ANNUAL REPORT

2021
OTTO VON HABSBURG FOUNDATION

Annual Report
2021
 Publications of the Otto von Habsburg Foundation 4.

Edited by Ferenc Vasbányai

Image editing and design by Szilveszter Dékány
Translated by Zsófia Erdélyi
OTTO VON HABSBURG FOUNDATION
Published by Gergely Prőhle

Archive photos: Annual Report

Otto von Habsburg Foundation, Otto von Habsburg Collection,
Photo and Audiovisual Collection, HOAL I-5
2021

Additional photos: Zoltán Szabó, Tamás Totisz, Márton Magyari

ISSN 2732-3366
ISSN 2939-5453

Printing and binding: Pauker Holding Ltd.

Managing Director: Gábor Vértes

All rights reserved.

Otto von Habsburg Foundation

Address: 1088 Budapest, 51 Szentkirályi Street
Webpage: www.hoal.hu
E-mail: info@habsburgottoalapitvany.hu
Phone: +36 1 522 2050

Our supporters:

2022
Foreword

For the second time, the annual report of the Otto von Habsburg Foundation is pub-
lished, with a similar layout to the first one, but a much larger volume. The response to
our previous publication has confirmed the importance of reporting on how we mana-
ge the budgetary resources made available to us, but perhaps even more importantly,
it is a way of acknowledging the interest in our Foundation’s activities - and most cru-
cially of all in the life’s work of our namesake. It is noteworthy that, in addition to our
domestic audience, we are receiving an increasing number of visits from foreign experts
and diplomats, and the number of institutional contacts is also constantly growing.

As the Chairman of the Board, I consider excellent cooperation with the Habsburg
family to be essential, and the fact that more and more valuable documents and pho-
tographs from Otto von Habsburg’s children are arriving in Budapest is visible proof of
this. The support provided by the Government of Hungary and the National Assembly,
together with the family’s attention and active contribution to the enrichment of our
collection, make it possible to achieve the goal outlined at the time when the collection
was founded: to present the activities and intellectual heritage of the last Crown Prince,
and to make available to the public documents of importance for historical research
and the development of a modern image of Europe. It will take time to organise and
digitise the collection, but in 2021 we created all the conditions to gradually make the
legacy of Otto von Habsburg accessible to researchers. I am confident that our annual
report will be of interest not only to experts but also to the wider reading audience.

István Nagy
Chairman of the Board
Introduction
”Posterity’s image of previous centuries never remains constant but is subject to almost in-
cessant change. Rigidity is only the property of death. The interpretation of the past, which
is the basis of our present life, is an essential part of history, and it is quite natural that each
generation makes this interpretation from a different point of view.”

These are the opening thoughts of Otto von Habsburg’s monograph on Charles V. An
Emperor of Europe (Budapest, Európa Könyvkiadó, 1994). For the last Hungarian heir
to the throne, interpreting the history of his dynasty also meant rethinking Europe’s
historical conditions, from which he drew important lessons for political action in the
20th and 21st centuries.

The Otto von Habsburg Foundation, with due modesty, has a similar aim: to seek ans-
wers to the great questions of contemporary Europe by studying the legacy of its na-
mesake and interpreting his writings and ideas. This activity can only be successful if
the documents are processed with the utmost philological precision, which is ensured
by our excellent staff. It is equally important, however, to find additional sources in the
Hungarian public collection system and in international academic and political life, and
to gather new impetus for a modern interpretation of Otto von Habsburg’s life’s work.

The year 2021 was rich in events, in connection with which the documents and books
in our collection provided valuable input for understanding more distant connections.
Whether it was an analysis of the spiritual and religious roots of Europe, an examina-
tion of Western European reflections on Central European cooperation, or the transat-
lantic relationship, it has become clear that Otto von Habsburg is not just a reason for
holding these meetings, but that his ideas are indeed relevant and useful today. With
growing East-West tensions, we have seen that the ideas of our namesake, put on paper
during the Cold War, are unfortunately becoming relevant again.

In this publication, we aim to summarise the substance of what was said at the mee-
tings we organised. What is new is that some of our articles - previously only available
electronically - are now being published in print, illustrated with spectacular images.
We sincerely hope that this will further increase interest in our activities and that it will
enable us to interpret together the history of our continent - from the perspective of
our generation and our time - in an ever-wider community.

Gergely Prőhle
Director
SAVE
The collection – Principles and practice
The collection is the foundation and defining element of our whole operation.
Everything we do to preserve the intellectual heritage of Otto von Habsburg can only
be based on a thorough scientific exploration, and thus on comprehensive knowledge
of his life’s work.

Managing this legacy is an ongoing challenge for our Foundation. In 2021, we made sig-
nificant progress in the processing of both written and material heritage. We frequently
discovered new treasures and rarities. The documents that have come to light are not
only important as historical sources: they are also extremely valuable for our national
memory.
In 2021, the main pillar and most important task of our collection management work
With progress in systematisation and through cooperation, the Otto von Habsburg continued to be processing. In this area, there has been a clear change of scale: we have
Foundation has now become a useful member and an integral part of the Hungarian been able to process almost three times as many items as in the previous year.
public collection system. Indications of this include the following:
• we are increasingly active and visible in professional and public spheres, as well What was once an untidy past, locked up in boxes and containers, has now been made
as online; partially available, and is becoming clearer and more transparent.
• there has been a welcome growth in interest in our activities, both at home and
abroad; • We have been able to specify the content, subject, and year of the documents in
• we are being approached by more and more people who donate documents and the files.
objects related to Otto von Habsburg to enrich our collection.
• We have sorted out the duplicates and identified missing documents.

• In the light of this new knowledge, we have slightly modified our 2020 processing
and digitisation plan.

Throughout the year, the Research Policy for the collection was drawn up, considering
the Hungarian laws in force and the national public collection models. This document
defines precisely who is permitted to study the archival and library material managed
by the Foundation, under what conditions and in what way. Our collection will be open
to anyone who comes to us with a research request concerning Otto von Habsburg,
once the documents guaranteeing its operation have been completed and the material
we hold has been properly organised.

13
Our Research Policy Archives – Exploration and cataloguing
• fits the conditions of the Hungarian public collection system, while adapting to Taking advantage of the quieter periods during the events of the past year, marked by
the particularities of this specific collection; the COVID-19 pandemic, we processed - either partially or fully - a significant number
of collection items in 2021.
• primarily encourages digital access, but in exceptional cases it also allows access
to the original paper sources; We also uploaded some of the completed material to Qulto (a platform for the integra-
ted management of the material of various national collections) - initially for internal
• provides the widest possible access for prospective Hungarian and foreign re- use only.
searchers, with the proviso that access to certain parts of the collection will be
granted only in agreement with the persons or family members concerned. Documents

In the spirit of the above, our Research Policy will soon be supplemented by an anonymi- • The list of Otto von Habsburg’s Hungarian correspondents between 1988
sation, lending and copying policy. and 2011 has been completed. We have identified a significant number of
the people on the impressive list of more than 6000 (!) names (the list was
compiled by a check-listing process of some 16,000 pages of documents).

• We have also started to process the correspondence that Otto von Habsburg had
with a wide variety of individuals and organisations. Among his correspondents
we find many well-known Hungarian political émigrés from the period following
the Second World War, such as Béla Varga, Tibor Eckhardt or György Bakách-
Bessenyey. (So far, we have looked through the material from 1953–1962 – 14 boxes,
about 14,000 pages in total – and prepared a mid-level index of its arrangement.)

• We have begun sorting the archival material previously stored in 46 containers un-
der the name of ’private family correspondence’. We have identified the subjects
of the documents contained and started cataloguing each item. We have sorted out
specific parts of the collection, such as the 600 pages of correspondence between
Otto von Habsburg and his brother Rudolf von Habsburg between 1968 and 1978.

• Most of the miscellaneous documents relating to the history of the Habsburg

family have also been sorted. Documents covering a period of more than 150
years, from 1839 to 2004 (11,000 pages in total) have been grouped into 44 diffe-
rent items. For example, a detailed list was made of the 300-page file on the wed-
ding of Otto von Habsburg and Archduchess Regina.

15
 Country reports

• The processing of the material formerly known as Country Reports, now catalogued
as News Agency Papers (1952–2006), has begun, which contains Otto von Habs-
burg’s analyses in English and French. A total of around 10,000 pages, including
front pages, have been digitised and are being uploaded to Qulto. This part of the
collection will be made available as soon as the Research Policy enters into force.

• Other items in the collection include an index of the analyses written between
1963 and 1994, divided into separate geographical units by Otto von Habsburg.

• A detailed index of the correspondence between Otto von Habsburg and

Kenneth De Courcy, Confidant of the British Royal Household and Editor of
the Intelligence Digest, directly related to the news agency material, is in prepa-
ration.

LIBRARY
In 2021 we continued to process the book collection of the Otto von Habsburg Founda-
tion.

• We started to record the data of the book material in the Qulto system.
During the year, bibliographic records were entered, mainly of histori-
cal books, but also of other subjects (about 850 items) for sampling purposes.

• In addition to the valuable old-edition books of our namesake (171 volumes), vo-
lumes from new bequests to the Foundation were also recorded.

We have continued to build and expand the bibliographies summarising the works
of Otto von Habsburg and the literature on him. We continued to map and collect
writings by and about him published in Hungarian. In the process, we have identified
more than 30 articles published in Hungarian-language journals and newspapers. Some
of them have been digitised to make them as widely available as possible for future
researchers. More than 1,000 documents from the Arcanum database, 450 from the
Hungaricana database and approximately 900 from the National Széchényi Library - a
total of around 2,500 Hungarian-language documents or their bibliographic data - have
been added to our database.

16 17
 Many audio cassettes and other audio material (153 items in total) have been reviewed
and sorted. Nearly 72 hours of audio have been digitised in lossless (FLAC) and
compressed (MP3) formats.

• In preparation for the 100th anniversary of the death of King Charles IV, we
transcribed, for example, an interview with Countess Marie-Therese Korff
Schmising-Kerssenbrock (governess of Otto von Habsburg and his brothers
and sisters) in 1970, recorded in German. The full text has been published in
Hungarian and German on our website.
 

PHOTOGRAPHIC AND AUDIOVISUAL ARCHIVES

The processing and cataloguing of the Photographic Collection continued this year
with material from the years 1918–1959.

• Over the year, some 4500 photographs were sorted and 2800 digitised.

• In total, we now have 13,000 images in our collection, including some

extraordinary historical rarities that cannot be found elsewhere.

18 19
PASTE
Enriching the collection
Over the past year, we have been pleased to see an increasing interest and trust in our
activities, with more and more people entrusting us with objects, memorabilia and
documents relating to Otto von Habsburg.

We are particularly grateful to the members of the Habsburg family who, through their
visits, their attention to the Foundation’s activities and their donations to the collec-
tion, have contributed to enriching our understanding of the former Crown Prince.
Ongoing collaboration with family members will ensure the dynamic development of
In 2021, several important materials
the collection in the future.
related to Otto von Habsburg were
donated or bequeathed to our col-
• Archduchess Habsburg-Douglas Walburga has given the Foundation some
lection. Letters and books from the
half a hundred booklets of handwritten diaries and notes from her immediate
heritage of Vilmos Gelsey, letters,
family, dating from 1914 to 1973. Because of the state of the documents, it was
cassettes, and newspaper articles
decided to digitise them immediately. The work was carried out with the help of
from the legacy of György Haas, va-
the Archives of the Archabbey of Pannonhalma, and once it was completed, we
rious objects from Karl Von Habs-
began transcribing the documents in German.
burg-Lothringen, books, and ar-
chival documents from the legacy of
Kinga Von Habsburg-Lothringen,
and pictures from the heritage of Pál
Kósa.

We have also been able to add to our

collection through acquisitions. In
2021, we acquired a badge, a propa-
ganda badge, a print, a commemo-
rative medal, photographs, a plate
and two coining devices. Here is a
list of these, though with no claim to
completeness:

• Menu card from the 1928 Otto

dinner.
• Richard Placht’s double-sided bronze plaque of the coronation of Charles IV
as King of Hungary, made in the imperial city. The obverse bears the inscription
”IV. K.” monogram and a portrait of the monarch, while on the reverse is a
crowned Hungarian coat of arms held by angels, surrounded by three rows of
coats of arms of the Hungarian counties and of Fiume and Budapest.

