Book Description

s relevant in the world of today's geo-politics as when it was written. This World War II memoir was written by scholar, diplomat and anti-Nazi politician, Antal Ullein-Reviczky (1894-1956) the press chief of Hungary prior to and during the government of Miklós Kállay (1942-1944). This work by Ullein-Reviczky, an erudite, multilingual spokesperson of Hungary in the international arena will resonate for the reader who wishes to better understand recent history in Central and East Europe. As the wartime activities of this dedicated opponent of Hitler generated the fury of the German government including the Führer himself, Prime Minister Kállay found it prudent to send his loyal supporter to neutral Stockholm where he headed the Hungarian Legation from late 1943 through the German occupation of Hungary in March 1944. Married to the daughter of a British consul general in Turkey, Ullein-Reviczky became one of the Hungarian diplomats who turned against the pro-Nazi puppet regime established by the Germans in occupied Hungary and fought against the aggression to the bitter end. He was also fully aware of the growing Soviet threat to his country. This wartime memoir was first published as Guerre allemande, paix russe. Le drame hongrois in 1947 in Switzerland, immediately following the War. This first English edition, translated by his daughter Lovice Mária Ullein-Revickzy, is an invaluable source regarding Hungary's fate in World War II. Ullein-Revickzy's book was based partly on the public and private documents he succeeded in saving throughout the war and his long years of exile in Turkey, Switzerland, France and Britain where he died. Written by a well-informed insider and a shrewd observer, his memoir has remained essentially unknown in the English-speaking world and in this new English edition represents an important source of the history of Hungary from German war through Russian peace, giving a unique insight into "the Hungarian tragedy".