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József Antall

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The native form of this personal name is Antall József Tihamér. This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals.

József Antall
Antall in 1990
Prime Minister of Hungary
In office
23 May 1990 – 12 December 1993
PresidentÁrpád Göncz
Preceded byMiklós Németh
Succeeded byPéter Boross
Member of the National Assembly
In office
2 May 1990 – 12 December 1993
Personal details
Born(1932-04-08)8 April 1932
Budapest, Hungary
Died12 December 1993(1993-12-12) (aged 61)
Budapest, Hungary
Political partyMDF
SpouseKlára Fülepp
Children2

József Tihamér Antall Jr. (Hungarian: ifjabb Antall József Tihamér, Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈifjɒbː ˈɒntɒl ˈjoːʒef]; 8 April 1932 – 12 December 1993)[1] was a Hungarian teacher, librarian, historian, and statesman who served as the first democratically elected prime minister of Hungary, holding office from May 1990 until his death in December 1993. He was also the leader of the Hungarian Democratic Forum from 1989.

Early life and education

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Antall with his children in 1970

József Tihamér Antall de Dörgicse et Kisjene was born to an ancient Hungarian family from the lower nobility in Budapest on 8 April 1932.[2] His father, József Antall Sr., a jurist and civil servant, worked for the government in several ministries. Antall Sr. coordinated the first living wage calculations in Hungary, and he was a founding member of the Independent Smallholders' Party (1931). During World War II, he presided over the government committee for refugees.[2] After the German occupation of Hungary he resigned; later he was arrested by the Gestapo. After the war, he became minister of reconstruction in the government of Zoltán Tildy. Later, he became president of the Hungarian Red Cross, but after the communist coup he resigned and retired to his family estate. In 1991, he was posthumously honoured by Yad Vashem.

His mother, Irén Szűcs has Jewish roots,[3] she was the daughter of a village teacher. Her father, István Szűcs (born Hermann Frankl), also became a political figure during the First World War and the interwar period. In the 1920s Szűcs became a deputy Secretary of State. Antall had a sister, Edith Antall. His brother-in-law, Géza Jeszenszky later became Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Antall cabinet.

He graduated from the Budapest Piarist High School in 1950. He was interested in politics early on, but (quite understandably) didn't pursue his political career during the communist regime of the 1950s. After graduating from high school, he studied Hungarian language and literature at the Eötvös Loránd University as well as history and archival science. He wrote his thesis about the politics of József Eötvös, obtaining degrees in teaching, library science and museology. On 30 September 1991, Antall was awarded an honorary doctoral degree from Central Connecticut State University.

Antall and his wife, Klára Fülepp, had two children, György Antall, a lawyer, and Péter Antall, a photojournalist, who later became director of the Antall József Knowledge Centre. Its primary objectives are to foster the Antall tradition and promote the spread of knowledge.

Early career

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Following the graduation, Antall worked for the Hungarian State Archives and the Research Institute of Pedagogy. In 1955, he started teaching in József Eötvös Grammar School, leading the Revolutionary Committee of the school during the 1956 Hungarian Uprising. During the revolution, he participated in the reorganization of the Independent Smallholders Party and in the founding of the Christian Youth Alliance. After the Soviet Union crushed the revolution, he was arrested and released several times. He continued his teaching career in Ferenc Toldy Grammar School in 1957, but in 1959 he was banned from teaching due to his former political activities.

Following this, he worked as a librarian for two years. In 1963 he wrote biographies of 80 doctors for the Lexicon of Hungarian Biographies. He became interested in the history of medicine, and conducted fundamental research in the area. He started working in the library and archives department of the Semmelweis Museum of Medical History, dedicated to the history of medicine. Starting as a research fellow, he was promoted to deputy director and in 1974 he became director of the institute. His research was recognised internationally, and in 1986 he was the vice president of the International Society for the History of Medicine.

Prime minister

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Antall became leader of the Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF) in 1989
Antall with U.S. President George H. W. Bush in October 1990
Antall with British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in Budapest in 1990
Antall with Jacques Chirac at the European Democrat Union conference in 1993

Antall was delegated to the National Roundtable Talks by the Hungarian Democratic Forum on 22 March 1989 and worked in the committee on constitutional reform. He became well known for his activities during the negotiations.

