Last prime minister of the Hungarian People’s Republic, who resigned with his cabinet over the Vix note
A lawyer from a Calvinist family in Komárom County, he headed the international department of the Ministry of Justice until 1918 and was a founding member of the social-science review Huszadik Század. After the Aster Revolution he was justice minister in the Károlyi government from November 1918 and became prime minister in January 1919. When the French Lieutenant Colonel Fernand Vix handed him the Entente note on 20 March, he resigned with his cabinet rather than accept terms that violated the country’s territorial integrity, opening the way to the Soviet Republic. He then withdrew from politics, worked as a lawyer from 1920 and published studies in international, criminal and private law. He died of a heart attack in Budapest in 1944.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- –1918Head of the international department of the Ministry of Justice
- 1918–1919Justice minister in the Károlyi government
- 1919Prime minister of Hungary
- 1920–Lawyer