Szekfu, Gyula

Szekfű, Gyula 

Born May 23, 1883, in Székesfehérvár; died June 29, 1955, in Budapest. Hungarian historian and political figure. Professor at the University of Budapest from 1925.

Szekfű was strongly influenced by L. Ranke, W. Dilthey, and F. Meinecke. He was the founder of the spiritual-historical school in Hungarian bourgeois historiography, which denied the revolutionary traditions of Hungarian history and advocated the idea of conservative development in the spirit of a Christian community.

Toward the end of World War II (1939–45), Szekfű realized the great danger that faced Hungary from German fascism. In 1944 he established contact with representatives of the Communist Party and other patriotic parties of Hungary and joined the antifascist struggle. Szekfű served as Hungarian ambassador to the USSR from 1946 to 1948 and as a member of the Presidium of the Hungarian People’s Republic in 1954 and 1955. His work After the Revolution (1947) reflects his attempt to critically review from a democratic position his former views.

WORKS

Magyar történet, vols. 1–8. Budapest, 1928–34. (With B. Hóman.)