Soldier-diplomat who pushed for the German alliance in Berlin and, as prime minister under occupation, sped up the Jewish deportations
Born Dimitrije Stojaković into a Serb family in Versec (Vršac), he served in the First World War as an intelligence officer of the Austro-Hungarian general staff. After the war he specialised in counter-espionage in Horthy’s counter-revolutionary army, was military attaché in Berlin from 1927 to 1933 and, from 1935 to 1944, Hungary’s minister in Berlin, where he pressed for alliance with Germany. Prime minister and foreign minister after the German occupation of March 1944, he legalised the Arrow Cross, dissolved the trade unions, jailed opponents and sharply accelerated the deportation of Jews. Forced out by Horthy’s pressure in August, he was captured by American troops after the war, handed over to Hungary, sentenced to death by a People’s Tribunal and shot in 1946.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1917–1918Intelligence officer, Austro-Hungarian general staff
- 1919–1925Intelligence and counter-espionage officer, National Army
- 1927–1933Military attaché in Berlin
- 1935–1944Minister in Berlin
- 1944Prime minister and foreign minister
- 1946Sentenced by a People’s Tribunal and executed
Related historical events
- 1938–1944.03Hungary on the Axis side: from the Vienna Awards to the DonHungarian minister in BerlinWhen the Tripartite Pact was signed in September 1940, urged that Hungary join before Romania did.
- 1944.03–1945.02Hungary under German occupation: from Operation Margarethe to the siege of BudapestPrime minister, March–August 1944Became prime minister at German insistence, legalised the Arrow Cross, co-operated in the deportations and talked Serédi out of issuing his pastoral letter.