István Kossa

István Kossa (born March 31, 1904 in Balatonlelle , Fonyód small area , Somogy county ; † April 9, 1965 in Budapest ) was a Hungarian politician of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party MSZMP (Magyar Szocialista Munkáspárt) , who was among other things Minister of Industry 1948 to 1949, 1949 to 1950 and 1956 to 1957 Minister of Finance, 1952 Minister of Metallurgy and Mechanical Engineering and between 1952 and 1953 Minister of Mechanical Engineering of the Hungarian People's Republic .

Life

Social Democrat and World War II

Kossa completed his school education at the Premonstratensian High School in Keszthely in 1922 and then worked for some time as a volunteer at the Neue Politischen Volksblatt before becoming a driver for the Budapest tram company Budapesti Közlekedési Zártkörűen Működő Részvénytársaság in 1922 . As such, he began his union involvement in 1928 as a member of the National Association of Tram Workers (Villamos és HÉV Alkalmazottak Országos Szövetségének) , whose secretary he was between 1933 and 1940. In the meantime, he joined the Social Democratic Party of Hungary MSZDP (Magyarországi Szociáldemokrata Párt) as a member in 1932 . During this time he also got to know the communist party functionary Pál Démeny , through whom he later joined the Hungarian Communist Party MKP (Magyar Kommunista Párt) .

At the beginning of the Second World War he was drafted into the military, but in 1942 he was deported to the Ukraine for forced labor . In January 1943 he fled the labor camp to join the Red Army and subsequently attended the Antifa school in the Krasnogorsk prisoner-of-war camp , where he himself was a lecturer between 1943 and 1944. In November 1944 he was sent back to Hungary by the KMP leadership in exile in Moscow and subsequently took part in battles in Szeged with József Darvas and Gyula Ortutay .

Post-war period and member of the Politburo

After Kossa arrived in Budapest in January 1945, he became a member of the Central Committee of the KMP and of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the KMP, of which he was a member until April 1950. Between February 1945 and August 1948 he was general secretary of the SZT (Szakszervezeti Tanács) trade union council and in April 1945 he was also elected as a member of the Hungarian Parliament (Országgyűlés) , to which he belonged until his death. He was also a member of the executive committee of the trade union federation SZV (Szakszervezeti Világszövetség) between 1945 and 1965 .

Furthermore, on May 22, 1945, he finally became a member of the Politburo of the KMP, the party's top management body. He belonged to this even after the merger of the MSZDP with the MKP to the party of the Hungarian working people MDP (Magyar Dolgozók Pártja) on June 12, 1948 to March 1, 1951. On November 29, 1945 he became Vice President of the National Assembly and held the function of Deputy Speaker of Parliament until July 25, 1947. During this time he was also a member of Parliament's Political Affairs Committee.

minister

István Kossa's grave

On August 5, 1948, Kossa was appointed as the successor to Árpád Szakasits as Minister of Industry (Iparügyi miniszter) in the government of Prime Minister Lajos Dinnyés and held this ministerial office until June 11, 1949 in the subsequent government of Prime Minister István Dobi . As part of a government reshuffle , he subsequently succeeded Ernő Gerő as Minister of Finance (Péngegyminiszter) and kept this ministerial post from June 11, 1949 until he was replaced by Károly Olt on February 25, 1950. Subsequently, he lost influence and initially resigned Government off. He was first chairman of the State Labor Committee until December 1950 and then from December 16, 1950 to May 8, 1951 Vice Minister for Metallurgy and Mechanical Engineering, before becoming President of the State between May 8, 1951 and January 5, 1952 Office for Church Affairs (Állami Egyházügyi Hivatal) was.

After that, Kossa returned to the Dobi government on January 5, 1952, and succeeded Mihály Zsofinyecz as Minister of Metallurgy and Mechanical Engineering (Kohó-és gépipari miniszter) and held this ministerial office until December 6, 1952. After that, he was between on December 6, 1952 and July 4, 1953, Minister of Mechanical Engineering (Általános gépipari miniszter) in the government of Prime Minister Mátyás Rákosi . He was then President of the Office for Labor Reserves (Munkaerő Tartalékok Hivatalának) and between December 30, 1954 and October 25, 1956, First Vice-President of the State Planning Committee.

After the start of the popular uprising , Kossa was appointed finance minister again on October 27, 1956 by Prime Minister Imre Nagy as successor to Károly Olt. On November 4, 1956 he was appointed to the " Hungarian Revolutionary Workers 'and Peasants' Government " formed by Prime Minister János Kádár and also took over the office of finance minister, which he held until his replacement by István Antos on May 9, 1957. On February 26, 1957, he became a member of the Central Committee of the MSZMP and was a member of it until his death.

Most recently, Kossa was Minister for Transport and Post from May 7, 1963 until his death on April 9, 1965 (Közlekedés- és postaügyi miniszter) .

honors and awards

Kossa has been honored several times for his services and received, among other things, the Hungarian Medal of Freedom (Magyar Szabadság Érdemrend) in 1946 , the Kossuth Order (Kossuth Érdemrend) in 1948, the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary (Magyar Köztársasági Érdemrend) in 1948 and the Medal of the Workers' and Peasant power (Munkás-paraszt Hatalomért emlékérem) .

Publications

• * A Dunától a Donig , Memoirs, 1948
• Nehéz ébredés , novel, 1957
• Vissza a Dunához , Memoirs, 1965

Web links

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

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Kossa first represented the constituency of Greater Budapest in parliament and then from November 4, 1945 to August 31, 1947, the Győr-Moson-Sopron county . Most recently he was a candidate on the joint list of the Hungarian Independent Popular Front MFN (Magyar Függetlenségi Népfront) and the Patriotic Popular Front HNF (Hazafias Népfront) .