History/Political Science paper by Kádár Lynn, Katalin (Panel Chair)
Panel proposal: The History of Hungarian Christian Democratic Movements 1930-1970. III. Hungarian Christian Democrats in Exile (Accepted)
Type of Abstract (select):Abstract (max. 250 words):
Christian Democratic movements as a political force emerged in Hungary the 1930’s. Prior to WWII, there were three distinct factions, two of which had strong ties to the Vatican and the Horthyist Hungarian government, the third were those whose leadership consisted primarily of journalists and young intellectuals and remained free of ties to the Hungarian government but also to the Catholic political elements. In the complex post-war period these various factions jockeyed for influence and attempted to consolidate their power base. Although by 1947, the communists having driven both the elected Prime Minister and the Head of Parliament from the country along with over seventy other elected officials, the Christian Democrats found themselves in a losing battle with the dominant pro-USSR forces. From 1945-1949 all major Christian Democratic leaders fled the country and regrouped in exile, where they operated independently and then consolidated their resources and efforts. This paper today will explore the activities and influence of the Christian Democratic Party and its leadership in exile from the 1940’s – to approximately 1970 as well as some of ways they set the stage for their return to Hungary post-1989.
Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Katalin Kádár Lynn is a historian based in Budapest and California whose principal area of scholarship is World War II and the Cold War with an emphasis on Central and East European émigré political activities and organizations.
She is the founder and Editor in Chief of Helena History Press, LLC a publishing house specializing in scholarship about and from Central and East Europe in English. She most recently edited and contributed to The Inauguration of Organized Political Warfare: Cold War Organizations sponsored by the National Committee for a Free Europe/ Free Europe Committee (Helena History Press, 2013).
She is currently researching and writing an expanded biography of Tibor Eckhardt, which will encompass his Hungarian years and his wartime and Cold War intelligence activities. An extract from that volume has been published in the e-journal Intelligence and National Security.
She earned a BA from the University of Colorado, Denver; a Master’s degree at Washington University in St. Louis, Mo and a PhD at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest.
In 2011 she was awarded the Gold Cross of Merit of the Republic of Hungary. She is an outside member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.