As a tribute to Ľudovít Štúr, a conference was held on April 24, 2012, at the Slovak Institute in Budapest, organized by historian József Demmel. Slovak and Hungarian historians talked about Štúr’s personality, his life and the age he lived in, and also provided an evaluation of his character and work. Štúr is a controversial historical figure, who was considered an “untouchable saint” by one fraction and a Pan-Slavic rebel by the other.

One of the main goals of this conference was to consolidate and revaluate these differences, without searching imaginary enemies. These intentions were phrased by Jana Tomková, the Director of the Slovak Institute. Slovak Ambassador Peter Weiss was also present. The lecturers were historians László Matus (also an archivist, MÁV Central Archives, Budapest), Peter Macho (Institute of History, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava) Róbert Hermann (Institute and Museum of Military History, Budapest), Daniela Kodajová (Institute of History, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava) Csaba Katona (Research Centre for the Humanities at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Institute of History, Budapest). A ten minute long movie was also shown about the last days of Ľudovít Štúr by students of the College of Theatre and Film Arts in Bratislava, directed by a young Hungarian living in Slovakia, Csaba Molnár. The programme was finished with a workshop discussion and a book premiere, introducing the volume entitled Slavs and the world of the future (a compilation of resources about Štúr) edited by József Demmel, organizer of the conference. The book was introduced by Rudolf Chmel, Member of the Slovak Parliament, former Deputy Prime Minister and the last Ambassador of Czechoslovakia in Budapest, in the company of László Csorba, Director General of the Hungarian National Museum.

Csaba Katona