THE ‘TRIANON TRAUMA’ IN THE PAST AND IN THE PRESENT - NOSTALGIA IN THE SERVICE OF POLITICS

DR. ANDREA SCHMIDT
is a political scientist and an Associate Professor at the University of Pecs, Hungary, Department of Political Sciences and International Studies. She is also a former Visiting Lecturer and the Josai Institute for Central European Studies, Josai International University, Tokyo, Japan, and Visiting Lecturer at Ivan Franko National University in L’viv, Ukraine. She studied at the University of Pecs, the Eötvös Lóránd University in Budapest, and the Central European University, where she participated in the Modern History programme focusing on Central and Eastern Europe. She also studied at the Jagiellonian University at the Faculty of History and at the Polonia Research Institute in Krakow, Poland. She specializes in International Political Economy and Comparative Political Studies of the Central and Eastern European region. She did her habilitation on International Relations focusing on Geo-economics. She is the author of several articles and book chapters related to Central and Eastern European and post-Soviet regions.

ABSTRACT:
History can be rewritten at political requests, which is strongly conditioned by political interest. This issue is much more sensitive in the case of Central and Eastern European countries. We shall focus on Hungary and explore how historical events such as the end of the First World War, territorial loss, congested values, and narratives can influence society. Although it faded into the background during the Cold War period, only to resurface with renewed force after the fall of communism, deepening the divisions in Hungarian society. In the past decades, the Trianon syndrome has been successfully exploited by certain political tendencies, especially by politicians with nationalist and populist principles. The politics of grievance, which has centuries-old roots, has been combined with elements of lieux de mémorie, such as the so-called “Trianon crosses”, memorials, the pedestal of literary works and their authors from the two world wars, or even the Hungarian Parliament’s decision to celebrate 4 June as the Day of National Unity, the day on which the Trianon Peace Treaty was signed. Since the fall of communism, many decisions have been taken to normalise relations between Hungarians living beyond the borders of the EU and neighboring countries and Hungary, but an accidental or deliberate political slip of the tongue or commemoration of the Day of the Hungarian People’s Republic of Independence has repeatedly led to the redefinition of the Trianon Treaty as a day of celebration of the Day of the Hungarian People’s Republic of Independence. This lecture analyses how historical narratives can serve political aims and how the deep-rooted trauma of Trianon, a decision that determined Hungary’s position more than a hundred years ago can still serve political ambitions. We would like to strengthen our arguments with concrete examples in order to explain the meaning of ‘Trianon Trauma’ from various aspects.