[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 35 (Thursday, March 18, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E414]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        A TRIBUTE TO ISTVAN DEAK

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 18, 2004

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a most 
talented and remarkable scholar--Professor Istvan Deak, the Seth Low 
Professor Emeritus of History at Columbia University, and a world-
renowned expert about 19th and 20th century Europe.
  Professor Deak was born in 1926 in Hungary and after surviving the 
Second World War, enrolled in college at the University of Budapest. 
Later, after Hungary was overtaken by the communist regime, Professor 
Deak fled his homeland and arrived in the United States in 1956. He 
earned his Doctorate in Modern European History from Colombia 
University in 1964 and then began a distinguished career as a professor 
there.
  Mr. Speaker, Professor Deak has focused his research on the history 
of resistance, collaboration and retribution of political movements in 
19th and 20th century Europe. His research and publications on this 
topic has been extraordinary and has provided great insight into this 
often neglected area of academic pursuit. Professor Deak's research has 
been especially important when compared to his colleagues working on 
similar topics but trapped in Eastern Bloc countries. While Professor 
Deak was able to write and research unfettered, his colleagues in 
Eastern Europe were dictated to and directed by party rulers that 
desired to rewrite the history of their regimes in the best possible 
light. Mr. Speaker, it should be pointed out that while Professor Deak 
was able to work freely in this country, his work was hindered by the 
fact that many of his crucial sources remained behind the Iron Curtain, 
and were often only available to members of the Communist party. As a 
result, Professor Deak often traveled to Hungary for his research, 
placing himself in danger. The ruling regime had the power to interrupt 
his travel if his work was deemed a threat. Undaunted by these 
constraints, Professor Deak continued to produce brilliant work on the 
Hungarian Revolution as well as the history of European Nationalism.
  Mr. Speaker, in addition to his extraordinary research and writing 
talents, Professor Deak devoted much time to his students, both at 
Columbia and around the world. He lectured in universities in Germany 
and the United States, where he continuously taught his students to be 
critical thinkers. He also stressed to his students the idea that 
history should be considered an art and that their historical prose 
should be elegant.
  Professor Deak is a prodigious writer himself and has authored 
numerous articles, reviews, and books, including; Weimar Germany's 
Left-Wing intellectuals: A Political history of the Weltbuhne and its 
Circle and Beyond Nationalism: a Social and Political History of the 
Habsburg Officer Corps, 1848-1918. He continues to prove himself as an 
articulate and gifted historian; his recent essays have been published 
in the New York Review of Books and The New Republic, and he also 
recently published a book entitled Essays on Hitler's Europe.
  Mr. Speaker, Professor Istvan Deak is an extraordinary scholar and 
his work on collaboration and resistance has provided numerous 
invaluable lessons to our generation and future generations. I urge all 
my colleagues to join me in paying tribute to him today.