LUDOVIKA UNIVERSITY OF PUBLIC SERVICE
John Lukacs Institute for Strategy and Politics

Biography of John Lukacs

John Lukacs

(Budapest, 31 January 1924 - Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, 6 May 2019)

Széchenyi Grand Prize winner, Hungarian-born American historian

 

He was born as János Albert Lukács in 1924, in Budapest. His father, Pál Lukács (Löwinger) was a progressive-minded doctor; his mother was Glück Magdolna. Both came from Jewish origins but later converted to Roman Catholicism before World War I. Even though his parents divorced when he was seven, they continued to raise him Catholic.

Lukacs studied history at the Royal Hungarian Pázmány Péter University. After Hungary entered World War II on the German side, he demobilized from the army. Despite his Catholic upbringing, he would have to face forced labour because of his Jewish origins – however, during the German invasion, he managed to avoid deportation and survived the siege in Budapest.

In 1946, at the age of 22, he emigrated to the United States, where he settled in and continued his studies at Cambridge University.

From 1947 until his retirement in 1994, he was teaching in the history department of Chestnut Hill College in Pennsylvania, where he published under the name John Lukacs. He has been a visiting professor at several prestigious universities, including Columbia, Princeton, and Johns Hopkins University, and has lectured at several universities in Hungary.

In the 1950s, Lukacs drew attention to the pointlessness of the Cold War in several articles, and proposed to start negotiating with the nations of Eastern-Central Europe instead of ideological confrontation. He also called for America's withdrawal from the Asian wars. His ideas found a kindred spirit in the diplomat and historian George F. Kennan, with whom he remained friends until his death at the age of 101.

He has written over twenty-five books, seventeen of which are published in Hungarian by Europa Publishing. Since the beginning, Lukacs's main field of research has been the history of the Second World War, and his favorite genre was the accessible yet highly linguistic and professional essay. He has also published several writings on the philosophy of history and autobiography.

            "Hungary is my country, America is my home. I am a son of Hungary. But I go further. I just said I feel Hungarian. This feeling is something you can only get from your mother. From this point of view, Hungary is my mother, America is my wife," he said several times.

 

Recognitions awards:

- Ingersoll Prize (1991)

- Order of Merit of the Hungarian Republic, Central Cross (1994)

- George Washington Award (1997)

- Hungarian Corvin Chain (2001)

- Honorary Doctor of the Faculty of Humanities at Pázmány Péter Catholic University (2009)

- Order of Merit of the Hungarian Republic, Central Cross with the Star (2011)

- Hungarian Heritage Award (2012)

- Széchenyi Grand Prize

 

Books published in Hungarian:

  • 20th-century history of the United States; trans. Tamás Zala; Gondolat, Bp., 1988
  • Budapest, 1900. The city and its culture; trans. Klára Mészáros; Europa, Bp., 1991
  • The duel. The Eighty Days' Duel between Churchill and Hitler, 10 May-31 July 1940; trans. Klára Mészáros; Europa, Bp., 1993
  • The 20th century and the end of the modern age; trans. András Barkóczi; Europa, Bp., 1994, in English The End of the Twentieth Century: And the End of the Modern Age, for which he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize
  • The European World War. 1939-1941; trans. Tamás Magyarics, Klára Mészáros; Európa, Bp., 1995
  • 1945.  The zero year, trans. Barkóczi András; Europa, Bp., 1996
  • The historical Hitler; trans. András Barkóczi; Europa, Bp., 1998
  • Years...; trans. András Barkóczi; Europa, Bp., 1999
  • Five days in London, May 1940; trans. András Barkóczi; Europa, Bp., 2000
  • Back to... Travels 1954-1996; trans. Mária Borbás, András Barkóczi; Europa, Bp., 2001
  • Confessions of an Original Sinner; trans. Barkóczi András; Europa, Bp., 2001
  • The historical consciousness or the memory of the past; trans. Komáromy Rudolf; Europa, Bp., 2004
  • At the end of a significant era, trans. M. Nagy Miklós; Europa, Bp., 2005
  • Hitler and Stalin. June 1941; trans. M. Miklós Nagy; Europa, Bp., 2006
  • Hungarian writings; Europa, Bp., 2007
  • Democracy and Populism. Fear and Hate; trans. Komáromy Rudolf; Europa, Bp., 2008
  • God with me; trans. András Barkóczi; Europa, Bp., 2009
  • The living reality of history. George F. Kennan and John Lukacs; ed. by John Lukacs, trans. M. Nagy Miklós; Europa, Bp., 2010
  • The Future of Historiography; translated from English by M. M. Nagy Nagy, M. M. Nagy, M. Nagy, M. Nagy, M. M. Miklós Nagy; Europa, Bp., 2012
  • A Brief History of the Twentieth Century; translated from English by M. M. Nagy, M. Nagy, M. M. Nagy, M. Komáromy Rudolf; Europa, Bp., 2014
  • Half a century of Hungarian writings; Europa, Bp., 2015
  • "Happiness: a task." John Lukacs' book of herbs; Europa, Bp., 2018