Paál, László
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Pittsburgh Agreement – When T. G. Masaryk arrived in the United States in May 1918, the American Slovak League, the Catholic Slovak Association, and representatives of other Slovak and Czech associations came together in Pittsburgh, PA. to discuss the future relationship of Slovaks and Czechs within a new country, and to decide on the question of unification. The American Slovaks all desired autonomy, most of them with Hungary, a minority within the Czechs. The Czechs offered equality and an agreement was reached. On 30 May 1918 it was stated that the Slovak people would participate as an equal partner in the future Czechoslovakian Republic. The agreement promised full autonomy to Slovakia, the exclusive use of the Slovak language in public administration in the courts and in the schools, and total self-government through the provincial assemblies. The document was signed by T. Masaryk, as the Head of the Provisional Czech-Slovak Government and the prospective President of the future Czechoslovak Republic, as well as by the representatives of the participating Slovak and Czech organizations. On the basis of the agreement on 18 October 1918, T. Masaryk published the Czechoslovak Declaration of Independence. Since the Czech partner did not ensure the promised autonomy, the American Slovaks demanded on numerous occasions the inclusion of the agreement in the constitution of the Czechoslovak Republic, albeit without success. – B: 1078, 1230, 1138, T: 7665.→Trianon Peace Treaty. Pivány, Jenő (Eugene) (Budapest, 29 April 1873 - New York, NY, 8 January 1946) – Literary historian. He arrived in he USA in 1900, where he managed the financial affairs of émigré Hungarians. He established good relationships with the leaders of American Hungarians and with members of the still existing Kossuth émigrés. He participated in the establishment of the Hungarian Cultural Association of Trenton in 1903, and in the foundation of the Hungarian Association of America in 1906. During the period of the First World War, he was a correspondent for American Hungarian People’s Word (Amerikai Magyar Népszav), and that of the New York Sun in Hungary; later he became Executive Secretary of the Hungarian Association of America. It was in this capacity, through the mediation of President Harding, that the Senate’s External Affairs Committee invited him to Washington in 1919; during the course of the hearing he lodged the protest of American Hungarians against the planned dismemberment of Hungary. The American Government published the recorded stenographic minutes of this. He played a role in the USA in signing a separate peace treaty with Hungary on 29 August 1921. After 1920 he was Department Head of the Central Bank in Budapest and, later on, until his retirement, he was its Manager. In 1926, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences elected him as an external member. The title of his inaugural speech was: Hungarian-American Historical Relationships from the Times Preceding Columbus to the Conclusion of the American Civil War. He examined the Hungarian-American historical relationships and the participation of Hungarians in the American Civil War in numerous English language essays. The Affairs of Hungary 1849-1850 is a collection of diplomatic papers for Congress, which was published in Washington in 1900, and was based on his research. He translated into English the plans of Lajos (Louis) Kossuth for the Danube Confederation; he prepared the Stockholm edition of Zoltán Kodály’s Hungarian Folk Music. About a hundred of his writings were published. His library – the largest collection of English language Hungariana in Hungary – was destroyed in a fire during the siege of Budapest, 1945. – B: 1078, 0883, T: 7659.→Kossuth, Lajos; Trianon Peace Treaty; Kodály, Zoltán. Plachy, Sylvia (Budapest, 1943 - ) – Photographer. She escaped from Hungary during the 1956 Revolution and Freedom Fight. She settled in London, where she became a staff photographer for the Village Voice. She became a success with her regular photo column Unguided Tour, with which she won the prize of the International Center of Photography in 1990. Her pictures are held in the Guggenheim Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Interestingly, as a Hungarian photographer of some note, she has found many famous compatriots who turned out to be some of the world’s most famous photographers: Brassai (pseudonym of Gyula Halász), László (Ladislas) Moholy-Nagy, Robert and Cornell Capa, and André Kertész were also Hungarians, and known to have been helpful to each other in difficult times. – B: 1081, T: 7456.→Moholy-Nagy, László; Capa, Robert; Kertész, André. Plain, Great Hungarian (Nagyalföld) – An alluvial Plain situated in the middle of the Carpathian Basin, dominated by two large rivers: the Danube, forming its western and southern boundary, and the greatest tributary Tisza, dissecting it down the middle from north to south. Its main component areas are the Danube-Tisza Interfluve, the Trans-Tisza Region, and the Bánát Region. The extent of the Plain from north to south is 460-500 km; and from west to east 220-290 km, an area of more than 90,000 km2. Its present name first started to be adopted near the end of the Middle Ages. This large Plain, often appearing monotonous, in fact does not show a uniform picture. Sand hills dominate the Danube-Tisza Interfluve and the Nyírség (in the northeast); the once extensive pusztas (steppes) are now cut by canals, and the River Tisza has numerous ox-bow lakes. The surface of the Plain is a mosaic of lowlands of different altitudes. The Nyírség, encompassed by Nagykároly (now Carei, Romania), Debrecen and Tokaj is a sea of undulating sand hills covered by sparse patches of forests or poor scrub lands; in earlier centuries a barren expanse, but nowadays a region of extensive orchards. The large area formed by the Rivers Berettyó and Karas is the most extensively marshy lowland part of the Plain, several hundred Cumanian hills occur mainly here. The Plain is generally poor in mineral resources; however, more recent research opened up a number of crude oil and especially natural gas occurrences. They are also rich in thermal waters. In past centuries the Plain was dominated by agriculture, especially livestock farming, using the extensive farming method. In the flood plains and marshy lowlands fishing and hunting used to be a widespread occupation, often in a primitive, predatory way. But the more recent flood-mitigating embankment work and land reclamation by draining has led to much more agricultural activity, tillage of the land and, in the sandy areas, the development of fruit production and viticulture. The climate of the Plain tends to vary and can be extreme; its typical phenomena are the sudden and swift hail storms as well as the Fata Morgana mirages. The Magyars, following their initial settlement of the Carpathian Basin (896-900), mainly settled alongside the river flats. After the devastation caused by the Mongol-Tartar invasion (1241-1242), King Béla IV (1235-1270) – in order to resettle depopulated areas – brought in Cumanians to the Danube-Tisza Interfluve. Toward the end of the 13th century, the