Bethlen István szerelmei
István Bethlen’s Liaisons

Summary/Abstract: Count István Bethlen was one of the most outstanding Hungarian politicians in the 20th century. From the moment he was elected to Parliament in 1901 until the end of WW II, “making politics” was an integral part of his life. Between 1901 and 1918 he was a regional politician with peculiarly Transylvanian traits, from 1921 to 1931 he was Prime Minister of Hungary; and subsequently, until 1944, the leading representative of the anti-Nazi and pro-Western political orientation. At the end of 1944 he was captured and in 1945 transported by the Russians to Moscow where he died in 1946. Ignác Romsics, who is the author of the first comprehensive and authoritative biography on Bethlen, deals in his essay with an aspect of the politician’s private life: his liaisons of love. Although he is very sceptical about the gossip according to which the young Bethlen had an illegitimate child before his marriage of 1901, he does confirm that from the late 1920s the politician really had a sweetheart: Countess Andor Pál Széchenyi born Baroness Mária Szegedy-Ensch. In spite of their long lasting and known attachment Bethlen did not divorce. After some years his wife, Countess Margit Bethlen accepted the situation and she also found a companion. The article is concluded by citations from Bethlen's letters sent to his lover from the Russian house arrest.

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