The Politician

My grandfather, Antal LINHARDT II, was a man of principled opposed all forms of totalitarianism,  who took on to both the Nazi's and the Communists and ultimately paid the consequences for it.  Born in Kispest, he apprenticed as a printer and worked his way to master status before getting involved in labor organization with the Social Democrat Party (SZDP).  He became a director of the Nepszava (The Voice of the People), a workers paper and later became legislator for Pest County.  After being beaten and thrown out of the legislature, Antal LINHARDT was called up for military service even though he over draft age.  When he reported for duty, he was put into #401 Special Penal Brigade and sent to the Russian Front to dig ditches for the Hungarian Army.  When the Soviets annihilated the 2nd Hungarian Army in the Voronezh Offensive in January '43, Antal LINHARDT disappeared from the official record.  There were rumors that he was taken to a military hospital at the Front and then taken to Moscow where he was heard making speeches on Kossuth Radio.  Then, supposedly, he was in Debrecen forming the new government when he was eliminated by the NKVD (KGB) for refusing to endorse the merging of the Hungarian Communist and Social Democrat Parties.  After the war, for a period Antal LINHARDT was honored as a hero and martyr of the anti-fascist resistance in the briefly democratic Hungary.  But by 1948, the Pro-Stalinists had consolidated power using the "salami tactic": patiently eliminating opposition one by one and Antal LINHARDT had become a traitor of the working class.   After the collapse of Pro-Soviet Hungary, Antal LINHARDT's good name was recovered, his widow's pension was restored and he was honored as a citizen of Kispest.

- new! - New January 29. 2006:  Take a sneak peek at a fascinating series of translations documenting Antal LINHARDT's final days in the #401 Labor Service Brigade (400kb) made up of newspaper articles from his own newspaper, an eyewitness account from a political rival, and court records on the trial of Lipot Muray, the "Hangman of Nagykata". 

The Railway Worker

Antal II's father Antos Josef LINHARDT I (1848) in Male Cicovice a small town in the Kladno district of Bohemia (Czechoslovakia) not far from Prague.  While Antos' family lived in this area for centuries, one can only speculate as to what motivated Antos to move to Kispest (near Budapest) and marry 34-year old Anna BELANSZKY whose family had deep roots from Nitra, Slovakia in 1884.  Perhaps the birth of his first son Antal 8 months later had something to do with it.  Documents list Antal I alternately as a railroad worker or a laborer.  Undoubtedly, the spread of the railroads throughout Europe lead to many migrations and Antal I was in the heart of the railroad system.  

According to Boske, Antal I had 9 children in Hungary: Antal II, Lima, Nandor, Ferencz, Erno, Anna, Louis, Emil and Terez.  Nandor moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina and had children.  Several other lines may have surviving descendants under the name GOEDA, BORBELY, SOPRONY or BIHARI.  I hope one day to connect to living descendants from one of these lines.  Despite the large number of lines, our branch has only made contact with one other branch (Louis) that has immigrated to Belgium.

Bohemians and Heretics 

A good deal is known about the historic roots of the LINHARDT family owing to an excellent report by Professor Rychetsky of the Gustav Mahler Museum in Czechoslovakia tracing the LINHARDT family back 15 generations in the same region of Bohemia.  Professor Rychetsky' research traced back the LINHARTs to Tuchomerice in the Kladno District of Bohemia dating back in the early 1600s.  The oral tradition handed down to me by my is that his family originated from Sudetanland which is essentially the same region.  

The lineage is : Josef LYNHART begat Tomas (ca 1650) begat Joseph (1686) begat Joseph (1720) begat Martin (1749) begat Vaclav (1773) begat Joseph (1798) begat Frantisek (1823) begat Antos Joseph (1848) begat Antal II (1894).  In the late 18th century, it was Vaclav LINHART who moved the family from Tuchomerice to nearby Male Cicovice where he built his own cottage (Nr. 10) where his family lived for several generations. The family remained there until my great grandfather, Antal LINHARDT I, moved to Budapest before marrying Anna BELANZSKY in 1884.

Historical Context

The earliest record Professor Rychetsky found was a Catholic birth record for one of the children of Thomas LYHARDT whose father was the heretic Hussite : Josef LYNHART [check fact].  In fact, the birth records for many generations of LINHARDTs were recorded at the St.Vit church in Tuchomerice.  To understand the significance of this, one needs to know a little about Czech history.  In the 15th Century there was a movement against the corruption of the Catholic Church lead by Jan Hus, a professor and rector of Prague University.  Hus did not recognize the authority of the Pope and respected only the word of Jesus written in the New Testament (as did Martin Luthor who came later).  Hus was arrested in Constance and burned at the stake a heretic.  In 1419, Hussites (followers of the martyrized Jan Hus) took over Prague and threw the town council out the windows of the town hall (The First Defenestration) and the religious revolution spread throughout the Czech kingdom.  In 1526, the Czech nobility selected a Habsburg for their king and the Czech kingdom became part of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy until it was dismantled at the end of WWI.  There was a continual power struggle between the Catholic Habsburg monarchy and the protestant Czech nobility through the 17th century which culminated in the wider European conflict of the 30 Years War (1618-1648).  The Vestfal Piese Agreement in 1648 marked the defeat of the Protestants the the forced conversion of the population of Bohemia to Catholicism.^[1]   

Religion

Thus, while Joseph LYNHART was a heretic (pre-protestant), his son was converted to Catholicism at the point of a sword.  The family remained at the St. Vita church until the late 18th century when the family moved to nearby Male Cicovice and joined a Jesuit church there.  While my grandfather, Antal II, was born a Catholic in Hungary, he was not religious in nature and was essentially an agnostic.  However, as a Socialdemocratic politician it was necessary for him to have a religion so he followed the norm and enrolled his children in catholic school.  However, he soon got into a fight with the nuns.  He objected to them telling his daughter Eva to love the Virgin Mary more than her own mother.  As a result, my grandfather converted his family to the more liberal Unitarian church when my father was 5.  Interestingly, Eva moved to Israel in 1957 after the failed Hungarian Revolution and became a Jew.

Origin of the Name

LINHARDT is a common name in the Czech Republic (although one also finds LINHARDTs in Bavaria and Switzerland).  In the United States, there is a concentration of LINHARDTs in Missouri although I suspect that they also originate from a migration from Bohemia in the 19th century.  

According to Professor Rychetsky, LINHARDT or LINHART arose from the words Leo-lion and Hart-hart in German and Czech. Fancifully, I perfer to think of myself as a LIONHEART (as in "Richard the"). After all there were at least 5 crusades against heritic Hussites after the First Defenestration.  Alternatively my father believes the name comes from the linden, a type of tree. The common name LEONARD may be a variant.