settlement network stabilized itself in a pattern of fairly densely distributed small villages. During the following centuries, the country town and market town pattern developed, but this suffered disruption by the Ottoman Turkish occupation in the 16th and 17th centuries. Subsequently, the Hungarian population of the southern part of the Plain virtually died out or fled further north. New regions of ethnic groups were formed; the population of the central parts of the Plain concentrated in larger settlements and country towns. From the end of the 14th century, some ethnic groups from the Balkans – fleeing from the Turkish conquerors – regularly received permission to settle on the Plain, mainly on its southern part. A large number of Serbs settled here after the ill-fated uprising against the Turks in 1691. State-run resettlement actions led to the establishment of continuous areas of new German settlers in the Bácska and Bánát areas. At the beginning of the 18th century, Slovakian settlement areas were also formed on the Plain. The more recent Hungarian resettlements came from the tobacco farmers of the Szeged and Csongrád areas and from County Békés during the 19th century. Near the Lower Danube, Szeklers from Bukovina were settled in 1883. After World War II, some of the Germans of the Bácska area and Slovaks of Békés County were deported to their country of origin. Industrial developments on the Plain were slow to appear and the processing industry was limited; but after 1945, more and more industrial plants were built. The two most important towns of the Plain are the history-rich Debrecen, the center of the northeastern part, and Szeged in the southeast, at the confluence of the Tisza and Maros Rivers. – B: 1078, 1134, 1138, T: 7456.
Agriculturally, it is one of the most fertile parts of the Carpathian Basin. The center of the Basin is filled with enormously thick gravel beds (the Győr sub-basin); west of this is the large alluvial fan (detrital cone) of the Danube, forming the Csalló and Sziget Interfluves (Csallóköz and Szigetköz); southwest of these is the alluvial Hanság sub-basin (with the swampy eastern flats of Lake Fertő), surrounded by thick gravel beds (Kemenes-ridge or Kemeneshát); towards north it reaches deep into the Vág (now Vah, Slovakia) River valley, covered with thick deposits of loess. The Little Plain is characterized by lush, grassy meadows and its rivers are lined by dense, fringing forests. In some places aerated springs occur, rich in carbon dioxide. The land is cultivated by intensive farming; there is also active livestock farming. – B: 1078, 1138, T: 7456. Planetary Gearshift – A mechanism of power transmission in machines – mainly in vehicles – functioning with specially fashioned cogwheels, instead of the usual types, which can move along an axle as well as rotating with it. The result is a smoother, more easily performing shift between the gears. The inventor is József Galamb (188l-1955), a chief engineer of the Ford Motor Company. He designed the famous Ford T car, and invented the electric ignition plug as well. – B: 0883, T: 7674.→Galamb, József. Plaster of Paris Bandage – A fixation bandage, made by the usage of burned and dehydrated gypsum powder. It was invented by surgeon János (Johna) Balassa. There is also a splint variation available. In both cases the addition of water produces a porous mass used in making bandages and casts to support or immobilize body parts in the position desired, when it becomes dry and hard. It is the most ideal fixation material in surgical practice, because it sets hard, follows the body contour well, and produces a perfect shape. – B: 1078, 0883, T: 7660.→Balassa, János. Plesch, János (John) (Budapest, 11 November 1878 - Beverly Hills, California, 12 December 1954) – Physician of Hungarian origin, internal pathologist and physiologist. He was born into a physician’s family. At the age of 16, he studied Medicine at the Medical School of the University of Budapest. He became interested in anatomy, physiology and patho-physiology. He went on a study trip to Vienna, Berlin and Italy. Having completed his studies and obtaining a Degree, he worked in a Tuberculosis Sanatorium in Germany. He went to Strasbourg and Paris, where he developed an interest in radioactivity at the Laboratory of Pierre and Marie Curie. In 1903 he moved to Berlin and worked for nine years on his monograph, Hämodynamik (1909), whereby he received a German license to practice medicine and received an honorary lectureship at the University of Berlin. From 1910 to 1933 he worked at the Francis Hospital in Berlin. During World War I, Plesch was working in the army on different fronts until 1917, when he was appointed Professor for internal medicine. In Berlin, he befriended many of the outstanding artists and was a close friend of Albert Einstein. He went on numerous trips around the globe. In 1933, after Hitler came to power in Germany, he emigrated to England, where he worked at the George Hospital, then at the Edward VII Hospital in London, and ran a private practice for heart diseases. After his retirement in 1949, he lived in Montreux in Switzerland. His fields of research and achievement were multi-faceted; however, blood pressure, arteriosclerosis and heart diseases were his main concerns. He invented a new method of percussion (Plesch-percussio); described a chromophoto-meter for blood quantitative determination and he developed an apparatus for functional hemoglobin regulation (Kolbenkeilhämoglobinometer). His autobiography was a bestseller. – B: 1730, 1031, T: 7456, 7103. Pleszkán, Frigyes (Frederick) (Csorna, 1 July 1959 - Óbuda, 24 February 2011) – Jazz piano virtuoso. He started playing piano at the age of 8. He learned classical music from his mother and jazz from his father. At the age of 11, he was impressed by the music of Oscar Peterson and it became his model. In 1973, as a guest, he was admitted to the Jazz Department of the Béla Bartók Music School in Budapest, where he was a student of János (John) Gonda, and later of Béla Lakatos. At the age of 17 he was a soloist at the prestigious Pori Jazz Festival in Finland. The program advertised him as a young prodigy. In 1977 he won the solo piano category in a competition. In 1978 he and two of his Hungarian colleagues won the first three places at the International Jazz Competition at Kalisz in Poland. Besides jazz, he played in other categories. In 1978 and 1979 he was a member of the Lama Ensemble. Pleszkán played the piano part for the Digital May Fest (Digital Majális) GM, in 1985. In 1986 a record appeared, entitled: Keyboard, with two of his compositions. He went abroad, and played a lot in Switzerland. He frequently visited Hungary for concerts and recordings. In 1995 his first album appeared, the Fingerprints, followed by the Second Step (1996), the Pearl in Boogie Shell (1997), and the Magic Hand (1999). In his last years he was interested mainly in jazz-style interpretation of classic music. Pleszkán committed suicide. He left behind compositions enough for three records. He is valued for his virtuosity and style, as well as his humor, both in his music and his life. His talent elevated him to a position among the greatest jazz pianists. – B: 2120, T: 