Kálnoky family

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Kálnoky family is a Hungarian (Transylvanian) noble family. The Kálnokys are one of the most ancient families of Hungary, their history reaching back to medieval times.

History

In 1252 AD the family was documented in Székely Land,[1][2][3] eastern part of Transylvania, as 'COMES' (chief) of the Szekler 'Sepsi' tribe.

Since their first documentation, the family are "Primores" (magnates) of the Szekler people in Transylvania.

They are styled as Count Kálnoky Baron of Kőröspatak since 1697 when a Kalnoky was chancellor of Transylvania at the court of Vienna.

To support Austria's Empress Maria Theresia in the "Erbfolgekrieg" (war of succession), the family established a regiment of Hussars in 1741 which bore their name. The daughter of the Empire's chancellor married into the Kalnoky family, who thus inherited the chancellor's possessions in Moravia.

Besides their outstanding military and political careers, the Kálnoky's have been known for their advantageous wedding strategies. Several members married heiresses of aristocratic families on the verge of extinction, thus considerably increasing the Kálnoky's assets and influence in Central Europe. Countesses Kálnoky also married into the Houses of Habsburg, Hohenzollern, Liechtenstein, Sabran-Pontevès and others.

Family Related Books & Movies

  • Ingeborg Countess Kálnoky's "The Guest House - The Witnesses at Nuremberg" (Bobbs-Merrill, 1974), co-written with Ilona Herisko, is a memoir of her time between September 1945 and January 1947 as the hostess of the houses set up by the Americans for the witnesses who were to appear before the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg. People housed under her supervision included everyone from Hitler's personal photographer Heinrich Hoffmann and Gestapo founder Rudolf Diels to members of the German resistance and concentration camp survivors.
  • Christiane Kohl's "Das Zeugenhaus" (Goldmann, 2005), mines similar territory as Ingeborg Kálnoky's "The Guest House" but is based on both Kalnoky's guest book and personal recollections as well as the recollections of Bernhard von Kleist, who worked as an interpreter for the Americans at the Nuremberg trials, and the guest book entries of his wife, Annemarie von Kleist, who took over the witness house after Countess Kálnoky. An English-language version was published in 2010, titled "The Witness House: Nazis and Holocaust Survivors Sharing a Villa During the Nuremberg Trials" (Other Press).[4]
  • Boris Kálnoky's German language "Ahnenland - oder die Suche nach der Seele meiner Familie" (Droemer Knaur, 2011), originally intended as a biography about his staunchly anti-Communist and anti-fascist grandfather, Húgo Kálnoky, who worked as a journalist, chronicles the storied Kálnoky family history based on old records, personal letters, diaries and newspaper articles from its beginnings in 13th Century Transylvania all the way up to modern times.[5]
  • In February 2013, it was officially announced that a movie based on Christiane Kohl's "Das Zeugenhaus" would go into production for Germany's ZDF television. The project is to be directed by Matti Geschonneck and produced by Oliver Berben, with his famed mother/actress, Iris Berben, cast as Ingeborg Countess Kálnoky.[6]

  • Count Samuel Kalnoky

Descendants

Male descendants live today in Australia, United States, France, Germany, Great Britain, Slovakia, Turkey and Romania (Transylvania).

  • Gustav Kálnoky (Hungarian: gróf Kőröspataki Kálnoky Gusztáv Zsigmond, means "from Sepsikőröspatak" (Romanian: Valea Crișului, now Covasna County)), an Austro-Hungarian statesman (1832–1898)
  • Sámuel Kálnoky, chancellor of Transylvania (1640–1706)
  • Antal Kálnoky, general of the Kálnoky hussar regiment Nr 2 (1707–1783)
  • Dénes Kálnoky, a Transylvanian politician, writer and freedom fighter (1814–1888)
  • Boris Kálnoky, a German-Hungarian journalist and writer (1961- )
  • Tibor Kálnoky, a conservationist in Romania (1966- )[7] The Prince of Wales's host at His Royal Highnesses yearly visits to Transylvania
  • Lindi Kálnoky, an Austrian politician (1935- )

See also

References

  1. ↑ Deutsches Adelsarchiv, C.A. Starke (Firm), Deutscher Adelsrechtsausschuss, Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Volume 105, C.A. Starke, 1993, p. 278
  2. ↑ Péter Pál Váradi, Váradi Péter Pál - Lőwey Lilla, Lilla Lőwey, Sepsziszentgyörgy és vidéke, Erdély Fotóalbumok, 2005, p. 21
  3. ↑ Magyar Heraldikai és Genealógiai Társaság, Közlöny, Volumes 9-11, 1891, p. 83-84
  4. ↑ "Forced Together, Nazis And Victims Bear 'Witness'". 
  5. ↑ "Verschlungene Pfade - Boris Kálnoky sucht in seinem Buch "Ahnenland" die Seele seiner Familie". 
  6. ↑ "Familie Berben: Sohn produziert, die Mutter spielt". 
  7. ↑ "The White Knight of Transylvania". 

External links

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