• A circular, coloured badge on a mother-of-pearl background, with a childhood

portrait of Otto in the centre and the circular inscription KRONPRINZ FRANZ • A circular plaque with a portrait of Otto von Habsburg as a teenager in the
JOSEF OTTO, below which the maker has depicted the symbol of the Red Cross centre, facing right, with no inscription.
with an ear of wheat.
• A statue of Emperor and King Charles IV, his wife Queen Zita and Otto von
Habsburg. The former buyer of the work of the sculptor Sándor Somogyi and
the goldsmith Ferenc Kiss supported military aid during the First World War.

In one of the Foundation’s upstairs rooms in Szentkirályi Street, we have set up two
illuminated display cases to provide a fitting place for the relics we keep to be shown
to visitors. In the same workroom, on the bookshelf, we have placed the Otto bust we
bought last year. This small statue was displayed at the event on 20 November 2021.
(We would like to thank Klaudia Palánki and Balázs Kádi for their help in enriching
the collection.)

23
 External research, databases, professional network Cooperation
Research to support the processing work continued, mainly among national public
collections. We contacted several institutions, occasionally requesting copies of József Károlyi Foundation – Fehérvárcsurgó
documents relating to Otto von Habsburg.
Remembering Szabolcs Vajay on his 100th birthday
• The National Archives of the National Archives of Hungary provided the Founda-
tion with copies of documents of the Ministry of the Interior from 1918 to 1945.
Otto von Habsburg was in correspondence with and met Szabolcs Vajay on several
• We corresponded with the Sisters of Social Service about the heritage of Erzsébet occasions. On the centenary of the birth of the former historian-genealogist, heraldist,
Bokor, a former Habsburg governess and the Foundation also received copies diplomat and Johannite knight, we co-organised a professional conference at the
of documents from the Kállay Collection in Nyíregyháza, from correspondence Károlyi Castle in Fehérvárcsurgó.
between Otto von Habsburg and the Kállay family.
The Vajay Archives and Library are preserved in Fehérvárcsurgó and the József Károlyi
• We also looked through the legacy of Elemér Ujpétery, a former diplomat from Foundation also manages the legacy of several former Hungarian émigrés (Ferenc
Lisbon (Hungarian Geographical Museum, Érd), and collected copies of materials Fejtő, Tamás Schreiber, Miklós Frank, Aurél Kolnai).
relevant to us.
• The conference touched on similar professional issues of collection management.
• We enriched our photograph collection partly from the Hungarian Historical
Gallery of the Hungarian National Museum and partly from the collection of the • András Oross, Delegate of the Archives of Hungary in Vienna, spoke about the
Hungarian Museum of Trade and Tourism. Habsburg family legacy in the State Archives of Vienna and the methods of its
exploration.
With a view to the professional processing of Otto von Habsburg’s legacy and its pro-
fessional dissemination, the staff of the collections area have continued to place great • Krisztina Vajay, the scholar’s daughter, participated in the conference. Speakers
emphasis on the extensive networking with archivists, librarians, and museums in 2021. included two of our curators, György Károlyi and Ádám Lelbach, together with
former ambassador Csaba Mohi.
• Three of our staff members participated in this year’s annual meeting of the
Association of Hungarian Archivists in Sopron, where they had the • A series of eulogies and personal reminiscences about Szabolcs Vajay and his life’s
opportunity to exchange professional ideas with prominent representatives work concluded with a service in the chapel of the castle.
of the Hungarian and international archival field, which is also useful for our
collections.

• Dr. Zsuzsanna Bakonyi, a staff member of the Old Printed Documents

Department of the National Széchényi Library, helped us to survey the 16th–18th
century publications in the Collection.

24
In 2021, we hosted guests to share the work of our Foundation.

Our guests were:

Pascale Andréani, Ambassador of France to Hungary;

Charles Colombe, American political scientist living in Austria;
Deutsch Tamás, Member of the European Parliament;
Habsburg-Lotharingiai Károly;
Walburga Habsburg-Douglas;
Dr. Johannes Haindl, Ambassador of Germany to Hungary;
Hiller István, historian, politician, Vice-President of the Hungarian Parliament;
L. Simon László, Director General of the Hungarian National Museum;
Jean-Thomas Lesueur, Director of the Institut Thomas More (Paris);
Ramón Pérez-Maura, Spanish historian;
Professor Alexander Pachta-Reyhofen, Chancellor of the Order of the Golden Fleece;
Bernd Posselt, politician, President of Paneuropa-Union Deutschland;
Annette Schavan, German Christian Democrat politician, former Labour Minister;
Martin Schlag, Professor at the University of St. Thomas (Minnesota);
Karl Friedrich Freiherr von Solemacher, former secretary to Otto von Habsburg;
Ferdinand Trauttmansdorff, diplomat, former Austrian Ambassador to Prague;
students at the Institute of History at Pázmány Péter Catholic University.
SHARE Conferences
In 2021, the epidemiological situation continued to have a lasting impact on the nature
of our events. It is therefore an important achievement that we have found a healthy
balance between live and online events and have developed a hybrid system that en-
sures the most convenient access for all interested parties. The increasing number of
Exhibition foreign experts participating in our events this year is an encouraging development for
the Foundation’s international networking.

This year, our travelling exhibition on the life of Otto von Habsburg was shown in Kő- Tocqueville, Lukacs
szeg, Szászvár, Mezőberény, Tata and Fehérvárcsurgó. Our aim is to visit all the towns
and villages in Hungary where Otto von Habsburg was granted the title of honorary John Lukacs, an American historian of Hungarian origin, regularly exchanged letters
citizen. with Otto von Habsburg. Their written exchanges gave rise to the idea for the first joint
conference of 2021 titled Tocqueville, Lukacs, and the State of American Democracy
organized by the Otto von Habsburg Foundation and the Institute for Strategic Studies
of the National University of Public Service, held on 29 January 2021, with the parti-
cipation of American and Hungarian scholars and admirers of the two historians.

• Lukacs was greatly influenced by the French political thinker’s The American
Democracy, and in his book Democracy and Populism, published in Hungarian
in 2008, he assessed Tocqueville’s intellectual legacy while identifying risks to
the democratic establishment. He highlighted trends that are influencing events
today.

• The more than 200 people who registered for the event were welcomed by
András Koltay, Rector of the National University of Public Service.

• Professor of History David Contosta recalled the figure of John Lukacs through
Photos: OPSKMM Mezőberény,
personal memories. It is thanks to Professor Lukacs that he came to Chestnut
Tata.hu, FEOL.hu
Hill College, where he has taught ever since - and where he still holds his former
office after Lukacs’s departure. Lukacs, who liked to provoke deep debate, was
popular with students and faculty alike, Contosta said. (His popularity was also
enhanced by the fact that he entertained audiences with his piano playing on
public occasions.) According to Contosta, Lukacs did not believe in the idea of
constant progress because he considered man to be an inherently sinful being.
That is why he described himself as a reactionary, an old-fashioned patriot, a
believer in civic values and family, books, and civilised behaviour.

• Géza Jeszenszky historian and former Minister for Foreign Affairs of Hungary,
spoke about Lukacs’s attachment to Hungarian culture, history, and the
Hungarian people.

29
• Ferenc Horkay Hörcher first met Lukacs as a young researcher in the 1990s
in the context of the planned revival of a party-neutral intellectual circle. Lukacs
told one of the organisers about the organisation he had in mind: ”I was thinking
of Tocqueville Club. That’s because Tocqueville was a thinker on the scale of both Plato
and Aristotle in the democratic era of world history. And we, not only Hungarians,
are in fact only at the beginning of the era of mass democracy.” The organisation
ultimately failed to materialise, but Lukacs’s views on the French thinker are still
worth considering today: ”Tocqueville believed that a democratic society without
neighbourly love and honesty is impossible. Of course, he knew that love could not be
forced on anyone. But hatred can in no way be honest. It is characteristic of Tocquevil-
le’s Christian outlook that he believed that the greatest vice of the aristocratic age was
pride, and that of the democratic age was envy. But there is something else that is not
usually talked about. That the cause of hatred is most often a lack of self-confidence.” USA, Europe, Biden

• Máté Botos (Pázmány Péter Catholic University) said that in Lukacs’s view, 1989 During his years in the United States, Otto von Habsburg observed, and later followed
marked the end of two eras: the end of communism coincided with the end of the with keen interest, developments in US domestic politics and transatlantic relations.
New Age, which spanned the last 500 years. In 2008, for example, he wrote an article about Joe Biden, the senator who had just
been elected vice-president. The paper, which was found in our archives during pro-
• Lukacs’s reflections on American politics were listed by Gergely Szilvay under cessing, served as an excellent basis for the online roundtable discussion on Joe Biden’s
the title Churchill out, Churchill in - John Lukacs and the Presidents. First Diplomatic Steps – from Europe’s Perspective on 11 February organised by our
Foundation in collaboration with the Fondation Prospective et Innovation.
• Finally, Tamás Magyarics (Eötvös Loránd University) concluded with a review of
democracy and populism in the light of contemporary experience. • The conference was moderated by Jean-Pierre Raffarin, former Prime Minister
of France and President of the Fondation Prospective et Innovation, with
speakers Fabienne Keller, French Member of the European Parliament; Tamás
Magyarics, former Ambassador, university Professor and America expert; and
Hall Gardner, Professor at the American University of Paris.

• The participants focused their reflections on two main subjects: to what extent
does President Biden continue the political discourse of his predecessor, and
how does he envisage the United States’ relationship with Europe? In the search
for policy continuity, they concluded that President Biden, breaking with the
unilateralism of his predecessor, would certainly be willing to cooperate with
both allies and rivals, if US interests so require. However, he also faces an
important challenge: the Democratic majority is walking a tightrope, which will
make decision-making more difficult. His relationship with Europe has been
described by experts as controversial, partly because of the disagreement among
EU member states on many issues. At the same time, the handling of the crisis
over the coronavirus pandemic suggests that Europe could once again provide
the United States with a stronger ally.

31
 Visegrad cooperation • Former French Foreign Minister Hubert Védrine spoke of his conviction that
Europe should take V4 cooperation much more seriously. Referring to the debate
”For 30 years, the member states of the Visegrad Cooperation have been forming an alliance on immigration, which divides European elites, he stressed the importance of the
with the aim of helping each other to become part of the Euro-Atlantic integration as soon civilisation aspect, which is more prominent in Central Europe than elsewhere.
as possible”, said Gergely Prőhle at our conference in May on the role of the Visegrad
Cooperation in shaping the future of Europe. The Director of our Foundation under- • Jerzy Buzek MEP, former Prime Minister of Poland, called for a renewed focus
lined at the conference that European Judaeo-Christian culture connects the East and on the open and cooperative foundations of the civil state that originally cha-
the West of Europe, even if they do not agree on certain issues today. racterised the Visegrad countries. He sees this as being best achieved through
grassroots, civil society solutions.
Our conference was attended by 130 participants from Poland, France, Germany, the
United Kingdom, Spain and Bosnia-Herzegovina, in addition to the national parti- • János Martonyi, former Minister for Foreign Affairs of Hungary, stated that
cipants. there is a Central European identity, which, however, is not an independent sen-
se of belonging, but a component of European identity. He also stressed that
without Christianity, Hungary would not have been able to maintain its natio-
nal identity, a link which has played a significant role in the development of the
country’s history.

• Asked what the role of young people could be for the future of the V4, Ambassa-
dor Edit Szilágyiné Bátorfi, Director of the International Visegrad Fund, said
that it was very important to maintain critical and differentiated thinking, and to
learn as much as possible about common values, languages, and cultures.

32 33
Europe, Christianity, ecumenism

In an increasingly secular public life, does Christianity still have room for political ma-
noeuvre? This was the question addressed by the Otto von Habsburg Foundation and
the National University of Public Service at their joint online conference in Pannon-
halma on 7 June. Speakers at the conference - Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the
Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity; Katalin Novák, Minister for
Family Affairs and Vice-President of FIDESZ; Jan Peter Balkenende, former Prime
Minister of the Netherlands and Mgr Matthieu Rougé, Bishop of Nanterre - explored
the spiritual foundations of Europe while seeking ecumenical answers that transcend
inter-confessional divisions.