7103. Plósz, Béla (Pest, 19 May 1863 - Budapest, 1945) – Veterinarian. He obtained his Doctor of Veterinary Medicne Degree (DVM) from the Veterinary College of Budapest in 1885, and earned a Ph.D. in Art in the University of Budapest. From 1887 he worked as a demonstrator at the Surgical Department of the Veterinary Academy. In 1894 he was appointed a titular Professor. From 1897 to 1921 he was Professor of Surgery, from 1900 Professor of Ophthalmology until his retirement in 1921. Afterward, he became Director of horse-breeding in the Ministry of Agriculture; later, took over the position of Deputy Under-Secretary of State. He produced some significant scientific literary work, as, for example, the first veterinary surgery textbooks in Hungarian: Surgery (Sebészeti műtéttan) (1897), and Detailed Surgery, vols. i-ii (Részletes sebészet, I-II) (1907-1911). – B: 1730, 1780, 0883, T: 7456. Pluhár, István (Stephen) (Tóváros, 10 December 1893 - Budapest, 1 December 1970) – Sports journalist, radio reporter, sports teacher. He completed his High School studies in Győr, and was member of the City’s Gymnastic Club. He read Law at the University of Budapest, and became a member of the Athletic Club of the University (BEAC). While with this Club, he was twice member of the National Soccer Team under the name of Pápai (1921). He was a contributor, then Chief Contributor for the paper, National Sport (Nemzeti Sport) (1924-1933). He quit regular sports in 1927 and became a sports reporter at home and abroad. From 1933, he was the sports reporter of the Hungarian Radio, where he reported on important soccer and water-polo matches. His report on the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games was memorable. He was Soccer Coach for the Sports Academy, Budapest (1931-1944), and Editor for the paper Physical Training (Testnevelés) (1934-1944). After World War II, he continued to work as a radio reporter. His major works include Book of Sports (Sportok könyve) edited (1935); The Berlin Olympic Games (A berlini olimpia) (1936); History of Hungarian Sport Clubs (Magyarországi Sportegyesületek története) editor (1942); Swedish World, Swedish Sport (Svéd világ, svéd sport), (1943), and Our Love, the Microphone (Szerelmünk a mikrofon), with Gy. Szepesi (1947). – B: 0883, 1160, T: 7103.→Szepesi, György. Podmaniczky, Baron Frigyes (Frederick) (Pest, 20 June 1824 - Budapest, 19 October 1907) – Politician, writer. After completing his studies, he became a clerk, working for County Deputy Gedeon Ráday. Until 1847, he was a deputy clerk of County Pest, and he took part in the 1847 Diet of Pozsony (now Bratislava, Slovakia). In 1848 he was a member and clerk of the Upper House of Parliament. During 1848-1849 War of Independence from Habsburg rule, he was a Hussar Captain and Troop Commander. After the surrender at Világos, as a punishment from the Habsburg Authorities, he had to serve as a private in the Austrian Army in Milan, until 1850. Then he retired from public life and switched to ecclesiastical and literary work. He was Superintendent of the Lutheran Bánya (Mines) District (1867-0873), and was the Editor of the journal, Our Country (Hazánk) (1868-1869). From 1873 to 1905 he worked as the President of the Council of Public Works in the Capital City; he achieved a great deal in the development of the City. Between 1875 and 1885, he was the Administrator of the Opera House and the National Theater, and both of them flourished. From 1861 to 1906 he was a Member of Parliament and President of the Liberal Party (Szabadelvű Párt) until its cessation. His literary works: novels, short stories, travelogues and diaries were popular reading in his time. His works include Dream and Reality vols. i, ii, (Álom és valóság, I,II) short stories (1861). He was a corresponding member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (1859). A Street and a School in Budapest bear his name. – 1068, 0883, 1445, T: 7456.→Freedom Fight of 1848-1849; Székács, József. Podolini-Volkmann, Arthur (Podolin, 1891 - Pretoria, South Africa, 1943) – Painter. He studied at Nagybánya (now Baia Mare, Romania), under Károly (Charles) Ferenczy, and then in Italy and Germany. From 1911 on, he exhibited in Budapest’s National Salon, and in the House of Arts (Művészház). He founded a progressive private school and exhibited his collective works in the National Salon in 1920; and again in 1923, in the Helikon. After emigrating to the USA in the early 1930s, he settled in New York. Later, he traveled to South Africa and lived in Pretoria, where he established his own private school. His oil paintings include Nagybánya Landscape (Nagybányai táj); Heavy Yoke (Nehéz iga), and Fishing Village in Sunshine (Halászfalu napsütésben). – B: 0883, T: 7677.→Ferenczy, Károly. Pogány, Frigyes (Frederick) (Budapest, 9 September 1909 - Budapest, 15 December 1976) – Architect, art historian. In 1933 he obtained his Degree from the Budapest Polytechnic. Initially, he worked in the office of the architect Márton Szabó (1933-1935). He was a stage designer at the Hunnia Film Studio; thereafter, worked in state organizations. From February 1949 he worked at the Metropolitan Planning Institute and, later, he was appointed in charge of the studio of the Budapest Esthetic Town Planning Company (BUVÁTI). In this assignment, individually and with his colleagues, he prepared a number of town-planning projects, such as the Danube banks, Inner city, parts of Old-Buda, hotels, plan for the first restoration plan of the Royal Palace, the March 15th Plaza in Vác (north of Budapest), placing of the new National Theater, etc. Pogány organized the registration of historic buildings. From 1949, as an invited lecturer, from 1952 as an assistant professor, and from 1958 as a full professor, he gave lectures in the Department of Town Planning of the Budapest Polytechnic. Concurrently, he gave lectures on the History of Arts at the University of Budapest. In 1964 he became Master of the School of Applied Arts. He published numerous works on the esthetics of building and industrial art, and also on the protection of historic buildings. From the beginning of his career he was a member, and for several years President of the Hungarian Architects’ Association, and President of the Special Committee of the Qualifying Committee of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. His works include Practical Architectural Esthetics (Gyakorlati épitészeti esztétika) with István Nagy (1952); The Art of Plazas and Streets (Terek és utcák művészete) with Sándor Kasper (1954); Historic Monuments of Budapest (Budapest műemlékei) with Miklós Horler (1955), and the The World of Architecture (Az épitészet világa, series (1975). He was awarded the Ybl Prize (1954) and the State Prize (1966). – B: 0883, T: 7456. Pogány, Judit (Judith) (Kaposvár, 10 September 1944 - ) – Actress. In 1965 she was a minor actress in the Gergely Csiky Theater (Csiky Gergely Színház) of Kaposvár, where, in 1970 she was included among the actors and, until 1978 she was a member of that theater. From 1978 to 1980 she played in the National Theater (Nemzeti Színház) in Budapest; since 1980 she has again been a member of the theater of her native town. Since 1994 she has been a freelance actress, appearing