The Teleki family played an important role in Hungarian history, starting in the 16th century. The influential Transylvanian Protestant counts were involved in governing the country from the 17th century.
Countess Blanka Teleki was born in Hosszúfalva ? currently S?cele, Romania ? on July 5, 1806 and died in Paris on October 23, 1862.
At a young age, Teleki nurtured plans to become a painter. She studied with renowned masters in Munich and Paris. However, after her return to Pest in 1843, she was taken by the enthusiasm of reform age politicians in Hungary and decided to put her services to the nation?s advancement. The publication of her Proclamation for the Education of Young Noble Women in the daily Pesti Hírlap on December 9, 1845 represented a milestone in Countess Blanka?s life.
At age 40, she decided to follow the example of her aunt Teréz Brunszvik and ? rising above the prejudices of her ?age, title and sex? ? dedicate herself to serving her nation by setting up an educational institute for women. In the summer of 1846, Countess Teleki announced the opening of an institution in Pest for the patriotic education of young noble women. But, because of the ?pitiful prejudices? of her peers, it took her a year to recruit enough students. The head teachers were Pál Vasvári and Klára Lővei. Countess Teleki welcomed the revolution of 1848 against the Habsburg Empire by reciting to students the patriotic poem ?National Song?. In an article entitled ?Reform First, Then Women?s Emancipation,? she called on women to properly experience patriotism and practice self-control. At the end of 1848, she closed her educational institution in Pest and, together with Klára Lővei, followed the government to Debrecen in northeast Hungary. She maintained links with Vasvári, who became a leader in the war of independence, and financially supported the unit he recruited.
After Hungary?s defeat, the Countess continued her ?extended war of independence? at the family estate in Pálfalva in northeast Hungary by offering refuge to those fleeing punishment for involvement in the war, distributing banned books and sending reports to Paris about the mood of the nation. Pronounced ?the most dangerous rebel of her age?, she was captured in May 1851 and sentenced to ten years in prison. She spent two years in custody, three years in Kufstein and another year in Laibach before she was set free in the general amnesty of 1857. She spent the rest of her life in voluntary confinement. She died in Paris and was interred at Montparnasse Cemetery.
Her sister Emma, a writer and essayist, sister would have had to face a similar fate in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, so she decided to immigrate to France, where she married the French aristocrat Auguste de Gérando. Their home at rue Vaugirard became a meeting place for the Hungarian and Polish emigration and their French supporters until 1870, when Emma and her daughter returned to Hungary.
The memorial plaque was inaugurated by Hungary?s ambassador to France André Erdős and Judit Teleki de Gérando, a successor of the Teleki family.
Source: Múlt-kor / Hungarian News Agency (MTI)
