Interior minister who built the ÁVH secret police, then fell as the first major victim of Stalinist show trials in Eastern Europe
At his show trial, responding to the prosecutor's demand for the death penalty: 'I fully agree with your statements, Mr. Prosecutor, and want to state in advance that I will consider the verdict of the court justified' (September 1949)
A Hungarian Communist politician who served as Minister of Interior (1946–1948), founding the ÁVH secret police and directing the early purges that built the Rákosi regime. He had fought in the Spanish Civil War as political commissar of the Hungarian battalion of the International Brigades and organized the underground resistance during World War II. Seen by Rákosi as a rival, he was demoted to Foreign Minister and then arrested in 1949 on fabricated charges of Titoism, becoming the first major victim of the Stalinist show trials in Eastern Europe. His rehabilitation and reburial on 6 October 1956 before 100,000 mourners became a demonstration against the regime and a key precursor to the Hungarian Revolution three weeks later.
Career Timeline
- 1931Joined the illegal Hungarian Communist Party (KMP) and communist youth league (KIMSZ)
- 1935Led building-workers' strike; arrested and deported
- 1937–39Political commissar and party secretary, Hungarian battalion, International Brigades; severely wounded at the Battle of the Ebro
- 1941–44Returned to Hungary; underground resistance, CC secretary, co-led the Hungarian Front
- 1946.03–1948.08Minister of Interior — founded ÁVH state security, directed early show trials and purges
- 1948.08–1949.05Minister of Foreign Affairs
- 1949.09–10Show trial on charges of Titoist espionage; sentenced to death and executed
- 1956Rehabilitated; state reburial on 6 October drew 100,000 mourners, precursor to the Hungarian Revolution