in the Örkény Theater (Örkény Színház) and the Attila József Theater (József Attila Színház). She is an actress of individual physique and voice, her scope unusually wide. She excels equally as a performer of clumsy charm in children’s pieces, and as a heroine of tragedies. Her roles include Rosalinda in Shakespeare’s As You Like It (Ahogy tetszik); Cressida in Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida; Ariel in Shakespeare’s The Tempest (A vihar); Anna Petrovna in A. Chekhov’s Ivanov; Natasha in Gorky’s Night Refuge (Éjjeli menedékhely); Juli in Ferenc Molnár’s Liliom, adapted by Benjamin F Glazer as Carousel, set to music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II; and Polina Andrejevna in Chekhov’s The Seagull (A sirály). She was involved in a number of films, and roles for radio; she also dubbed films. There are more than 50 feature and TV films to her credit, including 74 Bastion Promenade (Bástyasétány ’74) (1974); Imre (1979); Szaffi (1984); Eldorado (1988); Revolt (Lázadás) (1993); Premiere (1999); Sobri (2002); Dinner (Vacsora (2008), and Feri Zimmer (2, 2010). Among her TV films are The Foreigners (A külföldiek) (1975); The Magic Forest (A bűvös erdő) (1978); Ball of Fools (Bolondok bálja) (1984), and Somebody is Knocking (Valaki kopog) (2000). She was awarded, among others, the Mari Jászai Prize (1978), the Golden Lion Prize (1979), the Artist of Merit title (1987), the Komor Ring (1990), and the Hekuba Prize (1996), the Miklós Gábor Prize (2007), the Kossuth Preize (2008), and she is Life Member of the Society of Immortals (2010). – B: 1445, 1031, T: 7456. Pogány, Ödön (Edmund) (Devecser, 3 February 1886 - Budapest, 26 July 1967) – Physician, otolaryngologist and rhinologist. He obtained his Medical Degree from the University of Budapest in 1908. Between 1908 and 1912 he was an Intern at the Otolaryngological and Rhinological Clinic. From 1912 to 1919, he was an assistant physician in Rhinology in the Jewish Hospital of Budapest; in 1919 and 1920 a senior physician of the Municipal Hospital of Újpest (suburb of Budapest) but, because of his conduct, he was removed from office. Between 1920 and 1945 he was a private physician. From 1930 to 1945 he worked as Chief Physician of the Israelite Hospice; between 1945 and 1947, he was its Director. In 1947 he became an honorary lecturer. From 1947 to 1953 he served as Chief Physician of the Otological-neurological Section of the National Neurosurgical Institute. He was author of the work: Vegetative Nervous System and the Hearing Organ (A vegetativ idegrendszer és a hallószerv) (1947). – B: 1730, 0883, T: 7456. Pogány, Ö. Gábor (Gabriel) (Kispest, 21 July 1916 - Budapest, 22 March 1998) – Art-historian. He started his university studies at the University of Budapest and continued in Berlin and Paris. From 1945 he was an associate at the Museum of Fine Arts; from 1947 Director of the Gallery of the Capital City; from 1950 to 1952 Deputy President of the Central Museum; from 1956 to 1957 Deputy Chief Director of the Museum of Fine Arts; from 1967 to 1980 the Chief Director of the National Gallery and Editor-in-Chief for the Fine Art Gazette (Szépművészeti értesitő). Pogány's field of research was 19th and 20th century painting and sculpture. Among his works are Revolutions of Hungarian Painting (A Magyar festészet forradalmai) (1946); Hungarian Sculpturing (Magyar szobrászat) with Endre Gádor (1953), and Hungarian Painting in the 19th Century (Magyar festészet a XIX században) (1959, in English, Russian and German translations. He was awarded the Baumgarten Prize. – B: 1257, 0883, T: 7103. Pógyor, István (Stephen) (Sárosoroszi, now Orosievo, Carpatho-Ukraine, 26 January 1902 - Budapest, 7 November 1953) – Youth leader. He was born into a poor family of many children. After completing primary school, with the assistance of Sarolta Lukács, President of the Hungarian Red Cross, he continued his studies and passed the maturity examination in a commercial high school. After this he joined the Young Men’s Christian Association – YMCA (Keresztyén Ifjusági Egyesület – KIE), soon to become its Assistant Secretary. Between 1925 and 1928 he studied for one year at each of the German towns of Kassel, Stuttgart and Barmen (part of Wuppertal), and became familiarized with the organizing and conducting of youth work. In 1930 and 1931 he studied at the YMCA Academy in Springfield, USA. Returning to Hungary in January 1932, he became National Secretary of the KIE, after the death of Zoltán Töltéssy. Through his influence, the KIE became one of the centers for the struggle for improvement of village life. István Pógyor campaigned for the establishment of peoples’ colleges, also in the territories returned to Hungary by the two Vienna Awards (1938 and 1940). He organized a national conference to take place between 12 and 15 August 1939. During World War II, he organized the refugee and ambulance-rescue services. In 1946 the autonomy of the KIE was suspended and in the developing hard-line Communist rule, on 7 June 1951, he was arrested together with Count László (Ladislas) Teleki, and brought to trial on the basis of false allegations in November 1951. He was sentenced to 6 years in prison. The Court of Appeal rejected his appeal. He died, aged 51, in the transit prison in 1953. He was buried in an unmarked grave at the 301 Parcel of the New Common Cemetery (Újköztemető) in Budapest. His tomb’s location was revealed only in 1989. A plaque on the wall of the Salétrom Street Reformed Church in Budapest preserves his memory. – B: 0883, 1539, T: 7456.→Christian Youth Association; Töltéssy, Zoltán; Kovács Bálint. Pohárnok, Jenő (Eugene) (Győr, 28 November 1898 - Munich, 14 November 1962) – Poet, writer, journalist. He taught at the Teachers’ College of Győr. Several of his plays appeared on stage in Hungary, and some novels and youth works of his were published as well. He also wrote poems and articles for newspapers. In the spring of 1945, when the fighting in World War II ravaged Hungary, he fled to southern Germany. For a while, he was the publisher of New Hungaria (Új Hungária) in Munich. He also published articles in the papers Shepherd’s Fire (Pásztortűz); Canadian Hungarian News (Kanadai Magyar Újság), Hungarian Book Lover (Magyar Könyvbarát) and the Vienna-based Hungarian Courier (Magyar Híradó), as well as in other émigré publications. Apart from poems and stories, he wrote some textbooks. His works include Short Stories (Elbeszélések) (1948); The King of the Children (A gyermekek királya) youth novel (1948); King Saint Stephen (Szent István király) novel (1952); Das Ehrenwort, novel (1959), and Tarcisius, youth novel in German (1961). – B: 1672, 1878, T: 7456. Poland, Hungarians in – Polish-Hungarian friendly relations existed through the past eleven centuries. Both Poland and Hungary are very old nations of Europe, established their statehoods at about the same time - more than one thousand years ago. Both adopted Western (Roman) Christianity in association with the founding of their national states. Both, at a very early stage of their nationhood, recognized their common fate - being threatened by Pan-Germanism from their western border, and Russia-oriented Pan-Slavism from their eastern side. During