Numizmatičke Vijesti, Vol. 57 No. 68, 2015.
Original scientific paper
Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian Orders Issued to Nándor Taróczy-Szmazsenka
Boris Prister
; Croatian history museum, Zagreb, CRO
Abstract
The Croatian History Museum keeps orders and diplomas issued to the Hungarian
citizen Nándor Taróczy-Szmazsenka, a mysterious figure from the milieu of military
intelligence. He was born in Debrecen on 20 December 1874. Wounded twice in World
War I and released from duty on the front lines, he was posted to administrative service
in the occupied regions of Serbia, Poland and Italy. After the fall of the Austro-Hungarian
Monarchy (1918) he served in the army of the Kingdom of Hungary until 1928,
and then retired. He spoke six languages and was highly educated. He was interested
in social and political subjects. In April and May 1925 he visited the Soviet Union and
made many acquaintances and connections there. He foresaw, in those early days, that the
country would become a world power and criticised the West for “selfish materialism”.
The Soviets later repaid him, in February 1945 he managed to make an arrangement
with a Red Army commander and his soldiers did not touch the people or property in
the Budapest quarter where Taróczy lived. In the 1950s the Hungarians stopped his
pension and took away his house and he worked as a night guard. He survived several
political systems and died in Budapest in 1973 at the age of 99.
After his retirement Nándor Taróczy-Szmazsenka spent time in the Baltic states
of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, probably in military intelligence. There he was decorated
with the orders of those countries. In 1929 Latvia made him Commander of the
Order of the Three Stars. In 1931 Estonia awarded him the Order of the Cross of
the Eagle, 2nd class. In 1933 Lithuania awarded him the Commander’s Cross of the
Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas.
The Zagreb collector and donor Dr Veljko Malinar acquired these decorations during
Nándor Taróczy-Szmazsenka’s lifetime. On 4 June 1971 Dr Malinar exchanged all the
three orders with orders in the History Museum of Croatia, today the Croatian History
Museum. It is interesting to mention that the diplomas belonging to the orders were not
exchanged at the time, but they did come to the museum after Dr Malinar’s death in 1990.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
164344
URI
Publication date:
10.11.2015.
Visits: 1.671 *