Cardinal Kurt Koch stressed that Europe should not be understood primarily in geog-
raphical terms. Rather, it should be defined in historical, cultural, and spiritual terms
Jan Peter Balkenende’s lecture explored the moral foundations of European cooperation
as a unity built on three pillars, as former West German head of state Theodor Heuss
and integration from a distinctively Dutch Protestant perspective. In his historical
once said: the Acropolis in Athens, home to ancient Greek philosophy and the democ-
overview, the former prime minister referred to the recent book by Dutch publicist
ratic political establishment; the Capitoline in Rome, home of that Roman law which
Caroline de Gruyter (Beter wordt het niet. Een reis door de Europese Unie en het Habsburgse
is the basis of both European and canon law; and Calvary in Jerusalem, symbol of God’s
Rijk. Amsterdam, De Geus, 2021), he also spoke about the Habsburg resistance to
boundless love for humanity. Without a clearer spiritual basis, Europe is a continent
revolutionary ideas. He recalled the Calvinist-based political movement of Abraham
which, without an identity, can easily become the plaything of outside political and
Kuyper at the end of the 19th century and his speech at the Christian Social Congress
economic powers. It needs not only a single monetary currency, but also a common
in Amsterdam in 1891, which, alongside the better-known encyclical Rerum Novarum,
currency in the spiritual and intellectual sense. To understand what Europe’s Christian
was an important document of contemporary Christian social teaching. In his speech,
values are, Cardinal Koch suggested considering the three inextricably linked principles
the former Dutch prime minister also spoke about how historical experience can help
of divine authority (divinity), humanity and social values. To find an adequate response
in managing the Union’s crises.
to this, he argued that Christians must also recognise their complicity in the processes
that have led to the current state of religion in the Western world.
He pointed to three possible ways forward. The first would be further disintegration
along the lines of Brexit; the second would be a continuation of the crisis management
of the past - as Caroline de Gruyter’s writes in her book: the policy of ’fortwursteln’;
the third, and one he would support, would be the development of a Europe based on
shared values, which would not only help to overcome the fault lines, but would also
inspire societies. In crises, Christianity and ecumenical openness can serve as a com-
pass. However, this would require a more ambitious representation of values, he noted.

Minister Katalin Novák focused her speech on the community-building power of

Christianity. She stressed that the 2011 Hungarian Constitution is significant in this
respect, and was drafted in this spirit. The minister also spoke about the increasing
role of churches in Hungary in the field of public services (child protection, care for the
elderly, education); the importance of the teaching of theology and ethics, which is part
of the public education programme; the recent development of church infrastructure;
and the Hungary Helps programme, which provides financial and other support
to persecuted Christians. She also underlined that support for Christian-based
governance and specific policies in Hungary has been very high in recent
times.
35
Interfaith dialogue

In the second part of our series on the spiritual foundations of Europe, we

commemorated the 10th anniversary of the death of our namesake on 4 July. The
idea for the meeting was inspired by the fact that ten years ago, representatives of the
Abrahamic religions of the Austro-Hungarian Empire - Christian, Jewish and Muslim -
came together to pay their respects at the funeral of Otto von Habsburg.

The European Christian community was represented by Archbishop Cirill T.

Hortobágyi OSB, the Muslim community by Chief Mufti Husein Kavazović from
Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Jewish community by Chief Rabbi István Darvas. In
addition to members of the Habsburg family, the conference was attended by Tamás
Sulyok, President of the Constitutional Court, Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén,
representatives of cross-border and domestic public life, the churches, academia, and
the European aristocracy.

• In his introduction, István Nagy, Chairman of the Board of our Foundation, • Although the Zeitgeist, as Archbishop Cirill T. Hortobágyi pointed out in his
said that the importance of inter-religious and inter-denominational dialogue is welcome address, is fostering a spirit of resistance, only cooperation based on
certainly one of the lessons that we should learn from the life’s work of Otto von mutual respect can guarantee peaceful coexistence. However, peace and social
Habsburg. In his book Die Reichsidee (The Imperial Idea), Otto wrote about the stability cannot derive purely from economic and political interests, but also from
need for the Abrahamic religions to cooperate and listen to each other to mainta- initiatives and policies based on values and ideals. The monotheistic religions
in moral order in an increasingly materialistic world. with their Abrahamic roots, and the networks of relations that they create, can
help to develop these, thus contributing to the search for a modus vivendi that
can help to preserve peace and equilibrium in societies.
 • Chief Mufti Husein Kavazović also highlighted the importance of inter- The leader of the Bosnian Muslim community, and thus the highest representa-
faith dialogue by presenting the history of Bosnian Muslims and their tive of an Islamic community present traditionally on the continent for centuri-
specific Muslim cultural heritage. He stressed that cooperation with religi- es, is himself a person who has stood up to religious radicalism for decades and
ons and denominations during the Monarchy was driven by the goal of social seeks constructive dialogue with other ethnic groups and communities. (Gergely
integration. This is how Bosnian Muslims were able to play a role in state Prőhle recalled: It was Husein Kavazović who, after the Srebrenica massacre in
life and in the common army. Today, this inter-religious dialogue forms the 1995, which claimed the lives of 8,700 Muslims, called on his followers to show
basis of a multicultural and plural society, contributing to political peace in restraint, making a clear distinction between the peaceful Serb population and
the community. The Council for Interreligious Dialogue seeks to provide a the radical Chetniks.)
forum for further deepening this discourse, inspired by the visit to Bosnia
of Pope Francis, who called for peace, fraternity, and friendship in Sarajevo. • Chief Rabbi István Darvas also stressed the need for unity, which he saw as a
particularly valuable experience in the fight against the ”spiritual pollution”
that dominates our times. Dialogue, in his view, can be achieved through loving
disagreement. Recalling the debate between Rabbi Hillel and Rabbi Shammai, he
pointed out that the main characteristic of this willingness to cooperate across
differences is that the stronger party does not prove its point by force, but listens
to and considers the views of the minority. Only this attitude will be able to bring
about the kind of genuine diversity which Otto von Habsburg himself, as a true
statesman, stood for.

38 39
 • In his closing speech, Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén also stressed the im-
portance of a willingness to engage in dialogue and respect for each other, which
is essential for the survival of European culture. In his speech, he emphasised that Birthday commemoration
the history of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Habsburg dynasty still holds
lessons that are worth learning from. Consequently, the history of the Monarchy We commemorated our namesake’s birthday on 20 November at the Pesti Vigadó, pre-
and the lessons that can be drawn from it should be placed much more at the cisely 90 years after the first Otto dinner was held there. Our special guests this year
centre of our thinking, since this period was not only linked to our built heritage were Íñigo Méndez De Vigo, former Spanish minister, and Ramón Pérez-Maura,
but was also decisive for the interpretation of our specific Central European exis- Spanish journalist and historian. Méndez de Vigo had a close relationship with Otto
tence. Speaking about Otto von Habsburg’s intellectual heritage, he explained von Habsburg, with whom he collaborated on several issues. Pérez-Maura published a
that the former Crown Prince, as a Christian democrat statesman in the classical remarkable monograph on the former Crown Prince in 1997.
sense, did not think in terms of a homogeneous empire, but of an integration
that also recognised individual national sovereignties. • In his opening lecture at the banquet, Ramón Pérez-Maura presented two periods
of Otto von Habsburg’s life in Spain, their wider historical and political context
in the light of archived documents he has found in the Royal Palace Archives in
Madrid and based on personal encounters with Otto. Pérez-Maura recalled the
few years of the former Crown Prince’s childhood that the family spent in Madrid
and at the Uribarren Palace in Lequeitio, with the support and patronage of the
then Spanish monarch Alfonso XIII. He also recalled the period after the Second
World War, which for Otto was mainly about working towards European unity,
but which also brought interesting developments such as the offer of the Spanish
throne to Otto by Francisco Franco.

40 41
 But more important for him were the meetings and discussions during the In-
• Íñigo Méndez De Vigo, a Spanish Christian Democrat politician, introduced by
ternational Eucharistic Congress in Barcelona in 1952. It was at this time that the
Enikő Győri MEP and former ambassador to Madrid, told the audience that the
former Crown Prince met Alfredo Sanchez Bella, with whom he soon founded
European Union is not just a set of treaties and institutions, but also the people
the Centro Europeo de Documentación e Información (CEDI) in Spain, an orga-
behind them, who work for European unity. He recalled his youthful memory
nisation that promoted and played an important role in preparing for European
of meeting Otto von Habsburg in Madrid at the suggestion of a classmate when
integration for peace.
he was 18. He had no idea at the time that they would later work together on
• Following the Spanish perspective, Gergely Fejérdy, Deputy Scientific Director many European issues, and that they would also be fellow group members in
of our Foundation, gave a summary of the history of the Otto dinners between the European Parliament. Drawing on his personal experience, he pointed out
the two World Wars, recalling the roots of this tradition, which was interrupted that the former Crown Prince’s unique charisma was the result of an extraor-
in the forties and revived by us in 2019. dinary combination of his consistent adherence to principles and his ambition.
It made him one of the politicians from whom there was much to learn about
values-based politics, but also about politics based on dialogue and compromise.
 Family, remembrance

Archduchess Walburga Habsburg-Douglas visited our Foundation in Budapest in

Méndez de Vigo stressed that Otto, as a ’man of culture’, promoted a vision of
September. The youngest daughter of Otto von Habsburg presented us with a valuable
Europe not only as a political-legal construct but also as a Europe built on com-
collection of archival material, including diaries. The documents contain handwritten
mon intellectual foundations, and it is in this context that it is useful to reflect on
notes kept by Queen Zita’s courtiers, giving insight into the details of the family’s daily
how his former colleague would view the current state of Europe. Recalling his
life.
conversation with Georg von Habsburg the previous day, the politician said that
the former Crown Prince’s son had reminded him of his father’s optimism, and
During her visit, the Archduchess was interviewed by Euronews journalist Nóra
that he himself saw this mentality as one of the keys to success.
Shenouda, and the interview was published as a podcast on the Foundation’s website
on 23 December. The interview was based on the diaries, authentic accounts of the
Habsburg family’s daily life. Walburga spoke about her relationship with her father and
how she coped with his death. She recalled the role her parents played in the family’s
life and how she saw herself as her father’s political heir. In the interview, Walburga
spoke frankly about Otto’s personality, about which we know very little, since it is rat-
her his thoughts on politics that have survived in written form.

44
 UNFOLDING COLLECTION
Studies, publications

CHARLES IV’S ATTEMPTS TO RETURN TO THE HUNGARIAN THRONE

AS SEEN THROUGH THE EYES OF OTTO VON HABSBURG

One hundred years ago Charles IV, the last Hungarian king, twice attempted to re-
turn to the throne of Hungary. The first attempt - which was closely monitored by
the international public during Easter 1921 - and also the second attempt in October
of the same year, have been thoroughly researched by historians.1 But while scholarly
research approaches the events from the perspective of political history, Charles IV’s
family and children are for the most part only briefly mentioned. However, based on
the interviews, speeches and biographies analysing the life of the Crown Prince - found
in the collection of the Otto von Habsburg Foundation - it seems interesting to revive
the events from a hundred years ago from the perspective of Charles IV’s eldest, eight-
year-old son.

The family arrived in Switzerland on Monday, March 24, 1919. Having received inst-
ructions from the British King, Colonel Edward Lisle Strutt organized the travel of the
former ruler of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and his relatives to the Swiss Con-
federation – the first stop of their emigration. Charles IV and his family were initially
rejected by Bern in 1918, but were eventually granted asylum under British pressure2
as long as “certain conditions” were met. Switzerland obliged the former ruler of the
Austro-Hungarian Monarchy to settle in a place far from the Austrian border and not
to engage in political activity. He was advised to remain “discreet”. At that time, it was
not yet required of Charles IV to give prior notice to the authorities when leaving the
country. Later, however, after the first unsuccessful coup, this approach changed, and
he was obliged to report his intention to travel abroad.

First, the Royal couple and their children spent six weeks at the Wartegg Castle, owned by
the Parma family, and then rented3 [ the Villa Prangins on the shores of Lake Geneva, far from
the Swiss-Austrian border, in accordance with he stipulations of the Swiss government.