their respective histories, the two nations twice had a common ruler: King Lajos I (Louis the Great, 1342-1382), one of whose daughters, Hedwig (Jadwiga, 1373-1399), became Queen of Poland, Hungary and Lithuania, who was later beatified. István (Stephen) Báthori, Reigning Prince of Transylvania (Erdély, now in Romania) was elected King of Poland (1576-1586) after the Jagiello House died out. The good relationship continued until modern times. In 1939, at the beginning of World War II, many Polish officers and Jews found refuge in Hungary. In the last half-century, some 500 Hungarian people settled in Poland. In 1994 they founded the Association of Hungarians in Poland (Współnota Węgierska w Polsce). There is a Hungarian Cultural Institute in Warsaw, and a Polish-Hungarian Friendship Society. At the beginning of the third millennium, Hungarians lived in the areas of Krakow, Katowice and Wroclav, and they founded their own separate organization, the Association of Hungarians in Southern Poland. Most of them live in mixed marriages. Since 1999, the Adorján Divéky Hungarian Weekend School has been functioning in Warsaw. Hungarian language is taught in the Mickiewicz High School in Krakow, and Hungarian literature at the Jagiellonian University. In the Universities of Warsaw and Poznan there is a Chair of Hungarian Philology. The Hungarian community commemorates Hungarian national holidays, lays wreaths at the Hungarian memorials in Warsaw, and keeps contact with Hungary. – B: 1454, 1827, T: 7103.→Lajos I, King (Louis the Great); Báthory, Prince István; Hedvig, Saint; Polish-Hungarian Personal Union. Polányi, John Charles (Berlin, 1929 - ) – Chemist and physicist. He was born into a Jewish-Hungarian family. He became a Nobel Prize Laureate in Chemistry in 1986, shared, “for contributions concerning the dynamics of chemical elementary processes”. When Hitler came into power in 1933, the family moved from Germany to England, where Polányi continued his education. His university training was at the University of Manchester, where he obtained his B.Sc. in 1949, and his Ph.D. in 1952. From 1952 to 1954 he was a post-doctoral fellow at the National Research Council Laboratories in Ottawa, Canada and, from 1954 to 1956, he was Research Associate at Princeton University. In 1956 he joined the academic staff of the University of Toronto, where he has been a professor since 1962. Since 1982, Polányi has been a member of the Science Advisory Board at the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics, Germany. He is also a founding member of the Royal Society of Canada, where he has been a Fellow since 1966; he became a Fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1971, and has been a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 1976, as well as a member of the Pontifical Academy of Rome (1986). He is the recipient of Honorary Doctorates from a number of Universities (Waterloo, 1970; Harvard, 1982; Queen’s, 1992, etc.). He has also been awarded medals and prizes from numerous learned societies, such as the Centenary Medal of the British Chemical Society (1965), the Wolf Prize in Chemistry (shared, 1982), and the Royal Medal of the Royal Society of London (1989). He is a Companion of the Order of Canada (1979). He is the author of many scientific papers, as well articles on scientific policy, on the control of armaments, and on the impact of science on society; he co-edited the work entitled The Dangers of Nuclear War (1979). – B: 1196, 1031, T: 7456.→Polányi, Michael; Polányi, Károly. Polányi, Károly (Karl, Charles) (Vienna, 25 October 1886 - Pickering, Ont., Canada, 23 April 1964) – Economist and sociologist. He was the descendant of a Jewish family, a relative of John Charles and Michael Polányi. In 1908 he earned a Doctorate in Political Science and Law from the University of Budapest. He was the first President of the Galilei Circle, an organization of bourgeois radical young intellectuals, between 1908 and 1919. Because of the role he played in the Democratic Revolution in the fall of 1918, he had to emigrate to Austria. His study, Socialist Accountancy, appeared in 1922. He was foreign Editor for Der Österreichische Volkswirt, and lecturer at the People’s College in Vienna. He became a correspondent for the Viennese Hungarian News (Bécsi Magyar Újság). In 1933 he moved to England. From 1940 to 1942 Polányi was a lecturer of tutorial classes, run by the Women's Emergency Accommodation Centre – WEAC under the auspices of the Universities of Oxford and London. With his wife, Ilona Duczynska, he took part in the political activity of the democratic émigrés. After World War II, he settled in Canada. Between 1947 and 1953 he was a lecturer at the Faculty of Economics at Columbia University (New York), where he ran courses in his latter years. His works on sociology and economics appeared mainly in English. His works in Hungarian appeared in New Horizon (Új Látóhatár) and Literary News (Irodalmi Újság). With Ilona Duczynska he edited an English language Literary Anthology. His works include Christianity and the Social Revolution, co-editor (1935); Origins of Our Time (1945); The Great Transformation (1957); The Archaic Society and the Economic View (Az archaikus társadalom és a gazdasági szemlélet) (1976), and Fascism, Democracy, Industrial Society (Fasizmus, demokrácia, ipari társadalom) (1986). – B: 0893, 1257, 1672, T: 4342, 7456.→Polányi, Michael; Polányi, John Charles. Polányi, Michael (Mihály) (Budapest, 11 March 1891 - Northampton, MA, USA, 22 February 1976) – Chemist, philosopher, theologian. He was the fourth child of Michael and Cecilia Pollacsek, secular Jews from Ungvár (then in Hungary, now Ushhorod in Ukraine) and Vilnius in Lithuania, respectively. His father's family were entrepreneurs, while his mother's father was the chief rabbi of Vilnius. The family moved to Budapest and Magyarized their surname to Polányi. His father built much of the Hungarian railway system, but lost most of his fortune in 1899, when bad weather caused a railway building project to go over budget. He died in 1905. His was the father of Nobel Prize Laureate John Polányi, and elder brother of Karl Polányi, the political economist. He received his education in Physics, Chemistry and Medicine in Budapest. As a physician, he participated in World War I, was wounded and dring his recuperating years he wrote a doctoral dissertation in Physical Chemistry (1917). In 1920 he moved to Germany, and began working at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute, Berlin. It was during this period that he befriended Jenő (Eugen) Wigner and became an internationally recognized chemist. After the National Socialists came to power in Germany in 1933, he moved to England and was Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Manchester, where he later also taught Social Studies (1948-1958). During his work carried out in Berlin, he developed a close relationship with Albert Einstein and with the representatives of the just evolving field of Quantum Mechanics. Polányi was the first to employ Quantum Mechanics in chemistry. He was well known for his studies on thermodynamics, especially in chemical kinetics and transition-state theory, and he was experienced in X-ray analysis of fibers and crystals. In 1948 Polányi turned to the study of Philosophy and Theology. For the most part, he rejected the one-sided, neo-positivist Popper concepts, and emphasized instead the presence of a verbally not easily communicable, more personal “tacit knowledge”. In his later period, besides Scientific Philosophy, he turned to the study of Theology, which served as a background for his Scientific Philosophy concept. His manuscript collection is held in the Polányi Archives in the USA. Although he considered himself to be a Hungarian thinker, lexicons and other publications refer to him as an English philosopher, having spent mmmany years in Englnd. His significant works include Atomic Reactions (London, 1932); Science, Faith and Society (Chicago, London, 1946); Personal Knowledge, Toward a Post-Critical Philosophy (Chicago, London, 1958), and The Tacit Dimension (Garden City, NY, 1966). However, he was not awarded the Nobel Prize for his advancements in chemistry. – B: 1028, 1031, T: 7617, 7456.