Non à Trianon
Media: Here's a 101-year-old Trianon in Franco-German broadcasting company Arte's trilingual version. Raise awareness, whether or not from a linguistic perspective, on what is Europe's tragedy and how long it has endured until the present day. Let's put it progressively and acknowledge a (West) European hiatus.
„Ungarns Trauma. Europas Problem?“ (ORIGINAL, verfügbar 22.6.21 - 22.7.21)
« Le traité de Trianon, un traumatisme hongrois » - traduction 🇫🇷 (ENTENTE)
‘Hungary's Trauma’ - translation into 🇬🇧 (ENTENTE)
In 2021 Central German Broadcasting company MDR produced a documentary on Hungary. After the broadcast, Ungarns Trauma: Europas Problem could be watched online from 22nd June until 22nd July. Shorty after, the production went west. Association Relative à la Télévision Européenne, also known as ARTE produced French and English-language editions.
In both cases, the intriguing production's title was substantially altered. According to the Franco-German broadcasting company, ‘Le traité de Trianon, un traumatisme hongrois’ would do. A similar nationalization was adapted in English: ‘Hungary's trauma’. Why would the one and only transnational television company reduce a thoroughly European subject to national frameworks?
In the documentary, the Treaty of Trianon, Hungary's Versailles – though without the colonial and war guilt indictments as in the diktat on Germany –, is being thematized as an essential history for understanding the people and politics of this Central European country. It was produced in memory of the First World War anniversaries, in particular the Versailles/Trianon centenary on 4 June 2020. Historical considerations must have played a role in ARTE's decision in Paris, the venue of the 1919 Peace Conference. Obviously, the war was waged between the Central Powers Hungary/Germany and the Franco-British Entente. Would the respective audiences a century later be bored, if not flabbergasted by a programme such as "Hungary's trauma: Europe's problem"? Why cut off the East German producers?
AN EXAMPLE OF REPRESENTING THE ENTENTISTISCHE* NARRATIVE OF HISTORY AND MEMORY
Yes, it seems that correct translations are deemed problematic for French and British audiences. Together with you we would like to address the intriguing question – why?
* Von Thomas Mann 1919 benutzte Bezeichnung für angelsächsisch geprägte Abfassung der Kriegsgeschichte. W. Martynkewicz, 1920. Am Nullpunkt des Sinns, S. 90.
As the author sets out in 'Vice versa Versailles' as well as the Aufa100 founding manifesto, this generally contended history is tabooed in Germany. This may explain why the company's German editors in Baden Baden tended to follow their colleagues in Paris instead of showing support to their authentic countrymen from the New Länder.
With no delay, Aufa100 contacted ARTE in early summer. Weeks went by without any feedback. While we kept posting on social media, several copies of our request were sent. After almost five months, the company gave feedback on Twitter, now X.
Conclusions:
1. ARTE is not to be regarded as a transnationally European broadcaster, but as an apparently western-centred one.
2. Hungary's trauma is a European problem.
3. Call for a neutrality historiography. This ARTE story stresses the need for a transnational process of coming to terms with the past. As it was stated in the documentary: Es wurde nicht aufgearbeitet. Consequently, this appeals not only to historians or politians, but also to journalists, museum directors and persons engaged in the cultural sector.
Zitat aus „Ungarns Trauma. Europa's Problem?“: „Es wurde nicht aufgearbeitet, ...“
Not to be disregarded: Here is a Hungarian view on today and history.
June 4, 1920. Five months after the Treaty of Versailles implementation (10.I.1920), Britain, its Imperial Delegation and G. Clemenceau dictate the Treaty of Trianon (no negotiations) on HUNGARY. In between is the U.S. Senate endorsement of its November 1919 opting-out vote (19.III.1920). Cartoon: Who were the men in the suit, who actually stabbed the angel of peace? Why were they left anonymous by the (British) cartoonist?
Registered: more than 600 views of our June 4th, 2020 LinkedIn post.
Contents, figures and illustrations by Peter de Bourgraaf