1  Ádám Magda: A két királypuccs és a kisantant. Történelmi Szemle, 1982, 4, pp 665-713; Ormos Mária: Soha, amíg élek. Az utolsó koronás Habsburg puccskísérletei
1921-ben. Pécs, Baranya M. Kvt., 1990 (hereinafter: Ormos); Hornyák Árpád: A Szerb-Horvát-Szlovén Királyság és IV. Károly első restaurációs kísérlete. Századok,
2001, 5, pp 1183-1201; Gulyás László: Kísérlet IV. Károly és Horthy Miklós 1921 március 27-i találkozójának rekonstruálására. In: Újragondolt negyedszázad. Ta-
nulmányok a Horthy korszakról. Ed. Péter Miklós. Szeged, Belvedere Meridionale, 2010, pp 275-282. It should be noted that biographers of Charles IV, Queen
Zita, and Otto also wrote about the events.
2  Diplomatic Documents of Switzerland. (Hereinafter: DDS) Band 7/1 (1918-1919). Prép. by Antoine Fleury. Zürich, Chronos Verl., 1979, p 495 (Do-
cument No. 250)
3  According to the Hungarian press for 60,000 Swiss francs a year. How does Charles IV live in Switzerland? Az Est No.2, 6 October, 1920

Charles IV and his children, Adelheid and Otto (1921) 47

 On May 20, the king and his entourage moved into a spacious residence in the canton
of Vaud, built in 1861 by Napoleon Bonaparte’s brother. Together with the staff, the
number of residents in the building was 50.1 The garden of the villa was in direct contact
with the lake, which was a great pleasure for the children. Otto von Habsburg, who was
asked several times about this period, recalled 80 years later: “The summer in Prangins
was very beautiful. We were gardening and fishing a lot. It was especially unforgettable for
me because I started fishing there.”2 He also remembered that the villa was surrounded
by a huge park where they could play to their liking, and that from the window of the
residence they could see the snow-capped peak of Mont Blanc. Otto recalled that his
parents had many visitors around this time, but most of all he recalled the memories of
his uncles, and the presence of his grandmother, Archduchess Maria Josepha of Saxony.3

The Habsburg children lived quite secluded lives; being privately educated, they did not
attend Swiss schools. Otto later confirmed this when interviewed by Gábor Hanák and
Péter Bokor.4 Count Miklós Esterházy, Crescence Marie Markgräfin von Pallavicini and
Charles IV taught him Hungarian.5 At the suggestion of the Primate of Esztergom János
Csernoch, in 1921 Father Pál Zsámboky became the Hungarian teacher of the Crown
Prince. The family lived according to a strict agenda and the firstborn was brought up
with particular discipline. It was a lifelong experience for Otto that he could walk with Queen Zita with her children in Prangins
his father for an hour every morning during this period. On these occasions, Charles of-
ten spoke Hungarian. Otto was introduced to German grammar by a Tyrolean teacher
named Dietrich.6 The family spent a lot of time together, which was fundamental for Otto, then eight years old, must have been surprised that on March 30, two Swiss police
the then 7–8-year-old Crown Prince. On March 1, 1921, his seventh sibling, Archduchess chiefs made an unexpected visit to the villa and they, the children, were also questioned
Charlotte was born, which gave Queen Zita and the family a special preoccupation. about their father. The press had already reported Charles’s presence in Hungary, but
the children were not told the details yet.9 Otto may have noticed that in the first days
The children did not notice anything peculiar during these seemingly idyllic months. of April, the comings and goings around the residence revived.10 Queen Zita, as soon as
It was not uncommon for them that their father did not show up at the family table she received the telegram on her husband’s failed coup and his return to Switzerland,
occasionally, so they did not notice his absence either when it happened on Good Friday left the villa early in the morning on April 6, but asked Countess Teréz Korff-Schmi-
morning, March 25, 1921. Though it can be read in some texts that Otto was initiated into sing-Kerssenbrock, a Lady of the Court who played an important role in raising her
his parents’ plans,7 the Crown Prince did not know the reason for his father’s absence.8 children, to tell those who had stayed home that they would both soon return.
However, it was strange for him that Easter was also celebrated without Charles in the
chapel of the Villa Prangins, as the family had spent major holidays rather together. So, on the morning of April 6, Otto hoped to see his parents in Prangins again in a day
or two. However, the Royal couple never returned to the villa at Lake Geneva together –
the leadership of the canton of Vaud protested against the return of Charles,11 and only
Catholic cantons – Fribourg and Lucerne – were willing to accept the Habsburg ruler. As
1  Gilles Simond: „Proscrit, le dernier empereur d’Autriche se réfugie à Prangins” https://www.24heures.ch/vivre/histoire/proscrit-dernier-empereur-autri-
che-refugie-prangins/story/28379220 (Last retrieved: 12 March, 2021) a result, he and Zita, who boarded her husband’s train at the Austro-Swiss border station
2  Otto von Habsburg Foundation, Otto von Habsburg Collection, Otto von Habsburg’s scientific and political essays, speeches, interviews. HOAL I-4-b-Brook-
Sepherd interview. (Pöcking, 4 August, 1999) (The documents of the Otto von Habsburg Foundation’s Collection are being sorted, so none of the indications
of Buchs, arrived in Lucerne, between the Pilates and Rigi mountains, around one o’clock
given in the study can be considered definitive.)
3  Brook-Shepherd, Gordon: Habsburg Ottó. Életrajz. Miskolc, Z-Press, 2003, pp 96-97 (hereinafter: Brook-Shepherd)
in the morning on April 7, 1921. They were temporarily housed in the elegant Hotel
4  Interview of Péter Bokor and Gábor Hanák with dr. Otto von Habsburg in Frauenberg, April 4, 1998. Hungarian Motion Picture Treasure Foundation
(MMMA) 0451_19_HO_980404. The exact time in the recording is 00:49:31
National, and Charles stayed there under police supervision for more than a month.12
5  How does Charles IV live in Switzerland? Az Est, 1920. október 6.
6  MMMA 0451_19_HO_980404. The exact time in the recording is 00:49:37.
7  II. King Otto. Nemzeti Újság, 1922. április 4., 4. Boroviczény also writes about this in his memoir: Boroviczény Aladár: A király és kormányzója. Budapest, 9  Csonka, p 43
Európa Kiadó, 1993, p 128 (hereinafter: Boroviczény) 10  Erich Feigl: Zita de Habsbourg. Mémoires d’un empire disparu. Paris, Criterion, 1991, p 317
8  The biographers of Otto von Habsburg unanimously write about this. Csonka Emil: Habsburg Ottó. Egy különös sors története. München, Új Európa, 1972, 43 11  „Vaud n’en veut plus”. La Suisse Libérale, 2 April, 1921. p 4
(hereinafter: Csonka); Baier, Stephan – Demmerle, Eva: The Life of Otto von Habsburg. Budapest, Europe Publishing, 2003, p 57 (hereinafter: Baier-Demmerle); 12  The Swiss authorities have been thinking only and exclusively of temporary reception from the beginning. DDS, Band 8 (1920–1924). Prép.
Brook-Shepherd, pp 103-104 by Antoine Fleury. Zurich, Chronos Verl., 1988, pp 175-178 (Document 60)

48 49
 From there, the couple moved to the Hertenstein residence on May 5, 1921, which was
rented out for the family’s further stay in Switzerland. Charles promised to leave the Fe-
deral Republic by the end of August.1 The Swiss government later extended the ruler’s
residence permit because he gave his word that he would refrain from any unauthori-
zed activity.2

Aladár Boroviczény, the head of the cabinet of Minister for Foreign Affairs Gusztáv
Gratz at the time of the first attempted coup, accompanied Charles IV to Switzerland
and reported that Otto had unexpectedly left the Villa Prangins on April 9. The Crown
Prince was transported to Lucerne at Zita’s request. Countess Ágnes Schönborn, who
later married Boroviczény, joined the family as a Lady of the Court in 1921 and took
Otto with her from the villa. The Queen’s aim was to cheer up her particularly despe-
rate husband with their son’s surprise appearance. Otto arrived at the Hotel National
at dinner and his father indeed cheered up on seeing him.3 The Crown Prince returned
to Lake Geneva with his mother a few days later. The children left the Villa Prangins on
May 5 and moved to Hertenstein, where the family could be together again.4 Otto was
delighted to be living on the waterfront again and to be able to revive their usual walks
with his father, although they had less time for it there. In Hertenstein, “one of the rooms
in the children’s suite was arranged as a school room on the orders of Queen Zita. Along one
wall stood a large blackboard, and in front of it were three small school benches for Crown
Prince Otto, Royal Princess Adelheid and Royal Prince Robert.”5 The Crown Prince was also
cheered by the fact that his Hungarian studies with Pál Zsámboky continued.

Otto was able to continue his passion for fishing, which was especially important to
him at that time. In addition to the Swiss police, the castle hotel was also monitored by
agents of Miklós Horthy,6 who repeatedly tried to obtain information about Charles’s
intentions by camouflaging themselves as tourists. In an interview in 1998, Otto recal-
led how pleased he was to be able to exchange words in Hungarian with the stranger
who turned to him, Detective Inspector Oszkár Zdeborsky. The Hungarian agent tried
to extort information from him, but as his parents warned him not to converse with
these “tourists”, he subsequently avoided them.7 Otto was able to live with his parents
as a happy child until the end of October 1921, even if he felt a more tense atmosphere
from April. Charles’s second coup attempt ended their stay in Switzerland, of which
the Crown Prince was also unaware.8 The Royal couple, who left on October 20, 1921,
did not tell the children where they were going just before the expiration of the Swiss
residence permit,9 but thanks to the press, their destination was soon revealed.

1  Ibid. 235. (Document No. 81)

2  Charles IV was to be sent to Spain. The Spanish government has indicated that the castle they can provide for the Habsburg family will be put in order by
October. Ormos, pp 87-88
3  Boroviczény, p 128
4  Neue Zürcher Nachrichten, 6 May 1921, p 2
5  II. King Otto. Nemzeti Újság, 1922. április 4., p 4
6  Kovács Gergely: Fogadd a koronát! Károly magyar király hitvalló élete. Budapest, Új Ember, 2004, p 112
7  MMMA 0451_19_HO_980404. The exact time of the recording is 00:49:45
8  HOAL I-4-b-Brook-Shepherd interview. (Pöcking, 4 August 1999)
9  Brook-Shepherd, pp 110–111

Charles IV, Adelheid, Otto and Robert in Switzerland while fishing (1921) 51
 The events from 100 years ago were later analysed several times by the former Crown
Prince, with an adult’s perspective. Among other things, he stated, “the first attempt
failed because they believed Horthy, and that was a mistake. The second was poorly designed.
[…] It was a very amateur thing. At the same time, it is necessary to see the coercive conditions
to which the individuals concerned were exposed. And then, in retrospect, we will be lenient
when we think about what we would have done in their place.”6

In a lecture given at a scientific conference in Reims, France in October 1975, Otto

stated in connection with the events of 1921: “For Karl von Habsburg, the coronation had
an inseparable and perfectly complementary sacred and political character. In fact, politics
without moral attachment necessarily leads to tyranny. The oath creates an insoluble bond
with God that reminds us of the priesthood. This is the real explanation for the two attemp-
ted coups in 1921. Because of his oath to the constitution, the king felt obliged to keep himself
to his vows in every way possible, even against personal and family ties and all political
options.”7

In Otto’s memories his father’s attempts to return — though it meant an ordeal for him
Queen Zita and Charles IV at Biatorbágy (1921)
— remained not as a difficult chapter of his life, but rather as a kind of moral heritage,
a historical lesson. Throughout his life, Otto von Habsburg remembered with pain the
battle near Budapest in October 1921 in connection with his father’s second attempt
Otto was concerned about the events, and he was waiting anxiously for his parents’
to return to Hungary. 70 years later, when he accepted the invitation of the mayor of
response to their letter that they wrote together with his siblings. Zita’s lines for her
Budaörs, he felt it important to share his now clear thoughts on the issue in a Hungary
children, which she had great difficulty sending after the failed coup, were withheld
that had changed its regime. On 16 October 1991, after attending the ground-breaking
by the Swiss authorities for weeks. The Swiss police were surprised by Otto’s answers
ceremony for the then still embryonic Budaörs shopping centre complex, he gave a
and cleverness when he was interrogated at the end of October 1921.1 On 8 November,
speech at the unveiling of a memorial plaque by Tibor Szervátiusz (on the wall of the
eighteen days after the departure of the Royal couple, the children also had to leave
Archaeological Museum) in the street named after his father.8
Hertenstein and were temporarily returned to Wartegg Castle. It was a great pain to
Otto that his paternal grandmother was forbidden to visit them.2 The Crown Prince
Gergely Fejérdy
celebrated his ninth birthday in the absence of his parents in Wartegg and Christmas also
passed without them.3 Queen Zita travelled to Zurich on January 12, 1922, for Archduke
Robert’s caecal surgery after receiving permit from the Conference of Ambassadors
meeting in Paris and the Government of the Swiss Confederation. Here she was able
to briefly visit Otto and his siblings, but the authorities did not allow them to travel to
Portugal together.4 The Crown Prince and his three siblings left Switzerland by train
 
through Geneva to France on January 26, 1921, to see their parents on the island of
Madeira, but it did not happen until February 2, 1922.5 This marked the beginning of a
new era in Otto’s life.

