Venue: Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for European History and Public Spheres, Nussdorfer Strasse 64, 4th floor, 1090 Wien

Lecturer: Dr. Paul Gradvohl

Title: Dealing with the Fascist and Communist Past in Hungary: Twenty Years of Political Instrumentalization

The fascist past of Hungary is manifold and quite disturbingly contradictory. The way post-communist Hungary has faced, or failed to face, the Horthy and Szalasi times - insofar as we can use these two names as relevant flagships of fascism in Hungary - offers a vivid illustration of this phenomenon. The theme of the deportations, which many categories of Hungarians were subjected to under communism, also offers original insights into the way Hungarian post-1989 "democracy" has instrumentalized the past. The latest legal and political developments in Budapest show that nothing is less sure than the future of the past. 

Paul Gradvohl researches and teaches 20th century European history at Nancy University (France), focusing on Polish, Czech, Slovak and Hungarian people, lands and cultures, including linguistic and religious minorities. His recent habilitation thesis (L’Europe centrale est-elle concevable? Les impasses de la sécurité nationale en Europe centrale: impact sur la cohérence régionale au XXe siècle) proposed to connect space and territory in a renewed, interdisciplinary perspective. He recently edited the volume L’Europe médiane au XXe siècle: fractures, décompositions – recompositions – surcompositions (Prague, CEFRES, 2011), and co-edited with Michel Maslowski and Didier Francfort the volume Culture et identité en Europe centrale.Canons littéraires et visions de l’histoire (Paris/Brno, Institut d’Études Slaves/Université Masaryk, 2011).

This seminar is the last one in the summer semester of the joint seminar series of the Institute for Economic and Social History in Prague and the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for European History and Public Spheres in Vienna. The new programme for the winter semester 2012 will be published in September 2012.