A police chief who stood between state orders and guns aimed at the people
On 23 October 1956, he refused the order to fire on unarmed demonstrators.
Sándor Kopácsi was a Hungarian police commander who began as a metalworker and anti-Nazi resistance activist, then sought room for reform within the state. As Budapest police chief, he refused on 23 October 1956 to order fire on unarmed demonstrators, cooperated with the uprising, and became deputy commander of the National Guard. Arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment in the Imre Nagy trial, he was released in the 1963 amnesty and later gave the revolution an important insider testimony through his memoir.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1944Joined the MOKÁN anti-Nazi resistance
- 1945Joined the Hungarian Communist Party and entered the police
- 1949Director of Internment Affairs, Ministry of the Interior
- 1952–1956Chief of Police of Budapest
- 1956Deputy commander of the National Guard
- 1958Sentenced to life imprisonment in the Imre Nagy trial
- 1963Released in an amnesty
- 1975–2001Emigration to Canada and memoir writing
Related historical events
The 1956 uprising and his memoir
As Budapest police chief during the 1956 uprising, Kopácsi refused an order to fire on unarmed demonstrators and sided with the rebels. The police headquarters became one of the strongholds of the anti-Soviet movement, and he experienced the uprising as an active participant. After Soviet intervention in November, he was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment; an amnesty released him in 1963, after which he worked in a factory. He later recorded events in his memoir, In the Name of the Working Class: The Inside Story of the Hungarian Revolution. Published in 1987, it remains an important primary source on the uprising, while also being an account by a participant.