Nándor Aulich, the secretary of Lajos Kossuth with an adventurous life

Cultural history links to the history of the Kossuth Library

Abstract

The library of Lajos Kossuth arrived in Budapest on 19 June 1894, at the National Széchényi Library of the National Museum of Hungary, and the collection has been a treasure of the national library ever since. The author of the article has been researching the history of the library for years, and in the course of this research he came across an unorganised bundle of documents in the Manuscript Archives of the National Széchényi Library, most of which deal with the sale of the Kossuth Library. The original owner of the letters and minutes is the chairman of the Kossuth Library Committee, lawyer Károly Eötvös. The documents found do not fundamentally change our knowledge of the events, but they complete and in some cases clarify what we already know. Within the framework of the article, the author will discuss a side issue, discovered in the above-mentioned bundle of documents and closely connected with the sale of the Kossuth Library, which focuses the spotlight on the person of Lajos Kossuth’s last secretary, who had been rather obscure until now. This man shared the last days of the used-to-be governor of Hungary, was a direct witness to the events of his final months and, although not originally hired by Kossuth for this task, an active participant in the preparation of the politician’s library for sale.