Records of the Central Endorsement Committee No.1-2 of Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun County, 1945-1947

Collection

Holding institution (official language):: Magyar Nemzeti Levéltár Pest Megyei Levéltára

Title:: Records of the Central Endorsement Committee No.1-2 of Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun County, 1945-1947

Title (official language):: Pest Vármegye I.-II. sz. Központi Igazoló Bizottságának iratai, 1945-1947

Creator/accumulator:: Central Endorsement Committee No.1-2 in Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun County

Scope and content:: The collection holds the surviving records of the Endorsement Committees (Igazoló Bizottság) established after the end of World War II in Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun County. Endorsement procedures were initiated against employees of municipal and state administration, military and law enforcement officers and intellectuals, including lawyers, teachers, physicians and pharmacists. The material provides specific insight into various aspects of the political, social and economic life in Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun County. It contains plenty of information on antisemitic policies and incidents, the implementation of Jewish laws and decrees and the Holocaust, the behaviour and activities of local perpetrators and bystanders, including civil servants, officers, party activists and local citizens from all walks of life. Furthermore, the collection also reveals some cases of rescue and mitigation attempts.

Archival history:: The records were obtained by Pest County Archives in the early 1950s.

Administrative/biographical history:: Following the end of World War II, the Hungarian state established Endorsement Committees to screen the state employees who had served during the Horthy era (1920-1945), with special emphasis on their political behaviour during the war. Only those whom the committees declared politically reliable were allowed to keep their jobs. Regulated by Prime Minister’s Decree no. 1080/1945, the committees comprised of five members delegated by the parties of the Hungarian National Independence Front, as well as a lawyer and a representative of the workplace of the individual under the endorsement procedure.

Subject terms:: Antisemitism; Antisemitism--Antisemitic legislation; Holocaust; Holocaust--Collaboration; Holocaust--Rescue and resistance; Nazism; Trade and commerce

System of arrangement:: The records are arranged chronologically; the number of case files re-started each year.

Finding aids:: Item-level descriptions as well as indexes and registries are available for the collection.

Ernő Lakatos, ed. A Magyar Állami Levéltárak fondjegyzéke, Vol. III. A Területi Levéltárak fondjegyzékei Part 13. A Pest Megyei Levéltár fondjainak jegyzéke. Budapest: Magyar Országos Levéltár, 1975.

Author of the description:: László Csősz; Hungarian National Archives; 22-11-2015 (In cooperation with the European Holocaust Research Infrastructure)