1  Csonka, p 43 6  Baier–Demmerle, p 59
2  The Swiss Ambassador to Vienna was also surprised by this decision. In his opinion, Charles IV was much more influenced by his wife and mother-in-law. 7  HOAL I-4-b-Le couronement du roi Charles IV de Hongrie (Reims, October 1975) f.8.
DDS, Document No. 130. pp 366-364, he was able to make his first visit to Wartegg on January 19, 1922. “La reine Zita.” La Liberté, 14 January 1922, p 2 8  The typed version of the lecture can be found in the Collection of the Otto von Habsburg Foundation, HOAL I-4-b-Budaörs, 16 October 1991 (The records
3  Csonka, pp 43-44 of the Otto von Habsburg Foundation are under sorting, therefore the notations given in the paper are not definitive).
4  Brook-Shepherd, pp 111–112
5  „Kleine Inlandschronik.” Gütlinauer, 26 January, 1922. p 2

52 53
 WEDDING A ’LA HABSBURG

70 years ago

On 10 May 1951 Otto von Habsburg and Princess Regina of Saxe-Meiningen were mar-
ried in Nancy, France. The carefully prepared and documented event, attended by tens
of thousands of people from the countries of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire,
was worthy of the historical and social status of the last heir to the Hungarian throne,
the head of the House of Habsburg.

How they met

The hopes of Otto von Habsburg’s return home were soon dashed after the Second
Austrian Republic restored the Habsburg Law to constitutional status in 1945. Unwel-
come in Soviet-controlled Hungary as well, the Archduke, through the intervention of
a friend, finally obtained a passport from the Prince of Monaco, which at least allowed
him to travel in the late 1940s. In 1948, he set off on an international tour with his youn-
ger brother, Robert. His political lectures gave Otto a worldwide reputation and some
financial security, which in his late thirties gave him the existential stability he needed
to start a family.

To facilitate his decision, his mother, Queen Zita, took great care to compile a list of
potential brides of suitable age and rank. With these guidelines in his pocket, her son
walked the world, now thinking of marriage. During his stay in Paris, he was appro-
ached by the former foreign minister of the Lakatos government, Gustave Hennyey,
who asked him to help interpret between the authorities and the Hungarians in refugee
camps in Germany. Otto, accepting the invitation, travelled to Germany in the summer
of 1950.

Regina Saxe-Meiningen was born in 1925 in Würzburg as the daughter of Prince George
Saxe-Meiningen and Klara-Marie Countess of Korff. By the summer of 1950, despite
her young age, she had endured many hardships: as a descendant of the rulers of the
Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen, which had fallen under Soviet influence in the province of
Thuringia as a result of the war, she and her family were stripped of all their possessions.
Her father was sent to a Soviet prison camp in 1945, from which he never returned; her
brother was killed on the Western Front in 1940, and she and her mother fled to West
Germany after the war.

Official wedding photo of Regina and Otto

55
 In 1949, she started working as a social worker in a camp for Hungarian refugees in
Munich, but due to her lack of Hungarian language skills, she could barely make herself
understood. In the summer of 1950, she was trying to communicate with a Hungarian
refugee when a sympathetic, dark-haired young man came to her aid. This is how Otto
von Habsburg met Princess Regina Saxe-Meiningen,1 who was not even on his mother’s
list...

After they met, as Otto later recalled, ’everything happened very quickly’. Nothing better
illustrated Otto’s intentions and the genuineness of their feelings than that they met
so many times in a very short period, and that Otto - despite not being a fan of music
- even accompanied Regina to concerts. Six months later, on Christmas Eve, they got
engaged, and the wedding took place on May 10 the following year in Nancy, France.2

The wedding

The ceremony was conducted with the most lavish royal pomp and ceremony, but only
symbolically, as they were both deprived of their rank and fortune and living far from
their homeland. By 1951, the Habsburg dynasty’s real political influence had long since
been lost, yet tens of thousands of people from all over the former Austro-Hungarian
Empire came to witness the marriage of Otto von Habsburg and Princess Regina.
The newlyweds
The events of the big day began at 10 a.m. in the Town Hall. The French and Lorraine
flags were flown on the façade of the building, while inside the ceremonial hall the flags
of the House of Habsburg, Lorraine and Saxe-Meiningen, alongside the French trico-
Pope Pius XII also sent his best wishes for the occasion:
lour, served as the historical backdrop to the wedding. The civil ceremony was conduc-
”Soon (...) His Imperial and Royal Highness will marry Princess Regina of Saxe-Meiningen.
ted by the Mayor, Lionel Pèlerine.
We cannot pass by this happy event without sharing their joy and expressing our congratula-
tions. Our love and filial piety so wish. We pray to the eternal and loving Father to keep them
As they stepped out of the gates of the Town Hall, the rainy weather turned unexpectedly
faithful to their predecessors, and to grant them a long and peaceful life, rich in work and
clear, and the Archduke and Archduchess marched in sunshine to the Minorité Church
merit. This we wish, and therefore we pray with all our hearts, and to you, our dear son, we
of Les Cordeliers. Shouts of ”Hooray!”, ”Hoch!”, ”Zivio!”, ”Nazdar!” and ”Vive les princes!”
give our apostolic blessing on your spouse and on your whole household.”
greeted them.
At the end of the Mass, the Austrian imperial anthem was sung, as well as the Hunga-
On arriving at the church, they were met by more than twenty clergy waiting for them,
rian and Czech anthems, and the engaged couple went to the altar steps and knelt on
including Marc-Armand Lallier,3 Bishop of Nancy, and Mgr. Joseph Zagon, the Papal
brocade cushions filled with Austrian soil, prepared by Austrian women, to receive the
Prelate who celebrated Mass as the Pope’s official delegate. In his homily, he expressed
blessing.4 The wedding ceremony was followed by a reception, after which the newly-
his sympathy for the sad childhood of the two young people, praised their deep,
weds set off for Contrexéville, the first stop on their honeymoon.
unshakeable faith and stressed the sacrifices made by both their families for Christianity.
1  It is interesting to note that the intertwining of aristocratic families is well illustrated by the fact that Regina’s cousin, Countess Maria Teresa Korff Schmisi- 4  The largest delegation (about 25,000 people), in defiance of the Habsburg Law, came from Austria. The law was the reason why Otto and Regina were not
ng-Kerssenbrock, was Otto von Habsburg’s governess. allowed to take their vows in the Basilica of St. Mary’s, the Habsburg Empire’s premier shrine, but their golden wedding was held there in 2001. And although the
2  Nancy was once the capital of the Duchy of Lorraine, which was incorporated into the Habsburg Empire in 1738 through the marriage of Maria Theresa and wedding could not take place in Mariazell, Archpriest Gábor Beda, defying the disapproval of Chancellor Leopold Figl, had a replica of Our Lady of Mercy in
Prince Francis Stephen. Mariazell transported to Nancy, to the delight of the newlyweds. According to an anecdote of the time, when the Chancellor learned of the ’disappearance’
3  In 1941, Bishop Marc-Armand Lallier, the head of the Confians Seminary in Paris, welcomed and sheltered Jean-Marie Lustiger - a 17-year-old boy of Po- of Our Lady of Mary, he called the Archpriest in indignation and questioned him: ”Father Beda, where is Our Lady? Father Beda replied. But you know,
lish-Jewish origin, originally called Aron Lustiger - who was baptised in Orleans in 1940 and later became Archbishop of Paris (1981–2005). Chancellor. Up there, in Heaven!” The source does not say how Figl reacted to this witty remark.

56
57
 Wedding documents in our collection
What do wedding dresses say?
The collection of the Otto von Habsburg Foundation holds a wealth of material relating
The newlyweds were also royal in appearance, not only because of the significance of to the wedding: newspaper articles, letters, and photographs. Many press publications,
their regalia, but also because of the historical significance of their accessories. Regina’s such as the Österreichische Nachrichten and the Salzburger Nachrichten, contain details
wedding dress was chosen with Otto in Paris, based on drawings by French designer Jean of the wedding procession and interesting facts about the events. From these sources
Désses. According to a contemporary press account, the satin from which the dress was we learn that Otto von Habsburg’s brothers and sisters played a major role in the
created was made on a special loom because of its extraordinary dimensions, as Princess organisation: Prince Robert helped with the preparations and Princess Adelheid set
Regina’s dress was seven metres long and three metres wide. The unusual gown was held up a room in Paris to deal with the constant flow of congratulatory letters and the
by three princesses at the entrance and six bridesmaids at the exit. arrangement of wedding gifts.

But it was the accessories that made the bride’s outfit even more memorable, as they were The material gathered by the family was organised in folders, in the form of congratu-
all closely linked to the Habsburg family. The veil was made in the 18th century for Maria lations, letters and postcards. Among the postcards is a special greeting card decorated
Theresa’s daughter, Maria Christina, on the occasion of her marriage to Elector Albert with Edelweiss and other pressed flowers, which is still in good condition. In most ca-
von Sachsen-Teschen, and the lace veil was embroidered with the coats of arms of both ses, along with the letters, a letter of reply sent on behalf of the newlyweds in Hungari-
families. The relic was discovered by Otto von Habsburg’s uncle, Prince Xavier of Bour- an, German or French is also attached.
bon-Parmae, in his castle in Bost, and was presented to Regina as a token of his affection.
Her tiara was a wedding present from Queen Zita, who received it from Franz Joseph The wedding gifts were kept separately, and a record was kept of who gave what. The
and wore it first on her wedding day in 1911. The special jewellery featured a band of five lists included clothes, wine, cigarette cases; from Hungary gold-embroidered napkins
diamond-encrusted hearts interlaced with scrolls and leaves. and a bag with pearls. Among the more valuable gifts, a unique one was a white lace box
belonging to Franz Joseph’s daughter Maria Valeria, given from an admirer on behalf of
The press of the time did not make much mention of the brooch that adorned the dress the Austrian people. The notes attached to the lists show that the couple often enclosed
of Archduchess Regina, but some photographs show the young bride wearing the Order a signed wedding photograph with their letters of thanks.
of the Star Cross. Members of the Order were only married or widowed noblewomen,
headed by the so-called Supreme Patroness - until 1951, none other than Queen Zita. The The Crown Prince and the princess’s engagement was for life, their earthly marriage
medal was usually worn on a women’s ribbon made of black silk, but it was sometimes ending with Regina’s death in 2010.
placed on a diamond-encrusted bow and worn over the heart. Queen Zita wore it in this
way, and it was most probably presented to Regina on her wedding day, as the Archduchess Zsófia Erdélyi
had held the title of patroness since 1951. Beáta Merza
Anett Nacsa
The historical reminiscences were also reinforced by Regina’s bridal bouquet, the myrtle
flowers of which came from the gardens of Schönbrunn Palace and were transported
from there to Nancy.

Otto von Habsburg appeared in a traditional outfit, wearing a black tailcoat, and his or-
ders included the Grand Crosses of the Order of the Golden Fleece, the Imperial Order of
Leopold of Austria, the Royal Order of St Stephen of Hungary, the Order of the Golden
Knight of Luxembourg, and the Order of Charles I of Spain.

58 59
 POLITICS IN LIGHT OF THE EUCHARIST
 
Otto von Habsburg at the International Eucharistic Congresses

In connection with the 52nd International Eucharistic Congress to be held in Hungary

in September 2021, it is worth recalling that the last heir to the Hungarian throne par-
ticipated twice in this event of particular importance to the Catholic world. Otto von
Habsburg first took part in the historically renowned Congress – first held in 1881 in
Lille, France – in Barcelona in 1952 and then in Munich in 1960.

