10/3/04, p.M6)
1994 Mar 18, Zsa Zsa Gabor,
Hungarian-born actress, filed for bankruptcy.
(www.nndb.com/people/530/000025455/)
1994 May 29, Hungary's
Socialist Party won parliamentary election. Socialist Prime Minister
Gyula Horn was elected to lead the Socialist-Free Democrat
coalition. The coalition slashed the communist welfare state and
solidified free-market democracy.
(SFC, 5/25/98, p.A10)(SC, 5/29/02)
1994 In Hungary paprika stocks
were adulterated with minium, a red oxide of lead, and many people
were stricken lead poisoning. Once lead enters the biosphere, it is
retained and recycled indefinitely. Lead atoms combine with
cysteine’s sulfur atoms and disrupt the disulfide bridges of
proteins. Thus many enzymes will malfunction.
(NH, 7/96, p.52,53)
1995 Jul 27, Miklos Rozsa (88),
Hungarian movie composer (Atomic Cafe, Fedora), died.
(www.sospeso.com/contents/composers_artists/rozsa.html)
1995 Budapest, the Independent
Smallholders is a right-wing opposition party led by Mr. Jozsef
Torgyan, and recent polls suggest that it is now Hungary's most
popular party.
(WSJ, 11/8/95, p.A-14)
1996 Apr, Sony Corp. plans to
build a plant to produce audiovisual products by early next year in
the town of Godollo about 19 miles northeast of Budapest.
CD-players, stereo systems, VCR players and color TVs are planned
for production.
(WSJ, 4/5/96, p.B-3A)
1996 Jul 7, The average cost of
a Big Mac in Hungary was $1.43.
(SFC, 7/7/96, Parade, p.17)
1996 Sep 16, Romania and
Hungary signed a treaty over the status of 1.6 million Hungarians in
Romania and a guarantee of borders.
(SFE, 9/17/96, p.A12)
1997 May 15, In Hungary the
government approved the payment of $553.8 million to the Roman
Catholic Church for assets lost under Communist rule.
Negotiations on a concordat with the Vatican were in the final
stages. Physical assets would be gradually returned through 2011.
(WSJ, 5/16/97, p.A14)
1997 Jul 8, NATO issued formal
invitations to Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary.
(SFC, 7/9/97, p.A1)
1997 Jul, The parliament passed
legislation to privatize pensions starting Jan 1.
(WSJ, 10/21/97, p.A18)
1997 Oct 22, In Chechnya relief
workers Istvan Olah and Gabor Dunajsky of Hungary were captured and
held as hostages. They were released in July, 1998.
(SFC, 7/27/98, p.A10)
1997 In Hungary a Y2000 report
by the Parliamentary Commission said Roma children in this year
accounted for 67.9% of the students in "special" schools. Roma
children were commonly channeled into schools for the mentally
handicapped.
(SFC, 6/26/00, p.A10)
1998 Mar, In Hungary Viktor
Orban (34) founded Fidesz, a center-right opposition party.
(Econ, 4/10/10, p.54)
1998 May 10, Gyula Horn and the
ruling Socialists led in the first round of parliamentary elections.
(SFC, 5/11/98, p.A10)
1998 May 24, The Young
Democrats-Civic Party (Fidesz) led by Viktor Orban (34) won the
elections and opened the way for a center-right coalition to rule.
Fidesz won only 148 seats of the 386-member Parliament and planned
to form a coalition with The Hungarian Democratic Forum (17 seats)
and the Smallholders (48 seats). Orban was elected prime minister
and served to 2002.
(SFC, 5/25/98, p.A10)(SFC, 5/27/98, p.A12)(WSJ,
8/2100, p.B13F)(Econ, 4/10/10, p.54)
1998 Jun 24, The Young
Democrats Party and the Smallholders Party agreed to form the next
government.
(SFC, 6/25/98, p.A12)
1998 Jul 2, A gangland car bomb
killed 4 and injured 25 people in Budapest. It was directed at
Jozsef Tamas Boros, a restaurateur who was cooperating with a police
investigation. A turf war between Russian, Ukrainian, Romania,
Turkish and Arab gangs had led to 140 bombings since 1991.
(SFC, 7/3/98, p.D2)
1998 The film "The Last Days"
was produced by Steven Spielberg. It was the stories of 5 Hungarian
Jews who survived the Holocaust.
(SFEC, 9/20/98, DB p.50)
1999 Feb 14, In Hungary the
death toll from the Feb 10 snow storm reached 19 and army
helicopters were used to drop food snow-bound villages.
(SFC, 2/15/99, p.A10)
1999 Mar 12, Poland, Hungary
and the Czech Republic formally joined NATO in a ceremony at
Independence, Mo., where Pres. Truman announced in 1949 the
formation of the Atlantic alliance for defense against the Soviet
bloc.
(SFC, 3/11/99, p.C14)
1999 Mar, Hungary approved
unlimited use of its airspace and airfields for NATO operations but
ruled out direct involvement of its own military.
(SFC, 5/6/99, p.A13)
1999 Apr 11, Hungary turned
back a Russian aid convoy headed for Belgrade.
(SFC, 4/12/99, p.A12)
1999 Apr 12, In Hungary a
Russian aid convoy bound for Serbia was allowed to proceed.
(WSJ, 4/13/99, p.A1)
1999 Jun 23, In Hungary
torrential rains caused the evacuation of thousands and shut down
roads and railways across the country.
