Trianon Conference at the University of Toronto

On October 15, 2020 the University of Toronto, Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy organized a Zoom conference entitled European Conflicted Heritage: New Reflections on the Treaty of Trianon 100 Years in Perspective (1920-2020).

According to the brief description the Treaty of Trianon was signed 100 years ago yet its impact is still being felt by Hungarian minorities and the diaspora alike. The event planned to discuss the political and social memory of the Treaty, the development of Hungarian foreign policy, the territorial rearrangement and the impact of the Treaty on new generations.

As part of the Conference Susan Papp moderated a session called Living with the Consequences of Trianon Today: New Perspectives and Fresh Voices and invited politicians of the Orbán government but the fact that they are politicians was not mentioned in the invitation.   In an email I asked Dr. Papp why did she invite political actors as “fresh voices?”  I also mentioned that the late Peter Munk, a Holocaust survivor would be surprised to see a Trianon Conference at his alma mater.  Dr. Papp responded.

In response I wrote a protest email to the President of the University.

You may find the detailed program of the conference here and here are the emails:

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Dear Mr. Lázár:

Thanks for your note. The on-line version of the programme does not list the titles of individual presenters for technical reasons (character count supported by zoom), but a document, listing the accreditation of each presenter and the abstract of their presentation, will be sent out to each registrant a few days prior to the conference. I am sending you an advance copy of that as an attachment to this email.

Regarding your comments, this conference is being organized and sponsored solely by the Centre for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies at the University of Toronto and the Hungarian Studies Programme directed by Professor Robert Austin.

The Treaty of Trianon has had an enormous impact on the history of Hungary, including the rise of antisemitism during the interwar era. The focus of the conference will be to examine the impact of the many aspects of the Treaty that reverberate throughout Europe to this day.

For your information, I interviewed Mr. Peter Munk on a number of occasions and wrote the biography of his family (with particular attention to his uncle Ernő Munkácsi) in the recently published book How it Happened: Documenting the Tragedy of Hungarian Jewry (McGill-Queens University Press, 2018). I’m confident that he would be pleased that so many aspects of Hungarian history are being examined through academic conferences at the Munk School. My Ph.D. dissertation was about the discriminatory laws faced by Hungarian Jewish filmmakers during the Horthy era. I also wrote a book based on a true story from the Holocaust era, Outcasts: A Love Story, originally published in English, has been translated and published in Hungarian, Hebrew, Italian and made into a documentary film.

As a former Fellow at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, I am very familiar with their work.

Hope you enjoy the conference!

Best,

Susan M. Papp

Susan M. Papp was the Tziporah Wiesel Fellow at the US Holocaust Museum in Washington DC.

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To the President of the University of Toronto

Dear Mr. Gertler,

 When I read that the University of Toronto, Munk School of Global Affairs and Policy had organized a conference  entitled European Conflicted Heritage: New Reflections on the Treaty of Trianon 100 Years in Perspective (1920-2020) – I got excited.  I expected a vigorous academic debate about this controversial subject with historians from various viewpoints.  I expected that academicians from Romania, Ukraine and Slovakia would be invited.

Instead, the Conference includes a section entitled “New Perspectives and Fresh Voices” and the invited speakers are Andrea Bocskor, PhD, Ágota Dorottya Demeter and Márton Ugrosdy.  None of them have active academic positions or credentials; they are politicians of the Hungarian Orbán Government.

When I asked why doesn’t the program mention that they are politicians representing Hungary’s new Trianon approach, Ms. Susan M. Papp responded that   “The on-line version of the programme does not list the titles of individual presenters for technical reasons (character count supported by zoom), but a document, listing the accreditation of each presenter and the abstract of their presentation, will be sent out to each registrant a few days prior to the conference. I am sending you an advance copy of that as an attachment to this email.”

I find it misleading that the invitation does not indicate that Andrea Bocskor is a member of the European Parliament, Ágota Dorottya is a Hungarian EU advisor in Brussels and Mr. Ugrosdy is an advisor to Hungarian Foreign Minister, Péter Szijjártó.

They seem to represent a Trianon interpretation of the pre-WWII pro-Hitler Horthy regime which was supported in the 1930s by the banned US fascist organization – the Silver Shirts.

I wonder if “conferences” like these satisfy the University of Toronto’s ethical standards of academic rigor.  It seems to me that they provide a forum for political stump speeches.  It is also worth to mention that this online “conference” is heavily advertised by Hungarian politicians all over the world.    It is my understanding that no US University was willing to host a similar Trianon Conference, only a private organization, The American Hungarian Federation was willing.

I’ll be reporting about this event for the Hungarian and English language media and your response would be appreciated.

Sincerely,

György Lázár

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