Endre Sík

Endre Sík (born April 2, 1891 in Budapest ; † April 10, 1978 ibid) was a Hungarian politician of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party MSZMP (Magyar Szocialista Munkáspárt) , who was ambassador to the USA from 1948 to 1949 and foreign minister between 1958 and 1961 of the Hungarian People's Republic and was awarded the International Lenin Peace Prize in 1967 .

Life

Studies, captivity and scientist in the Soviet Union

After attending school, Sík began a novitiate with the Piarists in Vác and then studied Catholic theology at the Budapest Theological Academy . However, he broke off this course in 1913 and studied law at the University of Budapest. During his studies he wrote articles for the social democratic daily Népszava and the magazine Szocializmus , in which he also dealt with questions of Marxism . In 1914 he was drafted for military service in the First World War and in 1915 he was taken prisoner by the Russians , which he spent in camps in Irkutsk . There he belonged to a group of communist- oriented prisoners of war who joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) in March 1920 . In the following years he lived in various cities in Siberia such as Chita and was involved as a party official before he went to Moscow in 1923 as a party official .

In 1926 he began studying at the Philosophical Faculty of the Teacher Training Institute in Moscow and, after graduating in 1928, took on an extraordinary professorship at the East Africa Department of the Communist Workers' University in Moscow . After he was head of the East Africa department there between 1930 and 1933, he was a research assistant at the Institute for International Agriculture of the International Lenin School between 1933 and 1936 . He then worked in the editorial and publishing department of the Communist International and in 1937 took over his position again as head of the East Africa department of the Communist Workers University in Moscow. After he had lost this position in the course of the Stalin Purges , he was between 1938 and 1941 as a research assistant at the Institute for History of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR . From June 1941 to 1943 he was a translator for the Hungarian language at Kossuth Rádió and was also a moderator there between October and December 1941. He then worked at the Institute for Ethnography of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and from January to April 1945 editor-in-chief of Kossuth Rádió .

Ambassador, Foreign Minister and Lenin Peace Prize

After Sík had returned to Hungary in September 1945, he entered the diplomatic service of the Foreign Ministry and was initially of 30 July 1947 to 26 June 1948 Counselor at the embassy in the United States before between the 20 July 1948 and he on September 17, 1949 himself was ambassador to the USA. He then acted as head of the political department of the Foreign Ministry and as director of the Diplomatic Academy before he was Deputy Foreign Minister between 1954 and January 12, 1955 and First Deputy Foreign Minister from January 12, 1955 to February 15, 1958.

On February 15, 1958, Sík succeeded Imre Horváth, who died on February 3, 1958, as Foreign Minister (Külügyminiszter) and held this ministerial office until he was replaced by the previous First Vice-Foreign Minister János Péter on September 13, 1961. On December 5, 1959 he was also elected to the 7th Party Congress of the MSZMP as a member of the Central Committee (ZK) and belonged to it until the 10th Party Congress on November 28, 1970.

Sík, who was also a recognized expert and author of specialist books on Africa and who earned a doctorate in history in 1962, was a member of the Presidium of the World Peace Council between 1963 and his death in 1978 and chairman of the National Peace Council from 1964 to 1978. In 1967 he was awarded the International Lenin Peace Prize and was most recently a member of the Executive Committee of the Presidium of the World Peace Council between 1971 and his death.

honors and awards

He was also awarded several other medals for his services, including the Order of the Red Banner of Labor (Munka Vörös Zászló érdemrendje) in 1956 and 1958 , the State Prize of the Hungarian People's Republic (A Magyar Népköztársaság Állami Díja) in 1965, and the Order of Socialist Merit in 1967 (Szocialista Hazáért érdemrend) and 1970 the Order of the Flag of the People's Republic of Hungary (Magyar Népköztársaság Zászlórendje) .

Publications

• Faji kérdés és marxizmus , Moscow 1930, new edition Budapest 1971
• La discussion de l'ordre du jour de l'Assemblée générale des Nations Unies Intervention , Budapest 1958
• Hajdú Gyula: Diplomáciai és Nemzetközi Jogi Lexicon , Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1967
• A nagy Mirambo árnyékában , Móra Ferenc Ifjúsági Kiadó, Budapest 1962
• Hősköltemény prózában , Szépirodalmi kiadó, Budapest 1962
• Fekete-Afrika története , 4 volumes, Budapest 1964–1973
• Ellenméreg Szépirodalmi kiadó, Budapest 1964
• Egy diplomata feljegyzései , Kossuth Kiadó, Budapest 1966
• Próbaévek , Zrinyi Katonai Kiadó, Budapest 1967
• Bem rakparti évek , Kossuth Kiadó, Budapest 1970
• Vihar a levelet… , Zrinyi kiadó, Budapest 1970 (new edition 1988)

Web links

• Entry in Történelmi Tár (Hungarian)
• Entry in the Magyar életrajzi lexicon (Hungarian)
• Hungary: Key Ministries (rulers.org)