History/Political Science paper by Niessen, James P.
Leopold Ungar’s 1956: Hungarians, Christians, and Jews in Austria
Type of Abstract (select):Abstract (max. 250 words):
As part of my continuing work on the Hungarian refugee crisis of 1956, I gave an AHEA talk last year entitled “Send us a Planeload! Catholic Organizations and the Resettlement of 56ers.” That presentation touched upon the partnership of the director for Austria of America’s Catholic Relief Service, Fr. Fabian Flynn, with the head of Vienna Caritas, Msgr. Leopold Ungar. This paper will focus specifically on Msgr. Ungar.
Ungar (1912-92) was born in Wiener Neustadt of Jewish parents originating from Hungary. Inspired in part by the social engagement of the satirist Karl Kraus, he converted to Catholicism and entered seminary in 1935, but fled Austria due to his Jewish ancestry after the Anschluss and was ordained in France. He was interned twice as an enemy alien, first in France after the country’s occupation by the Germans and then again in Britain. His languages and his experience as a refugee led to his appointment as head of Vienna Caritas in 1950.
Ungar amplified the generous reception that Austrians accorded the Hungarian refugees in 1956, and his measures to ensure more humane conditions and protect Jewish refugees from anti-Semitic incidents contrasted with the sometimes ambiguous response of secular authorities. John Connelly has demonstrated in From Enemy to Brother: The Revolution in Catholic Teaching on the Jews, 1933-1965 that Austrian Jewish converts and other Grenzgänger were prominent among the theological pioneers. Ungar, who during his long career in Austrian Caritas steadily increased its international engagement, should be seen in a similar light.
Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Jim Niessen earned his Ph.D from Indiana University in 1989. After three years of college history teaching he shifted to the library profession, earning an MLIS and then working as a librarian since 1994, first at Texas Tech University and then since 2001 at Rutgers University. His research and publications have ranged from religion and politics in nineteenth century Transylvania (his dissertation topic) to Romanian nationalism, church history, libraries and archives, to the refugees from Hungary during the Cold War. Many of his publications are freely available available at https://soar.libraries.rutgers.edu/bib/James_P._Niessen .