Orbán’s high school pal, who taught him the little history he knows, is worried about his profession

The following dialogue is from László Kéri’s book on the prime minister, titled Orbán Viktor (Budapest: Századvég, 1994), pp. 16-17.

As a student were you a reader? Yes, I did read but not enough. I was lucky because Robi Hermann and I shared a desk all through my four years. He was a genius when it came to history. He already knew that he was going to be a historian and he became one. He is a researcher now in the Institute of Military History. He was already doing research on Görgey, and in the 12^th grade he won the nationwide history competition.

Was it the presence of this friend that enabled you to know enough history? Yes, he told me to read this or that. At one point, he was working on a lengthy study on Rákóczi, and he suggested a few books about him. I had to read a lot about Görgey because he expected it of me. I also went to the movies, but I preferred action films and not so much the artistic ones. Fighting, chases, excitement, cars. I’m a late bloomer.

Do you still keep in touch with some of your schoolmates? Of course. I regularly meet my friend Robert Hermann, and occasionally I ask him for help when it comes to topics where historical accuracy is important.

Just as Viktor Orbán told László Kéri in 1994, Hermann always wanted to be a historian, and today he is considered to be the leading expert on 1848-1849. Indeed, he started his career in the Institute of Military History and continued as a researcher at the Veritas Institute, established by the Orbán government. He has been serving as president of the Hungarian Historical Association since 2015.

And yet, Árpád Nagy, editor-in-chief of the online edition of Magyar Nemzet, didn’t spare Róbert Hermann during the ugly debate on the Freemasons and Trianon, which is still going on. Hermann had dared to point out on his Facebook page that of the six “professors” who supported Árpád Szakács’s attack on professional historians, only one is a historian, but her field is the political history of the Rákosi and Kádár periods and not the history of the Freemasons and Trianon.

Nagy argues that Hermann, as the scientific deputy commander of the Institute of Military History, should be mindful not to discredit himself. As it is, Hermann is a suspect character who writes articles in such publications as Mérce, Index, 444, Népszava, 24, and Vasárnap. “Anyone who is just a bit familiar with Hungarian public life will surely guess what Hermann is all about. We can rightly ask what kind of heavyweight left-liberal (ballib) propaganda he is spreading in the Hungarian (!) Historical Society and in the doctoral school of Károli Gáspár Calvinist University. He as a civil servant should pay attention to at least the appearance of impartiality.”

Róbert Hermann conducting a walking tour to commemorate March 15, 1848

In response, Robert Hermann gave an interview to Valóság Online a week ago. From the interview it is evident that he considers himself to be a man of conservative views when it comes to current politics, but I suspect that he disapproves of his old schoolmate’s sharp ideological turn to the far right and is disgusted by Magyar Nemzet, whose “founder and editor-in-chief, Sándor Pethő, would be watching today in despair at the thought police who have taken over his newspaper.” He compares the style of Magyar Nemzet to that of the gutter press of the 1930s and the Rákosi period. “After 1956 the press could be considered civilized” in comparison to what’s going on in some of the pro-government papers today.” Moreover, he is convinced that “we are still not at the end of the attacks on historians,” but “the profession expects respect from those engaged in the debate. Those with whom we disagree cannot be the enemy of the nation, the spoiler of the youth, and God knows what else.”

Our conservative military historian recognizes the same dangers as the “libernyákok” do when politicians want to make decisions about “questions of science.” There are people “who, after reading three books on any given topic, are the self-styled equal of experts on questions of history.” Hermann doesn’t see a planned attempt to tear the historical community apart, but “it is becoming clear that a certain group of people has managed to get into a position which tries to compensate for its lack of knowledge with aggression.” He fears that politicians will interfere with the freedom of research by withholding financial resources from topics not favored by them.

Hermann is trying to be optimistic when it comes to the future of his profession in the current political climate, but I had the distinct feeling that he shares the forebodings of his interviewer, Barna Borbás of Válasz Online, who pointed to the large sums of money that are being given even to “alternative” historical research, like Minister of Human Resources Miklós Kásler’s “research institute” on the origins of Hungarians. Because Kásler, only two days ago, said in an interview that “the ancient writings and the Hungarian folk tradition must be reinterpreted.” This is not Róbert Hermann’s opinion. He lauded the tremendous work that has been done on pre-historic Hungary, the Hungarian Middle Ages, Mohács, the Turkish occupation, the Hungarian Reformation, and so on by academic historians.

Finally, Orbán’s high school class will hold its 40^th reunion next year, and Viktor always attends. Perhaps Hermann will have an opportunity to inquire from his high school pal what he has in mind as far as the future of Hungarian historiography is concerned.

July 27, 2020