Trianon rituals or considerations of some features of Hungarian historiography Cover Image

Trianon rituals or considerations of some features of Hungarian historiography
Trianon rituals or considerations of some features of Hungarian historiography

Author(s): Roman Holec
Subject(s): History
Published by: Historický ústav SAV
Keywords: History; Hungarian; Slovak; historiography; Trianon; selfreflection

Summary/Abstract: The study connected with the approaching anniversary of the conclusion of the Treaty of Trianon examines the instrumentalization of this event in part of Hungarian historiography. Biased arguments, the so-called national viewpoint, double standards for the same phenomena, absence of context, lack of perception of preceding developments, demonization of particular personalities and phenomena, uncritical argumentation from the 1910 nationality statistics, which used unreliable methods, accompany this instrumentalization. All this is only part of a rich repertoire. The study comments on the character of the most recent Trianon publications and generalizes about some common features of Hungarian historiography, especially the absence of self-reflection and problems with the analysis of their own historical failures, as well as the tendency of the main stream of Hungarian historiography to ignore these negative trends. They are tacitly accepted without comment or the necessary critical detachment, which gives the impression of agreement. There are more than enough similar negative phenomena in Slovakia, but here they evoke polemics and the majority of professional historians distance themselves from them. Only those, who can express their position and not be silent at home, have the right to look beyond the frontiers and express critical views of the situation in neighbouring countries.

  • Issue Year: 2011
  • Issue No: Supplement
  • Page Range: 25-48
  • Page Count: 24
  • Language: English