Wartime prime minister who declared war on the Soviet Union over the Kassa bombing and approved the deportation of Jews
A lawyer and diplomat from Szombathely, he moved to the foreign ministry in 1922 and headed its press department. He became foreign minister in January 1941 and, after Teleki’s suicide in April, prime minister as well. Seeking to regain lands lost at Trianon, he followed a pro-German line, joined the invasion of Yugoslavia, declared a state of war with the Soviet Union without parliament’s consent after the Kassa bombing in June, and took Hungary into war with Britain and the United States. He pushed through the deportation of “alien” Jews and the Third Jewish Law, and Horthy forced him out in March 1942. Sentenced to death by a People’s Court after the war, he was shot in January 1946.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1913–1922Official, Ministry of Culture and Education
- 1922–1941Press chief and diplomat, foreign ministry
- 1941Foreign minister
- 1941–1942Prime minister and foreign minister; war on the USSR
- 1945–1946Sentenced by a People’s Court and executed