A Homo politicus et res publica. Autorytet Jánosa Esterházyego jako przywódcy słowackich Węgrów w latach 1935–1944
The authority of János Estreházy as the leader of Slovak Hungarians in 1935-1944.

Summary/Abstract: RESERACH OBJECTIVE: The aim of the article is to present the conditions the relationship between the leader and the social macrostructure, in the situation of 1/ changes in the political system and external conditions and 2/ limited influence of the minority on decisions made by the majority. THE RESEARCH PROBLEM AND METHODS: The author intends to confirm or question the hypothesis that the adoption of a specific worldview determined the way of practicing politics. For this purpose, it intends to use the descriptive method with the institutional and legal method. THE PROCESS OF ARGUMENTATION: The descriptive method, used in most biographical approaches, does not exhaust the issue of the impact on the attitude and decision-making of leadership in the conditions of changing political systems. In the case of Esterházy political systemic changes remain one of the important conditions for his assessment. RESERACH RESULTS: Three important aspects influencing the count's attitude as a politician and the decisions he made were analyzed: 1/ the ability to reconcile public service with the social teaching of the Church; 2/ seeking goodness and justice in relations between nations; 3/ durability of beliefs in the conditions of oppression of the totalitarian system. The first two aspects allowed us to formulate assessments of the count as a politician. The last aspect is a pretext for considering the penetration of politicians into the symbolic sphere. CONCLUSIONS, INNOVATIONS, AND RECOMENDATIONS: The analysis of the political position of Esterházy indicates the necessity of taking into account the political conditions of the time more broadly and breaking away from presentism. It also indicates the necessity of making a separate assessment of the political activities of the count and separating it from the assessments influencing the posthumous functioning of the figure as a cultural code.

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