(SFEC, 7/4/99, p.T8)
2000 Jan 30, In Romania a dam
at the Baia Mare gold mine overflowed and caused cyanide to pout
into the Lapus River and then into the Somes River. It flowed into
Hungary and within weeks into the Tisa (Tisza) River in Yugoslavia.
(SFC, 2/12/00, p.A9)(SFC, 2/18/00, p.A1)
2000 Feb 21, It was reported
that the US FBI planned to open an office in Budapest in March at
the request of the Hungarian government in order to help break up
Russian gangs. The FBI would hire 10 Hungarian agents to work
alongside 5 US agents.
(SFC, 2/21/00, p.A12)
2000 Jun 6, Ferenc Madl (69),
law professor, was elected president by the Parliament. He replaced
Arpad Goencz.
(SFC, 6/7/00, p.B8)
2001 Mar 8, Flooding in the
Ukraine and northeastern Hungary left at least 5 people dead. Tens
of thousands were driven from their homes as the Tisza and other
Carpathian streams rose.
(WSJ, 3/9/01, p.A1)
2001 Mar 15, The Hungarian
Truth and Life Party (MIEP) held a rally in Budapest that drew as
many as 50,000. They included pensioners, urban students and
professionals mixed with dozens of skinheads.
(SFC, 5/5/01, p.D1)
2001 Jul 22, Miklos Meszoely,
author, died at age 80. His 1st book was published in 1948.
(SFC, 7/24/01, p.A20)
2001 Nov 23, The Council of
Europe ratified the Budapest Convention which allowed one country to
give chase, at least electronically, to criminals in another.
(Econ, 4/24/10,
p.60)(http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/EN/Treaties/html/185.htm)
2001 The new Maria Valeria
Bridge over the Danube reunited Sturovo, Slovakia, with Esztergom,
Hungary. Germans blew up the old bridge in 1944.
(WSJ, 4/5/05, p.A15)
2002 Apr, PM Viktor Orban urged
Hungarians to look forward to EU membership in 2004, the
introduction of the euro in 2007 and the "Budapest Olympics" in
2012.
(WSJ, 4/3/02, p.A18)
2002 Apr 21, In Hungary the
Socialists and allies won elections over the governing center-right
coalition, the Fidesz-Hungarian Civic Party (188 seats), with 198 of
386 seats in parliament. Peter Medgyessey became prime minister.
(SFC, 4/22/02, p.A5)
2002 Jun 18, PM Peter
Medgyessey was accused of having secretly served in Hungary’s
Communist-era counter-espionage service.
(SFC, 6/19/02, p.A8)
2002 Jul 1, In southwestern
Hungary a bus carrying Polish pilgrims to a shrine in Bosnia struck
a stone barrier and overturned in a ditch killing 19.
(AP, 7/1/02)
2002 Sep, Hungary’s governing
coalition swept elections, winning the mayoral races in 17 of 23 big
cities, including Budapest, and a majority in 15 of 19 county
assemblies.
(AP, 10/1/06)
2002 Oct 9, The European
Union's executive Commission declared Bulgaria, the Czech Republic,
Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania,
Slovenia, and Slovakia nearly ready for EU membership and
recommended they be invited to join in 2004. Romania and Bulgaria
likely will be delayed until 2007 because of weak economies, the
Commission said, adding Turkey was the weakest link among
candidates.
(AP, 10/9/02)
2002 Oct 10, Imre Kertesz (72),
a Hungarian novelist and secular Jew, won the Nobel Prize for
literature. His books included "Fiasco" (1988) and "Kaddish for a
Child Not Born" (1990).
(SFC, 10/11/02, p.A2)(SFC, 12/5/02, p.E5)
2002 Nov 29, Romania
urged the EU on to reject a request by Hungarian producers for the
exclusive right to sell a regional brandy in EU countries under the
generic name "palinka." The Eastern European brandy, made from
fermented fruit pears, plums, apricots or grapes, has been produced
in the region under different names. In Hungary and in Romania's
northwest region of Transylvania, it is called "palinka," or
"palinca," while in southern Romania it is called "tuica," and in
Moldova and Bulgaria "rakiya."
(AP, 11/30/02)
2002 Dec 13, The EU reached
agreement to accept 10 new countries in 2004. These included Czech
Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta,
Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia.
(SFC, 12/14/02, p.A3)
2003 Apr 12, Some 83.8% of
voters in Hungary agreed to be part of the historic eastward
expansion of the European Union.
(AP, 4/13/03)
2003 May 8, In Hungary a
passenger train collided with a double-decker bus, slicing the bus
in two. At least 30 people were killed, all German tourists on the
bus.
(AP, 5/8/03)
2003 Sep, In Hungary Tibor
Rejto, CEO of K&H Bank, was arrested as part of an alleged
$40-50 million fraud scandal centered around stockbroker Attila
Kulscar.
(Econ, 9/27/03, p.78)
2003 Nov, Hungary’s government
under PM Peter Medgyessy introduced a bonus monthly payment to all
retirees that became known as the “13th month.”
(WSJ, 3/25/09, p.A10)(http://tinyurl.com/c4dxl4)
2004 Feb, Tibor Draskovics was
appointed as Hungary‘s finance minister.
(WSJ, 8/24/04, p.A10)
2004 Apr 13, Hungarian
authorities said they arrested three Arabs who were plotting to
assassinate visiting Israeli President Moshe Katsav.
