| Notes |
- On March 28th, 1946, Lovice Louisa Grace née Cumberbatch, the wife of Antal Ullein-Reviczky, one of the most interesting and dynamic personalities in the history of Hungarys efforts to leave the German orbit during the fateful years of the Second World War, wrote the following sentence in her diary with a French translation pasted in English: “Little pleasures have no history” (Le petit bonheur n'a pas d'histoire).
The Ullein-Reviczky couple resided at this time in Kandilli, a picturesque fishing village on the Asian shores of the Bosphorus near Istanbul, in the old summer villa of the Cumberbatch family, where they could find a temporary refuge after the Second World War. It was here in this romantic setting that Antal Ullein-Reviczky, a key figure in Hungarian foreign policy and press control, wrote his memoir in the French language Guerre allemande-paix russe. Relatively little time had passed since the events recalled in the memoir and, after thorough editing, the book was published in Switzerland. A short but substantial memoir was born, which may have been somewhat influenced by the spirit of the place, as the villa of the Cumberbatch family and the weeks spent there in August 1942 were the trigger for a secret Hungarian-British ceasefire agreement in the presence of the British ambassador in the autumn of 1943.
The Cumberbatch family had upmarket and diverse historical roots, so by marrying the daughter of the British consul, Cyril James Cumberbatch, Ullein-Reviczky was not merely married to an English lady, but married into a family with an impeccable reputation in the diplomatic elite of the British Empire. From the seventeenth century, the careers of members of the family can be well traced. In the nineteenth century, in the Ottoman East, the family came into business and kinship with local families of mostly Greek or very often Italian origin who were also centuries old (and often became British subjects). The members of these so-called Levantine families were mostly important economic players, British officials on long-term service in the Turkish Empire who had managed to establish themselves locally through family ties, thus providing the knowledge needed in Eastern diplomacy, but also guaranteeing loyalty to the British Crown. (See: Levantine testimony 23 [levantineheritage.com])
Compared to his ancestors, Henry Alfred Cumberbatch (Cyril Jamess brother) also had a brilliant diplomatic career, and here is the link: His great-grandson, Benedict Cumberbatch, acclaimed British movie, theatre and television actor known for playing intelligent characters, is the founder of the modern Sherlock Holmes. (Benedict Cumberbatchs portrayal of the tragic genius Alan Turing in the film The Imitation Game earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire [CBE] by Queen Elizabeth II in June 2015 for his services to the performing arts and to charity.)
A real polyglot due to her origin and the place where she was brought up, Mrs. Ullein-Reviczky spoke and wrote Greek perfectly (it was her second mother tongue) as well as French, and she was also fluent in Italian and German (which, however, she did not always wish to reveal). In 1929, the daughter of Consul Cumberbatch tied her future and personal destiny to Hungary, thus going through one of the most difficult historical periods of her chosen homeland. Even during the war years, she kept a precise diary in which she commented on various political events and processes as a sharp-eyed observer, and even followed as well as supported her husbands steps in building confidential threads in 1942-43.
In his memoir, German War-Russian Peace, Ullein-Reviczky described the following facts: “The origins of these discussions go back to the summer of 1942, a part of which I had spent, as usual, in the villa of my English father-in-law on the shores of the Bosphorus, near Istanbul. Not only the residents of the villa, but also the entire circle of friends who visited it, belonged to the Allied camp and I did not have the impression that my presence lessened their number. It was there, over the course of many conversations, with very competent persons, that we laid the foundation for future contacts between Hungary and the Allied armies. This contact became tangible when, with the consent of London and General Headquarters in Cairo, I dispatched to Istanbul one of my most trusted aides, Mr. András Frey, diplomatic editor of the great liberal newspaper Magyar Nemzet, to be our liaison with the Anglo-American allies.”
After 1943 (when Ullein-Reviczky could no longer travel), many people visited Istanbul, such as Albert Szent-Györgyi, and the son of the Hungarian Prime Minister, Kristóf Kállay. It was at this time that Ullein-Reviczky warned the British through his wife that the code of their Yugoslav-related radio messages had been hacked, so that their contents could easily be read by both Hungarians and Germans. All of this, of course, paved the way for Budapests actions, which were intertwined with efforts, events, and hidden processes that would in themselves provide enough material for an exciting spy novel, the threads of which not even the great mastermind Sherlock Holmes could unravel. Istanbuls espionage stories crave the big screen, and perhaps the day will soon come when a worldwide audience will be able to learn, more than ever, about Hungarys fate during the Second World War in a movie, hopefully starring Benedict Cumberbatch.
(A longer study based on the contents of Mrs. Ullein-Reviczky Antal's diary appears in the 2020 Yearbook of the VERITAS Research Institute for History and Archives.)
by András Joó and Lovice Maria Ullein-Reviczky (Ullein-Reviczky Antal Foundation, Hungary)
Images:
Lovice Louisa Grace Cumberbatch (Mrs. Antal Ullein-Reviczky) and her father, Cyril James Cumberbatch, British diplomat, strolling down İstiklal Avenue, historically known as the Grand Avenue of Pera, one of the most famous avenues in Istanbul, original photograph from the 1930s courtesy of Lovice Maria Ullein-Reviczky, URA Foundation, Magyarnándor-Kelecsény, Hungary.
Source:
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Cumberbatch Family History
1905 -
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