“...an Italian citizen enters Hungary...” Three interpellations, three scandals, one tour. Parliamentary interpellations on the “Kossuth Epidemic”

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to provide a sketchy overview of the events concerning part of Ferenc Kossuth’s involvement in the political life of dualism and his legalisation, focusing on the relationship between citizenship, the Kossuth legacy and, in part, Ferenc Kossuth’s programme, – without its detailed description, – and to give some insight into what Péter Búsbach called the “Kossuth epidemic”. At the same time, parts of the essay can be understood as a micro-perspective case study, insofar as it is permissible to consider the issue of citizenship as a tool of political corruption and insinuation, that remained on the agenda until the naturalization of Ferenc Kossuth. Finally three parliamentary interpellations will be examined, namely the speeches and questions raised by Lajos Holló, Károly Várady and Péter Búsbach in 1894, and the speech of Imre Veszter, which was on a different subject but also referred to Ferenc Kossuth’s tour.