János Esterházy (March 14, 1901, Veľké Zálužie – March 8, 1957, Mírov) belonged to an ancient family. The first mentions of the Esterházy family date back to the 12th century, associated with the Hungarian King Béla III. They always stayed close to the ruling royal family, and in the later centuries they remained close to the Habsburgs as well, through thick and thin.
In November 1992, Otto von Habsburg, then a member of the European Parliament, celebrated his 80th birthday in the company of numerous guests. I was among those invited, and the celebration took place at the Esterházy family castle in Eisenstadt, Austria. The Esterházy family stayed close to the ruling royal family (they served the king), but they used their standing to create works and leave behind deeds that would go down in history. In 1637, Hungarian Palatine Miklós Esterházy built the Church (now Cathedral) of St. John the Baptist in Trnava. In 1652, four members of the Esterházy family died in a battle against the Turks at Vozokany while freeing about 150 captives whom the Turks had taken as slaves during raids into Slovak villages in the area. The remains of the fallen Esterházys are buried in the crypt of the Trnava Cathedral. Imre Esterházy was the Archbishop of Esztergom and Primate of Hungary. In 1741, he crowned Maria Theresa as Queen of Hungary in Bratislava.
Cultural engagement
The Esterházy family was known for vigorously engaging in culture, especially because Paul Anton Esterházy and particularly Miklós I hosted Joseph Haydn at their court from 17611 to 1790. Commissioned by the Esterházys, Haydn, the founder of Classical Period music, managed to create his most important works over the span of 30 years. Franz Liszt, whose father was an estate manager of Esterházy properties, was another gifted musician under their patronage. Franz Schubert gave piano lessons to the young countesses Caroline and Maria. Various builders, architects, and other artists served the family over centuries; it made use of their talents and revealed them to the rest of the world. This led to the creation of about 60 castles, 110 churches, several schools, and homes for the elderly, spread across all corners of the former monarchy.
The János Esterházy Pilgrimage Center in the village of Dolné Obdokovce.
Representative of the Hungarians
The end of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy divided the family's property into several successor countries with different legal outcomes. However, the family’s aptitude for public affairs soon manifested again. Count János Esterházy remained in Czechoslovakia and in the 1930s became a representative of the Hungarians in the country and a member of parliament. After the republic was divided, he became a member of the Slovak National Council. It is a known fact that János Esterházy was the only MP who voted against the act on the deportation of Jews from Slovakia. Several other MPs who had reservations about the act abstained from voting or left the voting room altogether. However, in other cases, Esterházy took an anti-Semitic stance and despite his vote on the deportation act, he is not viewed positively in Jewish circles. In his political activities and public appearances after the monarchy’s collapse, he tried to adopt a conciliatory stance with regards to contemporary Hungarian politics and the Hungarian minority in Czechoslovakia, which were intent on dividing Slovak territories between Poland and Hungary. The Slovak government of the wartime Slovak state applied the principle of reciprocity towards Hungary. When Hungarian authorities detained Emanuel Böhm, a representative of the Slovak minority, János Esterházy was detained in Slovakia. In November 1938, Esterházy, as a representative of the Hungarian minority, welcomed Admiral Horthy in Košice. Today, Košice no longer has a significant Hungarian minority.
Gulag and death sentence
After the Germans were pushed back, Esterházy reported to the police as a member of the Slovak National Council. The police detained him and began investigating him. Before the investigation could finish, the Soviet garrison stationed in the country demanded that Esterházy be handed over and subsequently took him to Moscow. There, he was later sentenced to 12 years in the Gulag. Ironically, this saved his life. In Bratislava, he was sentenced to death in absentia by the National Court. The trial was a mockery of justice. The criminal file is about 50 pages long. No defense witnesses were allowed. He was sentenced for supporting the agreement between the Henlein Party and HS????S (Hlinka’s Slovak People’s Party) on joint action against the government in February 1938, and for identifying with the pro-German policy of Slovakia as the chairman of the Hungarian Party through his speeches in the Council and his journalistic activities. The February 1938 agreement with the Henlein Party did not result in joint action by the Ľudáks and Henleinists in the Parliament or the country as a whole. One member of the German delegation noted in his diary how Andrej Hlinka said that Hitler was a cultural beast. The escalating demands of the Henleinist (after consulting Berlin) did not find support with either the Ľudáks or Esterházy. For these two acts, the court sentenced Esterházy to death. However, they could not carry out the sentence as János Esterházy was not in the country.
From the János Esterházy Memorial Day in Dolné Obdokovce.
From the Soviets to Mírov
While serving his sentence in a Soviet camp in Siberia, the camp commander noticed his face and asked who he was. He then allowed Esterházy to send a postcard to his family informing them of his whereabouts. This sparked the family’s efforts to have him returned to Czechoslovakia. The Soviets did so in 1949, but he was to be executed there in accordance with the sentencing of the National Court. Through his lawyer, he applied for a pardon. The president at that time was Klement Gottwald, and the family hoped for complete amnesty. The process dragged on for nearly a year, but the president only commuted the death sentence to life imprisonment. János Esterházy then moved through various prisons in Czechoslovakia, dying in March 1957 at Mírov. His body was cremated, but the urn with his ashes was not given to the family. They discovered it only after the fall of communism, with significant help from historian Dr. Imre Molnár and Czech Foreign Minister Prince Schwarzenberg. Initially, the urn was kept in the Pankrác prison premises in Prague, then in a communal anonymous grave on the edge of the Motol cemetery. Finally, the urn was moved and is now located at a memorial site in the village of Dolné Obdokovce near Nitra, where Count Esterházy wished to be laid to eternal rest.
HELPING JEWS AND POLES
János Esterházy is the only Hungarian politician of interwar Czechoslovakia and wartime Slovakia who is still known today, which says something. As the political representative of Hungarians in Czechoslovakia and Slovakia, he did not and very well could not exceed the official direction set by Budapest, which was aimed at restoring the Hungary of yore. But he was not a populist and did not stoke Hungarian passions. He owned properties in several villages around Galanta in southern Slovakia; his employees had no disputes with him and respected him. He publicly opposed Hungarian actions against Slovaks in Hungary. In individual cases, he helped Jews either directly on his estates or while crossing from Slovakia to Hungary and vice versa, depending on where the anti-Jewish policy was harsher or softer. Similarly, he helped Poles travel between Poland and Slovakia (his mother was Polish). A process for his beatification began before the Polish ecclesiastical court.
Speaker of the National Assembly of Hungary László Kövér and Marshal of the Polish Senate Bogdan Borusewicz in 2011 during the unveiling ceremony of János Esterházy Monument in Warsaw
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