It is a well-known fact that Otto von Habsburg was a deeply religious Catholic.
Throughout his childhood years, a chapel was established in all the places the family
lived in exile.1 He heard Mass every day, and served and took communion many times.
His Christian faith remained decisive for him as an adult and permeated his public life.
He consciously sought out events that carried the opportunity to make new friend-
ships, in addition to a spiritual reset. It is no coincidence that in 1952 he and his wife
attended the 35th International Eucharistic Congress in Barcelona.

The Catalan capital organized the event 14 years after the 1938 International Eucharis-
tic Congress in Budapest, as the meeting scheduled for 1940 in Nice was cancelled due
to World War II. From 1938, Spain sought to win the right to host the highly prestigious
Catholic meeting, which was originally scheduled for 1944. The Archbishop of Toledo,
Isidro Gomá y Tomás, also came to the Budapest Congress to help the preparations.
Bearing political considerations in mind, Rome also supported this endeavour after
the war. Vatican diplomacy negotiated a new concordat with the Spanish government
in the early 1950s, and sought to bring the United States and Spain closer together.
In the increasingly tense international climate of the Cold War, a greater understand-
ing of the Franco regime seemed justified, and Spain’s deep-rooted Catholic tradition
also spoke in its favour.2 The chances of the Barcelona site were enhanced by the city’s
good accessibility, as well as its gloomy recent history, since it was suitable, through the
Otto and Regina von Habsburg at the 35th International Eucharistic Congress in Barcelona suffering it experienced during the Civil War, as a symbol of a new beginning, a hope
of resurrection.3

The central theme of the 35th International Eucharistic Congress was peace. The deci-
sion was made five years after World War II, as a result of Cold War developments

1  Baier, Stephan - Demmerle, Eva: Habsburg Ottó élete. Budapest, Európa, 2003, p 73 (hereafter: Baier - Demmerle (2003))
2  Nathalia Nunez, ‚Le XXXVe Congres eucharistique international de Barcelone (1952): ”Un grand cri de paix?” Chrétiens et sociétés, (2019), 26. https://journals.
openedition.org/chretienssocietes/5440 (Date of download: 03/09/2021).
3  See the official Vatican website of the International Eucharistic Congress: http://www.congressieucaristici.va/content/congressieucaristici/it/sto-
ria/50-congressi-eucaristici-internazionali/barcelona-1952.html (Date of download: 03/09/2021).

60 61
 informally recognized by the Franco regime. (The diplomat was assisted in his work
by Alfréd Egán, a former Hungarian consul in Barcelona.) Marosy, who also played an
important role in setting up the official Hungarian delegation, agreed with Otto von
Habsburg. Following several exchanges of letters, a group of mostly ecclesiastical peop-
le living in political exile in the West came together – led by Roman Prelate Joseph
Zagon and former Ambassador to Vatican City, Maltese Knight Gábor Apor. This group
was recognized by the organizers as an official delegation.2 At his own request, Otto von
Habsburg was not on the list of the Hungarian delegation or that of any other nation.

Marosy tried to make the son of the last ruler of the former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy
one of the most distinguished personalities to appear at the event. The diplomat in-
formed Otto von Habsburg that he could also attend the highest-level reception in
honour of Cardinal Fedico Redes Tedeschini, the papal legate traveling to the Eucharis-
tic Congress.3 During the congress, Spanish national radio provided the former Crown
Prince with a few minutes to speak.

Otto von Habsburg was already a well-known personality in Spain at that time. In 1949
he had a personal meeting with General Franco, who showed respect towards the head
Otto von Habsburg and Alfredo Sanchez Bella (1952) of the historical family. Through his good relations with France, Otto played a medi-
ating role in improving French-Spanish relations, which became very tense after 1948.
4
lberto Martin Artajo, the foreign minister of the Franco regime and a member of the
– the threat of nuclear war and communist propaganda (e.g. the Stockholm Peace Call Spanish leadership of the Actio Catholica, also sympathized with Otto von Habsburg.
in 1950). Pope Pius XII observed with particular concern the persecution of Christians It is no coincidence that in 1952 he was treated as a privileged guest by the Spanish
in the Eastern Bloc and the spread of Marxist ideas. In this context, the Holy Father authorities. As early as March of 1952, the Madrid Foreign Ministry instructed the go-
considered it important that Catholics, especially Europeans, be spiritually armed aga- vernor of Barcelona to find suitable accommodation for Otto.5 They booked a room at
inst Communism. It is no coincidence, then, that during the Congress, the subject of the modern Arycasa Hotel in the centre of the Catalan capital, which was completed for
peace was examined from four main perspectives: the Eucharist and family peace, the the Eucharistic Congress.6 It was here that he was introduced to Alfredo Sanchez Bella,7
Eucharist and individual and social peace, the Eucharist and international peace, and director of the Spanish Cultural Institute, by Jean Violet,8 a close associate of Antoine
the Eucharist and ecclesiastical peace. Pinay, French prime minister at the time, and an agent of the French secret services.
Bella was impressed by the fact that the son of the last ruler of the Austro-Hungarian
In May 1938, just a few months after the Anschluss, the former Crown Prince was unab- Monarchy took part in the marches organized during the congress as a cross-carrier,
le to travel to Budapest as he was in exile. Thus, for the first time, it was not until 1952 among the people.9
that he had the opportunity to participate in the International Eucharistic Congress.
Given all this, it is not surprising that Otto von Habsburg, who had close emotional ties 2  Otto von Habsburg Foundation, (hereafter HOAL) Otto von Habsburg Collection, Correspondence, Correspondence with individuals and organisations,
HOAL I-2-b-Marosy Ferenc (Madrid, 15 May 1952), and related annexes (the complete records of the Otto von Habsburg Foundation are being sorted and the
to Spain,1 enthusiastically signalled his intention to attend the Barcelona event. indications given in this study are not definitive). See also HOAL, I-2-b-Magyary Gyula (Rome, 11 May 1952)
3  HOAL, I-2-b-Ferenc Marosy (Madrid, 19 May 1952).
4  Matilde Eiroa San Francisco: ‚España, refugio para los aliados del Eje y destino de anticomunistas (1939-1956)’. Ayer, 2007, 67, p 30.
5  HOAL, I-2-b-Ferenc Marosy (Madrid, 29 March 1952), Annex: Letter from Emilio de Navasqués to Marosy regarding Otto von Habsburg’s stay in Barcelona,
The Spanish trip of Otto, his wife Archduchess Regina and his sister Archduchess Madrid, 26 March 1952.
6  For more information on the history of the Arycasa Hotel in Barcelona, see http://labarcelonadeantes.com/arycasa.html (Date of download: 03/09/2021)
Adelheid, was organized by Ferenc Marosy, the Hungarian royal ambassador to Madrid, 7  Baier - Demmerle (2003), p 344. According to Emil Csonka, Alfredo Sanchez Bella was introduced to Otto von Habsburg by a French professor at the Arycasa
Hotel. Emil Csonka. Munich, New Europe, 1972, p 418 (hereafter: Csonka (1972)).
8  According to Stefan A. Müller, it was Jean Vilnet, not Jean Violet, who introduced Otto and Sanchez Bella to each other. Müller, Stefan A. - Schirffl, David
- Skordos, Adamantios T.: Heimliche Freunde: Austria’s relations with the dictatorships of Southern Europe after 1945: Spain, Portugal, Greece, Vienna, Böhlau
1  Otto von Habsburg lived in Spain between 1922 and 1929, during the formative years of his childhood and youth. In 1951, after their wedding in Nancy, he Verlag, 2016, p 42 (hereafter Müller et. al. (2016)).
and his wife, Princess Regina of Saxe-Meiningen, came here on their honeymoon. 9  Müller et al. (2016), p 42.

62 63
 This meeting was also decisive for Otto, as Alferdo Sanchez Bella became the one with
whom, as a result of discussions, lectures and experiences during the congress, he est-
ablished the organization Centro Europeo de Documentación e Información (CEDI)1 a few
months later. The main objectives of the initiative were to bring together various Chris-
tian and conservative organizations, mainly in Western Europe, to gather information,
combat Communism and preserve Christian European values, as well as, no less im-
portantly, to promote the process of European integration. It can be said, then, that
the 1952 International Eucharistic Congress was a milestone in Otto von Habsburg’s
commitment to the protection of Christian Europe. In September, at the meeting in
Santander which founded CEDI, he gave the closing remarks, stressing:

“Sometimes, like the Jewish people of the Old Testament, we think of everything in an overly
earthy way. They were waiting for the Messiah as a king in the political sense, and we believe
that the empire should be expressed in the forms known in history. However, the Christian
empire is more the spirit of solidarity, the Pax Christi thought, the practical implementation
of gospel principles, the cooperation of free peoples who acknowledge the Kingdom of Christ.
Otto von Habsburg and his family at the Eucharistic Congress in Munich, 1960:
[…] In recent days, we have studied the nature and vocation of Europe from a variety of Otto, Regina, Queen Zita, Adelheid, Elisabeth
perspectives. And we have all concluded that the European idea cannot be separated from
Christianity. Europe must understand that it is a Christian continent, that its vocation is to and attacked, mainly by the Austrian Social Democratic Party (SPÖ), for example by
bear witness to the divine truths on earth.”2 seeking to repatriate huge fortunes from his homeland and forcing anti-democratic
measures on his return. In this context, a personal discussion between the former
During the grandiose Congress in Barcelona, at which more than 300,000 pilgrims Crown Prince and the People’s Party (ÖVP) Chancellor Raab was particularly important.
from 64 countries were present and the number of attendees at the final Mass was es- The meeting was organized by German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer at the Munich
timated at one million, Otto met many Spanish and non-Spanish politicians, as well as Congress. At a meeting at the Jahreszeiten Hotel, Raab made it clear to Otto that if he
public and church figures.3 wanted to return to Austria, he would first have to make a declaration of resignation
from the throne.4 Although it still took many years for the legal status of the son of the
Otto von Habsburg once again took part in the International Eucharistic Congress last Austrian emperor to be settled, the Munich meeting proved to be key, according to
eight years later, in the summer of 1960 – this time in Munich. Due to its geographical Otto von Habsburg’s later recollection.5
proximity to his residence, Pöcking, his wife and children, his mother, Queen Zita, and
several of his siblings were also present at the event. As in Barcelona, the meetings at The two International Eucharistic Congresses he attended had a significant impact on
the International Eucharistic Congress in Munich became crucial in Otto’s life, as he the life of the former Crown Prince: spiritually through the experience of the trans-
spoke here for the first time in person with Julius Raab, the Chancellor of Austria, on cendent and in a socio-political aspect through human encounters. In 1952 because of
7 August 1960. the idea of a “Christian Europe,” and in 1960 for his relationship with his homeland. In
both cases, the International Eucharistic Congress reaffirmed him in his Catholic faith,
Otto wanted to settle his relationship with Vienna after the Austrian state treaty as well as in his European and public moral commitment and the fruits of this were
concluded in 1955. However, the process dragged on for many years, and caused serious tangible throughout his later life.
tensions in Austrian domestic politics. Otto von Habsburg was unjustifiably slandered
Gergely Fejérdy
1  European Documentation and Information Centre
2  Speech by Otto von Habsburg, delivered on 6 September 1952 at the closing session of the Santander Conference which established the CEDI. The ma-
nuscript of the lecture is in the HOAL collection. 4  Csonka (1972), pp 445-446, and Baier - Demmerle (2003), p 276.
3  See the official Vatican website of the International Eucharistic Congress: http://www.congressieucaristici.va/content/congressieucaristici/it/storia/50-cong- 5  Interview with Dr. Otto von Habsburg by Péter Bokor and Gábor Hanák, Pöcking, 18 July 1998, Hungarian Foundation for the Promotion of the
ressi-eucaristici-internazionali/barcelona-1952.html (Date of download: 03/09/2021) Hungarian Cinematographic Treasury, 0451 33_HO 980718.

64 65
  THE EMPEROR, THE MOVIE STAR AND SIX-HUNDRED-HORSEPOWER

Otto von Habsburg and the Bugatti Automobili

Thirty years ago, on September 14, 1991, Bugatti came out with the EB110, one of the
most outstanding sports cars of the era. Otto von Habsburg gave a reception speech
at the prominent gala event in Paris.