(AP, 4/13/04)
2004 Apr 15, In Hungary
government leaders and the Israeli president inaugurated this
country's first Holocaust museum in memory of Hungary's 600,000
Holocaust victims.
(AP, 4/15/04)
2004 Apr 27, Russian Foreign
Minister Sergey Lavrov and EU officials signed an accord extending
the EU-Russia partnership accord to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania,
Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Cyprus and
Malta, which join May 1.
(AP, 4/27/04)
2004 May 1, Revelers across
ex-communist eastern Europe celebrated their historic entry to the
European Union. 10 new members (Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia,
Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia)
joined. Malta joined with 70 exemptions to EU rules. Poland had 43
exemptions. Latvia had 32. The Turkish occupied area of Cyprus was
suspended from entry.
(AP, 5/1/04)(Econ, 2/28/04, p.50)(Econ, 4/16/05,
p.16)
2004 Aug 19, In Hungary the
Socialist Party effectively ousted Prime Minister Peter Medgyessy
from office and said it would nominate his replacement next week.
(AP, 8/19/04)
2004 Aug 25, Hungary chose
Ferenc Gyurcsany (43), one of the nation’s richest businessmen, as
the new premier. He made his fortune from privatization deals in the
1990s.
(WSJ, 8/26/04, p.A1)(Econ, 8/28/04, p.48)
2004 Aug 28, In Hungary
hundreds of thousands of young people thronged the streets of
Budapest to the sounds of techno music for the city's fifth annual
electronic music parade.
(AP, 8/28/04)
2004 Aug, Sandor Demjan and
Andrew Vajna planned to construct the world’s largest movie studio
in Etyek, Hungary.
(WSJ, 8/26/04, p.A1)
2004 Nov 3, Hungary said it
will withdraw its 300 non-combat troops from Iraq by March 31.
(AP, 11/3/04)
2004 Dec 5, Hungarians voted in
a referendum on extending citizenship to millions of ethnic
Hungarians living in the region.
(AP, 12/5/04)
2004 Hungary passed legislation
to fully open the state security archives. It allowed names to be
kept secret to protect modern day national security.
(Econ, 5/31/08, SR p.13)
2005 Jan 1, Hungary was
forecast for 4% annual GDP growth with a population at 10 million
and GDP per head at $11,210.
(Econ, 1/8/05, p.88)
2005 Feb 11, A political
consulting firm posted the names of 19 agents and informants of
Hungary's communist secret police on a Web site, and it threatened
to list more.
(AP, 2/11/05)
2005 Apr 8, Kalman Ferenczfalvi
(84), credited with saving the lives of some 2,000 Jews during the
Holocaust, died in Hungary.
(AP, 4/13/05)
2005 Jun 7, In Hungary
legislators narrowly elected Laszlo Solyom (63), a center-right
opposition candidate as the new president, in a setback for the
governing coalition.
(AP, 6/7/05)
2005 Oct 21, Hungary’s health
minister told a local news agency that the country has developed a
bird-flu vaccine from humans.
(WSJ, 10/22/05, p.A1)
2005 Hungary’s debt stood at
almost 60% of GDP.
(Econ, 8/5/06, p.63)
2006 Jan 19, In northeastern
Hungary a Slovak military plane crashed as it ferried troops back
from Kosovo, killing at least 42 people. Only one person survived
the crash of the AN-24 aircraft.
(AP, 1/20/06)
2006 Feb 21, Tests confirmed
H5N1 in three birds found dead in Hungary, making the country the
seventh EU nation with an outbreak of the deadly strain of bird flu.
(AP, 2/21/06)
2006 Mar 14, Hungary’s PM
Ferenc Gyurcsany said Hungarian researchers have devised a vaccine
for humans against the current form of the H5N1 bird flu virus. “If
the virus were to mutate, we would not have to experiment with new
technology but would be able to manufacture a real vaccine within
eight weeks.”
(AFP, 3/14/06)
2006 Apr 9, Hungary's ruling
Socialists appeared to hold a narrow lead in the first round of
parliamentary elections.
(AP, 4/9/06)
2006 Apr 23, In Hungary
Socialist PM Ferenc Gyurcsany's coalition won the runoff
parliamentary ballots, becoming Hungary's first administration to
win re-election since communism fell.
(AP, 4/23/06)
2006 May 13, PM Ferenc
Gyurcsany announced a plan to stabilize Hungary's economy involving
massive public sector layoffs, in an effort to get the country into
the eurozone by 2010.
(AFP, 5/13/06)
2006 May 13, In southern
Hungary a model airplane crashed into a crowd at an air show killing
two spectators.
(AP, 5/13/06)
2006 Jun 12, Hungary’s director
of national epidemic affairs some 1,200 people the northeast had
fallen ill from drinking contaminated water. Flooding caused by
heavy spring rainfall contaminated the spring water that flows into
the city water system.
(AP, 6/12/06)
2006 Jun 12, Gyorgy Ligeti
(b.1923), Hungarian composer, died in Vienna, Austria. Stanley
Kubrick used his scores in the 1968 film “2001: A Space Odyssey.”
Ligeti’s opera “Le Grand Macabre,” based on a play by Belgian
surrealist Michel Ghelderode, premiered in Stockholm in 1978.
(SFC, 6/12/06, p.B7)
2006 Jun 22, Hungarian PM
Ferenc Gyurcsany said he and Pres. Bush had discussed calls to relax
US rules which exclude citizens of nine of the bloc's 10 new member
states, including Hungary, from visa waivers enjoyed by most of its
other 15 member states. President Bush said war-weary Iraqis could
learn from the Hungarians' long and bloody struggle against tyranny.