On 21 October 1989 he was elected President of the Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF) by an overwhelming majority, thus becoming the party's official candidate for prime minister. The MDF was heavily tipped to win the 1990 elections, and as expected won a sweeping victory with 164 seats, just short of a majority. On 23 May he became the first prime minister since 1948 who was not either a Communist or fellow traveler. He headed a centre-right coalition comprising the MDF, the Independent Smallholders, Agrarian Workers and Civic Party (FKGP), and the Christian Democratic People's Party (KDNP)–the first in 44 years with no Communist participation. He also made a pact with the main opposition party, the liberal Alliance of Free Democrats (SZDSZ). This agreement laid the foundations for the parliamentary operation of Hungarian democracy. His statement that, in spirit, he wanted to be the Prime Minister of 15 million Hungarians made a great sensation. At the same time, he contributed to the Euro-Atlantic orientation of Hungary. He played a great role in the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact and the termination of the Comecon as well as in the withdrawal of the occupying Russian forces in 1991. In 1991, in Strasbourg, he was awarded with the Robert Schuman Prize for his activities aimed at uniting Europe as well as extending Hungary's European relations.

As prime minister, Antall oversaw the establishment of a legal system to promote a market economy and attract foreign investment. The ruling coalition attempted to stabilize the economy while implementing privatization and other elements of a market economy, while the populist right wing of the MDF was vocal about the "national issue", the question of the Hungarian minorities in neighbouring countries—and attempted to put it at the centre of the government's platform.

However, the return to a capitalist system and all its accompanying reforms resulted in socioeconomic difficulties for the country during Antall's term.[4] Unemployment jumped from nonexistence to 14 percent. Inflation increased at an annual rate of 23–35 percent (excluding indexing of wages and pensions). Older, retired people, more than one-fifth of the population, suffered the most, and the living standards of more than one-third of the populace declined to below subsistence level. In the meantime, income disparities increased, which irritated the people.[5] Corruption became more widespread[citation needed] and visible than before. Together with the previously omnipotent police force, street security also collapsed in 1990. The crime rate, especially in Budapest, increased threefold in five years.

In the summer of 1990, Antall and the MDF supported the introduction of a Catholic religious education into the national curriculum. This led to conflict with the other coalition parties, since only three-quarters of the Hungarian population were Catholics. Antall appointed Miklós Lukáts of the KDNP as his State Secretary for Church Affairs; from this position, Lukáts oversaw religious affairs, including the return of church properties seized by the communists.[6] By 1991 Antall was receiving criticism for his authoritarian style, though this contrasted with his uncharismatic presence. Conflict over their powers erupted between him and Hungary's president, Árpád Göncz, who belonged to the opposing party, the Alliance of Free Democrats.[7]

In the realm of domestic politics, Antall had to face hardships during his career: the taxi-blockade in Budapest in 1990[8] and the withdrawal of the Independent Smallholders' Party from the coalition government forced him to restructure his cabinet in February 1992;[9] that reorganisation ultimately saved his administration from being toppled. Within MDF, Antall was continuously attacked by István Csurka who later on set into motion a stand-alone movement, thus Hungarian Justice and Life Party (MIÉP) came into existence.

Illness and death

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Tomb of József Antall

Antall became ill and diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in the summer of 1990. In October, two days before the outbreak of taxi drivers' blockade, he underwent surgery, the famous interview in pajamas with him was made thereafter in the hospital to respond to the heated political situation resulted by the taxi blockade. Antall's cancer recurred half a year later.[10] A day before his death, Antall was awarded Grand Cross of the Hungarian Order of Merit by President Árpád Göncz on 11 December 1993. During the last period of his premiership Antall was substituted by the Interior Minister Péter Boross.[11]

József Antall died on 12 December 1993 before the end of his 4-year term. He led the former Eastern Bloc's longest lasting and most stable post-communist government.[12] He was succeeded by Péter Boross as prime minister who led the cabinet until the 1994 parliamentary election, where MDF suffered a serious defeat from the Socialist Party, while Defence Minister Lajos Für replaced him as party leader. Antall was buried on 18 December 1993, the day of the funeral was declared a day of national mourning, his bier was erected in front of the Hungarian Parliament Building, where it was bidden farewell by Speaker György Szabad, writer András Sütő and titular abbot Pál Bolberitz. The funeral procession finished at Kerepesi Cemetery. His tomb was later erected by sculptor Miklós Melocco in 1999.

