László Rajk
Encyclopedia
László Rajk was a Hungarian
Communist; politician, former Minister of Interior and former Minister of Foreign Affairs. He was an important organizer of the Hungarian communist's power (for example, organized the State Protection Authority
(ÁVH)); but he eventually fell victim to Rákosi's
show trials, probably, apart from the Communist parties' endemic power struggles, because he was a homegrown Communist, as opposed to the Stalin-backed Rákosi.
(KMP). Later he was expelled from his university for his political ideas and would become a building worker, until 1936 when he joined the Popular Front
in the Spanish Civil War
. He became commissar of the Rakosi Battalion
of XIII International Brigade
. After the collapse of Republican Spain, he was interned in France until 1941, when he was finally able to return to Hungary, where he became Secretary of the Communist Party Central Committee, an underground communist movement.
In December 1944 he was arrested by a detachment of the Arrow Cross Party
. He was to be executed, and was transported to the prison of Sopronkőhida
, then into Germany; but the intercession of Endre Rajk, a fascist under-secretary (who was his elder brother) saved his life, and László Rajk was released on May 13.
He went home to Hungary and took part in party politics, he became a member of all the leader corporations of the party (MKP) and the Extemporal Parliament. Rajk was a member of the High National Council
from December 7, 1945 to February 2, 1946. On March 20, 1946 he was appointed to be the minister of the Interior. In this post he organized the Hungarian Communist Party's private army and secret police (an organization analogous to the SS, KGB
, Securitate
, Stasi
and so on), the ÁVH (originally AVO), and he became directly responsible for this. Under the cover of "struggle against fascism and reaction" and "defence of the power of proletariat", he prohibited and liquidated several religious, national, democrat and maverick establishments and groups (the number of these was about 1500), and he put-up the first show trial
s.
He was reassigned from the Ministry of the Interior to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from August 5, 1948 to May 30, 1949. Rákosi, who saw Rajk as a threat to his power, decided to accuse him on false charges and had him arrested on May 30, 1949 on trumped up charges. Rajk, who was popular among the communists before, soon became the "chained dog" of Tito, Horthy and "the imperialist".
Spy", an agent for western imperialism and one who planned on restoring capitalism and jeopardizing Hungary's "independence". During his time in prison, Rajk was tortured and was promised acquittal if he took responsibility for the charges brought against him. Stalin's NKVD emissary coordinated with Hungarian General Secretary Mátyás Rákosi
and his ÁVH to orchestrate Rajk's show trial
. At his trial held between September 16 and September 24, 1949 that sat in the big assembly hall of the headquarters of the Metal and Engineering Workers' Trade Union in Budapest he confessed to all the charges brought against him. After his confession the prosecution decided, against the promise made, to call for the heaviest sentences to be brought down upon him and the other seven men who stood trial with him. Rajk was to be made an example for the beginning of Joseph Stalin
's anti-Titoist purges. Rajk, along with Dr Tibor Szönyi and András Szalai, was sentenced to death.
Rajk was executed on October 15, 1949.
were then employed on the sort of manual labouring duties usually reserved for skilled professionals. The result left the country with an inadequate infrastructure and unsatisfactorily manufactured goods. The government was also using too many men to search for spies within the country and not enough to perform the productive work to sustain the economy.
Dissatisfaction with Rákosi's rule began to surface and, on 28 March 1956, after a number of vast demonstrations, Rajk was rehabilitated. The rehabilitation speech, even though it was not publicized, had vast consequences for Rákosi, who had used the Rajk guilt as an explanation for the other purges that followed. Now that he had to admit that he was, indeed, wrong, it would end up ruining Rákosi's rightful authority.
The people then began to speak out against Rákosi, saying that he had lost their trust. Lászlo Rajk was then reburied, before 100,000 mourners, on October 6, 1956, along with two other men who lost their lives during the purges. (This was a precursor to the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, which began on 23 October.)
The only lingering question from the Rajk trial was who was to be held responsible for the activities for the late 1940s and early 1950s. Many victims still have yet to have been identified following the purges, including those who lost their government positions merely because they were thought to pose a threat to Rákosi's reign of power.
, with William Hurt
starring.
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
Communist; politician, former Minister of Interior and former Minister of Foreign Affairs. He was an important organizer of the Hungarian communist's power (for example, organized the State Protection Authority
State Protection Authority
The State Protection Authority was the secret police force of Hungary from 1945 until 1956. It was conceived of as an external appendage of the Soviet Union's secret police forces, but attained an indigenous reputation for brutality during a series of purges beginning in 1948, intensifying in 1949...
