Gusztáv Gratz
Encyclopedia
Gusztáv Gratz was a Hungarian
politician, who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1921. He was a correspondent member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
. Gratz published in the Huszadik Század and the Társadalomtudományi Társaság newspapers. He was a representative in the National Assembly from 1906. He also served as managing director of the National Association of Manufacturers (GYOSZ). In 1917 he was appointed Minister of Finance in Móric Esterházy
's cabinet. He took part in the peace negotiations' economical parts during the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
and Treaty of Bucharest
.
From 22 November 1919 he was the Hungarian ambassador to Austria
. After he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs until Charles I of Austria's attempts to retake the throne of Hungary
. As legitimist politician Gratz participated in the planning of the second coup. That's why he was imprisoned for a short time. Gratz pursued a journalism, historian's and economic activity then.
, attended the Saxon School in Igló
, then, after his father accepted the invitation of the Kolozsvár (Cluj) Protestant community, and the family moved to Kolozsvár, the Unitarian Upper School in Kolozsvár, for one year, and the Saxon School in Beszterce
.
After graduation he studied law at the Universities of Kolozsvár and Budapest
and completed his studies in 1898.
From 1896 he was an employee of the Pester Lloyd
, a correspondent of the Cologne Gazette from 1898, while Budapest Rapporteur of the Vienna
newspaper Die Zeit
in 1906, he joined the Neue Freie Presse
. In 1900 he co-founded the magazine Huszadik Század (Twentieth Century), for which he drew up in 1903 as editor. Gratz, founded in 1901 and his peers the Társadalomtudományi Társaság (Sociological Society). The journal and the society set themselves the goal of eliminating the backward social conditions in Hungary and to advocate for agricultural reform and to the spread of the franchise. But soon differences arose between the conservative and radical elements. 1903 Gratz came from the editorial board from 1906 and broke with the radical circle of the Society for Sociology. In 1906 he acquired the parliamentary seat of the constituency Újegyház
in Transylvania
, and was until the collapse in 1918, worked in the group of deputies of the Transylvanian Saxons
.
From 1912 he held the post of Executive Director of the National Association of Hungarian Industrialists (Országos Gyáriparosok Szövetsége). During the First World War he was a member of several central economic war. As a liberal economist, he sat down firmly committed to the idea of an economic alliance between the German Reich and the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. In 1917 Gratz was appointed chief of the trade section in the Common Foreign Ministry
. From June to September 1917 he held the office of the Hungarian Finance Minister
, in turn, he served as section chief of the monarchy from the trade negotiations at Brest-Litovsk and Bucharest
, which won him great political prestige. After the October Revolution of 1918
in Hungary, he went to Vienna and joined the Hungarian anti-Bolshevik Commitee.
From November 1919 to January 1921 he was the Hungarian ambassador in Vienna, after which he took until April 1921 the post of Hungarian foreign minister
. He advocated the restoration of the Habsburg monarchy
and the cooperation of the successor states of Austria-Hungary
. As a staunch Legitimist 1921 he took on two unsuccessful attempts of Charles I
return as an active part as the Emperor of Austria and King Charles IV of Hungary, so he was arrested after the king had to leave the country forever. Although it was after ten weeks in prison again set free, and it was brought against the participants in the restoration trial process for the crime of rebellion never came to a verdict, the unfortunate outcome of the second return attempt of King Charles disruption meant in his political career. Connection to the political and public life he had not lost even after that, he regularly wrote editorials for the Pester Lloyd and took part in the work of the International Chamber of Commerce. He worked for several industrial enterprises that were interested in Hungarian.
From the mid-1920s on, he was chairman or board member of more than 40 banks and industrial companies. In 1924 he became chairman of the German Adult Education Association Ungarländischen (UDV), where he remained until 1938. Executive Vice President of the UDV was Jakab Bleyer, the real guiding spirit of the Germans in Hungary, but did not have the confidence of the Hungarian government. The election as President of Gratz was regarded as his political rehabilitation.
The association depended entirely upon the Hungarian government. He viewed his task at the head of the association in the mediation between the government and the German minority in Hungary. In this sense, he came for mother tongue teaching and the educational possibilities of the German minority in Hungary, was at war but any attempt by the Germans in Hungary and political organization, which from the mid-1930s to harsh contrasts between him and the Volkstumsgedanken heated young generation led. When the Hungarian government in 1938 the ethnic German direction with the approval of the National Association of Germans in Hungary was acceptable, he resigned from the top of the UDV. From 1926 he was deputy who initially friendly to the government, then from 1936 with a mandate of the Civil Freedom Party. He complained in the House of Representatives and his articles in the anti-liberal and anti-democratic tendencies of his time. In June 1939 he became chief editor of the liberal daily paper Pesti Napló. In the last years of the war he was a secret commission to make preparations for the future peace conference, be consulted. In April 1944 (after the occupation of Hungary
by the Third Reich in March 1944) he was deported by the Gestapo
to a concentration camp Mauthausen
. After his release in July 1944, he lived first in one of his daughters in Sulz
in Vienna, then in Budapest.
