Centrally Registered and Archived Records of the Prime Minister’s Office, 1867-1945

Collection

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

Title:: Centrally Registered and Archived Records of the Prime Minister’s Office, 1867-1945

Title (official language):: A miniszterelnökség központilag iktatott és irattározott iratai, 1867-1945

Scope and content:: The collection includes the records of all departments the Prime Minister’s Office between 1867 and 1922, and the fragmented records of the Departments of Press and Social Policy and the Presidential Department between 1923 and 1945 as well as confidential papers issued under "res." or "biz." from 1915 onward. The former papers (called "res.") were issued by the Presidential Department, the latter (called "biz.") at the Minority Department (K 28).

Jewish-related files are scattered throughout the material, for example in Item 1942-XXIII. (memorandum of the Hungarian Holy Cross Society concerning Catholic converts exempted from anti-Jewish laws, June 1942); Item 1943-XXIII (Report on the appointment of Leó Deák, Prefect of Újvidék), and in Miscellaneous records, including the name lists of the members of the extreme nationalist „Ragged Guard” and the National Alliance of Hungarian Racists, a report on the Freemasons in the Southern Province, casualty lists of the Hungarian Army, etc. The collection of miscellaneous documents, memoirs and studies holds the Memoirs of Endre Bajcsy-Zsilinszky (Box 1628), Miscellaneous Arrow Cross files, including the list of Prefects resigned under the Arrow Cross rule, Administrative and confidential orders of the Chief of the General Staff of the Royal Hungarian Army (Ferenc Szombathelyi) concerning the occupation of the Southern Province in 1941, etc. (Fasc. 1391-1393)

Archival history:: A substantial part of the papers concerning the period 1911 to 1945 were lost during the Second World War. The damage was especially acute for the years 1929 to 1945. The remaining parts were acquired by the Hungarian National Archives in 1948. The material was rearranged several times. Papers labelled as confidential were later integrated in the collection.

Administrative/biographical history:: Hungarian Prime Ministers and their offices have played key roles in antisemitic policies and the persecution of the Jews during the 1930s and 1940s. In Hungary, antisemitic initiatives, including antisemitic legislation, was often launched and even more often supported at this level. In 1944, following the entry of Nazi Germany into Hungary, it was the newly appointed government headed by Prime Minister Döme Sztójay that actively collaborated with the German Sonderkommando in the implementation of the mass deportations to Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Subject terms:: Antisemitism; Conversion to Christianity; Freemasons; Military

System of arrangement:: For the period 1898 to 1944, the centrally registered records were organised by unit (tétel) and by basic numbers within each item. The units concern thematic areas and are marked by Roman numbers, though there is considerably variety in terms of the contents and overall number of these units.

Finding aids:: The contemporaneous finding aids for the period 1910 to 1944 were largely destroyed. However, content summaries on cards (cédulagyűjtemény) and a finding aid (repertórium) are available for the collection.

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