From Budapest to Britain and Back Again [antikvár]

TIBOR FRANKOpening an Archive on Hungarian EmigrationHungary has one of the largest diasporas in Europe. While the current population figure ofthe country itself is hardly over 10 million, some 5-5,5 million Hungarians live scattered around theworld. Most of them, some 3-3,5 million live in the neighbouring countries such as Romania,Slovakia, Yugoslavia (Serbia) and Croatia, while an estimated one million people of Hungarianextraction are in the United States.In contrast to these huge figures the Hungarians of Britain represent a group much moremodest in size, yet their presence chiefly in 19th and 20th century British intellectual and social his-tory is significant. Two former Hungarian heads of state, Lajos Kossuth and Count Mihály Károlyi,went into a long period of British exile. The court painter James Bogdáni, the Orientalist (andalleged British spy) Armenius Vambery, the portraitist Philip de László, and the film director SirAlexander Korda were among the celebrated 'Britons' of their day. Half-Hungarian Leslie Howardis still remembered as a major movie actor. The discoveries of Nobel Laureate Dennis Gábor arepart of the history of science, while Lords Balogh and Kaldor played a significant part in the histo-ry of British Labour. Arthur Koestler and George Mikes are well read 'British' authors, MichaelPolanyi was an internationally recognized physical chemist and philosopher, André Deutsch a majorpublisher. In music, Sir Georg Solti is a household name, Lajos Kentner, Ilonka Kabos, Peter Frankiand András Schiff are celebrated pianists who made their reputation in London.Émigré Hungarians in the 19th century escaped Habsburg authoritarianism when seekingpolitical asylum in Victorian England. Those who went to Britain any time after World War I triedto escape a newly independent Hungary plagued by subsequent attacks of quickly changing dicta-torships and foreign-sponsored totalitarianism. For Jewish Hungarians it was imperative to leavethe Hungary of the Numerus Clausus Act of 1920 or the anti-Semitic legislation of the late 1930sand early 1940s. Gentile liberals also fled from Nazism and, later, Stalinism. Victims ofCommunism were destined to leave before 1949 and after 1956. Those who were discriminatedagainst, or threatened by, the Kádár regime left in large numbers between the 1960s and the 1980s.Over the last two centuries, Britain has mostly become a symbol of tolerance forHungarians. Whether persecuted on political or religious grounds, or suffering from the econom-ic malaise of Central Europe, whoever went to Britain from Hungary at any time sought to find asafe haven. Not only were the celebrated protagonists of the historical Hungarian drama met, as arule, with civility and a commitment to support: a host of 'ordinary' Hungarians have also benefit-ed from British hospitality and have distinguished themselves in almost every walk of life.The lectures of our Hungarian-born British visitors at Eötvös Loránd University recordedover half a century of shared history. It is proper and fitting to call the outcome of this unparalleledventure an archive, as it will serve as one type of unique source material for the history of British-