On 17 February 2026, a book launch was held at the “Bálna” Center of Military Culture. The volume of studies, edited by the staff of the Great War Research Public Foundation (Béla Bartók, Tamás Pintér, János Rózsafi, and Norbert Stencinger), focuses on the combat operations of the Hungarian Honvéd regiments that heroically defended the Karst Plateau in 1917. At the event, Colonel Roland Maruzs, Commander of the Institute and Museum of Military History of the Ministry of Defence, and Ferenc Pollmann, Doctor of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, praised the newly published book.
The volume includes a separate chapter on the history of the 31st Honvéd Infantry Regiment of Veszprém. For his heroic conduct on 23 May 1917, First Lieutenant Béla Szilárd, commander of the regiment’s 5th Company, was awarded the Gold Medal for Bravery and the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Leopold. It is a particular pleasure for us that this chapter also features a photograph from our Foundation’s collection. Our archives contain military portrait photographs of various sizes, a photograph taken with Charles IV, as well as a certificate issued on 9 June 1922 by the Chapter of the Military Order of Maria Theresa, bearing the signature of Field Marshal Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf, Chancellor of the Order. The estate was mailed to Otto from Sydney on 6 August 1968.
Both the publication and the collection materials used in it contribute to making the events of the Great War and the steadfastness of the Hungarian Honvéd soldiers more tangible for historical research and for the wider public alike. Our Foundation remains committed to placing the treasures of its collection at the service of scholarly research and collective remembrance.
