Teleki between his given word and reason of state
Count , a renowned geographer turned Hungarian Prime Minister, has held a tightrope-walker's line: cooperate with Germany to recover the territories lost at the Treaty of Trianon, without thereby delivering his country to war. On 12 December 1940, he signed a treaty of 'eternal friendship' with Yugoslavia.
Five months later, that treaty turns against him. On 25 March 1941, Belgrade accedes to the Tripartite Pact — but on 27 March a coup d'état overthrows the government and repudiates the alliance with the Axis. Hitler, furious, decides to crush Yugoslavia and demands that Hungary, a member of the Tripartite Pact, let his troops pass and take part in the attack.
Teleki is caught in a vice. On 3 April, a telegram from his minister in London reports the British threat: if Hungary offers no active resistance to the passage of German troops, the United Kingdom will break off diplomatic relations — and will declare war if Budapest attacks Yugoslavia. To let the Wehrmacht through is to betray a treaty signed by his own hand and to dishonour the nation.
That night, Teleki must choose between his given word and reason of state.
Should Teleki authorise the passage of German troops against Yugoslavia, refuse it at the risk of reprisals, or find some other way out of the impasse?
Teleki chose C: on the night of 3 April 1941, having learned that the German army had just entered Hungary, he took his own life with a pistol shot. His farewell letter is an act of accusation against himself and his government: 'We have broken our word, out of cowardice… The nation feels it, and we have cast away its honour. We have allied ourselves with scoundrels… I am guilty.' Unable to prevent the betrayal of the treaty but refusing to put his name to it, he chose self-sacrifice. Churchill would write that this suicide was 'offered to absolve himself and his people from guilt in the German attack on Yugoslavia'. Hungary would nonetheless let the troops through and take part in the invasion.
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