Ban Count Károly Khuen-Héderváry de Hédervár, born as Károly Khuen de Belás (; ; 23 May 1849 – 16 February 1918) was a Hungarian politician and the ban of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia in the late nineteenth century. Khuen's reign was marked by a strong magyarization. After a series of riots broke out against him in 1903, Khuen was relieved of his duty and appointed prime minister of Hungary.

Background

Born in Bad Gräfenberg, Austrian Silesia, Károly Khuen de Belás was the oldest son of seven siblings born to Hungarian magnate Antal Khuen de Belás (1817–1886) and his wife, Baroness Angelika Izdenczi de Monostor et Komlós (1823–1894):

  • Alice (1850–1879), wife of Count Zsigmond Zichy de Zich et Vásonykeö, an Imperial and Royal Chamberlain, Lieutenant, they married 8 January 1877
  • Antal (1852–1890), Imperial and Royal Chamberlain, member of the Sabor, prominent architect
  • Angelika (1855–1918), wife of Count Albert von Lodron-Laterano und Castelromano since 1887
  • Margit (1856–1920), wife of Baron Tibor Vay de Vaya
  • Henrik (1860–1928), Imperial and Royal Chamberlain, Lieutenant at the Cavalry Guard, husband of Countess Johanna von und zu Eltz genannt Faust von Stromberg
  • Szabina (1863–1942), wife of Count János Woracziczky von Babienitz since 1883.

His three other siblings died when they were children. He spent most of his childhood at the family estate in Nuštar in Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia.

According to the last Count Viczay de Loós et Hédervár, Héder Viczay's will, and the Court's supreme decision (dated Vienna, on 5 December 1874), Károly was granted the bearing Khuen-Héderváry name and title of Count. He changed his title from Belási to Hédervári and his new coat of arms was compiled by the two families' coat of arms. His maternal grandmother was Karolina Viczay, Héder's aunt. In addition Héder's brother, Károly Viczay (1802–1867) married to Mária Khuen (1811–1848), Károly Khuen-Héderváry's aunt.

Khuen-Héderváry married Countess Margit Teleki de Szék on 6 September 1880. They had two children: Sándor (1881–1946) and Károly the Younger (1888–1960).

Political career

Ban of Croatia-Slavonia

Károly Khuen-Héderváry became ban of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia in 1883, succeeding the temporary reign of Ban Hermann Ramberg. This followed the unrest and disorder that happened because of Hungary's non-compliance with the Croatian–Hungarian Settlement (e.g. bilingual coat of arms were put on public buildings and the Hungarian language was unofficially introduced into the public service, i.e. the clerks were obliged to know it in order to get/keep the job). Emperor Franz Joseph I appointed him to the position in order to obstruct strong Croatian resistance to dualism established by the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 thus preserving the Austrian sovereignty and Empire from possible breakdown.

The almost 20-year long Khuen-Héderváry's reign became referred to in Croatia as "khuenovština", meaning the type of governance characterized by political arbitrariness, violence, persecution of opponents and corruption. The basic task of Khuen-Héderváry was to carry out a policy consistent with Emperor Franz Joseph's demands, not wanting to touch into empires' dualism. Thus, Khuen-Hédérvary consistently prevented Croats from achieving greater autonomy. His influence over Croatian politics was accomplished with the help of the pro-unitarian People's Party, with whom he gained the majority of seats in the Croatian Parliament at the 1884 parliamentary election. Khuen-Héderváry's efforts to maintain political power were greatly supported by the Serbs, in particular, members of the Serbian caucus in the Croatian Parliament, who were colloquially called "Khuen's Serbs". He supported the Serbian institutions and elite and its disproportionately strong influence in Croatian politics and economy. In 1884 he passed a set of "Serbian" laws, extended in 1887, by which the position of the Serbian Orthodox Church and Serbs in Croatia-Slavonia was arranged. During Khuen-Héderváry's reign, four out of eight prefects of Croatian counties, the deputy ban and the speaker of the parliament were Serbs, and Serbs occupied the highest ranks in the judiciary. Due to his close cooperation with Serbs, he was sometimes known as the "Serbian ban". The main goal of favouring the Serbs was to encourage inter-ethnic (Croat/Serb) conflicts which would lead to the preventing of resistance against the Empires' state policies.