(Reuters, 6/22/06)(AP, 6/22/07)
2006 Jul 8, In Hungary several
thousand labor union members demonstrated in Budapest against a
government austerity package they say requires a disproportionate
sacrifice from workers.
(AFP, 7/8/06)
2006 Jul 24, Hungary’s central
bank raised its core interest rate half a percentage point to 6.75%
in an aggressive move to stabilize its currency. This followed a
quarter point raise in June. Inflation stood at 2.8%.
(WSJ, 7/25/06, p.A8)(Econ, 8/5/06, p.64)
2006 Sep 1, Hungarian poet
Gyorgy Faludy (95), a legend of resistance to the rise of Nazism and
Communism, died at his home in Budapest. He spent 1950-1953 in the
Stalinist concentration camp at Recsk. Faludy won international fame
with his autobiographical novel "My Happy Days in Hell" in the
1960s, which related his escape from fascist Hungary and his return,
and imprisonment, in a country under communist rule.
(Reuters, 9/2/06)(Econ, 9/16/06, p.96)
2006 Sep 19, Some 2,000-3,000
protesters stormed the headquarters of Hungarian state television
and forced it off the air briefly in an explosion of anger. The
protests began after a recording of PM Gyurcsany's comments made in
May was leaked to Hungarian media. In his speech to a meeting of
Socialist deputies, the prime minister admitted that the government
had lied about the state of the economy in order to ensure victory
in the elections.
(AP, 9/19/06)
2006 Sep 20, Hungarian PM
Ferenc Gyurcsany vowed to crack down on rioters. Police blaming the
violence on football hooligans and extreme right-wing groups.
Thousands of protesters demonstrated for a 4th day demanding that PM
Gyurcsany resign.
(AFP, 9/20/06)(SFC, 9/21/06, p.A3)
2006 Sep 23, A square in front
of Hungary's parliament overflowed with demonstrators demanding that
PM Gyurcsany quit in the largest protest yet since a recording was
leaked on which he admitted lying to the people about the economy.
Hungary’s current-account deficit reached 9% of GDP and the budget
deficit hit 10%.
(AP, 9/24/06)(Econ, 9/23/06, p.64)
2006 Oct 6, Hungarian PM Ferenc
Gyurcsany convincingly won a confidence motion in parliament but a
crowd of over 50,000 opposition supporters gathered in front of the
building to demand he quit.
(AP, 10/6/06)
2006 Oct 8, In Hungary tens of
thousands of anti-government protesters called for the ouster of the
Socialist PM Ferenc Gyurcsany because of his admission on a leaked
tape that he had lied to the country about the economy. A new leaked
recording of a Socialist minister was broadcast, raising more
questions about the government's integrity.
(AP, 10/8/06)
2006 Oct 23, In Hungary riots
left 167 injured, including 17 police officers, while 131 were
detained. The anti-government demonstrations coincided with
Hungary's commemoration of the 50th anniversary of its uprising
against Soviet rule. The next day Viktor Orban, Hungarian
conservative opposition leader, came under withering attack for his
role in fueling the far-right protests in Budapest.
(AFP, 10/24/06)(AP, 10/23/07)
2007 Mar 15, In Hungary
thousands of people protested against Socialist PM Ferenc Gyurcsany
at ceremonies to mark the country's national holiday, demanding his
resignation and shouting "traitor."
(AP, 3/15/07)
2007 May 2, The grave of
Hungary's last communist ruler, Janos Kadar (1956-1988), was pried
open and his remains and his wife's urn were thought to have been
stolen.
(Reuters, 5/2/07)
2007 May 20, Hungary’s PM
Ferenc Gyurcsany said that the justice minister resigned and the
national and Budapest police chiefs were dismissed in an effort to
restore public confidence in the force after cases accusing officers
of rape, corruption and theft.
(AP, 5/21/07)(Econ, 6/2/07, p.51)
2007 Jul 19, In southern
Hungary a tourist bus collided with a truck. The truck driver and
six bus passengers were killed, and 16 others were injured.
(AP, 7/19/07)
2007 Sep 24, Hungarian
officials said that in an effort to bring prostitutes into the legal
economy, they will allow sex workers to apply for an entrepreneur's
permit, a move that could generate government revenues from an
industry worth an estimated $1 billion annually.
(AP, 9/24/07)
2007 Oct 5, Nearly 300
participants started twisting and turning a small multicolored cube
on the first day of the Rubik's Cube World Championships in
Budapest, the birthplace of the cult puzzle.
(AFP, 10/7/07)
2007 Oct 7, In Budapest,
Hungary, Yu Nakajima of Japan (16) took the top prize at the Rubik's
Cube World Championships, solving the cube 5 times in an average of
12.46 seconds.
(AP, 10/8/07)
2007 Nov 21, In Hungary several
trade unions and civic groups held a series of strikes and protests
against the Socialist-led government's plans to privatize health
insurance and close some railway lines.
(AP, 11/22/07)
2007 Nov 28, Two Hungarians and
a Ukrainian were arrested in eastern Slovakia and Hungary in an
attempted sale of a kilo (2.2 lbs) of uranium, material
believed to be from the former Soviet Union. Police said it was
enriched enough to be used in a radiological "dirty bomb."
