“‘WHITE MISRULE’: TERROR AND POLITICAL VIOLENCE DURING HUNGARY’S LONG WORLD WAR I, 1919-1924” By Emily R. Gioielli A DISSERTATION in History Presented to the Faculties of Central European University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy CEU eTD Collection Budapest, Hungary 2015 Supervisor of Dissertation Professor Susan Zimmermann Copyright in the text of this dissertation rests with the Author. Copies by any process, either full or in part, may be made only with the instructions given by the Author and lodged in the Central European University library. Details may be obtained from the librarian. This page must form a part of any such copies made. Further copies made in accordance with such instructions may not be made without permission from the Author. I hereby declare that this dissertation contains no materials accepted for any other degrees in any other institutions and no materials previously written and/or published by another person unless otherwise noted. CEU eTD Collection Abstract The early post-armistice period in Hungary was marked by defeat, military occupation, successive democratic and communist revolutions, and finally a counter- revolution that ended with the consolidation of the authoritarian conservative regency of Admiral Miklós Horthy. An important dimension of this political upheaval was the so- called White Terror, which included violence and legal persecution to punish, marginalize and even remove those persons officials regarded as dangerous to the Hungarian state. Many of the victims, especially those groups and individuals regarded as particularly “dangerous,” namely leftists and Jews, did not regard the White Terror as solely a discreet set of acts perpetrated by militias. Rather, they understood it as also including systematic forms of state directed persecution such as mass imprisonment and summary justice, which engaged the broader population in the counter-revolutionary struggle. This dissertation is a social and international history of counter-revolutionary repression and White Terror in early postwar Hungary. It uses an intersectional approach that interrogates the relationship between different forms of oppression and privilege, in order to understand how class, gender, ethnicity, religion, and citizenship status shaped how different individuals and groups in Hungary perpetrated, experienced and interpreted White Terror. Further, this work places violence in a broader context, to show how CEU eTD Collection different dimensions of violence continued and departed from longer term patterns of repression that developed over the course of World War I in Hungary, and in belligerent states more broadly. i The issue of violence in Hungary was not just a matter of domestic politics. It was also an important dimension of the international community’s engagement in Hungary, especially between 1919-1921. Narratives produced by Entente officials, the international labor movement and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee fiercely debated the nature and scope of violence and interrogated the relationship of the counter- revolutionary state with White Terror. This dissertation shows how class, gender, ethnicity, religion and citizenship status, as well as unequal power relations between states, played an important role in shaping how these groups articulated the violence and instrumentalized it, to promote their political and philanthropic agendas in newly independent Hungary, and postwar Europe more broadly. CEU eTD Collection ii Acknowledgements This dissertation is the result of a winding journey which began in 2001 when I made my first trip to Debrecen, Hungary as an undergraduate student. This study abroad experience changed the trajectory of my life, taking me to Cincinnati to work with Thomas Sakmyster and Barbara Ramusack who, despite working on very different regions, helped inspire this project. For the past six years, I have been lucky to call Central European University in Budapest my intellectual home. It is a truly special place and there are many people there who helped make this dissertation possible. The first article I read in my very first “Eastern European History” course at Cincinnati was written by Susan Zimmermann. I am very grateful to have such a generous and patient advisor who has slogged through many chapter drafts, written me many recommendations, and has challenged me to be more thoughtful and critical as a scholar. I would also like to thank Francisca de Haan for serving on my defense committee, providing me with encouraging words and a keen critical eye. Many thanks to Constantin Iordachi for his constant support of my research and his guidance about approaching a politically and morally fraught topic like violence as a historian. Marsha Siefert helped me navigate my first year in Budapest and I am so thankful for her her mentorship and support as well as her kindness. I am also grateful to Michael Miller for his interest in my work and his guidance in my professional development. Courses I took CEU eTD Collection