The
centuries-old Armenian community of Transylvania—currently part of
Romania--had essentially lost the language by the nineteenth century,
but had kept a strong sense of identity. They were fully integrated to
the life of Hungary, which was part of Austria since 1526. It should not
be surprising that several military leaders of the Hungarian-Revolution
of 1848-1849 were Armenian. One of them was Vilmos (pronounced Vilmosh)
Lázár.
Lázár’s
(originally Lazarian) ancestors had moved from Gherla (Armenopolis),
the Armenian center of Transylvania, to the region of Banat—currently
divided between Romania, Serbia, and Hungary—and received a title of
nobility. He was born in the city of Nagybecskerek (nowadays Zrenjanin
in Serbia) on October 24, 1815. In 1834 he began his military career in
the service of the 34
th
regiment of infantry in the imperial army. He was commissioned by
Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria as a second lieutenant in the Hussar
regiment, but in 1844 he retired and returned to his estate farm in
Zemplen with his wife, Baroness Mária Revitzky. He worked at the railway
company in 1847.
The
echo of the French revolution of 1848 spread throughout the continent
and found fertile ground in Hungary, where nationalist trends had
generated an awakening of patriotism. On March 15, 1848, a revolt
against the Habsburg dynasty exploded. Led by Lajos Kossuth, poet Sándor
Petöfi, and Mór Jókai, it soon became a war of independence. Emperor
Franz-Joseph asked for help to Czar Nicholas I of Russia to fight
against the revolution.
Lázár
took the revolutionary side and volunteered his services to the
Hungarian army. He successively became a lieutenant (October 1848),
captain (November), major (January 1849). In April 1849 he was appointed
as commander of a brigade stationed in Zemplén. At the end of the month
the brigade was reassigned to the legion forming in Upper Hungary. In
mid-June Lázár became the commander of division in the legion and
participated in the Dukla Pass battle against a Russian army. He was
promoted to lieutenant colonel in July and fought in the last battles of
the war of independence. He was promoted to colonel on August 12, but
the next day the revolutionary army surrendered to the Austrian-Russian
forces. On August 19 Lázár had to do the same with the remainder of his
troops (4,600 people).
The
promise of an amnesty went unfulfilled. On October 6, 1849, thirteen
Hungarian officers were condemned to death by the Austrian forces of
occupation in Arad (Transylvania). The date was purposefully selected,
because it marked the first anniversary of the failed insurrection of
Vienna in 1848 and the supremacy of Austrian power.
Although
Lázár only had the rank of colonel, he was considered to have equal
status with the generals in the Arad military court martial. He was
sentenced to execution by firing squad together with three other
colleagues, including General Ernö Kiss, also of Armenian origin. Nine
others were hanged.
Vilmos
Lázár’s remnants were uncovered in 1913 at the cemetery of the fortress
of Arad. His body was then laid to rest in the crypt with a monument
that honors him as one of the 13 Martyrs of Arad. Four streets in
Budapest and other cities are named after him.
Since
1997, on each October 6, the Armenian community of Hungary organizes a
tribute to Vilmos Lázár and Ernö Kiss at the square that remembers the
martyrs of Arad in the city of Veszprém.