(AP, 11/29/07)
2007 Dec 20, Estonia, Hungary,
Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia and the Czech
Republic halted land and sea border controls at midnight in a wave
of new members of Europe's passport-free Schengen zone. They all
joined the EU on May 1, 2004.
(AFP, 12/20/07)(WSJ, 12/21/07, p.A1)
2007 Janos Kornai (b.1928),
Hungarian economist, authored “By Force of Thought: Irregular
Memoirs of an Intellectual Journey.”
(WSJ, 1/30/07, p.B15)
2008 Feb 26, Hungary’s central
bank adopted a new currency regime allowing its currency to float
rather than trade in a band against the euro, which began in 2001.
Adoption of the euro was predicted to take place in 2014 at the
earliest.
(WSJ, 2/26/08, p.A5)
2008 Mar 17, The US
administration signed deals with Hungary, Lithuania and Slovakia
paving the way for visa-free travel for their citizens despite
concerns in Brussels over the bilateral agreements.
(AFP, 3/17/08)
2008 Mar 9, In Hungary 80% of
voters in a referendum rejected small charges for doctor visits, and
hospital stays as well as tuition fees for higher education.
(Econ, 3/29/08, p.67)
2008 Apr 1, Hungary’s coalition
partner pulled out of the government leaving the Socialists without
a parliamentary majority.
(WSJ, 4/2/08, p.A1)
2008 Apr, Exxon Mobil bought
into a venture seeking to extract natural gas from a huge reservoir
in the Mako Trough of Hungary.
(WSJ, 6/26/08, p.B1)
2008 Oct 9, Trading in
Hungary’s bond market broke down as buyers practically disappeared
for a 10-year auction. The government raised less than planned. A
day earlier it left its key lending rate at 8.5%.
(WSJ, 10/10/08, p.A4)
2008 Oct 16, The European
Central Bank extended emergency loans to Hungary’s central bank. The
ECB said it will lend up to $6.75 billion.
(SFC, 10/17/08, p.A5)
2008 Oct 22, The DJIA tumbled
514.45 to close at 8519.21, its 7th biggest point drop in history,
as investors believed that the global economy is heading into a deep
recession. Hungary’s central bank raised interest rates by 3 points,
from 8.5% to 11.5%, to prevent a run on its currency. Argentine and
Brazilian stock markets each fell about 10%. Former Fed Chief Alan
Greenspan said he was wrong to think that financial markets could
police themselves.
(WSJ, 10/22/08, p.A1)(SFC, 10/24/08, p.C1)(Econ,
10/25/08, p.33)
2008 Oct 26, Hungary reached
agreement with the IMF and the EU on a broad economic rescue
package, including substantial financing, steadying its battered
currency. The deal was expected to be finalized over the next few
days.
(AP, 10/27/08)
2008 Oct 29, Officials said
that EU governments promised to lend Hungary 6.5 billion euros ($8.1
billion) as part of a 20 billion euro ($25 billion) international
rescue package to help it weather a financial crisis that has
sharply devalued its currency.
(AP, 10/29/08)
2008 Nov 6, Authorities said
Hungary is preparing a financial aid package worth up to 600 billion
forints ($3 billion, 2.3 billion euros) to boost domestic banks'
capital and help them refinance debts.
(AP, 11/6/08)
2008 Nov 24, The National Bank
of Hungary cut its key interest rate by half a percentage point to
an annual rate of 11% to support the economy amid the global
financial crisis.
(AP, 11/24/08)
2008 Dec 8, The National Bank
of Hungary cut its key interest rate by half a percentage point to
an annual rate of 10.5% due to the deteriorating economy outlook.
(WSJ, 12/9/08, p.C2)
2008 Dec 15, Hungary's
Constitutional Court annulled a law giving rights to domestic
partners because it would diminish the importance of marriage.
(AP, 12/15/08)
2009 Jan 3, Russian gas flows
to four European Union countries fell normal levels after Moscow cut
off supplies to Ukraine in a pricing row with no talks in sight to
resolve the dispute. Bulgaria's Bulgargaz joined energy firms in
Poland, Romania and Hungary in saying they had noted falls in
supply.
(Reuters, 1/3/09)
2009 Jan 7, In Hungary a masked
gunman shot to death Jozsef Takacs (62), a school principal, and
Laszlo Papp (32), a teacher, at a school in the Budapest
neighborhood of Csepel. 2 suspects were arrested the next day.
Police said a security guard shot the two men, hours after he and an
accomplice, a 36-year-old former administrator at the school, were
fired by the principal on suspicion of embezzling up to 4 million
forints ($20,000, euro14,600).
(AP, 1/7/09)(AP, 1/8/09)
2009 Feb 27, Leading
international financial institutions said Eastern Europe's
struggling banks will receive euro24.5 billion ($31.1 billion) worth
of emergency help to shore up their battered finances. Regional
leaders were scheduled to meet this weekend. The Hungarian, Polish
and Czech currencies strengthened on the news of the aid package.
(AP, 2/27/09)
2009 Mar 1, Germany rejected
appeals for a single multibillion euro (dollar) bailout of eastern
Europe, even after Hungry begged EU leaders not to let a new "Iron
Curtain" divide the continent into rich and poor.
(AP, 3/1/09)
2009 Mar 15, In Hungary several
thousand people held right wing, anti-government protests in
Budapest during a national holiday. Police detained 35 people. The
holiday commemorated the unsuccessful 1848 revolution against the
Habsburgs.
