National radical politician who denounced the Novi Sad massacre in parliament and was executed for preparing an anti-Nazi uprising
He was born at Szarvas. In 1923 he founded the Guardians of Race Party with Gömbös but drew away, forming the National Radical Party in 1930; in the 1930s he turned to speaking out against antisemitism. In 1939 he returned to parliament for the Independent Smallholders’ Party. Turning against the war in late 1941, he called in the Christmas issue of Népszava for an Independence Front to take Hungary out of the war and bring land reform and universal suffrage; in January 1942 he warned Bárdossy of the coming Novi Sad massacre and then denounced it in parliament as “a state-organized pogrom”. Wounded in a gunfight resisting arrest when the Germans occupied Hungary on 19 March 1944, he was freed in October and in November elected president of the Liberation Committee of the Hungarian National Uprising, but was arrested again and hanged at Sopronkőhida on 24 December.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1908Doctorate in law
- 1914–1918Served with the hussars
- 1922Elected deputy for the Unity Party
- 1923Co-founded the Guardians of Race Party with Gömbös
- 1930Founded the National Radical Party
- 1939–1944Deputy for the Independent Smallholders’ Party
- 1944President of the Liberation Committee; arrested and executed
Related historical events
- 1938–1944.03Hungary on the Axis side: from the Vienna Awards to the DonOpposition deputyCalled for an “Independence Front” in the Christmas 1941 Népszava, warned Bárdossy before the Novi Sad raid and then denounced it in parliament as “a state-organized pogrom”.
- 1944.03–1945.02Hungary under German occupation: from Operation Margarethe to the siege of BudapestPresident of the Liberation Committee of the Hungarian National UprisingResisted arrest with his pistol on 19 March; after his release he led the Liberation Committee and was executed on 24 December.