History/Political Science paper by Farkas, Ádám
Albert Szent-Györgyi and the Soviet Union (Accepted)
Type of Abstract (select):Abstract (max. 250 words):
This paper examines the relationship between Nobel laureate scientist Albert Szent-Györgyi and the Soviet Union, and therefore with micro-historical approaches the Hungarian-Soviet relations after 1945.
Szent-Györgyi was a popular public figure and he was expected to become the President of Hungary after the WWII. In 1945 he spent two months in the Soviet Union and in the same year he became the honorary President of the Hungarian-Soviet Cultural Association in Hungary. For the revival of Hungarian cultural life, he cooperated with the Soviets and Communists. As he became dissatisfied with the political changes, he emigrated to the United States in 1947. In the United States for sympathizing with the Soviets he was considered as a suspicious scientist until 1954.
Since the mid-1960s he turned to the politics again, he spoke out against the Vietnam War. He criticized the US government and urged to cooperate with the Soviet Union for peace. By the 1970s his view about communism and the Soviet Union changed once again, mostly for the better. His research was cut and therefore he considered moving back to Hungary where his image was rehabilitated.
Through the scientist, the paper investigates the Hungarian-Soviet cultural relations, the mechanism of propaganda and public diplomacy during the Cold War. By using a micro-historical approach, the study illuminates the sometimes forgotten methodological utility of biographical approaches and examining turning points to reflect on ideology, political belief, and personal reinvention that individuals living through these events grappled with.
Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Ádám Farkas is a PhD candidate at the Department of Eastern and Central European History and Historical Russistics at Eötvös Loránd University. His dissertation focuses on the Hungarian-Soviet cultural relations after 1945 and the Soviet propaganda in Hungary.
At ELTE he taught history of the Soviet Union and history of socialist Hungary. He attended many international conferences (ASEEES in 2018 and 2019, BASEES in 2019, International Student Conference of Cold War, International Conference of Russian Studies). The subjects of his publications include the Hungarian-Soviet Cultural Association, playwright Gyula Háy and Nikita Khrushchev.