From 1925 he edited the Hungarian Economic Yearbook, which provided information on the situation of the Hungarian economy, but also brought a historical and political contributions. It appeared in 1939 in abridged form in English (The Hungarian Economic Yearbook). In three volumes, appeared his great historical work of 1934-35, in which he - Fabricated history of dualism and the revolutions from 1918 to 1920 - mostly political. The fourth volume, which deals with the inter-war period, has been published only in 2001. In recognition of his journalistic activities and history chose him in 1941 the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
as a corresponding member.
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
politician, who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1921. He was a correspondent member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Hungarian Academy of Sciences
The Hungarian Academy of Sciences is the most important and prestigious learned society of Hungary. Its seat is at the bank of the Danube in Budapest.-History:...
. Gratz published in the Huszadik Század and the Társadalomtudományi Társaság newspapers. He was a representative in the National Assembly from 1906. He also served as managing director of the National Association of Manufacturers (GYOSZ). In 1917 he was appointed Minister of Finance in Móric Esterházy
Móric Esterházy
Count Móric Esterházy de Galántha et Fraknó was a Hungarian aristocrat and politician who served as prime minister for a few months during World War I, after the fall of István Tisza...
's cabinet. He took part in the peace negotiations' economical parts during the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a peace treaty signed on March 3, 1918, mediated by South African Andrik Fuller, at Brest-Litovsk between Russia and the Central Powers, headed by Germany, marking Russia's exit from World War I.While the treaty was practically obsolete before the end of the year,...
and Treaty of Bucharest
Treaty of Bucharest
Five peace treaties were signed in Bucharest:# Treaty of Bucharest - May 28, 1812, at the end of the Russo-Turkish war, Turkey cedes Bessarabia to Russia# Treaty of Bucharest - March 3, 1886, at the end of the Serbo-Bulgarian War...
.
From 22 November 1919 he was the Hungarian ambassador to Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
. After he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs until Charles I of Austria's attempts to retake the throne of Hungary
Charles I of Austria's attempts to retake the throne of Hungary
After Miklós Horthy had been chosen Regent of Hungary on 1 March 1920, Charles I of Austria-Hungary, who had reigned in Hungary as Károly IV, returned to Hungary twice, to try unsuccessfully to retake his throne...
. As legitimist politician Gratz participated in the planning of the second coup. That's why he was imprisoned for a short time. Gratz pursued a journalism, historian's and economic activity then.
Biography
He was born in a Hungarian and German-speaking German Protestant pastor's family who had moved from northwest Hungary in the ZipsZips
Zips is a slang term often used as a derogatory slur by Italian American and Sicilian American mobsters in reference to newer immigrant Sicilian and Italian mafiosi...
, attended the Saxon School in Igló
Iglo
Iglo is one of the Umbrella Brands of the frozen-foods business of Unilever, used mainly in Europe. In the UK, it is known as Birds Eye , and in Italy as Findus....
, then, after his father accepted the invitation of the Kolozsvár (Cluj) Protestant community, and the family moved to Kolozsvár, the Unitarian Upper School in Kolozsvár, for one year, and the Saxon School in Beszterce
Bistrita
Bistrița is the capital city of Bistriţa-Năsăud County, Transylvania, Romania. It is situated on the Bistriţa River. The city has a population of approximately 80,000 inhabitants, and it administers six villages: Ghinda, Sărata, Sigmir, Slătiniţa, Unirea and Viişoara.-History:The earliest sign of...
.
After graduation he studied law at the Universities of Kolozsvár and Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
and completed his studies in 1898.
From 1896 he was an employee of the Pester Lloyd
Pester Lloyd
Pester Lloyd is a German language online daily newspaper from Budapest, Hungary with the focus "on Hungary and Eastern Europe".-History:...
, a correspondent of the Cologne Gazette from 1898, while Budapest Rapporteur of the Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
newspaper Die Zeit
Die Zeit
Die Zeit is a German nationwide weekly newspaper that is highly respected for its quality journalism.With a circulation of 488,036 and an estimated readership of slightly above 2 million, it is the most widely read German weekly newspaper...
in 1906, he joined the Neue Freie Presse
Neue Freie Presse
Neue Freie Presse known locally as "Die Presse" was a Viennese newspaper founded by Adolf Werthner together with the journalists Max Friedländer and Michael Etienne on 1 September 1864...
