Grunwald , Bela Ivanyi- , 1902-1965 , historian x Ivanyi-Grunwald , Bela

Bela Ivanyi-Grunwald (1902-1965) was born the son of a well known Hungarian painter of the same name and grew up in an artists' colony. He studied history at Budapest University and completed a Ph.D thesis on the proposed economic reforms of Count Istvan Szechenyi (1791-1860). As a result he was commissioned to edit a critical text of one volume of Szechenyi's collected works. This work with its lengthy introduction by IG was ground breaking for its time and established IG as economic historian. Shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War IG left his post as Reader in Hungarian History at Budapest University to take up a scholarship to Britain in order to study the activities of the exiles of the 1848-1849 Hungarian War of Independence. While he was in Britain war broke out and after Hungary entered the war IG renounced his (Hungarian Government funded) scholarship in protest and applied for political asylum which was granted. He lived in Britain for the remainder of his life. He became a regular contributor to the Hungarian Service of the BBC and was lecturer in Hungarian at SSEES 1947-1965. He wrote a number of works including a monograph on Lajos Kossuth (1802-1894) and also a biography of Szechenyi which were never published. His interests went beyond Hungarian history to include various aspects of British history such as eighteenth century dissenters and Catholic recusants. IG also became a collector of books, prints, maps and pamphlets.