Talk:Magdolna Purgly

Political influence

I have read somewhere, that Magdolna Purgly introduced a reform in the Hungarian school: that all children where given free milk at the school lunches. Was this true? In that case, she had some impact on politics. --85.226.44.129 (talk) 01:25, 4 November 2010 (UTC)

Doubtful sources and attributions about Mrs. Horthy's ancestry removed

The very recent attributions about Mrs. Horthy's ancestry, based on a confusion of names, have been removed. See: http://hungarianspectrum.wordpress.com/2012/12/21/karl-pfeifer-peter-daniel-and-laszlo-grespik/comment-page-1/#comment-43122 Stevan Harnad 22:19, 1 January 2013 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Harnad (talk • contribs)

I have removed the (recently inserted) allegation that Mrs. Horthy was of Jewish origin, based on a speculative Wodianer-Vasarhely-Purgly link, in the absence of supporting evidence.

(The following is adapted from material provided by Professor Eva Balogh, retired Yale University historian, in the Hungarian Spectrum: http://hungarianspectrum.wordpress.com/2012/12/21/karl-pfeifer-peter-daniel-and-laszlo-grespik/comment-page-1/#comment-43122 )

The Vásárhelyis of Arad came from an ancient Szekler family with the noble title of “kézdivásárhelyi.” So, Mrs. Horthy’s mother’s full name was “kézdivásárhelyi Vásárhelyi Ilona.” The family became prominent already in the thirteenth century. Different branches of the family were active in different parts of the country. The Vásárhelyis of Arad are one of them. Jonathan Vásárhelyi was active in the middle of the 18th century. His grandson, János, was lord lieutenant of Arad County in the 1830s. The information on the Vásárhelyis originally comes from Pallas Nagylexikon (available on line) and from Kislexikon: http://www.kislexikon.hu/vasarhelyi.html

So, the family goes back a long way. There are two Vásárhelyis in Magyar politikai lexikon (magyar politikusok) 1914-1935, both from Arad. There was Dezső (born in 1871) who was most likely an uncle or a cousin of Mrs. Horthy (born 1881). and Sándor (1891), a younger cousin or some fairly close relative on her mother’s side. Both were members of parliament. Dezső became a member from 1906 on and Sándor in 1935. Both were supporters of the government party.

Hence there is no credible evidence at all of any connection between the Wodianers and Mrs. Horthy.

A Fülöp Wodianer (1822-1899) did live in Arad between 1849 and 1856. He owned a printing press and in 1897 he converted to Christianity and was ennobled with the title of “Vásárhelyi” because he was born in Hódmezővásárhely.

Mrs. Horthy’s mother was called Anna Vásárhelyi. It is conceivable that in the mid 1940's the anti-Semites of Szalasi's Arrowcross party tried to make the connection between the Wodianers and Mrs. Horthy through this coincidence, by conjecturing that the Jewish-convert Wodianers (at some unknown point for which there is no historic evidence at all) changed their name to Purgly.

At the time, that groundless conjecture would not have been made to white-wash Horthy, but to black-ball him (as Szalasi was even further to the bigoted extreme right than Horthy).

But in 2012 this groundless semitic connection is being resurrected for the opposite reason: To white-wash Horthy in the extreme right's attempts to resurrect him in a growing Horthy cult. Stevan Harnad 15:13, 4 January 2013 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Harnad (talk • contribs)

As I understand it, there have been both instances of different families with the same name ennobled, and where the reference to a place (town/city) is necessary to know which family you are talking about. The same can also occur with branches of family. Jonar242 (talk) 12:08, 25 February 2020 (UTC)

Horthy not Purgly?

Why does this article use the maiden name? Isn't it wiki practice to write the persons name as it appeared after marriage, with a reference to previous name? Even more so, when Horthy was the name she carried for the larger part of her life? Jonar242 (talk) 12:01, 25 February 2020 (UTC)