. In 1900 he co-founded the magazine Huszadik Század (Twentieth Century), for which he drew up in 1903 as editor. Gratz, founded in 1901 and his peers the Társadalomtudományi Társaság (Sociological Society). The journal and the society set themselves the goal of eliminating the backward social conditions in Hungary and to advocate for agricultural reform and to the spread of the franchise. But soon differences arose between the conservative and radical elements. 1903 Gratz came from the editorial board from 1906 and broke with the radical circle of the Society for Sociology. In 1906 he acquired the parliamentary seat of the constituency Újegyház
Nocrich
Nocrich is a commune in Sibiu County, Romania, in the region of Transylvania. The commune is situated between Agnita and Sibiu. It is composed of five villages: Fofeldea, Ghijasa de Jos, Hosman, Nocrich and Ţichindeal. Nocrich and Hosman have fortified churches.It is the site of the St...
in Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
, and was until the collapse in 1918, worked in the group of deputies of the Transylvanian Saxons
Transylvanian Saxons
The Transylvanian Saxons are a people of German ethnicity who settled in Transylvania from the 12th century onwards.The colonization of Transylvania by Germans was begun by King Géza II of Hungary . For decades, the main task of the German settlers was to defend the southeastern border of the...
.
From 1912 he held the post of Executive Director of the National Association of Hungarian Industrialists (Országos Gyáriparosok Szövetsége). During the First World War he was a member of several central economic war. As a liberal economist, he sat down firmly committed to the idea of an economic alliance between the German Reich and the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. In 1917 Gratz was appointed chief of the trade section in the Common Foreign Ministry
Austro-Hungarian Foreign Service
The Austro-Hungarian Foreign Service was the diplomatic service carrying out the foreign policy of the Emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire from the formation of the Dual Monarchy in 1867 until it was dissolved in 1918.- Diplomatic missions :...
. From June to September 1917 he held the office of the Hungarian Finance Minister
Minister of Finance of Hungary
This page is a list of Ministers of Finance of Hungary. The ministry abolished on 29 May 2010.-Ministers of Finance, 1848-2010:-Hungarian Revolution of 1848:-Austria-Hungary:-Hungarian Democratic Republic :...
, in turn, he served as section chief of the monarchy from the trade negotiations at Brest-Litovsk and Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
, which won him great political prestige. After the October Revolution of 1918
Aster Revolution
The Aster Revolution or Chrysanthemum Revolution was a revolution in Hungary led by leftist liberal count Mihály Károlyi, who founded the Hungarian Democratic Republic....
in Hungary, he went to Vienna and joined the Hungarian anti-Bolshevik Commitee.
From November 1919 to January 1921 he was the Hungarian ambassador in Vienna, after which he took until April 1921 the post of Hungarian foreign minister
Minister of Foreign Affairs (Hungary)
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary is a member of the Hungarian cabinet and the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The current foreign minister is János Martonyi....
. He advocated the restoration of the Habsburg monarchy
Habsburg Monarchy
The Habsburg Monarchy covered the territories ruled by the junior Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg , and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine , between 1526 and 1867/1918. The Imperial capital was Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when it was moved to Prague...
and the cooperation of the successor states of Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
. As a staunch Legitimist 1921 he took on two unsuccessful attempts of Charles I
Charles I of Austria's attempts to retake the throne of Hungary
After Miklós Horthy had been chosen Regent of Hungary on 1 March 1920, Charles I of Austria-Hungary, who had reigned in Hungary as Károly IV, returned to Hungary twice, to try unsuccessfully to retake his throne...
return as an active part as the Emperor of Austria and King Charles IV of Hungary, so he was arrested after the king had to leave the country forever. Although it was after ten weeks in prison again set free, and it was brought against the participants in the restoration trial process for the crime of rebellion never came to a verdict, the unfortunate outcome of the second return attempt of King Charles disruption meant in his political career. Connection to the political and public life he had not lost even after that, he regularly wrote editorials for the Pester Lloyd and took part in the work of the International Chamber of Commerce. He worked for several industrial enterprises that were interested in Hungarian.
From the mid-1920s on, he was chairman or board member of more than 40 banks and industrial companies. In 1924 he became chairman of the German Adult Education Association Ungarländischen (UDV), where he remained until 1938. Executive Vice President of the UDV was Jakab Bleyer, the real guiding spirit of the Germans in Hungary, but did not have the confidence of the Hungarian government. The election as President of Gratz was regarded as his political rehabilitation.