→Wigner, Jenő; Polányi, John; Polányi, Károly. Polcz, Alaine (Kolozsár, now Cluj-Napoca, Romania, 7 October 1922 - Budapest, 21 September, 2007) – Psychologist and writer. She graduated from a high school in Kolozsvár. During World War II, she was wounded and became clinically dead. This experience was decisive to her entire life. She read Psychology at the University of Budapest, and graduated in 1949. She obtained her Ph.D. in 1957. She conducted art-therapy with adults with mental disorders, and later ssshe dealt with play-diagnostics at an institute for mentally handicapped children, where she developed a play-test. She produced psychological films as well. Alaine Polcz worked as psychologist at the palliative care section of No. 2 Childrens’ Clinic, Budapest. She played an important part in the foundation of the Hungarian Hospice Movement and was President of that organization. She was a world-renowned thanatologist. Her works include Puppet-play and Psychology (Bábjáték és psycológia) (1966); The School of Death (A halál iskolája) (1989); Do I Die too? Death and the Child (Meghalok én is?, A halál és a gyermek) (1993), and Woman on the Front. A Chapter out of my Life (Asszony a fronton. Egy fejezet életemből) (1995). She received the Book of the Year Award (1991), the Tibor Déry Award (1992) and the Middle Cross of Merit of the Republic of Hungary (2001). – B: 1257, 0878, 1031, T: 7103. Poldini, Ede (Edward) (Pest, 13 June 1869 - Vevey, Switzerland, 28 June 1957) – Composer and piano virtuoso. He gained his qualification from the National Conservatories of Pest and in Vienna. In 1885, Ferenc (Franz) Liszt accepted him as his student. From 1908 he lived in Switzerland. He received a prize for his work, Wakening (Ébresztő), and became known by it. As a composer, he was most successful with his pieces for the stage. His fairy plays with singing, such as The Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Iron-nosed Witch; his operas: Vagabond and the Princess (Csavargó és királyleány), Silk-net (Selyemháló), Rogue (Himfy), and his ballet Northern Light – all appeared on the stages of Budapest. His most popular work is the comic opera: Carnival Wedding-feast (Farsangi lakodalom) (1924). He composed other pieces of music for orchestra (originally for piano), such as the Poupee Valsante (The Dancing Puppet), Arlequinades, Morceaux pittoresques, Épisodes à Marionettes la cour, Images, Moments musicaux. He was a Late Romantic composer; he renewed the traditions of piano literature in an independent manner with his sensitive sense of color and also with healthy new melodies. They gained popularity in England and in the United States. – B: 1197, 1445, 0883, 1031, T: 7684, 7456. Polgár, Judit (Judith) (Budapest, 23 July 1976 - ) – Chess player. She was born into a Jewish family, many members of which perished in theNatgional Socialist times. She is a female international Grand Master, twice Olympic Games Champion in chess, (1988, 1990 team). In 1988 she was Wor1d Champion among the 12-year-old boys; she was ranked first on the world list for women. She was a winner, or placed high at several international tournaments for men, and received the Oscar Award in 1989. She was World Champion again at a men’s tournament in 1991. She is a Hungarian Chess Grandmaster. – B: 1031, 1020, T: 7675. Polgár, László (Ladislas) (Somogyszentpál, 1 January 1947 - Zürich, 19 September 2010) – Singer (Bass). His training was obtained at the Ferenc (Franz) Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest, as a student of Éva Kurucz and Mrs. Ferenc (Francis) Révhegyi. He also attended master-classes with Hans Hotter in Vienna. He had his debut in 1971 in the role of Count Ceprano in Verdi’s Rigoletto. In 1972 he gained a scholarship from the Vienna Opera House, and from 1973 he was its solo singer. At first he sang comprimario (supporting) roles, but soon became the leading bass singer of the Opera House of Vienna. He was regular guest artist in the Opera Houses of the world: at the Viennese Staatsoper, also at Brussels, Hamburg, Salzburg, Munich, Antwerp, Brussels, Amsterdam, Lausanne, Paris, London, Milano, Tokyo, Tel Aviv and Buenos Aires. He was a member of the Opera House in Zürich. László Polgár worked with conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Pierre Boulez, Christoph von Dohnányi, and Sir George Solti. He was an outstanding oratorio and Lieder singer with an international reputation. He was a professor at the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest. His major roles included Leporello in Mozart’s Don Giovanni; Sarastro in Mozart’s The Magic Flute (Varázsfuvola); Phillip II in Verdi’s Don Carlos, Guardian in Verdi’s The Force of Destiny (La Forza del Destino, A végzet hatalma); King Marke in Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde; Gurnemanz in Wagner’s Parsifal, and Duke Bluebeard in Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle (A kékszakállú heceg vára). He participated in the production of numerous records. He won awards at many international Voice Competitions, winning first prizes at the Dvořák (1971), the Schumann (1974), and the Erkel (1975) Competitions, as well as in Ostende (1977), at the ones sponsored by Hungarian Radio (Budapest, 1977), and Luciano Pavarotti (Philadelphia, 1981) Competitions respectively. He was awarded the title of Merited Artist (1987), the Ferenc Liszt Prize (1986), and the Kossuth Prize (1990). – B: 1445, 1735, T: 7456, 7103.