(AP, 3/15/09)
2009 Mar 21, Hungary’s PM
Ferenc Gyurcsany offered his resignation to allow the formation of a
new government, citing a loss of popularity and worsening economic
crisis. The former communist youth leader was quickly re-elected as
party chairman.
(AFP, 3/21/09)(Econ, 3/28/09, p.63)
2009 Mar 24, In Hungary former
bank governor Gyorgy Suranyi emerged as the preferred candidate to
replace PM Gyurcsany.
(WSJ, 3/25/09, p.A1)
2009 Mar 30, Hungary’s ruling
Socialist Party nominated economy minister Gordon Bajnai to become
the country’s next prime minister.
(WSJ, 3/31/09, p.A14)
2009 Jun 8, Final election
results showed a British far-right party won its first-ever
parliamentary seats in EU elections. The British National Party,
which does not accept nonwhite members and calls for the "voluntary
repatriation" of immigrants, won two of Britain's 72 seats in the
European Parliament. Austria's Freedom Party, which also campaigned
on an anti-Islam platform, more than doubled its share of the vote
to 13.1%. Hungary's Jobbik party, which describes itself as
Euro-skeptic and anti-immigration and wants police to crack down on
what it calls "Gypsy crime," won three of the country's 22 seats and
almost 15% of the vote. The Greater Romania Party, which is, among
other things, pro-religion, anti-gay and anti-Hungarian, made
surprise gains, winning almost 9% of the vote and taking two of
Romania's 33 seats. A bloc of center-right parties remained the
largest group.
(AP, 6/8/09)(Econ, 11/14/09, p.63)
2009 Jul 13, Turkey and four EU
countries (Austria, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary) formally agreed
to route the Nabucco natural gas pipeline across their territories,
pushing ahead with a US- and EU-backed attempt to make Europe less
dependent on Russian gas.
(AP, 7/13/09)(Econ, 7/18/09, p.47)
2009 Aug 21, Slovakia stopped
Hungary’s Pres. Laszlo Solyom from crossing its border. This was a
breach of EU rules on freedom of movement. Solyom had planned
to unveil a statue of St. Stephen, the first king of Hungary, in the
predominantly Hungarian city of Komarno. Slovakia’s government had
objected to the visit as the date coincided with the “Prague Spring”
of 1968, when Hungary, as part of the Warsaw pact, took part in the
Soviet crush of Czechoslovakia’s independence movement.
(Econ, 8/29/09, p.46)
2009 Sep 1, In Slovakia a new
language law was scheduled to come into force to promote the use of
Slovak in public. Hungarian speakers, who numbered about a fifth of
the population, viewed this as a direct attack on their right to
speak their mother-tongue.
(Econ, 8/1/09, p.47)
2009 Sep 16, Hungary said it
will accept a detainee from Guantanamo Bay, inching President Barack
Obama closer to his pledge to close the U.S. military detention
center.
(AP, 9/16/09)
2009 Oct 9, In Hungary
contestants showed off breast implants, nose jobs and face lifts as
Miss Plastic Hungary 2009 strove to promote the benefits of plastic
surgery.
(AP, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 29, In Hungary Laszlo
Majtenyi, the chairman of Hungary's national body in charge of
awarding frequencies (ORTT), announced his resignation after ORTT
took away 2 nationwide licenses from foreign-owned stations and gave
them to 2 local firms, one with links to Fidesz, the right-wing
opposition party.
(www.bbj.hu/?col=1002&id=50638)(Econ,
11/7/09, p.60)
2009 Nov 14, In Moscow Magnus
Carlsen (18) of Norway became the new No. 1 chess player in the
world with a tournament victory over Peter Leko of Hungary.
(SSFC, 11/15/09, p.A6)
2009 Nov 26, In southern
Hungary a student (23) opened fire at a university in the city of
Pecs, killing one student and wounding three other people.
(Reuters, 11/26/09)
2010 Jan 25, The National Bank
of Hungary cut its main interest rate by a quarter percentage point
to 6 percent, its lowest since September 2005.
(AP, 1/25/10)
2010 Feb, Hungarian lawmakers
made it a crime punishable by up to three years in prison to
publicly deny, call into question or minimize the Holocaust. In
June, the law was amended to refer instead to crimes against
humanity committed by the Nazi and communist regimes.
(AP, 1/27/11)
2010 Mar 10, Hungarian
President Laszlo Solyom signed a law making Holocaust denial
punishable by three years in prison.
(AP, 3/10/10)
2010 Apr 11, Hungarians voted
in a general election that looked likely to bring the right-wing
Fidesz party back to power, while giving the far-right Jobbik its
first ticket into parliament. The National Election Office said the
party led by former PM Viktor Orban got 52.8 percent of the votes in
the first round, followed by the governing Socialist Party
with 19.3 percent. Jobbik, a far-right party with anti-Gypsy and
extreme nationalist agenda got 16.7 percent, over three times as
much as any other far-right party since the country's return to
democracy from communism in 1990.
(AFP, 4/11/10)(AP, 4/11/10)
2010 Apr 25, Hungarians went to
the polls for the 2nd round of general elections. The center-right
Fidesz party, led by Viktor Orban, a former prime minister who
promised to restore "law and order" and pull Hungary out of
recession, won a two-thirds parliamentary majority taking 263 of 386
seats. The ruling Socialists won just 59 seats and the far-right
Jobbik party won 47.
