Evening star., 1947-07-28
Mobility in Hungary
Now Work for Livinu
|After Riches Vanish
By Daniel De Luce
Assoeioted Press Foreign Correspondent

Associoted Press Foreign Correspondent
BUDAPEST, July 28.-You lean
your elbows on billion-pengo cur
rency, which decorates the glass TOP
of the bar, and ask the curvesome
|dark-eyed countess on the other
side to pour your favorite drink.
You inquire about the health OF
her mother, the princess, and what's
happens to her uncle, the baron, and
how things are in the walters union
to which she belongs.
Her delicate fingers fly from bottle
to glass, from ice tray to glass, all
evening and as the pile of drink
chits grows in the till, her smile un-
folds like q new rose.
This isn't fantasy. It's a Buda-
pest hotel
And Countess Marianne (Mimi)
Szechenyi. %, is perhaps the pref
tiest barmaid In Europe.
Revolutions Recalled.
In France, fair aristocrats once
jolted to the guillotine, and in Rus
sia, a generation ago, they stood be-
fore bearded firing squads.
Hungary's republican conversion
from kingdom without a king,
however, has left its nobility in good
health. They may have little, If
any, cash in the bank, but they are
free to go to work for living, and
do.
The farewell to fortune for most
blue -blooded families was written
by the land reform law of 1945
Anybody with more than 1000
acres lost all of them. Those with
smaller holdings could, in some
cases, keep UP to 300 acres If they
had been "anti-Fascists," but other
wise 100 acres was the rule.
Lords and ladies of the manor dc
their own plowing and woodchop.
ping now, or it doesn't get done.
Barmaid for Two Years.
The Szechenyis are a comely Il.
lustration. Mimi has been barmaic
for two years and earns $50 a month
plus tips It's almost as much a.
the salary of papa, Count Balm
Szechenyi, who is the national min.
istry of agriculture. Civil servants
as everybody here admits, are scan.
dalously ill-paid.
Minis 20-year-old sister, Alexan.
dra, was an interpreter after tn.
war for the Russian occupation
army, but decided to make a career
in the hotel business and took &
clerical position at $50 monthly.
A third sister Is studying phar'
macy in college. A fourth is tot
young yet to make up her mind
Mama Szechenyi, the former czaris
Princess Maria Galitzen, just keep
house.
In Budapest's classiest shopping
district, bounded by, Vaci Utica ane
the Danube Corso, there are count
esses in every block.
Countess Sells Furniture.
Twenty six year old Counties
Lilli Cziraky, born an Esterhazy, sell
furniture in an antique store for 81
a month. Much Of the stock CAM
from noble but impoverished friends
A war widow, the slender counties
plans a shop of her own some day
But I want it to be flowers, no
furniture" she said. ut wouldn'
be so hard to work with flower
from 8 to each day"
Baroness Kati Schell manages tn,
Colonial Restaurant, whose filet mig
non and other luxuries are too costl!
for most aristocratic pocketbook!
but attract foreigners and some
Ileft-wing politicians. Her husband
Baron Paul Schell served as diplo.
mat in Washington for is years
but has been working for a textile
company since the war. Recent,
the company folded and he promptl!
started looking at help wanted
ads.
The honey-haired baroness, alst
an active member in the walters
union, is a niece of Count Paul Tele
XII, the prime minister who com
mitted suicide rather than breal
Hungary's pact of friendship with
Yugoslavia in 1941 on Hitler's de-
mand.
Works In Coffee House.
Countess Lilli Wenckheim, I
blond and energetic grandmother
is a partner in a small coffee hous,
on Galomb Utica and her persona
service satisfies even patrons whit
wear the Hungarian Communis
Party button.
Countess Julia .Apponyi, rela
tive of the former Queen Of Albania
has re-opened a dress salon which
she started IL years ago more as 1
lark than for bread and butter. IT.
a serious affair now.
Soviet control authorities permit
ted the countess to visit Paris las
February to see the French styl'
showings. If you are willing to pu
as much as $500 on the line, tn
countess has some charming eve
ming gowns to sell you.
Eru;k ExnIodee if Tourhed