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On June 28, 1914 two shots fired in the city of Sarajevo brought an end to a great time in the life of Budapest and the Grand Hotel Royal; a time, which was by many, regarded as a carefree period.A Bosnian Serb assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austrian throne. Within days, Austria-Hungary presented Serbia with an ultimatum that made war inevitable.Hungary’s prime Minister, Count István Tisza, initially opposed the ultimatum, butchanged his mind, when Germany announced its support for Austria-Hungary. The Elizabeth Ring road was crowded with bands, playing military music and cheerful patriotic demonstrators expecting a quick, easy victory after the declaration of war.By late August all great European powers were at war. The First World War, the ’great War’, had begun. Although the war was fought on foreign soil, Hungary was ill-prepared for the fight. The country’s armaments were obsolete, and its industries and infrastructure were not equipped for a war economy.In October 1915, for the first time in the history of the Grand Hotel Royal, balls and concerts at the hotel were cancelled. The grand ballroom became the Apollo Cinema.As before, thousands of people came to the hotel, this time seeking diversion from the devastating news of the war. Movies showed there twice daily.By the end of 1915, Hungary felt the full impact of the war. Inflation ran rampant, wages were frozen, food shortages developed, and the government banned the export of grain, even to Austria. The breakfast room of the grand hotel Royal functioned as an illegal marketplace. A newspaper reported: “There is a big bill on the door with the sentence: Only hotel guests are allowed to take a seat in this room”. The warning is totally inefficient, but it is not without any sense because of the police. There is a mass of people dealing with several commodities in this room. Business is just as busy in the coffee house of the Royal as it was in the peacetime on the commodity exchange.They do business, sell and buy items in very large quantities. This commodity exchange has no supervisory board or council. They are only afraid of the police. They always look at the door with one eye, because if the police come, everybody has to sit down at the tables and pretend they are having breakfast.’Franz Joseph died in Novenber 1916, and Karl IV became the new King of Hungary.Karl insisted that Hungarians expand voting rights.By 1917 the Hungarian government was slowly losing domestic control in the face of mounting popular dissatisfaction caused by the war. Of the 3.6 million soldiers Hungary sent to war, 2.1 million did not return. To make matters worse, Germany’s unrestrictedsubmarine warfare and u-boat attacks on American mechant ships forced President Woodrow Wilson to ask the permission of Congress to declare war on Germany.Hence, on April 6, 1917, America entered the Great War. By 1918, Hungary’s farms and factories were producing only half of their 1913 output. The war-weary Hungarian people had abandoned any realistic hope of victory. Despite all troubles and economic hardship, a new hotel building rose in Budapest, on the other side of the Danube.During the last two years of the war, the Hotel Gellert was built and completed. It opened on September 24, 1918. Today it is – together with the Grand Hotel Royal – one of the great legacies of Grand Budapest Hotel history. After the outbreak of the war the two psychoanalysts Sándor Ferenczi and Sigmund Freud exchanged 828 letters between Vienna and Budapest. Ferenczi became Freud’s closest and most important colleague: ’You are now really the only one who still works beside me’, - Freud wrote to Ferenczi on July 31, 1915. ’After all’, he added, ’the others are militarily paralysed.’While Freud’s closest Viennese colleagues were all at the front, Ferenczi was first stationed in the peaceful garrison town of Pápa, and then he worked at the Mária Valéria Hospital in Budapest. On October 31, 1918 the unrest that had been simmering in Budapest for some time erupted into outright revolution. The new government dissolved parliament, pronounced Hungary an independent republic with Karolyi as provisional president, and proclaimed universal suffrage as well as freedom of the press and assembly. The new party leader’s first headquarters were in the Grand Hotel Royal. On November 7, 1918, Ferenczi wrote from the Grand Hotel Royal to Freud in Vienna: ’Your prophecy about our imminent proletarianisation has come true – but the magnates and the capitalists are now hovering in the same danger. If Bolshevism gets its way in Germany, then the collapse of the entire civilisation of the world is unavoidable – France, England, America, and Japan will also get their turn, and an epoch of brutalization and infantilization will confront the world. We are living – poor – in a great time!’
CORINTHIA HOTEL BUDAPESTcorinthia.com
your
CORINTHIA
MEET THE STAFF
INTERVIEW WITH
Orsolya Gyimesi,
SENIOR THERAPIST AND ESPA INHOUSE TRAINER OF THE ROYAL SPA
The Grand Story
OF CORINTHIA HOTEL BUDAPEST
BY TIBOR MESKÁL, SENIOR MANAGER ON DUTY
The beginning - Chapter 5
How long have you worked at the hotel?
My first official working day in the hotel was the 11th of February 2013.
Which areas have you worked in, and where are you now?
From February 2013 I worked as a spa therapist; in October 2014 I was appointed senior therapist, as well as ESPA in-house trainer in the Royal Spa.
What are your duties?
Spa rituals, massages, facial treatments, manage VIP guests and train members of staff.
What was your happiest experience in relation to the hotel?
I find that every single day spent in the hotel is a positive experience. I love people, which is why I love my job. I consider myself one of those lucky people whose job is also their hobby. By taking a positive approach to life I try to see the good in everything and everyone. Perhaps this is why I find that life brings me face-to-face with so many wonderful people day after day. I believe that the world works on the principle of ‘you get what you give’.
What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
Despite my physical job, exercise ranks number one in my leisure activities. I go running regularly and build my strength in the gym; not only to maintain my body but my spirit, as well. Running outdoors, and dancing, which has been a constant part of my life since the age of six, are incredibly good ways to relax and reenergize. Besides these, I really enjoy learning. I regularly attend self-awareness courses and I read a huge amount about this topic.
What is your favorite food and drink?
I absolutely adore Italian cooking. I prefer savory dishes but I’ll never turn down a genuine Italian tiramisu.Even though I am careful about my diet, the following is my core motto: “The person who loves eating loves life as well!” As regards body mass control, I tend to believe more in a balanced combination of diet and exercise than in dieting.
Do you have a favorite travel destination in Hungary and abroad?
I love travelling. Perhaps it is no surprise, therefore, that I spent seven years at the Dutch airline KLM. Thanks to the cheap airline tickets I had the luck to travel to many fantastic places in the world. Still, for some reason my favorite remains Spain. I often long to return. Irrespective of the travelling I have done, when I see the Chain Bridge and Buda Castle illuminated at night I am moved and filled with pride that I can live in one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
WE CARE TO SHARE
CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AT CORINTHIA HOTEL BUDAPEST
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At the beginning of 2014, induced by the sense of personal responsibility of our employees, Corinthia Hotel Budapest was eager to start its own CSR program. It is our labor of love to make a stand for noble causes and to feel the importance and joy of volunteering.We continually cooperate with charitable organisations, like the Hungarian Red Cross and the Magic Lamp Wish Fulfilling Foundation, in order to provide professional social assistance. As such, last year we had the opportunity to take part in the program of the Hungarian Santa Factory, and this February we also organised a voluntary blood donation and a free meal serving. The combined forces of our team, representing every level and department across the organisation, prepared 1320 portions of freshly cooked potato goulash that was served by colleagues at the hotel canteen and at five different points around Budapest for people in need. The Corinthia Hotel Budapest CSR team has nine regular members and an increasing number of volunteers for individual campaigns. Last month, 48 employees took part in the meal serving and blood donation. This is a good indication of the impressive progress our CSR program is making. We trust that with and beyond the actual donations and actions, we are helping by leveraging our own strengths and resources to raise awareness of the importance of corporate philanthropy, and encourage society to pay more attention to each other and contribute to the development of social responsibility.