(AFP, 4/25/10)(AP, 4/25/10)(Econ, 5/1/10, p.52)
2010 Apr 26, Hungary's central
bank cut its main interest rate by a quarter point to a new all-time
low of 5.25 percent, continuing its run of monetary easing as
inflation appears under control and financial investors more
confident in the country's stability.
(AP, 4/26/10)
2010 May 8, In Hungary Andor
Lilienthal (99), the last surviving member of 27 original
grandmaster chess players, died in Budapest.
(AP, 5/8/10)
2010 May 14, In Hungary Gabor
Vona, the leader of Hungary's nationalist Jobbik party, wore a
banned black vest while taking his oath of office. The Hungarian
Guard was disbanded last year and its black outfits banned, although
the group has continued its activities.
(AP, 5/15/10)
2010 May 18, In southern Poland
2 days of flooding killed at least five people. Officials closed the
Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial site to protect its Holocaust archives
and artifacts. Heavy rains that began in central Europe last weekend
also caused flooding in areas of Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech
Republic, with rivers bursting their banks and inundating low-lying
homes and roads, and cutting off villages.
(AP, 5/18/10)
2010 May 26, Hungary‘s new
government gave ethnic Magyars abroad the right to Hungarian
passports.
(Econ, 6/5/10, p.60)(http://tinyurl.com/2amef5g)
2010 May 31, Hungary‘s new
government passed a bill submitted by the new center-right
government to introduce a National Unity Day on June 4.
(Econ, 6/5/10, p.60)(http://tinyurl.com/2btntca)
2010 Jun 5, Hungary's
government said it aimed to meet this year's budget deficit target,
seeking to draw a line under "exaggerated" talk of a possible
Greek-style debt crisis that unnerved global markets a day earlier.
(Reuters, 6/5/10)
2010 Jun 8, Hungary's new PM
Victor Orban said he would cut public wages, overhaul the tax system
and ban mortgage lending in foreign currencies as he strove to
reassure nervous investors he can contain the budget deficit. Orban
said he would introduce a flat 16 percent income tax.
(Reuters, 6/8/10)
2010 Jul 7, In Philadelphia,
Pa., a 250-foot barge collided on the Delaware River with a stalled
amphibious sightseeing boat. 2 visitors from Hungary were killed. In
2011 tug pilot Matt Devlin agreed to plead guilty to involuntary
manslaughter following evidence that he was talking on a cell phone
during the accident.
(AP, 7/9/10)(SFC, 7/15/11, p.A7)
2010 Sep 18, In Hungary
Hacktivity 2010, the largest computer hackers' conference in eastern
Europe, kicked off, with some 1,000 participants expected to attend
the two-day event.
(AP, 9/18/10)
2010 Oct 4, In Hungary a
torrent of toxic red sludge from an alumina plant tore through
Kolontar and two other villages. The next day Hungary declared a
state of emergency in three counties. After some days 9 people were
reported killed and some 150 injured.
(Reuters, 10/5/10)(AFP, 10/8/10)(AP,
10/11/10)(Econ, 10/16/10, p.63)
2010 Oct 6, Hungary scrambled
to contain a toxic mud spill that left four people dead and more
than 100 injured in what is being described as an ecological
catastrophe. The spill raised fears that pollution leeching from it
could reach the Danube River, which courses through Croatia, Serbia,
Bulgaria, Romania and Ukraine before flowing into the Black Sea.
(AFP, 10/6/10)
2010 Oct 7, Hungary's most
prestigious organization of scientists and researchers said tests of
the red sludge flowing into the Danube show no dangerous heavy metal
levels. Disaster relief officials said more than 150 people, most of
them suffering chemical burns, were treated in hospitals after part
of the MAL Zrt company metals factory reservoir collapsed and a
toxic torrent swept through three villages killing 8 people.
(AP, 10/7/10)(AP, 10/8/10)(AP, 10/11/10)
2010 Oct 9, Hungarian police
and soldiers evacuated 800 from the village of Kolontar as
authorities said a second flood of toxic sludge from a chemicals
plant was likely after new cracks appeared in a dyke.
(AFP, 10/9/10)
2010 Oct 10, A Hungarian
official said the wall of a reservoir filled with caustic red sludge
will inevitably collapse and unleash a new deluge of red sludge that
could flow about a half-mile (1 km) to the north.
(AP, 10/10/10)
2010 Oct 11, Hungary took over
control of the Hungarian Aluminum Production and Trade Company
(MAL). PM Orban said the that Zoltan Bakonyi, the managing director,
of the MAL, has been arrested. Bakonyi’s father, Arpad Bakonyi, had
played a central role in the privatization of the country’s aluminum
industry and remained its largest shareholder.
(SFC, 10/12/10, p.A3)
2010 Oct 13, Hungarian
authorities said the threat of another chemical spill had been
averted and villagers could return home, as the plant responsible
prepared to resume production. The municipal court in Veszprem
released MAL's managing director Zoltan Bakonyi, who had been
brought in for questioning.
(AFP, 10/13/10)(AP, 10/13/10)
2010 Dec 21, Hungary’s Fidesz
party passed the second part of contentious legislation placing
broadcast, print and online media under the supervision of a new
authority with power to impose large fines for ill-defined offenses.
(Econ, 1/8/11, p.53)
2010 Dec 23, Hungary’s
lawmakers approved new budget plans and pledged to get the budget
deficit below 3 percent of national income next year. Fitch Ratings
said the measures proposed, particularly on pensions, could actually
worsen the public finances in coming years.