(ÁVH)); but he eventually fell victim to Rákosi's
Mátyás Rákosi
Mátyás Rákosi was a Hungarian communist politician. He was born as Mátyás Rosenfeld, in present-day Serbia...
show trials, probably, apart from the Communist parties' endemic power struggles, because he was a homegrown Communist, as opposed to the Stalin-backed Rákosi.
Background
His ties to communism began at an early age when he became a member of the Communist Party of HungaryHungarian Communist Party
The Communist Party of Hungary , renamed Hungarian Communist Party in 1945, was founded on November 24, 1918, and was in power in Hungary briefly from March to August 1919 under Béla Kun and the Hungarian Soviet Republic. The communist government was overthrown by the Romanian Army and driven...
(KMP). Later he was expelled from his university for his political ideas and would become a building worker, until 1936 when he joined the Popular Front
Popular Front (Spain)
The Popular Front in Spain's Second Republic was an electoral coalition and pact signed in January 1936 by various left-wing political organisations, instigated by Manuel Azaña for the purpose of contesting that year's election....
in the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
. He became commissar of the Rakosi Battalion
Rakosi Battalion
The Rakosi Battalion was a volunteer unit, formed predominantly of Hungarians, who fought in the XIII International Brigade during the Spanish Civil War .-Prominent veterans:...
of XIII International Brigade
XIII International Brigade
This article is about the 13th International Brigade - often known as the XIII Dabrowski Brigade - which fought for the Spanish Second Republic in the Spanish Civil War in the International Brigades. The brigade was dissolved and then reformed on four occasions.-1st Formation :The brigade was first...
. After the collapse of Republican Spain, he was interned in France until 1941, when he was finally able to return to Hungary, where he became Secretary of the Communist Party Central Committee, an underground communist movement.
In December 1944 he was arrested by a detachment of the Arrow Cross Party
Arrow Cross Party
The Arrow Cross Party was a national socialist party led by Ferenc Szálasi, which led in Hungary a government known as the Government of National Unity from October 15, 1944 to 28 March 1945...
. He was to be executed, and was transported to the prison of Sopronkőhida
Sopronkőhida
Sopronkőhida is a village in North Western Hungary, 4 km north of the city Sopron and 5 km south of the border with Austria.-Significance:...
, then into Germany; but the intercession of Endre Rajk, a fascist under-secretary (who was his elder brother) saved his life, and László Rajk was released on May 13.
He went home to Hungary and took part in party politics, he became a member of all the leader corporations of the party (MKP) and the Extemporal Parliament. Rajk was a member of the High National Council
High National Council
High National Council was the collective head of state of the Kingdom of Hungary from 1945 until 1946.-Members of the first High National Council :...
from December 7, 1945 to February 2, 1946. On March 20, 1946 he was appointed to be the minister of the Interior. In this post he organized the Hungarian Communist Party's private army and secret police (an organization analogous to the SS, KGB
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
, Securitate
Securitate
The Securitate was the secret police agency of Communist Romania. Previously, the Romanian secret police was called Siguranţa Statului. Founded on August 30, 1948, with help from the Soviet NKVD, the Securitate was abolished in December 1989, shortly after President Nicolae Ceaușescu was...
, Stasi
Stasi
The Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security (German: Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (MfS), commonly known as the Stasi (abbreviation , literally State Security), was the official state security service of East Germany. The MfS was headquartered...
and so on), the ÁVH (originally AVO), and he became directly responsible for this. Under the cover of "struggle against fascism and reaction" and "defence of the power of proletariat", he prohibited and liquidated several religious, national, democrat and maverick establishments and groups (the number of these was about 1500), and he put-up the first show trial
Show trial
The term show trial is a pejorative description of a type of highly public trial in which there is a strong connotation that the judicial authorities have already determined the guilt of the defendant. The actual trial has as its only goal to present the accusation and the verdict to the public as...
s.
He was reassigned from the Ministry of the Interior to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from August 5, 1948 to May 30, 1949. Rákosi, who saw Rajk as a threat to his power, decided to accuse him on false charges and had him arrested on May 30, 1949 on trumped up charges. Rajk, who was popular among the communists before, soon became the "chained dog" of Tito, Horthy and "the imperialist".
Trial
László Rajk was accused of being a "TitoistTitoism
Titoism is a variant of Marxism–Leninism named after Josip Broz Tito, leader of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, primarily used to describe the specific socialist system built in Yugoslavia after its refusal of the 1948 Resolution of the Cominform, when the Communist Party of...