The association depended entirely upon the Hungarian government. He viewed his task at the head of the association in the mediation between the government and the German minority in Hungary. In this sense, he came for mother tongue teaching and the educational possibilities of the German minority in Hungary, was at war but any attempt by the Germans in Hungary and political organization, which from the mid-1930s to harsh contrasts between him and the Volkstumsgedanken heated young generation led. When the Hungarian government in 1938 the ethnic German direction with the approval of the National Association of Germans in Hungary was acceptable, he resigned from the top of the UDV. From 1926 he was deputy who initially friendly to the government, then from 1936 with a mandate of the Civil Freedom Party. He complained in the House of Representatives and his articles in the anti-liberal and anti-democratic tendencies of his time. In June 1939 he became chief editor of the liberal daily paper Pesti Napló. In the last years of the war he was a secret commission to make preparations for the future peace conference, be consulted. In April 1944 (after the occupation of Hungary
Operation Margarethe
During World War II, the Germans planned two discrete operations using the codename Margarethe.Operation Margarethe I was the occupation of Hungary by German forces on 19 March 1944. The Hungarian government was an ally of Nazi Germany, but had been discussing an armistice with the Allies...
by the Third Reich in March 1944) he was deported by the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
to a concentration camp Mauthausen
Mauthausen
Mauthausen is a small market town in Upper Austria, Austria. It is located at about 20 kilometers east of the city of Linz, and has a population of 4,850 .During World War II, it became the site of the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp complex....
. After his release in July 1944, he lived first in one of his daughters in Sulz
Sulz
Sulz is the name of a number of places in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Ukraine:*Soulce in the canton of Jura, Switzerland was formerly known as Sulz*Sulz place in the Steiermark, Austria*Sulz in the Steiermark, Austria...
in Vienna, then in Budapest.
From 1925 he edited the Hungarian Economic Yearbook, which provided information on the situation of the Hungarian economy, but also brought a historical and political contributions. It appeared in 1939 in abridged form in English (The Hungarian Economic Yearbook). In three volumes, appeared his great historical work of 1934-35, in which he - Fabricated history of dualism and the revolutions from 1918 to 1920 - mostly political. The fourth volume, which deals with the inter-war period, has been published only in 2001. In recognition of his journalistic activities and history chose him in 1941 the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Hungarian Academy of Sciences
The Hungarian Academy of Sciences is the most important and prestigious learned society of Hungary. Its seat is at the bank of the Danube in Budapest.-History:...
as a corresponding member.
Publications
- Nemzetközi jog (Völkerrecht). Budapest, 1899.
- Alkotmánypolitika (Verfassungspolitik). Budapest-Pozsony, 1900.
- Az általános választójog és Tisza István gróf. (Das allgemeine Wahlrecht und Graf Stefan Tisza). Budapest, 1905.
- Általános választójog és nemzeti politika (Allgemeines Wahlrecht und nationale Politik). Budapest, 1905.
- Az általános választójog szociológiai szempontból (Das allgemeine Wahlrecht in soziologischer Hinsicht). Budapest, 1906.
- A bolsevizmus Magyarországon (Der Bolschewismus in Ungarn). (Hrsg. und Einf. von Gustav Gratz). Budapest, 1921.
- Politikai és gazdasági liberalizmus (Politischer und wirtschaftlicher Liberalismus) Budapest, 1922.
- Die Äussere Wirtschaftspolitik Österreich-Ungarns. Mitteleuropäische Pläne. (zusammen mit Richard Schüller). Wien – New Haven, 1925.
- Európai külpolitika (Europäische Außenpolitik). Budapest, 1929.
- Der wirtschaftliche Zusammenbruch Österreich-Ungarns. Die Tragödie der Erschöpfung (zusammen mit Richard Schüller). Wien - New Haven 1930.
- Zur Frage der Deutsch-Österreichischen Zollunion. Budapest, 1931.
- A dualizmus kora. Magyarország története 1867-1918 I-II. (Die Zeit des Dualismus I.-II. Geschichte Ungarns 1967-1918). Budapest 1934.
- A forradalmak kora. Magyarország története 1918-1920 (Die Zeit der Revolutionen. Geschichte Ungarns 1918-1920). Budapest 1935.
- Deutschungarische Probleme. Budapest 1938.
- Magyarország a két háború között (Ungarn zwischen den beiden Kriegen). Budapest 2001.
- Augenzeuge dreier Epochen. Die Memoiren des ungarischen Außenministers Gustav Gratz 1875-1945. Herausgegeben von Vince Paál und Gerhard Seewann. (Südosteuropäische Arbeiten 137) München 2009, Verlag Oldenbourg.