Founder of Hungary's secret police, and its prisoner
Born into a Jewish tailor's family in Újfehértó, he joined the Hungarian Communist Party in 1931. He headed the Budapest political police in 1945 and led the state security service (ÁVO, then ÁVH) in 1945–52, directing purges and torture including the Rajk trial. In early 1953 Rákosi, imitating the Soviet "anti-Zionist" purge, had him arrested. In June 1953 Beria pressed for his case to be reviewed, but in 1954 a court martial sentenced him to life as a Zionist spy. Released under an individual amnesty in 1959, he worked as a librarian.
Activities and affiliations
- 1945–1952 Security, intelligence and policing · Hungary