Imre Katona

Imre Katona (born October 8, 1921 in Túrkeve , Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok county ; † 2005 ) was a Hungarian politician of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party MSZMP (Magyar Szocialista Munkáspárt) , who was among other things first secretary of the MSZMP party committee from 1974 to 1978 Budapest and between 1978 and 1989 was secretary of the collective state presidency.

Life

Katona, the son of a shoemaker, was initially a shop assistant after attending elementary school and then worked as a shoemaker journeyman himself . In 1940 he started working in a drugstore and between 1941 and 1942 he worked as a stoker in the FILTEX textile factory . He was then drafted into military service during the Second World War and in 1945 was taken prisoner by the US , from which he was released in 1946. Upon his return, he joined the Social Democratic Party of Hungary MSZDP (Magyarországi Szociáldemokrata Párt) at and after that was working in the textile factory Goldberger that on 5 May 1945 in the Mauthausen concentration camp perished Jewish industrialist Leo Goldberger belonged. He also attended evening grammar school and joined the Hungarian Communist Party MKP (Magyar Kommunista Párt) as a member in March 1948 . In the following years he was party secretary in the III. Budapest district (Óbuda) and was then responsible for agitation and propaganda in the district party committee from 1949 to 1950. Subsequently, in February 1950 he became an employee at the headquarters of the Hungarian-Soviet Society (Magyar-Szovjet Társaság) , where he was first deputy head and finally head of a department in 1953. During this time, between 1952 and 1954, he studied at the Marx-Engels-Lenin Institute in Moscow . He graduated from the Faculty of Humanities at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) with a diploma.

After the popular uprising , Katona was the commander of the Buda Revolutionary Regiment from November 1956 to May 1957 and then in May 1957 an employee of the MSZMP Party Committee in Budapest , in which he became head of department in 1961. Subsequently he was first secretary of the party committee of the VI between March 1963 and 1965 . Budapest District (Terézváros) and then from 1965 to March 20, 1974 Secretary of the Budapest Party Committee. On the IX. On December 3, 1966, he was also elected a member of the Central Committee (ZK) and was a member of this until October 1989. On March 20, 1974, he finally became First Secretary of the MSZMP Party Committee of Budapest and held this position as party leader of the capital until April 21, 1978.

In addition, Katona was elected a member of the Hungarian Parliament (Országgyűlés) on June 15, 1975 and was a member of this until 1989. At the same time he became a member of the collective state presidium (Népköztársaság Elnöki Tanácsa) in June 1975 and subsequently in April 1978 successor to Lajos Cseterki as secretary of the collective state presidium. He held this office until 1989.

Web links

• Entry in Történelmi Tár (Hungarian)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Katona first represented the constituency of Budapest No. 32 in parliament and then from June 8, 1985 to 1989 the joint list of the Hungarian Independent Popular Front MFN (Magyar Függetlenségi Népfront) and the Patriotic Popular Front HNF (Hazafias Népfront).