→Dohnányi, von Christoph; Solti, Sir George. Polgár, Tibor (Budapest, 11 March 1907 - 26 August, Toronto 1993) – Composer, conductor, pianist. He pursued his music studies at the Music Conservatory, Budapest, and then in the Department of Compositions and Piano at the Ferenc (Franz) Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest under the direction of Zoltán Kodály and Imre Keéri-Szántó. Between 1925 and 1950 he worked in various assignments: as a correspondent for the Hungarian Radio, then as its outside consultant for another ten years. In the 1930s he also worked as the Conductor of the National Theater (Nemzeti Színház), Budapest. Between 1958 and 1961 he was Music Director of the Petőfi- and Jókai Theaters (Petőfi és Jókai Színházak), Budapest. In 1961 he emigrated to the West and finally settled in Toronto. After leaving Hungary he led the Philharmonia Hungarica in Germany (1962-1964) and the University of Toronto Symphony Orchestra (1965-1966). He was an instructor in the University of Toronto Opera Division (1966-1975), and a coach for the Canada Opera Company. He taught Orchestration at York University in 1976-1977. Polgár retired in the late 1970s, but remained an active composer. His work as a composer embraces the whole area of serious and light music. He composed for feature and documentary films, including In Praise of Older Women, and appeared briefly in it as a pianist. He often employed Hungarian idioms in his compositions. His works include Florentine Hat (Florentin kalap) (1948); The Wily Widow (A furfangos özvegy) (1948); The Suitors (A kérők) (1955), and in his later years he composed the one-act opera The Glove (1973), performed close to four hundred times; the Concerto Romantico, and The Four Seasons. The title of one of his last compositions is Notes on Hungary. His much-performed compositions for wind instruments received first prize among composers of several countries. He twice received the Ferenc Erkel Prize and an award from the American Harp Society in 1992. – B: 0893, 1445, 1786, T: 7456, 7103.→Kodály, Zoltán. Polish-Hungarian Personal Union – When the Polish King Casimir III died on 5 November 1370, the male line of the ruling Piat family died out. According to the Treaty of Succession of 1339, the Polish Diet invited Lajos I, (Louis the Great, 1342-1382), the King of Hungary, to occupy the Polish throne. He was crowned on 17 November 1370 in the Cathedral of Krakow. On 10 September 1382, King Lajos I died. On 15 October 1382, his younger daughter, Hedwig, under the name Jadwiga, was crowned Queen of Poland. With her coronation, the Polish-Hungarian Personal Union ended. However, István Báthori (Báthory) (1576-1586), Reigning Prince of Transylvania (Erdély, now in Romania), was elected King of Poland (1576-1586) after the Jagello House died out. He was buried in Krakow. – B: 1230, T: 7665.→Lajos I, King; Hedvig, Saint; Poland, Hungarians in. Political Parties in Hungary (Major Parties) – The development of political parties has been relatively stable since 1990. In other Central and Eastern European countries, there have been radical changes in political parties, with a number of parties disappearing and others suddenly rising to prominence, amidst many splits and joining. In Hungary, however, most of the parties that are in Parliament now were there already in 1990. The reason for this is the relative mildness of the Communist dictatorship and the reform efforts at the end of the 1980s, which meant that opposition parties had already established themselves in 1988. This does not mean there have not been changes. As a development typical for Eastern Europe, the platform movement (Hungarian Democratic Forum – Magyar Demokratikuis Fórum – MDF), which gained spectacular successes at the first elections, has fallen back just as spectacularly. Similarly, other parties have suddenly risen to prominence or fallen into obscurity. These parties are as follows: Alliance of Free Democrats (Szabad Demokraták Szövetsége – SZDSZ) has its origins in the democratic opposition of the 1980s, and was founded in November 1988, as an opposition party to the Communist regime, dominated by a hard-core of Budapest intellectuals. It has been troubled by internal struggles. SZDSZ now defines itself as a social-liberal people’s party. Support is found especially among the middle classes, liberal intellectuals and entrepreneurs. In the 1994 election the SZDSZ formed a coalition with the Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP), the successor of the Communist MSZMP, and ruled until 1998. The SZDSZ suffered heavy losses in the 1998 elections, after which the entire leadership stepped down, but many have returned in other positions, demonstrating the lack of a new generation in the SZDSZ. Former chairman, Gábor Kuncze, led the parliamentary faction. Soon, he again became the leader of the party in 2002, in coalition with the MSZP, to govern the country. In 2008 he abdicated as faction-leader. The party popularity was around the parliamentary threshold of 5 percent. In the 2010 election the Party fell out of the Parliament and ceased to exist. Christian Democratic People’s Party (Keresztény Demokrata Néppárt – KDNP) – Founded by ecclesiastical leaders between 1943 and 1944, it was stamped illegal well after the end of World War II, due to the growing Soviet influence. When a fraction of the party, under the leadership of István (Stephen) Barankovics dropped the “Christian” from the name, it became the Democratic People’s Party (Demokrata Néppárt – DPN) and was legitimized. At the 1947 election, it won 62 seats in Parliament, and became the strongest opposition as an anti-Communist organization. Since the party did not want to participate in the show trial against Cardinal Mindszenty in 1949, the Party leaders, in order to avoid arrest by the Communist Secret Police, left the country and the Party ceased to function. However, with the political changes, the party was refounded under the name of Christian Democratic People’s Party in 1989. It was part of the Parliament until 1988 and, since that time, it has been associated with the Fidesz Hungarian Civic Union Party as a fraction. The Party has had 23 representatives since the 2006 election. At the 2010 election the Fidesz-KDNP candidates won enough seats to achieve a two-thirds majority required to modify major laws and the country's constitution. The Party’s leader is Zsolt Semjén. Democratic Coalition Party (Demokratikus Koalíció Párt – DKP) – It was founded on 22 October 2011, in Budapest. The Party took over the Democratic Party, which was founded just a few months earlier; renamed it, changed its bylaws and its leadership. The new Party characterizes itself as a western-type civil-left-centrist Party. Its ideology is not yet known. The membership comprises personal and political supporters of Ferenc (Francis) Gyurcsány. The Party has begun as a platform of the Hungarian Socialist Party (Magyar Szocialista Párt – MSZP) with the presidency of Gyurcsány on 22 October 2010. Its aim was the inner transformation of the MSZP. Since it did not succeed, the relation between the mother party and its platform deteriorated to the point that the breaking-off was unavoidable. The formation of the new Party was announced by F. Gyurcsány at the first year anniversary of the platform. It was founded with ten MSZP members of Parliament, headed by F. Gyurcsány, the former prime minister. The aim is the defeat of the Orbán Government and the creation of the 4th Republic in Hungary. – B: 1704, 1031, T: 7301. Fidesz Hungarian Civic Union Party (Fidesz Magyar Polgári Szövetség – MPSZ) so-called since 17 May 2003 (before that, it was The Alliance of Young Democrats – Hungarian Citizen Party – MPP), was originally a liberal party founded in March 1988 by university students and young intellectuals. Its original attraction lay in the youthful, libertarian attitude of opposition, first to the Communists and later, toward the conservatism and nationalism of the Independent