A significant part of our foundation’s photographic collection consists of images of

Otto von Habsburg with a car, in a car or in the company of some other means of trans-
portation. This is no accident, as being a very busy person he travelled a lot, on water
and in the air, but mostly on land. He knew well that a good car was not just a means
of locomotion, but much more than that. The photographs show that he appreciated
high-quality, aesthetic vehicles – from the reliable family station wagon to vehicles used
for various excursions to the elegant but not ostentatious automobiles used for work.
No wonder he also had a relationship with Bugatti, an elite in the automotive industry.

Bugatti, a high-end automotive company, was founded in 1909 by Italian-born designer

Ettore Bugatti. Ettore, an entrepreneur, engineer and car racer, was born in 1881 to a
family of artists in Milan, and at the age of 17 he designed his first car, with which he
won first prize at an international exhibition in Milan. The company made the world’s
most impressive and fastest cars for thirty years, winning podium finishes at various ra-
ces. The Bugatti name was synonymous with quality and luxury, with the Bugatti Type
41 Royale and Bugatti 57sc Atlantic being considered by many to be the most beautiful
cars ever made.

Otto von Habsburg also met Ettore Bugatti in person in Belgium in the late 1930s. He
recalled meeting and talking to him as unforgettable memories. He later remembe-
red being highly impressed by Ettore Bugatti’s personality, calling him a man who was
simply surrounded by an aura of genius.

In 1939, Ettore Bugatti’s son, Jean, who was also involved in managing the company,
suffered a fatal car accident while testing. The company could not recover from this
loss, or from the devastation of World War II. Ettore Bugatti died in 1947, and his com-
pany ceased production of road cars in 1952.

The idea to revive the Bugatti name was born in the summer of 1986, when some of
Lamborghini’s then and former employees were brainstorming the creation of an
exceptional sports car.

Otto von Habsburg speaks at the launch of the Bugatti EB110 in Paris (14 September 1994) 67
 Italian businessman, investor Romano Artioli was also interested in designing a unique
vehicle. Artioli was a passionate car collector and one of Europe’s most important
Ferrari dealers. At the end of the eighties, the market for supercars – that is, high-
performance, luxury sports cars – was flourishing, so it was possible for new entrants to
the business to hope of significant profits. In October 1987, it was announced that the
Bugatti name and intellectual property rights had been transferred to a group of Italian
businessmen, and Luxembourg-based Bugatti International was formed under the
leadership of Romano Artioli.

Building the best supercar required efficient and easily accessible infrastructure, and
everything necessary for success was present in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy.
The area around Modena is rightly called the “Silicon Valley of Supercars”, with the
headquarters of renowned companies such as Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati or
DeTomaso. Thus, considering the needs of future workers, the town of Campogalliano,
near Modena, with a population of about 9,000, was selected as the site for the
construction of the factory and headquarters. The production of the best car in the
world required the best designers and engineers, and the most serious top-quality
engineers and masters working for Formula 1 teams were lured to the company. This
did not prove difficult, thanks to the still very exclusive associations of the Bugatti name.
Prototype of the new model in front of the Bugatti headquarters and factory building (1991)

During the design process of the building, they tried to create the “Bugatti of factories”,
an avant-garde and modern complex equipped with the latest technology, which is as Habsburg would soon be coming to Italy. Artioli offered to make the company’s private
remarkable as the cars themselves. The building, “La fabbrica blu” (The Blue Factory), jet available for his trip, and “the emperor was happy to accept”. Romano Artioli grew
opened its doors on September 15, 1990, on Ettore Bugatti’s 109th birthday, after nearly up in Bolzano, the capital of South Tyrol, and in his eyes Otto, “the emperor”, was the
three years of construction. At the inauguration, the Archbishop of Modena performed spiritual and charismatic leader of his homeland. He recalled that shared flight as the
the ceremony in the presence of the cream of the Italian automotive industry and in the most beautiful journey of his life, during which Otto received with particular interest
presence of Otto von Habsburg. the news that Italian, German, and French engineers were working together, giving a
perfect example of how mutual knowledge and a common goal could lay the founda-
Otto von Habsburg was interested in cars all his life. His father, King Charles IV, owned tions for ideal integration.
an Austrian-made Gräf & Stift, but the first vehicle Otto ever sat in as a small child was
a Spanish car, a Hispano-Suiza. Later, as an adult, he and his family were living in Belgi- On 15 September 1989 – Ettore Bugatti’s 108th birthday – Otto von Habsburg attended
um, and with the help of a professional driver he learned to drive in a Ford. At that time, the inauguration of the Ettore Bugatti Cultural Centre in Ora, Bolzano as Chairman of
everyone who had reached the age of 18 was free to drive without passing an exam. the Bugatti International Honorary Committee. A 1930 Bugatti T49 took Otto to the
Later, although he preferred Mercedes, he also had a Magomobile made in Hungary in venue, where traditional Tyrolean Sharpshooters (Die Tiroler Schützen) were waiting
1926 by the Hungarian General Machine Factory (MÁG). This vehicle was unfortunately in a line, and the military band played the Radetzky Marsh. (As it turned out later, a
destroyed during the Spanish Civil War (or World War II). local delegation set up in a hurry went to Strasbourg before the event, advising Otto
not to take part in the event because it was organized by Italians. Refusing to waste
Otto got involved in Bugatti’s revived car production by chance. In his memoir, Roma- time listening to such nonsense, he asked the delegation to go home.) The event was a
no Artioli recalled that in 1988 he read the news in a Bologna newspaper that Otto von success, in his speech he praised Ettore Bugatti’s work, speaking of a perfect synthesis of
technology and art combining human progress and environmental protection.

68 69
He presented the Europeanness of the Italian designer, who designed for France and who passionate Bugatti collector, and who also owned a unique collection of bronze sculp-
knew, therefore, that there was no contradiction between being loyal to his homeland tures by Ettore’s brother, Rembrandt Bugatti.
and believing in the broader European conception, and that the complete absurdity
of the fraternal wars such as the First and Second World Wars had happened because The photographs here, managed by our Foundation, were sent to Otto von Habsburg
of destructive nationalism. In his speech, Otto also referred to Hungary and István by Romano Artioli in October 1991, accompanied by a letter of thanks. Interestingly,
Széchenyi: “The great Széchenyi said to his homeland, Hungary, more than a hundred years even then, he portrayed the company as a small dwarf surrounded by giants, and this
ago: “Hungary was not but will be.” We also hear this sentence from Budapest today, where narrative reappears years later. At that time, however, he wrote these words still in
after decades of totalitarian oppression the era of freedom begins. In the case of Europe, an optimistic tone, with an enthusiasm that helps overcome difficulties. The album
I would like to change the sentence a little bit, because Europe was always something includes 14 photos of the event, the press conference and the gala dinner. Artioli and
grandiose, the most beautiful thing that humanity has been able to create so far. In this sense, Otto then corresponded for some time, first regularly, then more infrequently. These
my formula for tomorrow is: ‘Europe was, thus will be.’” letters were written mainly in German, but in some cases also in Italian and French,
Artioli always wrote with the utmost respect, calling the recipient “Your Majesty”. The
In the spring of 1991, the factory in Campogalliano was still working feverishly on the large-scale presentation of the Bugatti EB110 was enthusiastically followed by the cont-
technical details of the new model, and preparations for the unveiling were already in emporary trade press.
full swing in Paris and Alsace. At Bugatti, the new car was given the model name EB110,
in honour firstly of the company’s namesake, and secondly in commemoration of In 1992, Bugatti released an even lighter and more powerful EB110 model, which was
Ettore Bugatti’s 110th birthday. One year after the factory was founded – again, adjust- given the model name SuperSport. Somewhat unexpectedly, this type received some
ing the date to the birthday – they were ready to unveil the model. particularly positive publicity in 1994. German car magazine Auto Motor und Sport
published a supercar comparison with F1 champion Michael Schumacher at the wheel.
The grandiose event took place on 14 September 1991, on the Parvis de la Défense in Schumacher liked the Bugatti so much that he immediately ordered one for himself.
Paris, and the welcome speech was given in French by Otto von Habsburg. The gala In 2003, however, Schumacher sold and then allegedly repurchased the EB110. His
event was hosted by French film live legend Alain Delon, who had previously been a car reappeared in July 2021 when it was seen considerably damaged in a garage full of
luxury cars during the major floods in Germany.
Otto von Habsburg, Alain Delon and Romano Artioli

The technical parameters of the Bugatti EB110 are also outstanding.

The car is powered by a 60-valve, quad-turbo V12 engine. It has a
nominal 3.5-liter engine of 3499 cm³, with 560 horsepower on the
GT and 610 horsepower on the SuperSport. It is a four-wheel drive,
a
has a carbon frame, and weighs only 1550 kg. It can reach a speed of
100 km/h in 3.4 seconds and its top speed is 350 km/h. All in all, it is
characterized by advanced technology and easy handling. The EB110
soon became a legend for its performance and the pedigree of its star
developers, but also because of the brevity of its history.

In 1995, dark clouds began to gather in the skies over the company’s financial stability.
To maintain solvency, 150 cars would have had to be sold every year, but after four years,
a total of only 139 cars had been sold. Unpaid bills accumulated rapidly, losses increa-
sed, and by September 1995, bankruptcy seemed inevitable. The reasons were varied.

71
 Romano Artioli later stated that what was strange to him was the sudden drop in orders
and the sudden refusal of parts suppliers to work with Bugatti any longer. The process
went so quickly and decisively that he claimed the descent had been accelerated by
sabotage. In addition, of course, production itself was far from efficient, which may
have been one of the main causes of financial problems. Since everything was hand-
made, almost as in a manufactory, the process was very slow, producing an EB110 every
54 days – as opposed to Ferrari, which produced more than a car a day. Some also cite
the general decline in supercar sales in the early 1990s, others the shortcomings in the
company’s financial management. The introduction of the latest models from com-
peting manufacturers (McLaren F1 and Jaguar XJ220) just a few months after Bugatti
may also have played a role in pushing the EB110 into the background. Like the Bugatti,
these were excellent cars and enjoyed the support of the big automakers – Ford for
Jaguar and BMW for McLaren – while there was no such caring “big brother” behind
Bugatti.

Between 1991 and 1995, 139 EB110 were officially made, of which thirty-three were
SuperSport models. Not only have these cars retained their value, but it is constantly
rising. The EB110 was an engineering masterpiece, and though it was financially unsuc-
cessful, it is often referred to today as the “forgotten supercar.” It is a rather paradoxical
situation: it failed, but it was also a success. The company went bankrupt, but it was
worthy of the brand, and no doubt Ettore Bugatti would have liked and been happy to
give his name to the car that was created. Otto von Habsburg saw the reason for the
success in the cooperation of European nations: in the combination of German preci-
sion, French production efficiency, and Italian elegance. In his view, progress is not in
state-sized giants, but in the small independent businesses that are truly mobile and
believe in individual responsibility and performance.

Ultimately the name Bugatti was acquired in 1998 by a giant company, the Volkswagen
Group, which created perhaps the world’s best-known Bugatti, the Veyron. Additio-
nally, in 2019, the Bugatti Centodieci, which means “one hundred and ten” in English,
was introduced, and is a further developed version of the classic EB110: a tribute to the
model that took Bugatti back to the top of the automotive industry.

In the summer of 2021, the Croatian businessman Mate Rimac, who gained reputation
for his electric supercars, became the owner of the Bugatti. Thus, the French company
– founded by an Italian designer on German soil, later revived by an Italian business-
man from a predominantly German-speaking province at a presentation in the French
capital attended by the last Austro-Hungarian Crown Prince – now moves to the most
recently joined EU member state, Croatia. For the headquarters of the newly formed
Bugatti-Rimac will be in Zagreb.
Szilveszter Dékány

72 Bugatti EB110 unveiled in Paris, Place de La Défense (14 September 1994)

 „Ein Christ, ein Kaiser, ein Europäer” Marie-Therese de Montpension, the mother of Prince Jean d’ Orleans, Prince Maximili-
an von und zu Lichtenberg, Prince Borwin Duke zu Mecklenburg, Baron Gerhard Baron
Condolences and obituaries on the 10th anniversary of the death of Otto von Habsburg von der Trenck, Count Otto Czernin and his family.

