On October 10–11, 2019, the Otto von Habsburg Foundation organised a two-day conference on the relationship between its namesake and the regime changes in Central Europe at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. The lectures at the event not only placed the annus mirabilis 1989 in a historical-political context but also opened up a much broader horizon. They looked back on almost the entire 20th century, tracing the life of the last Hungarian heir to the throne from the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, showing his connections to the legitimist movements between the two World Wars and to the Hungarian emigré groups after 1944.

In the second part of our volume, one can read writings by members of the Foundation about the politician’s public-cultural role in Hungary in 1989–90. Otto von Habsburg’s first official visit followed his last stay before exile about seven decades later. During his official trip as head of the European Parliament delegation in the spring of 1989, he encountered a changing domestic political situation, public movements seeking a way out of the socio-economic crisis, and young people pondering responsibly on the nation’s future. Although his nomination for the highest public dignity was soon removed from the agenda, his presence on May 2, 1990, at the inaugural session of the freely elected National Assembly, was a validation of his work and, as the last heir to the Hungarian throne, a historic satisfaction. In addition to the above, the volume contains an apparent cuckoo’s egg, the text of a lecture given by the former Crown Prince to Hungarian university emigrants in Zurich in 1960.

ISBN: 9786158181716

Author: Ferenc Vasbányai (ed.)

Year of publication: 2022

Publisher: Corvina

Place of publication: Budapest

Language: Hungarian

Number of pages: 225