with Macej Janowski, Mikhail Dmitriev and Roumen Daskalov gave me a more in depth understanding of the region and its place in broader European history, a perspective that is woven through my dissertation. I am indebted to Gabriella Kis for her help with my iii Hungarian language training and her friendship. I am thankful for the sustained support of Judit Gergely, Aniko Molnar, Anges Bendik, Zsuzsanna Bajo and Monika Nagy who have helped me in countless ways and provided me with a listening ear and quite literally a home. I would also like to thank the members of my committee. I first met Paul Hanebrink and Melissa Feinberg at the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Junior Scholars’ Training Seminar in 2012 where they offered me excellent advice at a critical stage in my writing. Two years later, I am grateful that they agreed to serve on my defense committee, once again offering their expertise, their challenging commentary which is invaluable as I work to mold the dissertation into a book. Countless archivists and librarians have also contributed to this dissertation. The staff at the Hungarian National Archives, British National Archives, the New York Public Library and the Institute of Political History, especially Katalin Zalai provided me with invaluable information. The inter-library loan department at the University of Cincinnati worked tirelessly to find obscure Hungarian language sources. The staff at the Hungarian Military Archives bent the rules for me countless times so as to ensure I had a place for research. András Sipós and the rest of the staff at the Budapest Municipal Archives helped me navigate the court records. Darren Treadwell at the People’s History Museum and Archive in Manchester answered every email and provided many helpful hints as did Elisa Ho at the American Jewish Archives in Cincinnati and Gábor Kádar at the Budapest CEU eTD Collection Jewish Archives. The Woodrow Wilson Center’s Junior Scholars’ Training Seminar provided important assistance at a key point in the writing process. I would like to thank the iv scholars I met there, including Paul Hanebrink, Melissa Feinberg, John Lampe, Jan Kubik, Leslie Waters and Molly Pucci for their comments on my work and their invaluable professional advice. None of my research would have been possible without financial assistance from various institutes and foundations. I would like to thank the CEU for providing me not only with a Doctoral Fellowship but also for numerous research and travel grants over the years and the CEU foundation for several travel grants. I would also like to thank the Foundation for providing me with Doctoral Research Support Grant which allowed me to do research as well as gain teaching experience abroad. I would like to thank Willard Sunderland for his mentorship while I was abroad, providing me with the opportunity to teach in my field and for his enthusiastic support of my applications. I would also like to thank the American Council of Learned Societies for awarding me the Eastern European Studies Dissertation Fellowship during the 2012-2013 academic year, which supported me as I wrote my dissertation. I am also grateful to the English Speaking Union of Cincinnati for providing me with funding to complete research in London and Manchester, which allowed me to obtain an incredible set of sources. I am indebted to the support of my friends, family and coworkers who gave me encouragement, advice, and their unwavering support through the years of research and writing. I am grateful to my colleagues and friends at the Bonbonerie for their support of my studies, even though it has meant me leaving work for very long periods of time. I CEU eTD Collection would also like to thank Mare van den Eeden and Caroline Marburger and Ilse Lazaroms for their friendship. While they read countless drafts, they were my Budapest family and my constant coffee and cake companions. They have made my work and life richer. v My desire for an education came from my grandparents Thomas and Anna Michalakes who did not have the opportunity to go to high school and college respectively. They did not let the lack of formal education stop them from learning. I am also certain my love of the East Central and southeastern Europe is at least partially connected to my love for them. Their daughter, my mother Marcella, along with my father William, have given me much love and support, helping me in many ways, even if they never quite figured out the time difference between Youngstown, Ohio and Budapest. I would also like to thank William and Louise Gioielli who helped me manage multiple moves across the country and the ocean and humored my hairbrained scheme to go to Hungary for a PhD. I am grateful to June McCombs, Benjamin and Karen McCombs, and Casey Gioielli and Eileen O’Neill for their encouragement, and to Timothy and Kathryn Gingrich and Brandon and Meredith Walters for supplying with me a pillow under my head, countless rides to the airport, and for visiting me and allowing me to share Budapest with you.