Prime Minister’s Office Department of Nationalities and Minorities, 1923-1944

Collection description

Holding institution (official language):: Magyar Nemzeti Levéltár Országos Levéltára

Title:: Prime Minister’s Office Department of Nationalities and Minorities, 1923-1944

Title (official language):: Miniszterelnökség Nemzetiségi és kisebbségi osztály, 1923-1944

Creator/accumulator:: Prime Minister’s Office, Department of Nationalities and Minorities

Scope and content:: The most relevant part of the collection is thematic unit no. 222, entitled “Jewish matters”. It contains records pertaining to anti-Jewish laws and decrees in Hungary and in foreign countries, as well as various types of documents on Jewish organisations, religious affairs and property issues. (Fasc. 139: 1939-142, Fasc. 140: 1941, Fasc. 141: 1942-1944, Fasc. 142: 1944). The collection also includes the following items related to Jews:

Unit 13 contains files concerning the Anschluss (annexation of Austria to the Nazi Empire) in March 1938, including the cases of Hungarian-Austrian bilateral agreements and the complaints and other matters of Hungarian citizens in connection with the annexation and the German anti-Jewish laws. (Fasc. 5.)

Unit 53. holds miscellaneous records of the Israelite religious communities from 1929 and 1939-1940. (Fasc. 14.)

Units 234-241 contains records concerning American citizens and their landed property in Hungary, Hungarian laws and decrees concerning minorities, cases of Hungarian citizenship, passport cases, visas, settlement issues, files on the regulations of labour service camps in Hungary as well as general Jewish matters, including reports on mass emigration of Jews from Hungary and the statements of the “race protectionist” Society of Awakening Hungarians (ÉME) from 1923 and 1925. (Fasc. 144.)

Units 337-340 contain various cases of emigration, immigration and repatriation (Fasc. 171-189.)

Archival history:: The surviving records of the Department of Nationalities and Minorities were probably handed over to the Hungarian National Archives in the 1950s. The material was rearranged several times.

Administrative/biographical history:: The Department of Nationalities and Minorities in the Prime Minister’s Office was responsible for the matters of ethnic minorities living in Hungary, including Germans, Romanians, Slovaks, Ruthenians and Southern Slavs as well as of the Hungarians living in the successor states of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This covered social, cultural and religious organisations, citizenship, press, school and propaganda matters and many other issues.

Subject terms:: Antisemitism; Antisemitism--Antisemitic legislation; Antisemitism--Antisemitic measures; Legal matters; Migration; Migration--Emigration; Real estate

Finding aids:: The thematic unit-level (tétel szintű) description of the collection is available on the website of the Hungarian National Archives (in Hungarian).

Szűcs László, szerk. A miniszterelnökség levéltára. Levéltárak Országos Központja, 1958.