Between 1885 and 1887, he reorganized the Croatian judiciary and administration by placing them under the ban's authority. The freedom of public expression and press were considerably reduced. On 5 February 1886, following his initiative, the Parliament enacted the Law on Organization of Counties and the Administration in Counties and Districts (Zakon o ustroju županija i uređenju uprave u županijah i kotarih). According to this law, Croatia was divided into eight counties, each of them governed by a prefect, all of them being politically loyal to Khuen-Héderváry, who had great authority. That is how Khuen-Héderváry wanted to strengthen his power and control over the Kingdom. After two years, in 1888, he confirmed a new electoral law according to which only the richest (2% of the population) had the right to vote. Women did not have the right to vote, and voting rights were determined by property and tax censuses. The Law granted foreign officials working in Croatian state institutions, who were mostly Hungarians, the right to vote. The elections were held under the police supervision and slogan "Keeping Order and Peace" which added to the atmosphere of constant pressure, while the authorities did not hesitate to use force so that even murders were happening. He tried to erase the Croatian name and encouraged the use of provincial names (like Slavonian; he himself identified as such) in order to diminish the national consciousness and had attributed the concept of Croatian to something that was, according to him, "provincial". Such a policy was attributed by some to the personal interests he had with wealthy non-Croat Slavonians, which brought Croats as the capital holders to a disadvantageous position. Throughout his reign, he has been implementing measures that would have led to the conversion of Croatia and Slavonia into the Hungarian province.

Khuen-Héderváry constantly pressured the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts and the University of Zagreb and made it difficult for them to work. In 1894, he introduced the Hungarian language as an obligatory subject in all Croatian gymnasiums and provided the opportunity for the establishment of Hungarian schools. Such a provision supported the magyarization of the population which he had violently carried out. Since he came to power, he tried to prevent the construction of a new building of the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb in all possible ways. He questioned project's way of funding and the location (he proposed land near the Zagreb Glavni kolodvor). In spite of his initial views, he realized that the construction of the theater would have shown the emperor that Croatian nationalism waned and that he managed to "calm" the Kingdom. Therefore, on 5 January 1894, he signed a contract on the construction of a new theater building with Fellner & Helmer and even determined a better location than the one required by the city government (they wanted the theatre to be located in Ilica and Khuen placed it in the city center). On 14 October 1895, the newly constructed building was opened. The Emperor himself attended the ceremony. On that day, groups of pupils and students held protests during which they burned the Hungarian flag beneath Josip Jelačić's monument. The protests were violently suppressed, and protesters expelled from schools. Although the gendarmerie under the Khuen-Héderváry's command had tried to violently suppress protests, the situation soon came out of control and protesters reached the Emperor which made him realize that the situation in the Kingdom was still extremely unstable.

Regardless of Khuen-Héderváry's harsh rule, Croatian economy experienced a slight growth due to Izidor Kršnjavi and Josip Juraj Strossmayer's activities. Many banks, insurance companies, and agricultural associations were founded throughout the Kingdom. The industry was developing as well with various factories, such as Franck and Drava - Osijek, being opened. By increasing agricultural production, steam mills (one, Hinko in Nuštar, was founded by Khuen-Héderváry's brother Heinrich II), breweries and cheese factories were established. The electrification of Croatia slowly started; larger cities got public lighting, and public and economic buildings were lighted as well so they that could work at night. There was also a sudden development of the railway system. With the help of the Mortgage Bank founded in 1893 in Zagreb, Khuen-Héderváry encouraged the construction of railways under the Hungarian State Railways and popularized the slogan: "Who owns the railways, owns the country!" Nevertheless, during his reign, Croatia experienced a rapid increase in overseas migration which was the result of population growth and slow industrialization. There was dissatisfaction with the financial dependence of Croatia on Hungary, financial independence was demanded, and when the Hungarian Parliament rejected the request for improvement of financial conditions in Croatia in 1903, a public assembly was organized in Zagreb. Other Croatian cities also held public assemblies, but Khuen-Héderváry banned them. There were protests against such a decision in Osijek, Zagreb and many other cities. The consequences of the unrest that affected the whole Kingdom were the introduction of courts martial and imprisonment of a large number of Croats.

Due to growing pressure of Hungarians on the Croatians and the placing of Hungarian flags and coats of arms in Hungarian on the railway station, a series of riots across the Kingdom broke out in 1903. The most intense was the one held in Zaprešić on which police officers shoot peasants who dissatisfied with the ban's behaviour burnt the Hungarian flag and smashed all the windows on the local railway station building. People's Movement and the political crisis in Hungary marked the end of his reign. When the Emperor realized that Khuen Héderváry no longer had any influence in Croatia, he removed him from office and appointed him on 23 June 1903 to the position of Prime Minister of Hungary. Nevertheless, he continued to interfere in Croatian state affairs and has helped Nikola Tomašić to become Croatian Ban. At the beginning of the World War I, he stated that the idea of creation of Yugoslavia from the Croatian point of view was inappropriate due to the Serb question and that the solution for Bosnia and Herzegovina's status was in its annexation to Hungary.

  • Knight of the Iron Crown, 1st Class, 1885
  • Knight of the Golden Fleece, 1891
  • Grand Cross of St. Stephen, 1910
  • Jubilee Medal for Civil State Servants
  • : Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold