Magyar Posta is issuing a commemorative stamp to mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of Count István Bethlen, one of Hungary’s most influential politicians between the two world wars. Forty thousand copies of the stamp designed by the graphic artist Attila André Elekes were produced by ANY Security Printing Company. The new issue goes on sale at Filaposta in Hungary, philately specialist services, certain post offices and www.posta.hu from 25 March 2024.
Count István Bethlen de Bethlen (Gernyeszeg, 8 October 1874 - Moscow, 5 October 1946) was a lawyer, agriculturalist and politician. He served as prime minister of Hungary from 1921 to 1931. His contemporaries referred to him as “the great consolidator” due to his policy of economic reconstruction in Hungary, scarred by the loss of territory under the Treaty of Trianon, as a fully independent country.
The statesman, who came from a Transylvanian aristocratic family, had become involved in national politics during the years of the dual monarchy of Austria- Hungary. He was appointed prime minister after the first government led by Count Pál Teleki resigned. The Bethlen government guided Hungary between 14 April 1921 and 24 August 1931, and managed to consolidate Hungary’s position in the fields of both domestic and foreign policy. Among his achievements, he established the Unity Party as one of the pillars of the system, oversaw Hungary’s admission to the League of Nations, gradually managed to restore the Hungarian economy, and, with the help of Minister of Culture Kunó Klebelsberg, introduced extensive reforms in public institutions in education, culture and research. The effects of the 1929 global economic crisis, which also caused grave difficulties in Hungary, led to the downfall of István Bethlen’s government. The Soviets feared that the Count, who still wielded considerable influence, might prevent the Communist Party from seizing power in Hungary, and deported him to the Soviet Union in April 1945.
