Records of Prime Minister László Bárdossy, 1942

Collection description

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

Scope and content:: The collection contains fragments of the semi-official correspondence of László Bárdossy as Prime Minister with political parties, economic, scholarly and social organisations as well as individuals, including Prime Minister Miklós Kállay. A substantial part of his correspondence concerns the implementation of the anti-Jewish laws that was already in place by the time or newly introduced under his premiership.

Archival history:: The correspondence was acquired by the Hungarian National Archives in 1948.

Administrative/biographical history:: László Bárdossy (1890-1946) was a diplomat, politician, foreign minister and then Prime Minister of Hungary between 1941 and 1942. He introduced the so called Third Anti-Jewish Law in 1941, which closely resembled the racial definitions of the Nuremberg Laws, banning marriage as well as sexual intercourse between Jews and non-Jews. The infamous massacre of Kamenets-Podolsk in 1941 took place during his time in office when the deportation initiated by Hungarian authorities led to the first Nazi mass murder with over 10,000 Jewish victims. Moreover, Hungary entered the war against Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union under his premiership and declared war on the United States. Bárdossy also authorised the enrolment of ethnic Germans from Hungary in the Waffen-SS. He was put on trial, sentenced to death and executed in 1946.

Subject terms:: Antisemitism; Antisemitism--Antisemitic legislation; Holocaust; Holocaust--Deportation

System of arrangement:: The letters are in alphabetical order by name of sender and according to the subject list created by the Prime Minister's Office.

Finding aids:: No finding aids exist. The material requires item-level research.