Az 1849-1850. évi kivégzések
The executions in 1849-1850

Summary/Abstract: There are still a number of unanswered questions concerning the retributions in Hungary after the revolution. The public, as a rule, knows the name of Premier Lajos Batthyány as one of the executed, people know about the thirteen martyrs of Arad (even if they cannot name them all), but there is a great amount of uncertainty in the literature concerning the exact number of the imprisoned and the executed. The temporal limits of the retributions are also vague. The paper tries to establish the number of the executed and the various kinds of executions employed. The first chapter discusses the intellectual justification of the executions. The second chapter discusses the machinery of retribution. Windisch-Grätz created the Militär und Politische Zentral Kommission , and this organization, and/or one of its subdepartments, the Militär Untersuchungs Kommission carried on the investigations in the cases of more serious offenders. Chapter three describes the various kinds of executions. These were the following: executions on the spot, after summary proceedings, without trial; executions after summary proceedings and trial; executions after regular trial before a military tribunal. This latter subsection describes the Austrian code of court martial procedure and the general characteristics of the trials. Chapter four draws up the balance of the retributions. It points out that the victorious Austrian party never added up the numbers of the executed and that probably fostered various legends. Collecting data was difficult in Hungary before 1918 because the court martial papers were not accessible. The „fictitious executions” are also discussed; in such cases the persons in question did not exist or were not executed. Finally, the data concerning the retributions in the wake of the European revolutions are summed up, concluding that the Hungarian retributrion, with regard to the temporal duration of the events and the extent the society was involved, was less bloody than those in France and Germany, and was more moderate than even the retribution in Northern Italy. However, it meant a severe shock for Hungarian society as it was the first time since 1795 that a great number of people were executed for political reasons. What additionally set the Hungarian executions apart from those following the other revolutions in Europe was that the retribution involved the members of the military and political elite to an extent far beyond their proportion in society. Thus, the goal was not simply deterrence; the victors wanted to divest the country of its political and military elite so that it should be incapable of another similar war of independence.

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