Ten years ago, on 4 July 2011, our Foundation’s namesake Otto von Habsburg passed Only a few of the condolences sent by politicians are to be found in the collection.
away. To mark the anniversary, we have reviewed the related documents in our collec- Among them, Dr Klaus Hänsch (President of the European Parliament from 1994 to
tion. In response to the obituary, the Habsburg family received more than a thousand 1997, West German Social Democrat MEP from 1979 to 2009), whose handwritten,
letters from all over the world, as well as cards and telegrams of condolence. But there friendly letter is a testimony to the good cooperation between two politicians with
were also newspaper articles, a programme booklet published by the Vienna Tourist In- differing views. Other political figures who sent condolences include Emilia Müller,
formation Office, and a commemorative booklet of the funeral services, maps showing Bavarian Minister of State for Federal and European Affairs; Georg Fahreschon, Bava-
the routes and locations of funeral ceremonies, place cards with the imperial and royal rian Minister of Finance; Harald Kühn on behalf of the Garmisch-Partenkirchen City
coat of arms for the location of events, and guest books with a small number of entries Council; Franz Steindl on behalf of the Provincial Office of Burgenland; Luis Durnwal-
in Hungarian. ter, Provincial Governor (Bolzano, South Tyrol); M. Skender Zog, spokesman (Paris);
Gordan Jandrokovic, Croatian Foreign Minister; and three letters written on behalf of
Many condolences were sent by private individuals, and to a lesser extent by aristocratic the Albanian Royal House.
families, politicians, and organisations. A small number of letters were placed by the fu-
neral administrators without envelopes, unfolded, with handwritten notes - „settled”, The collection includes only a few letters of condolence from ecclesiastical sources:
„answered” - which were separated for their importance. The senders were sent a death from Cardinal John Foley, retired Grand Master of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre of
picture of Otto von Habsburg (‚Sterbebild’). There are several letters in the collection in Jerusalem; from the Grand Prior of the Order of St George of Carinthia, and from Cro-
which, based on their acquaintance with Otto von Habsburg, they asked for a standing atian Catholic Bishop Ratko Perić of Mostar. Condolences were also expressed by the
invitation to the services or the opportunity to attend the funeral mass. Jewish cultural community in Munich, with whom Otto von Habsburg was known to
have enjoyed good relations.
Many of the letters, telegrams and condolences come from Austria and Germany, but
there are also French, Dutch, Belgian, British, American, Canadian, Hungarian, Spa-
nish, Italian, Afghan, Croatian, Czech, South American and Spanish. The majority are Memorial booklet placed at the funeral
in German, with a smaller number in English, and some in French, Flemish and Croati-
an. The number of Hungarian-language letters of sympathy, or those from Hungary, is
negligible in the Foundation’s archives.

The dates of the condolences are interesting: the Bavarian government learned of Otto
von Habsburg’s death on the same day and expressed its condolences, while others,
such as the former president of the European Parliament, did not offer their condolen-
ces until days later. Many of the letters were answered by the family and bear a pencil
notation ‚erled[igt]’ (done), but contrary to the practice of Otto von Habsburg’s secreta-
riat, copies of outgoing letters are not included in the collection.

The collection contains a relatively small number of commemorative cards from aris-
tocrats. Aristocratic letter-writers include Georg Friedrich Prinz von Preussen (the pre-
sent head of the House of Hohenzollern - telegram), Friedrich Wilhelm von Preussen,

74
 In addition to the letters of condolence, there is an ornate commemorative book whi-
ch, in addition to the pictures of the coffin and numerous wreaths, includes the full
programme of the requiems held on July 5 at St Pius Church in Pöcking, on July 9 at St
Ulrich’s Church in Pöcking, on July 11 at St Cajetan’s Foundation Church in Munich, on
July 13 at the Basilica of Mariazell and on July 16 at St Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna. At
the same time as the Vienna ceremony, the ashes of Otto von Habsburg and his wife,
Archduchess Regina, were laid to rest in the Kaisergruft. In Austria, Otto was a private
citizen, but the ceremony was conducted with the respect due to a head of state. The
Austrian government came under attack for this, but the prestige of Otto von Habsburg
and his popularity both within and outside the former empire meant that the Austrian
state could not refuse to play a part in organising the event.

On July 14 and 15, mourners paid their respects at the two coffins in the Capuchin Chur-
ch in Vienna, and on the night of July 16 the coffins were moved to St Stephen’s Cat-
hedral, which was closed to the public for the day. The funeral mass, which began at
15:00, was held by Dr Christoph Schönborn, Cardinal-Archbishop of Vienna. During
the Catholic service, Muslim and Jewish prayers were also recited, a reference to the
religious diversity of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. Afterwards, the mourners mar-
ched to the nearby Capuchin Church, the final resting place of the couple. The City of
Original photo and painting by Michael Cleff
Vienna had prepared a detailed programme - in German and English - which included
a presentation of the city and its tourist attractions, as well as the so-called ”Anklopfze-
remonie”, a ceremony symbolising the entry from earthly life into the afterlife, in which One special letter is a 15-page handwritten historical reminiscence by the librarian
the deceased is no longer a ruler but merely a mortal, sinful human being. The city vi- Georg Huber (Schwetzingen). Ákos Bíró, an Israeli publisher in Hungary, described
sibly elevated the sad act of burial to the level of a tourist attraction, further enhanced Otto von Habsburg as one of the 36 righteous men, and prayed a Kaddish for the de-
by the parade of military and traditional units. The ceremonies continued in Budapest, ceased. Finally, we mention the name of Cleff III, aka Michael Cleff (1947-). The port-
in St. Stephen’s Basilica, where Cardinal László Paskai celebrated Mass on July 17, and rait painter, who lives in Bamberg, Germany, has painted many artists, politicians, and
concluded in Pannonhalma, where Otto’s funeral urn was laid in the Benedictine Abbey sportsmen (Peter Ustinov, Thomas Gottschalk, Hans-Dietrich Genscher, Boris Becker),
on the same evening. and his portrait of Otto von Habsburg was painted in 1989.

The collection includes ten guest books, placed in different locations, in which Otto In addition to the family’s obituary, organisations and associations linked to Otto von
von Habsburg was commemorated with short and long texts. From a diplomatic point Habsburg also published obituaries. The collection includes those of two Austrian Cat-
of view, the Berlin ’Kondolenzbuch’, in which the heads and members of diplomatic holic associations: the Ferdinandea in Graz and the Josephina in Vienna.
missions read lines of remembrance, is worthy of note. Some of the inscriptions refer
to Otto von Habsburg as a Hungarian politician. It also contains a series of official let- The number of letters of condolence, processed by the Foundation, is close to 1100,
ters of condolence (from József Czukor of Hungary, Miro Kovač of Croatia and Peter from which more than 800 were sent to the Habsburg family and to the head of the
Ramsauer, Germany’s Minister of Trade) addressed to Gabriela von Habsburg, who was family, Archduke Charles Habsburg. We received almost 200 letters from Gabriela von
then head of the Georgian embassy in Berlin. The Australian, British, and American Habsburg and a negligible number from the other brothers and sisters.
ambassadors also sent handwritten letters of condolence. Among the inscriptions in
the condolence books, one of the relatively few written in Hungarian is presented here. Piroska Kocsis
Zoltán Ólmosi

76 77
 Publications
On the Day of Hungarian Culture, the National
Archives of the National Archives of Hungary
presented our volume titled Habsburg Ottó és az
államhatalom. Levéltári források az utolsó magyar
trónörökösről (Otto von Habsburg and the State
Power. Archival sources about the last Hungarian
Crown Prince). The book, edited by Piroska Ko-
csis and Zoltán Ólmosi, was published in col-
laboration with the host institution and Corvina
Publishing House.

• Zsuzsanna Mikó, Deputy Director Gene-

ral of the Hungarian National Archives and
Gergely Prőhle, Director of the Otto von
Habsburg Foundation gave welcome spe-
eches. Róbert Fiziker, Chief Archivist of
the National Archives and the editors had a
discussion on the book.

• A few months later, the same publication received a prestigious professional re-
• In the second part of our volume the writings of our Foundation’s colleagues
cognition: on 12 May 2021, it was awarded the Archives Publication of the Year
describe the politician’s public and cultural activities in Hungary in 1989-90. Du-
2020 prize, founded by the Association of Hungarian Archivists. At the award
ring his official trip to the European Parliament in the spring of 1989, as head of
ceremony, Dr. István Kenyeres, President of the Association of Hungarian Ar-
a delegation, he encountered a fragile domestic political situation, public move-
chivists, and András Sándor Kocsis, President and CEO of Kossuth Publishing
ments seeking a way out of the socio-economic crisis, and young people thin-
House, presented the publication.
king responsibly about the future of the nation. And although his nomination
to the highest public office was soon removed from the agenda, his presence at
As the year drew to a close, another publication was published: Habsburg Ottó és a
the inaugural session of the freely elected National Assembly on 2 May 1990 was
rendszerváltozások (Otto von Habsburg and the Regime Changes).
a vindication of his work and, as the last heir to the Hungarian throne, a historic
satisfaction. Even at the age of almost 80, Otto von Habsburg took part in mee-
• In 2019, the Otto von Habsburg Foundation organised a two-day conference on
tings, discussions, forums and celebrations with a vigour and openness that put
the relationship between Otto von Habsburg and the regime changes in Central
young people to shame. Our photograph gallery contains a selection of the most
Europe at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. The first part of the volume is a
expressive images of him at a wide range of events.
summary of this important and instructive conference. The presentations at the
event not only placed 1989 in its historical and political context, but also opened
• In addition to the above, the volume contains a source publication, the text of a
a much broader horizon. They looked back over almost the whole of the 20th
lecture given by the former Crown Prince to Hungarian university emigrants in
century, tracing the life of the last Hungarian Crown Prince from the dissolution
Zurich in 1960. By carefully following the lines of thought outlined there, it be-
of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and describing his links with legitimist move-
comes clear that Otto von Habsburg consistently pursued the same ideals and
ments between the two world wars and with Hungarian émigré groups after 1944.
goals in his politics for decades. That is why we have decided to include this
document in our compilation of the regime changes he experienced.

78 79
 Outlook
The year 2021 brought a considerable change in my life, as I have been working as Hun-
gary’s ambassador in Paris since the summer. This is a great honour for me personally
and for my family, at a time when the future of Europe is being debated in a fascina-
ting way and when France holds the Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
I often wonder what my father would say about the current situation, and how his ste-
adfast optimism would encourage me and others: there is a way out of the most difficult
situations!

The work of the Otto von Habsburg Foundation helps us to draw on my father’s
thoughts. As we work through the collection, the historical analogies become ever
clearer, and we realise the importance of the idea that my father had of subsidiarity.
In 2022, on the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Maastricht Treaty, we will re-
member that subsidiarity was for the first time enshrined in an EU document. But this
year marks the 100th anniversary of the launch of the Pan-European movement to
strengthen peace between the peoples of the continent, learning from the horrors of
the First World War. Otto von Habsburg, who lived through the Great War as a child,
played an important role in promoting the movement and giving it a content appropri-
ate to modern political challenges. This was also influenced by the death of his father,
Charles IV, in exile in Madeira, which he experienced as a rather conscious ten-year-old,
which is also worth remembering.

For my family and my brothers and sisters, it is very important and instructive to see
our father’s written and intellectual legacy unfold. We are grateful that this can happen
with Hungarian public funding. In recent years, the Foundation has demonstrated that
they are working on Otto von Habsburg’s legacy with sufficient philological thorough-
ness, political sensitivity, and responsibility. I hope that in the future more documents,
photographs and objects will be added to the collection, opening new perspectives for
historical research.

Georg von Habsburg

Ambassador, Member of the Board

80 Otto von Habsburg and his bride Regina in Paris (1951)

Visit to Tyrol (1967)
Staff of the Otto von Habsburg Foundation in 2021

Director
Gergely Prőhle

Deputy scientific director

Gergely Fejérdy

Chief financial officer

Ágnes Pásztor

Financial officer
Ágnes Martonosi

Office manager
Lili Baranyai

Event management and communication

Zsófia Erdélyi

Senior collection fellow

Szilveszter Dékány

Chief archivist
István Gergely Szűts

Archivists
Eszter Kardonné Fábry
Piroska Kocsis
Anett Nacsa
Zoltán Ólmosi
Beáta Vitos-Merza

Librarian
Ferenc Vasbányai

Office assistant
Ákos Hunyadi