Smallholders’ Party (Független Kisgazdapárt, FKgP). Viktor Orbán succeeded in transforming Fidesz into a mainstream conservative party, a change, which can be seen from the adding of the name “citizens’ party” to the original Fidesz of 1995. From its liberal beginnings, the party has now taken up conservative, national and Christian themes, and has criticized the economic reform policies of the MSZP government as “too harsh”. Change has been criticized by some of the original supporters of Fidesz, who feel that Orbán has conceded too much in order to gain power. Some members have left to join the SZDSZ; nevertheless, in the 1998 elections, Fidesz gained a massive victory. After the elections, Orbán chose to form a coalition with the FKgP, a traditional opponent of the many libertarian supporters of Fidesz. Fidesz-MPP barely lost the 2002 and the 2006 elections when they were in opposition. At the 2010 election the Fidesz-KDNP candidates won enough seats to achieve a two-thirds majority required to modify major laws and the country's constitution. Viktor Orban could lead his second government. Hungarian Democratic Forum (Magyar Demokrata Fórum, MDF) was founded as a platform movement in 1987 in opposition to the Kádár regime. Originally a nationalist movement advocating a Hungarian “third way”, it later adopted more traditional conservative and Christian democratic views. It found support among diverse social groups. As a general focus of opposition to Communism, it won a major election victory in 1990. Before the 1994 elections, the MDF – with 164 seats – led the government coalition. The party lost heavily in 1994, due to the economic recession and the adverse social effects of reform. After the death of the first democratically elected post cold war Prime Minister, József (Joseph) Antall, Lajos (Louis) Für, and subsequently Sándor (Alexander) Lezsák became party leaders. The latter proposed a nationalistic program. The leader of the moderate wing in the MDF, Ivan Szabó, lost the leadership elections and left with 15 other MPs to form the Hungarian Democratic People’s Party in 1996. The MDF has not been able to make the transformation from platform movement to political party, dropping to 17 seats in the 1998 elections, despite a coalition agreement with Fidesz. On the party lists, the MDF did not even make 5%. In the 2002 and 2006 elections, the party remained in Parliament under the leadership of Ibolya (Violet) Dávid. The Party got fragmented and could not enter Parliament after the 2010 election, it dissolved itself. Hungarian Socialist Party (Magyar Szocialista Párt, MSZP), successor of the Hungarian Socialist Worker Party (Magyar Szocialista Munkás Párt, MSZMP), a Communist Party, ruled Hungary from 1956 until 1989. In Hungary, at the end of 1988, the multi-party system became a realistic political possibility. The governing Communist Party recognized the opposition organizing itself into the Opposition Round Table, and was prepared to negotiate over the legal framework of peaceful transition. At a party congress in October 1989, the Communists agreed to give up their monopoly on power, paving the way for free elections in March 1990. The party’s name was changed from the Hungarian Socialist Workers’ Party to simply the Hungarian Socialist Party, and a new program advocating social democracy and a free market economy was adopted. This was not enough to shake off the stigma of four decades of autocratic rule; however, the 1990’s vote was won by the centrist Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF), which advocated a gradual transition toward capitalism. As Gorbachev looked on, Hungary changed political systems with scarcely a murmur and the last Soviet troops left Hungary in June 1991. However, MSZP won the 1994 election and in coalition with SZDSZ, Prime Minister Gyula (Julius) Horn governed the country till 1988, when they lost to the Fidesz-MPP-FKgP coalition. The MSZP-SZDSZ coalition returned to power in the 2002 election, under the leadership of László (Leslie) Kovács, and Péter Medgyessy became Prime Minister, who resigned in 2006. The Party repeated its victory in the 2006 election with István (Stephen) Hiller as its President. From 2004, the Prime Minister was Ferenc (Francis) Gyurcsány, and also Party leader from 2007, who resigned in March 2009 and was succeeded by Gordon Bajnai as Prime Minister. The Party lost the 2010 election and became opposition. On 22 October 2011, 10 members of the parliament left the MSZMP and with the leadership of the former prime minister Ferenc (Francis) Gyurcsány formed the Democratic Coalition Party. Independent Smallholder’s Party (Független Kisgazda Párt – FKgP) was founded in 1930 and acquired a majority of seats in the 1945 elections. Under Communist one-party system the FKgP withered away and finally ceased to exist, and was re-established only in November 1988. The FKgP was a coalition partner in the MDF Government, but lost in 1994, due to internal conflicts, when it split into five feuding factions. It is a populist, nationalist party, though after 1996, the party has gravitated more toward the center. In economic terms, the party is faithful to its supporters’ interests: mainly small property owners, peasants and the rural middle class. The FKgP competed with Fidesz to establish itself as the main opposition party, and increased its seats from 26 to 48 in the 1998, elections. In Government, it held the agricultural, defense, environment and PHARE ministries. Despite its nationalist rhetoric, the FkgP distances itself from the extremist MIEP. While in government, FKgP split into two feuding factions, and performed badly in the 2002 elections, as well as in 2006. Movement for a Better Hungary, The (Jobbik magyarországért Mozgalom – Jobbik) a radical rightist Party. Its precursor was the Rightist Youth Community (Jobbik) made up mostly of university students, which developed into a Political Party in 2003. The Party became the mainstream of the rightist radicals beside the weakening MIÉP. The Jobbik leader is Gábor (Gabriel) Vona. The new Party’s goal is: the ”completion of the system-change, and creation of a more just society”. According to its self-definition: it is a ” Party with value-principle, conservative, radical in methods, national-Christian, and would like to serve the whole society”. They regard MSZP and SZDSZ as their opposition, and also the Fidesz with its liberal roots. In 2007 they founded the Hungarian Guard (Magyar Gárda) organization, which would be the backbone of the future National Guard (Nemzetőrség). At present, the members of the Guard participate in charitable works, self-defense and the preservation of order. The formation of the Guard was accompanied by political disputes, and finally, it was banned. However, a New Guard movement was formed. In coalition with the MIÉP, they lost the 2006 election, after which they separated. In the meantime the Jobbik, after a forceful campaign significantly strenghtened and was able send three representatives to the European Parliament in 2009, and the general election in April 2010 resulted an outstanding 17 %, that is 47 seats in the Parliament for Jobbik, which success was again repeated and at the municipal elections in October of 2010. |