György Granasztói

György Granasztói

GYÖRGY GRANASZTÓI (1938-2016) historian, former, Director of the Hungarian–French Atelier for the Humanities and of the doctoral school at ELTE BTK, and former Director General of the László Teleki Institute is a Senior Advisor to the Prime Minister. He is a recipient of the Charles Simonyi scholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. His field of expertise is the history of humanities. Besides the history of the city and the history of population growth, he published essays about the transition to democracy. He is a Doctor of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA). Between 1990 and 1994, he was Ambassador for the Antall government to NATO and the European Union, as well as to the Belgian Monarchy (2007). He was elected to the French Légion d’honneur in 2009.

A BENDING MIRROR – THE RECENT HUNGARIAN PAST ON THE PAGES OF A FRENCH MAGAZINE

The French magazine Esprit has an influential role in French intellectual life, with a current circulation of 10,000 copies. On the twentieth anniversary of the political changes in Hungary,1 the articles about events in Hungary, published between 1945 and 1990, provide a base for taking stock and making an assessment.

THE TWO EUROPES

Experience shows that the following is an oft-recurring situation in diplomacy: a highly debated question is at stake, the two parties facing each other are both experienced and intelligent, their approach is unquestionable; their respective positions, however, cannot be reconciled, despite the fact that they understand the common language –

ON VIOLENCE: LATTER-DAY MASS

What comes as recognition out of the blue is often mistaken for a major juncture. The shock of revelation can usually be dampened if it is possible to say that one lacked the requisite historical experience to understand the moment. With the phenomenon we are going to look at, however,

I WANT TO BE LIKE HIM ONE DAY – JOHN LUKÁCS AT NINETY

A little over a year ago I paid him a visit in his home in America. “Just tell the driver ‘Valley Forge Memorial Chapel’, and I’ll meet you in front of the church”, John Lukács had instructed me on the phone. I steeped myself in the history of George Washington’s

IS IT POSSIBLE TO VOTE AGAINST EUROPE?

Churchill is often quoted on democracy as being the least bad of all forms of government. In other words, democracy is bad, but we know nothing better. This is far too general. The death of Socrates offers a fine illustration of how democracy operated in Athens, its famous cradle. He

REMEMBERING JÓZSEF ANTALL, A MAN FOR OUR TIME

Two notable anniversaries occurred in April, namely the twenty-second anniversary of the beginning of the work of the first democratic government since 1948, and the 80th anniversary of the birth of József Antall. The following story reveals much about the nature of József Antall. On 16 December 1991, the Prime Minister

SELF-EUROPE

Experts on terrorism have recently begun speaking of a phenomenon they term “self Islam”. This refers to the fact that many dangerous extremists act not out of loyalty to a religious or a radical political movement, but rather justify their actions by picking and choosing among the elements of various

2010: WHAT HAPPENED?

The Reconstruction of the Political 2010: What Happened?1 Not long ago, at the close of a televised roundtable conversation, one of the participants, a historian and member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, spoke a few words of admonition to me. The histoire des mentalités, he explained, is a history