Christian Socialist politician who, as minister of religion and education, prepared and tabled the numerus clausus bill of 1920
Born in Mezőpetri, he left the Szatmár seminary after four years to become a journalist, edited the Christian Socialist Igaz Szó and the daily Új Lap, and was general secretary of the Catholic People’s Association from 1908 to 1918. After the fall of the Soviet Republic he was minister of propaganda in the Friedrich government and then, from November 1919 to December 1920, minister of religion and education. He prepared and tabled the numerus clausus bill, often seen as the first anti-Jewish act of twentieth-century Europe. He became chairman of the Christian National Union Party in 1920 but soon lost his seat, and by the time of his arrest in 1945 he was a textile merchant.
Career timeline
- 1905–1909Edits Igaz Szó and Új Lap
- 1908–1918General secretary of the Catholic People’s Association
- 1919Minister of propaganda in the Friedrich government
- 1919–1920Minister of religion and education
- 1920Tables the numerus clausus bill
- 1945Arrested
A reform communist journalist
On 4 November 1956, as Soviet forces attacked, he took refuge with his family in the Yugoslav Embassy.
Géza Losonczy was a Hungarian journalist and politician who emerged from the communist movement while challenging its repression and dogmatism. Alongside Imre Nagy’s reform circle, he became involved in the upheaval over popular mobilization and the limits of one-party rule, serving as a minister of state in the revolutionary government of 1956. Arrested after the Soviet intervention, he died in prison while on hunger strike awaiting trial, his death forming part of the state repression directed at the Imre Nagy group.
Career timeline
- 1935–1936Editor of the student journal Tovább
- 1939–1941Joined the Hungarian Communist Party and worked for Népszava
- 1945–1949Head of domestic politics at Szabad Nép
- 1949–1951State secretary under culture minister József Révai
- 1951–1954Imprisoned after a political show trial
- 1954–1956Journalist at Magyar Nemzet and organizer of the Petőfi Circle
- 1956.10–11Minister of state in Imre Nagy’s second and third governments
- 1957Scheduled defendant in the Imre Nagy trial; died in prison during a hunger strike
The reformist Politburo member who called 1956 a 'popular uprising' and dismantled his own party's orthodoxy
In West Berlin he said the East German 'anti-fascist protective rampart' was a 'disgrace' that had to come down.
A reformist member of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party (MSZMP) Politburo and the ideological patron of the reformers. On 28 January 1989 he told radio listeners that the 1956 Hungarian Revolution was a 'popular uprising,' demolishing the party's foundational lie; in May that year, in West Berlin, he called the Berlin Wall a 'disgrace.' Together with Otto von Habsburg he sponsored the Pan-European Picnic in August 1989, opening the first crack in the Iron Curtain, and later stood as the Socialist Party's presidential candidate but was defeated.
Career timeline
- 1950Joined the Hungarian Working People's Party
- 1957–1969Agitprop head and secretary, Bács-Kiskun County committee
- 1976–1980Minister of Culture
- 1980–1982Minister of Education
- 1982–1988Secretary-General, Patriotic People's Front
- 1988–1989MSZMP Politburo member and Minister of State
- 1989.01Declared the 1956 Revolution a 'popular uprising'
- 1990MSZP Deputy President and presidential candidate; defeated
