Unbridged Divides: Francis Joseph in Hungarian Nationalist Narratives and Public Memory

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
This paper explores nationalist narratives and public memory of Francis Joseph and the Habsburg era in Hungary. In this work, Budapest’s Liberty Bridge serves as a lens and reference point of sorts in an examination of nationalist historical narratives and public memory of Francis Joseph and the era of the Dual Monarchy in Hungary. In particular, this paper will trace the way in which ruling governments have attempted to impose their own versions of history and identity onto the public spaces of Budapest and into the minds of their citizens.
Beginning with the years following the 1848 revolution, this paper touches on views of Francis Joseph during the Dual Monarchy, before moving on to the Emperor-King’s role in the Horthy and Socialist eras. In Budapest, one reason that the Liberty Bridge never regained its pre-Socialist era name, Francis Joseph Bridge, is due to a lack of popular positive memory of Francis Joseph, in contrast to several other important Hungarian historical figures. In the contested field of Hungarian national narrative the memory of Francis Joseph never truly found its place; for while he did gain a significant degree of popularity in the later decades of his reign, Hungary’s longest-ruling monarch never gained a place in the country’s imagination.
By turns marginalized, vilified and ignored over the course of the twentieth century, the king who oversaw the creation of modern Budapest is today largely absent from public space and from public discourse.



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Thomas Szigeti is a PhD student currently enrolled at New York University. Following the completion of his MA in history at the Ohio State University in 2015, he spent several years in Budapest working as a translator and editor for an English-language news site, before returning to the United States to resume his academic studies.