(AP, 12/23/10)
2011 Jan 1, In Hungary a new
media law went into effect the same day Hungary took over the
rotating EU presidency from Belgium. The law greatly expanded the
state's power to monitor and penalize private news outlets,
including on the Internet. Publications deemed to be unbalanced or
offensive in their coverage could face large fines.
(AP, 1/7/11)
2011 Jan 15, In Hungary three
young women died in a stampede at the West-Balkan nightclub in
downtown Budapest. Thousands of people were caught up in the
stampede and the victims may have been trampled by the rushing
crowd.
(AP, 1/16/11)
2011 Jan 27, In Hungary Bela
Biszku (89), a former Hungarian interior minister, was charged with
publicly downplaying the regime's crimes. He was seen as one of the
main architects of repression after the country's 1956
anti-communist uprising. Biszku was charged because of comments he
made during an appearance on state television on Aug. 4, 2010 in
which he said he had nothing to apologize for.
(AP, 1/27/11)
2011 Apr 18, Hungary's
center-right-dominated parliament adopted a socially and fiscally
conservative new constitution, with 262 votes in favor, 44 against
and one member abstaining. It included a ban on gay marriage
protection of the life of a fetus from conception.
(AFP, 4/18/11)(SFC, 4/19/11, p.A2)
2011 Apr 22, The Hungarian Red
Cross evacuated hundreds of Roma women and children from their homes
because they were frightened of a far-right vigilante group that was
setting up a training camp near their village.
(AP, 4/22/11)
2011 Apr 25, Hungarian
President Pal Schmitt formally signed the country's new constitution
into law, despite heavy criticism from civil groups, rights
organizations and opposition parties.
(AFP, 4/25/11)
2011 Jun 18, In Bulgaria nearly
1,000 marchers joined the fourth gay pride rally in Sofia. Gay pride
rallies were also held in Croatia and Hungary. Hundreds of police
were on duty to protect the marchers following calls by extremist
groups to stop the demonstrations.
(AP, 6/18/11)
2011 Jun 24, Chinese Premier
Wen Jiabao embarked on a three-country tour of Europe, mired in
currency and sovereign debt woes. After talks with Hungary’s PM
Viktor Orban and a reception at a Budapest university, Wen moves on
to London and Berlin before returning home.
(AFP, 6/24/11)
2011 Jun 25, China’s PM Wen
Jiabao, during a visit to Budapest, announced Beijing would purchase
Hungarian government bonds and extend a one-billion-euro credit to
the country.
(AFP, 6/25/11)
2011 Sep, Hungary Fidesz
government under PM Viktor Orban passed legislation allowing
Hungarians to repay the entirety of their mortgages at a fixed rate
of 180 forints ($.85) to the franc. Banks were forced to swallow the
difference.
(Econ, 10/1/11, p.55)
2011 Nov 6, In Egypt 11
Hungarian tourists were killed and 27 injured when their bus
overturned in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada.
(AFP, 11/6/11)
2011 Nov 17, The UN nuclear
agency said a Hungarian manufacturer of medical radioactive
substances was "most probably" the source of increased radiation
levels measured in several European countries in the past weeks.
(AP, 11/17/11)
2011 Dec 15, The director of
Hungary's state news service was fired and the editor-in-chief
reassigned due to the censorship of images in a newscast of a former
head of Hungary's Supreme Court. On Dec 10 three television
employees began holding a hunger strike seeking the dismissal of
managers they say are responsible for censorship and restricting
news coverage in state-owned media.
(AP, 12/16/11)
2011 Dec 23, Hungary’s police
detained former PM Ferenc Gyurcsany and several other opposition
politicians who were protesting against the government outside
Parliament. Government lawmakers were in the process of approving
several contentious laws, including a new central bank law that has
drawn criticism from the European Union.
(AP, 12/23/11)
2011 Dec 27, Hungarian media
officials say two employees, who have been on hunger strike for over
two weeks in protest at alleged political meddling with journalists'
work in state-funded media, have been fired. The state Media Service
Support and Asset Management Fund (MTVA, said that Balazs Nagy
Navarro and Aranka Szavuly were dismissed because their fast — in
which they have only been ingesting liquids since Dec. 10 — is
illegal and a "provocation" of their employer.
(AP, 12/27/11)
2012 Jan 6, Fitch Ratings
downgraded Hungary's credit grade to junk status, citing a standoff
between the country and the EU and the IMF over rescue loans.
(AP, 1/6/12)
2012 Jan 17, The European Union
and Hungary brought their fight over democratic rights fully into
the open, with the EU Commission launching legal challenges against
the former Soviet-bloc country many fear may be slipping back into
authoritarianism.
(AP, 1/17/12)
2012 Jan 18, PM Viktor Orban
said that Hungary's new constitution is based on the core principles
of the EU but acknowledged questions over the independence of the
central bank and the judiciary are understandable.
(AP, 1/18/12)
2012 Mar 28, Hungary’s Pres.
Pal Schmitt refused to resign a day after his alma mater confirmed
media reports that he copied most of his doctoral thesis form other
works 20 years earlier and failed to give credit to them.
(SFC, 3/29/12, p.A2)
2012 Apr 2, Hungarian President
Pal Schmitt (69) resigned because of a plagiarism scandal regarding
a doctoral dissertation he had written 20 years ago.
(AP, 4/2/12)
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