John Lukacs Lounge

"John Lukacs fled to the United States to escape dictatorships. He was a historian, and although he didn’t live in Hungary, few people have felt and understood the Hungarian and European history of the 20th and early 21st centuries better than he did. His name is associated with wisdom", said Balázs Orbán, Deputy Minister of State, Parliamentary and Strategic State Secretary, at the opening ceremony of the historian's memorial exhibition and the inauguration of the lounge bearing his name at the Ludovika Wing of the National University of Public Service on 2 December 2021.

Happiness is a task - reads the cover of John Lukacs's herb book, which is decorated with airline tickets, hotel vouchers, busts of Seneca, Tocqueville, and Churchill, and other personal objects in a replica of his study in the communal space exhibiting his legacy.

In his opening speech, András Koltay, Rector of the National University of Public Service, emphasized that although John Lukacs had no ties to the National University of Public Service or its predecessor institutions, his personality entirely fits into the university's values. "That is why the university will preserve his personal belongings and make them available to anyone, as the institution is proud to be their custodian." András Koltay concluded his speech with a quote from the historian's autobiographical book, God is with Me: "Gratitude always comes from the past. I am grateful for the past, for my past, with those who loved me and whom I loved. Beyond all this: eternal gratitude to God for my past and present."

In his toast, Gergely Prőhle, Director of the Institute for Strategic Studies of the National University of Szeged, spoke about the interconnection of memory and knowledge. The tradition of the building is a military tradition. The purpose it fulfills today is to help knowledge to flourish and to function as a university. "In the exhibition that has just opened at the university, personal memories, knowledge, historical and literary responsibility are displayed in parallel, radiating from the objects." He added: "John Lukacs would sit down at the piano in the evenings and play Debussy when he felt like it, or sing in his hoarse voice the hit song by Szabolcs Fényes, 'Beside You Are No Weekdays,' to his second or third wife. This is how memory, knowledge, personality, and academic merit are brought together.

Balázs Orbán, Parliamentary and Strategic State Secretary, said, "John Lukacs' work as a historian was in every respect equal to that of his great predecessors, not only to describe but to understand and write about the period he was studying in a good sense." The Deputy Minister added: "We felt it was our duty to preserve Lukacs' legacy and spirit for posterity, and that is why we decided to have his legacy repatriated and exhibited fittingly. This exhibition is best placed at the National University of Public Service because it is at this university that we highlight and exemplify the finest among us so that they may use their talents to serve the cause of the state, the nation, and the people. This room is a place where researchers and scholars can immerse themselves in their work and put their talents to work for the benefit of the whole community, for the benefit of the Hungarian people."