Spy", an agent for western imperialism and one who planned on restoring capitalism and jeopardizing Hungary's "independence". During his time in prison, Rajk was tortured and was promised acquittal if he took responsibility for the charges brought against him. Stalin's NKVD emissary coordinated with Hungarian General Secretary Mátyás Rákosi
Mátyás Rákosi
Mátyás Rákosi was a Hungarian communist politician. He was born as Mátyás Rosenfeld, in present-day Serbia...
and his ÁVH to orchestrate Rajk's show trial
Show trial
The term show trial is a pejorative description of a type of highly public trial in which there is a strong connotation that the judicial authorities have already determined the guilt of the defendant. The actual trial has as its only goal to present the accusation and the verdict to the public as...
. At his trial held between September 16 and September 24, 1949 that sat in the big assembly hall of the headquarters of the Metal and Engineering Workers' Trade Union in Budapest he confessed to all the charges brought against him. After his confession the prosecution decided, against the promise made, to call for the heaviest sentences to be brought down upon him and the other seven men who stood trial with him. Rajk was to be made an example for the beginning of Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
's anti-Titoist purges. Rajk, along with Dr Tibor Szönyi and András Szalai, was sentenced to death.
Rajk was executed on October 15, 1949.
Reburial and atonement
The Rajk trial marked the beginning of the anti-Titoist drive movement of Stalin. His trial also marked the beginning of the removal of all political parties in Hungary. The purges, however, left the economy in a truly disastrous state whereby a lack of capital inflow doomed the building projects that were underway. Also, a vast number of the intelligentsiaIntelligentsia
The intelligentsia is a social class of people engaged in complex, mental and creative labor directed to the development and dissemination of culture, encompassing intellectuals and social groups close to them...
were then employed on the sort of manual labouring duties usually reserved for skilled professionals. The result left the country with an inadequate infrastructure and unsatisfactorily manufactured goods. The government was also using too many men to search for spies within the country and not enough to perform the productive work to sustain the economy.
Dissatisfaction with Rákosi's rule began to surface and, on 28 March 1956, after a number of vast demonstrations, Rajk was rehabilitated. The rehabilitation speech, even though it was not publicized, had vast consequences for Rákosi, who had used the Rajk guilt as an explanation for the other purges that followed. Now that he had to admit that he was, indeed, wrong, it would end up ruining Rákosi's rightful authority.
The people then began to speak out against Rákosi, saying that he had lost their trust. Lászlo Rajk was then reburied, before 100,000 mourners, on October 6, 1956, along with two other men who lost their lives during the purges. (This was a precursor to the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, which began on 23 October.)
The only lingering question from the Rajk trial was who was to be held responsible for the activities for the late 1940s and early 1950s. Many victims still have yet to have been identified following the purges, including those who lost their government positions merely because they were thought to pose a threat to Rákosi's reign of power.
List of defendants in the Rajk trial
- László Rajk (1909), Minister of Foreign Affairs (executed)
- György Pálffy (1909), Lieutenant General (sentence deferred to military court)
- Lazar Brankov (1912), Counsellor, Yugoslav Legation (life imprisonment)
- Dr Tibor Szönyi (1903), Member of the National Assembly (executed)
- András Szalai, (1917), government official (executed)
- Milan Ognjenovich (1916), government official (9 years)
- Béla Korondy (1914), Police Colonel (sentence deferred to military court)
- Pál Justus (1905), member of the National Assembly (life imprisonment)
Movie
László Rajk is allegorically depicted as Andor Knorr in SunshineSunshine (1999 film)
Sunshine is a 1999 historical film written by Israel Horovitz and István Szabó, directed and produced by István Szabó. It follows three generations of a Jewish family during the changes in Hungary from the beginning of the 20th century to the...
, with William Hurt
William Hurt
William McGill Hurt is an American stage and film actor. He received his acting training at the Juilliard School, and began acting on stage in the 1970s. Hurt made his film debut as a troubled scientist in the science-fiction feature Altered States , for which he received a Golden Globe nomination...
starring.
See also
- Milada HorákováMilada HorákováDr. Milada Horáková was a Czech politician executed by Communists on charges of conspiracy and treason.- Biography :...
- Rudolf SlánskýRudolf SlánskýRudolf Slánský was a Czech Communist politician. Holding the post of the party's General Secretary after World War II, he was one of the leading creators and organizers of Communist rule in Czechoslovakia...
- Traicho KostovTraicho KostovTraicho Kostov Djunev was a Bulgarian politician, former President of the Council of Ministers and General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party....
- Slánský trial