„H ….. Lajosnak a siralomházban sajátkezüleg irtt önéletírása.” Egy 19. századi rablógyilkos visszaemlékezése
“The autobiography of Lajos H ....., written by himself in the condemned cell:” The memoirs of a nineteenth-century robber and murderer

Summary/Abstract: Through the autobiography of a mid-nineteenth-century Hungarian robber and murderer, Louis Huszti, this study aims at presenting the course of life of an individual who aspired after social mobility but eventually became an outcast. Imprisoned in Debrecen in 1864, Huszti gave a brief account of the decisive events of his life in his narrative, written on the eve of his execution and published in the year of his execution, entitled “The autobiography of Lajos H ....., written by himself in the condemned cell.” A rarity, this criminal recollection is dominated by his wish to justify the committed crimes; in addition to a squandering grandfather, the major motives are deficient moral upbringing, the political turns of 1860–61 and poverty. Yet, when complemented with archival sources, the career that unfolds in the autobiography turns out to be distorting in several respects, and it also adds certain elements to the story reconstructed from the historical sources. Accordingly, for instance, this is how Huszti’s post as first lieutenant during the 1848/49 Hungarian war of independence becomes part of the biography, and so does his claiming to have been a political prisoner, which no sources other than his autobiography refer to. The investigation of Huszti’s course of life reveals that coming from an impoverished family of the lesser nobility, thanks to his schooling, without which he could not have become a clerk in the Hajdú district, he had substantially more alternatives than suggested in his narrative. This is supported by the point in Huszti’s life when having committed two murders in his youth he had the opportunity to start his career anew, avoiding punishment and persecution – first as a private tutor, then following his father’s example, as a farm manager. Then, in spite of his criminal past, the opportunity of social advancement was available for Huszti, who, nonetheless, continued to be incapable of overcoming his criminal inclination: it was between 1859 and 1861 that he committed the crimes for which he was executed eventually. Lajos Huszti’s autobiography gives an insight into the course of life of a “gentleman criminal” who, besides the problems caused by the social and political transformation typical of the mid-nineteenth century, had to cope with his criminal leaning. At the same time, Huszti’s life also exemplifies the opportunities an individual had for social advancement in Hungary undergoing modernization.

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