Gyermekkorú elleni szexuális erőszak és reprezentációi a századelő Budapestjén Berthóti József „merénylete” Wolf Anna ellen
Sexual Assault Against Minors and Its Representations in Early 20th Century Budapest. József Berthóti’s Assault on Anna Wolf

Summary/Abstract: “Budapest police arrested József Berthóti, the foreman of the Budapest wire factory on Thursday. The 51 years old man lured an 11 years old girl to the laundry room of the house on 11 Mária Street, and assaulted her. The girl’s mother became aware of the situation, and called to police, who escorted Berthóti to the police headquarters, where he was arrested after interrogation.” – newspapers in Budapest published on 14th January 1910. Sexual assault against minors was of course heavily penalized by Hungarian law, however, this case also reveals the shortcomings of this legal protection. The penal code known as the Csemegi Code made it possible to avoid penalty, if the victim was willing to marry the perpetrator. This is what happened in this particular case, after the Ministry of Justice permitted the girl to marry. The study examines the background and representations of the case, as well as the press reactions in Budapest. Among these newspapers only the social democratic Népszava drew a parallel between societal and sexual exploitation initially, other publications later emphasized the comical nature of this marriage, but failed to identify a general social issue. Furthermore, the roles even got switched in certain reports: some journalists believed that it might have been Anna Wolf and her mother who “forced” József Berthóti into the marriage. One explanation of this indifference to child protection concerns could be that this turn of events did not fit the roles expected in melodrama. The wider social context of this case comes from the “dark side” of urban development.

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