István Szirmai
István Szirmai (born April 13, 1906 in Zilah , now Romania , † September 29, 1969 in Budapest ) was a Hungarian politician of the Communist Party KMP (Kommunisták Magyarországi Pártja) , the party of the Hungarian working people MDP (Magyar Dolgozók Pártja) and finally the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party MSZMP (Magyar Szocialista Munkáspárt) , which among other things was secretary of the MSZMP Central Committee. At the 8th Party Congress on November 24, 1962, he was elected a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the MSZMP and was a member of this top management body of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party until his death.
Life
Studies, political engagement in Transylvania and World War II
Szirmai, who grew up as the son of a journalist in what is now Romania, graduated from school in Nagykároly to study law at the University of Paris and Kolozsvár University . During his studies he made contact with the communist movement and in 1929 joined the Romanian Communist Party PCR (Partidul Comunist din România) . Shortly afterwards he began his political engagement in this and acted as a member of the PCR area management of Transylvania in Kolozsvár . He was also the secretary of the Hungarian Red Aid VS (Magyarországi Vörös Segély) in Transylvania, an initiative supported by the Communist International to support the families of murdered or persecuted communists.
After a meeting with representatives of the illegal Communist Party KMP (Kommunisták Magyarországi Pártja) he was assigned the task of liaison between the KMP and the PCR in Northern Transylvania. In 1943 he was confirmed as chairman of the regional management of North Transylvania and at the same time a member of the national secretariat of the PCR. In the following years he became one of the most influential politicians in the region during World War II , before he was arrested on November 14, 1943 and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment by a special court on February 28, 1944 on charges of disloyalty. From the summer of 1944 he was in an internment camp in Sárospatak , which enabled him to escape the Nazi Arrow Cross coup in October 1944.
After Sárospatak was conquered by Red Army troops , he was released from prison in November 1944 and shortly afterwards became deputy secretary of the KMP regional management of southern Hungary in Szeged .
post war period
Member of Parliament, Central Committee Secretary of the MDP and loss of power
After the end of the war, Szirmai was elected Member of Parliament (Országgyűlés) in the elections of November 4, 1945, August 31, 1947 and May 15, 1949 on the list of the Communist Party and the National Popular Front (Magyar Függetlenségi Népfront) and represented there the Békés . In addition, in December 1945 he became editor-in-chief of the daily Délmagyarország , which was founded in 1910 and appeared in southern Hungary, and prepared the takeover of the newspaper by the MKP shortly afterwards.
After that, at the end of 1945 he became an employee of the party headquarters of the MKP in Budapest and initially acted as head of the Central Committee department for mass organizations and then from October 1946 to September 1947 as Central Committee Secretary for Women and Youth and finally from September 1947 to June 1949 as Central Committee -Secretary for Organization.
After the founding congress of the party of the Hungarian working people MDP (Magyar Dolgozók Pártja) , which emerged from the KMP , he became a member of the Central Committee in June 1949 and again took over the position of Central Committee Secretary for Organization, which he had to relinquish in September 1949. He was then appointed president of the MR ( Magyar Rádió ) broadcasting company .
On January 20, 1953, Szirmai was arrested during the dictatorship of Mátyás Rákosi because of Zionist tendencies in the Magyar Rádió, but released a month later on February 26, 1953. Nevertheless, he lost his seat as a member of parliament and as a member of the Central Committee of the MDP. After being arrested again, he was released from prison in 1954 without a sentence and then worked first for a pawn shop and later for a ministry.
Rehabilitation, Central Committee Secretary of the MSZMP and Politburo member
After his final rehabilitation in 1955, Szirmai became editor-in-chief of the evening newspaper Esti Budapest in the summer of 1955 , before becoming head of the government's information office after the popular uprising was put down in December 1956.
At the party congress of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party MSZMP (Magyar Szocialista Munkáspárt) , which has now emerged from the MDP , he was elected a member of the Central Committee on June 29, 1957 and belonged to it until his death. In addition, he acted between July 21, 1957 and December 5, 1959 as head of the Central Committee department for agitation and propaganda.
In the elections of November 16, 1958, Szirmai was re-elected as a member of parliament, initially representing Csongrád County and then, from March 19, 1967, until his death, the 38th constituency of Budapest.
At the 7th Party Congress of the MSZMP on December 5, 1959, he was elected candidate for the Politburo and appointed Central Committee Secretary for Ideology. As such, he was responsible for the ideological orientation of the party, but also for culture in Hungary, and thus one of the closest collaborators of the First Secretary of the MSZMP János Kádár in the first half of the 1960s.
His position of power increased further when he was elected to the Politburo of the Central Committee of the MSZMP at the Eighth Party Congress on November 24, 1962 and was a member of this top management body of the Hungarian Socialist Workers Party until his death. In 1966 he was appointed head of the Central Committee for Agitation and Propaganda, while he was released from his position as Central Committee Secretary for Ideology and replaced by György Aczél .
After his health continued to deteriorate, he largely withdrew from political life in March 1969.
Web links
- Entry in the Nemzeti Névtér (Hungarian)
- Entry in Történelmi Tár (Hungarian) → Archive Link
- Entry in the Magyar életrajzi lexicon
- Entry in the 1956 OS INTÉZET ÉS ORAL HISTORY ARCHÍVUM
Individual evidence
- ↑ Egon Balas: The Will to Freedom: A Dangerous Journey Through Fascism and Communism , 2012, ISBN 3-64223-921-8 , p. 62.
- ↑ Egon Balas: The Will to Freedom: A Dangerous Journey Through Fascism and Communism , 2012, ISBN 3-64223-921-8 , p. 64.
- ↑ Bernd-Rainer Barth, Werner Schweizer (editor): The case of Noel Field: Key figure of the show trials in Eastern Europe , 2005, Volume 1, p. 132, ISBN 3-86163-102-4
- ^ Paul Lendvai: The Hungarian Uprising 1956: A Revolution and Its Consequences , 2009, ISBN 3-64101-034-9
- ↑ Thomas Ross: No hatred against Janos Kadar. Life is bearable in Hungary - propaganda is written in small letters . In: Die Zeit of December 21, 1962
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Szirmai, István |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Hungarian communist politician, member of parliament |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 13, 1906 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Zilah , now Romania |
| DATE OF DEATH | 29th September 1969 |
| Place of death | Budapest |