The author was born on 7 October 1918 in Budapest. He worked as a music editor and director at the Hungarian Radio until 1949, the year he left Hungary. From 1951 onwards, he lived in Australia, where he passed away in 2019 at the age of one hundred. Through excerpts from his delightful memoir, our latest selection offers a glimpse into the world of the Somssich family.

The Grandfather – “The Author”

One of the family’s estates was Kivadár, a small Hungarian village along the Rinya River, located five kilometres from Nagyatád. According to the author’s recollections, when his grandfather inherited it, only a few servants’ houses and stables stood on the property. It appears that the much-mentioned grandfather, Adolf Somssich Jr., was the one who brought Kivadár to prosperity.Soon after moving in, he began to build: workshops and chapels rose at an astonishing pace across the estate. He was also known in the family as “the author,” for whenever land came up for sale nearby, he bought it. His former properties stretched along the road between Babócsa and Nagyatád. But he did not stop at expanding the family lands — at the turn of the century, he had an artesian well drilled and built a water tower and a bathhouse above it, the latter open not only to the family but also to locals.
For the family mausoleum, the grandfather had marble brought from Pörtschach, beside the lake in Austria. The entrance was adorned with a pediment supported by four columns and guarded by two lions. The crypt lay beneath the chapel; the coffin was brought in through the rear gate and later sealed with a marble slab bearing an inscription.

When he died in 1919, Somssich-Szőgyény Béla’s father inherited the estate. By then, there were already four sons in the family, and their sister had been born at Kivadár. Describing the estate, the author wrote of a poignant memory: "The manor did not stand ‘in the middle of a vast, magnificent park,’ as such descriptions often go, but on its edge, built almost into the wilderness. Looking out from the upstairs window of the western wing, one’s gaze followed the gravel path cutting through the park all the way to the vineyard, the press-house, and beyond that to the apiary, with its ancient lime tree, millstone table, and orchard around it. This image lives in my memory as a kind of ground plan. From that same window I watched my father’s funeral. I was eleven years old, and due to illness I was not allowed to go outside.”

Though the book evokes an idyllic childhood filled with happiness and ease, even this small haven could not escape the course of history. First came the death of the father, then the horrors of war, the military conscriptions, and later the loss of the estate — all these marked the family’s passage to life’s more somber side. Fortunately, the family lore is far from bleak; here are a few anecdotes about its more memorable figures.

An Eccentric Relative

Uncle Viktor, the grandfather’s younger brother, was a lifelong bachelor and quite the eccentric. Though he gained modest recognition as a composer, his true creative energy was devoted to solving the problems of electric transport. Judging by his sketches and notes, he was mainly concerned with how to prevent accidents caused by speeding trams — remarkably foresighted, wasn’t he? He drew up various alarm and braking systems, yet apparently trusted none of them; in the end, he concluded that the best solution would be to attach a basket to the front of every tram, seat a man in it, and have him shoo away any unsuspecting pedestrians straying into the vehicle’s path.

A Philanthropic Lady

In most families, daughters did not inherit land — but here again, the Somssich family proved exceptional. According to family lore, Aunt Eszter was given Bara-puszta (also called “Little Estate”), adjacent to Kivadár, on the condition that if she ever married, it would revert to the male line. She never married. Instead, she became a benefactor to all in the surrounding area. Locals said she possessed healing knowledge, using herbal remedies made from plants she gathered nearby. She was once in love with an Italian doctor in her youth — perhaps her charitable work was, in part, a tribute to him. At her residence on Little Estate, she led a life devoted to philanthropy. She also served as honorary president of the Christian Women’s Association and cultivated friendships rooted in faith and culture.Avid in travel and sport, she was one of Nagyatád’s great benefactors: she helped found the Bárdos School on Baross Street and supported the local convent of nuns. On 23 February 1993, a street in Nagyatád was named in her honour.

Artists Among Them

Two artists were closely associated with the family’s social circle. One was Mária Gosztonyi, daughter of the neighbouring estate owners, who ran a ceramics studio in the park of Bárdibükk by the lake. Trained in Italy, she created the majolica plaque set into the wall between the gate and the inner courtyard bastion.
The other was József Rippl-Rónai, who painted a portrait of the author’s father at the Kopaszhegy estate. A frequent guest of the family, he seems to have just returned from France at that time. “Kopaszhegy” (“Bald Hill”) was named by him — the official name of the estate was Vóta-puszta — when he noticed that the author’s father had his head shaved every summer. When Rippl-Rónai bought his famous Villa Roma, he intended to farm the surrounding land as well. Géza Somssich became his agricultural advisor, and what began as work often turned into all-day visits crowned by Lazarine’s exquisite cooking.

After the war, only the shell of the Kivadár manor remained. It was demolished in the 1950s, along with the park and press-house. The mausoleum, too, was torn down by the authorities. The grandparents’ and the father’s remains were later reburied in the cemetery of Nagyatád.

TÉ

translated by László Gönczi

Source:

Somssich-Szőgyény Béla: Alaprajz, Nagyatád Museum Foundation, Nagyatád, 2006