Astrologers in 20th Century Hungary up to 1989 Cover Image

20. századi magyar asztrológusok a rendszerváltásig
Astrologers in 20th Century Hungary up to 1989

Author(s): Márton Veszprémy
Subject(s): Social Sciences, Language and Literature Studies, Cultural history, Social history, Pre-WW I & WW I (1900 -1919), Interwar Period (1920 - 1939), WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), Post-War period (1950 - 1989)
Published by: Károli Gáspár Református Egyetem
Keywords: astrologer; biography; history of astrology; occultism; Austria-Hungary; Hungary; 20th century; subculture; social history; cultural history; history of literature; history of journalism

Summary/Abstract: The oeuvre and significance of Hungarian astrologer Ervin Baktay cannot properly be understood without knowing the intellectual milieu in which he lived and worked. He wished to learn astrology from László Györffy, and was acquainted with Eduard Lederer. He perhaps personally taught Károly John, influenced Sándor Raisz and Kurt Rechnitz, and many others – among them Ervin Borbély and Emil Móricz – through his textbook. Who were these persons? Where did they come from, and how did they become interested in astrology? How did astrology appear in Hungary in the first place? What was the attitude of the government towards astrology and its practitioners in the interwar period during Horthy’s conservative regime, or during the decades of communist dictatorship? These are the questions I intend to answer by examining the biographies of twentieth-century Hungarian astrologers from the time of astrology’s appearance in the 1920s up to the end of the communist era in 1989.

  • Issue Year: XI/2019
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 62-96
  • Page Count: 35
  • Language: Hungarian