László Tharnói-Kostyál

László Tharnói-Kostyál was a Hungarian fascist jurist and one of the most radical anti-Semitic student leaders in the 1930s. He was active in the nationalist Turul Association, the most significant organization of university youth in the Horthy era, and as a leader of the Labor Camp Committee, he established voluntary labor camps, mainly for students. In 1939, Tharnói-Kostyál was already active in the National Socialist Movement and published a book called Magyar munkaszolgálat (Hungarian Labor Service) calling for more compulsory camps. Subsequently, he became the editor-in-chief of Tábori Élet (Camp Life), the newspaper of a labor service battalion. His Olympic contribution Diadalkoszorú: a szabadság, szépség és szerelem eposza (Victory Wreath – An Epic of Freedom, Beauty and Love) was published in 1936 in Budapest. It’s about the Persian Wars, the ancient Olympics and the mythical marathon.

Tharnói-Kostyál became a judge and then a Supreme Court justice in 1942, charged with rendering death sentences against opponents of the regime. He later served in the Ministry of Justice and the Foreign Ministry. In this capacity he was sent to Milano in 1945 as a secretary of the Hungarian Embassy. After the end of World War II, Tharnói-Kostyál refused to return to Hungary and lost citizenship. In Italy, he used various covers, for instance as a Jew or a British Intelligence agent or a refugee and journalist. He worked as a port laborer and then as a businessman before emigrating to Venezuela in 1948, where he became a citizen and again worked as a lawyer. He also began to work scientifically in the field of law philosophy, publishing articles and books and attending various conferences in both Americas. He adopted the name Ladislao Tarnói de Tharno and wrote a novel called Pericles in 1962.

In 1964, Tharnói-Kostyál came to the United States and worked as a lecturer and professor of social sciences and history at various colleges and universities in the eastern US. He applied for American citizenship under the name Laszlo Tarnoi, which was granted in 1976. After the fall of communism, he returned as executive president of the International Association of Humanists to Budapest, where he stirred controversy over his past. In his lifetime he used a various names including Tharnoy, Tharnói, Tarnoy and Tarnói, sometimes replaced by or together with his father’s name Kostyal, sometimes using Laszlo, László, or Ladislao, and – during his time in Venezuela – he was known as Ladislao Tarnoi de Tharno.