Author: Lajos Babos

Publisher:

Published: 2020-05

Total Pages: 152

ISBN-13: 9780999212813

Norbert Ormai (1813 - 1849) was born into a German aristocratic family in Bohemia with the name Norbert von Auffenberg. In 1840, while serving as a lieutenant in the Imperial Army, he was accused of collaborating with Polish patriots from Galicia. He was arrested and spent seven years imprisoned, which hardened his revolutionary ideals. A proponent of European democracy and liberal reforms, he was sentenced to another fourteen years in 1847. Revolution swept Europe in 1848 and the people demanded pardons of their imprisoned compatriots. Norbert was pardoned by the Imperial government and within months he joined Hungarian uprising. At that time, he changed his name to Ormai (Ormay) as a translation of the German Auffenberg. The leader of the Hungarian Revolution, Lajos Kossuth, commissioned him to organize a rifle regiment. He managed to get thousands of soldiers for the regiment and was gradually promoted to the rank of colonel. Cornered by Imperial forces, he was arrested by General Baron Julius Jacob von Haynau and hanged as a traitor. He was first of the Martyrs of Arad, a group of revolutionary leaders who gave their lives for Hungarian independence and are honored today as founding fathers of the nation. Ormai has many monuments, memorials and honorifics, including being the namesake of Von Ormy, Texas.This book is the English edition of LAJOS BABÓS's Hungarian original. It provides detailed primary and secondary source material of Ormai's life, military career and death.