The interruption of DuckTales

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The announcement of Antall's death happened on a Sunday afternoon, during which the state television channel Magyar Televízió was airing a DuckTales episode called "A Whale of a Bad Time", as part of The Disney Afternoon; at 18:08,[13] mid-cartoon the screen abruptly went black, after which the station logo was shown, and eventually Frédéric Chopin's Funeral March began playing.[14] The abrupt shift in tone has created a flashbulb memory for the generation of children watching,[15][16][17][13] who as adults were still able to recall specific details of the event, down to the exact dialog where the interruption in the episode has occurred;[14][18] some of the same adults have expressed their distaste in politics as a direct result of the interruption.[14][19]

Legacy

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The bust of Antall on the eponymous road in Zagreb

In recognition of his work, one of the buildings of the European Parliament in Brussels was named after Antall in 2008. There is a bust of him on Apród Street in Budapest[20] and a bust on the road named after him in Zagreb.[21]

References

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  1. ^ Jozsef Antall, Who Led Hungary After Communists, Is Dead at 61, The New York Times, 13 December 1993 Retrieved 8 January 2012
  2. ^ a b Dennis Kavanagh (1998). "Antáll, József". A Dictionary of Political Biography. Oxford University Press. p. 16. Archived from the original on 21 September 2013.[ISBN missing]
  3. ^ "Mai születésnapos: Horn Gyula, egy zsidó munkásfiú és miniszterelnök és még egy meglepetés | Mazsihisz". mazsihisz.hu.
  4. ^ "Jozsef Antall". MSN Encarta. Archived from the original on 24 May 2024.
  5. ^ Ilona Cseh-Papp; A foglalkoztatás és munkanélküliség a rendszerváltozás után, tankonyvtar.hu, Retrieved 10 July 2015
  6. ^ Mirak, Katalin (2009). "Még egyszer, hátulról" [Again, from behind]. Evangélikus Élet (in Hungarian). Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  7. ^ Antall Answers
  8. ^ Mementó 1990: a taxisblokád története és következményei, Heti Világgazdaság, 25 October 2010 Retrieved 10 July 2015
  9. ^ Borítékügye miatt lépett ki Torgyán az Antall-kormányból?, Origo.hu, 10 January 2001 Retrieved 10 July 2015
  10. ^ Jeszenszky, Géza: 75 éve született Antall József Archived 7 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine – 6 April 2007
  11. ^ Sereg, András: Boross – Hadapródiskolától a miniszterelnöki székig. 98. p.
  12. ^ Hungarian Prime Minister Jozsef Antall Dies at 61, The Washington Post, 13 December 1993 Retrieved 8 January 2012
  13. ^ a b "Harminc éve sokkolt egy teljes gyerekgenerációt a Kacsamesék megszakítása". telex. 12 December 2023.
  14. ^ a b c Dorottya, Ócsai (6 April 2009). "Egy generáció politikai eszmélése: vasárnap fél 6 körül megszakadt a Kacsamesék". NOL.hu.
  15. ^ "Generációs emlékké vált Antall halála". FN.hu. Archived from the original on 22 January 2010.
  16. ^ "Egy egész generáció vakuemléke lett a Kacsamesék huszonnyolc évvel ezelőtti megszakítása". Minap.hu.
  17. ^ Dávid, Sajó (12 December 2018). "Ami másoknak a Kennedy-gyilkosság, az nekünk a Kacsamesék megszakítása". index.hu.
  18. ^ "Pont tizenhét éve szakadt félbe a Kacsamesék". Hírszerző. Archived from the original on 15 December 2010.
  19. ^ "Végre szembenézhet közel 30 éves traumájával a Kacsamesék-generáció". 10 July 2022.
  20. ^ The European Parliament honours József Antall by naming new building after him, EPP Group, 15 January 2008 Retrieved 8 January 2012
  21. ^ "Bust of Dr. Jozsef Antall revealed (in Croatian)". Večernji list. 12 March 2002. Archived from the original on 8 November 2024.

Other information

[edit]
Political offices
Preceded by Prime Minister of Hungary
1990–1993 		Succeeded by
Party political offices
Preceded by President of the Hungarian Democratic Forum
1989–1993 		Succeeded by
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