Pál Maléter
Maléter Pál
A soldier caught between negotiation and armed resistance
“I have to go there, even if it costs me my life, because the country expects my assistance.”
Pál Maléter was a Hungarian officer who became a prisoner of war in the Second World War, joined the anti-German struggle, and entered the Communist Party after 1945. During the 1956 Revolution, he was sent to the Kilián Barracks, agreed to a ceasefire with insurgents, and joined their defense while helping negotiate between soldiers and civilian armed groups. As defense minister in Imre Nagy's government, he went to negotiate the withdrawal of Soviet forces, was arrested, and was executed with Nagy in 1958. Rehabilitated in 1989, he was reburied as one of the revolution's martyrs.
Career timeline
- 1939Entered military service
- 1940Cadet at the Ludovika Military Academy
- 1944–1945Soviet prisoner of war, then anti-German partisan
- 1945Commander of a guard battalion for the provisional government; joined the Hungarian Communist Party
- 1956.10Colonel; commanded the defense of the Kilián Barracks
- 1956.11Defense minister in Imre Nagy's government; promoted to major general
- 1956.11.03Negotiating delegate on troop withdrawal; arrested at Tököl
- 1958Executed
- 1989Rehabilitated, posthumously promoted and reburied
- 1956.10.23Commanded the armored unit sent to the Radio building
- 1956.10.25Led tanks sent to relieve the Kilián Barracks
- 1956.10.29–31Ceasefire and negotiations with armed groups; took part in organizing the National Guard