Records of Prime Minister Miklós Kállay, 1942-1944

Collection

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

Scope and content:: The collection contains fragments of the semi-official correspondence of Miklós Kállay as Prime Minister with political parties, including the Party of Hungarian Life, the Party of Hungarian Renewal and the NSDAP, Christian churches, economic, scholarly and social organisations as well as individuals. Most of the letters are of private or complimentary nature (Dossiers a to g), but many of them (Dossier h) concerns various political and social matters, including the matters of ethnic minorities and the implementation of the anti-Jewish laws that was already in place by the time or newly introduced under his premiership. The third major part of the collection includes Dossier j: reports on various political events, Dossier k: records and protocols pertaining to the Party of Hungarian Life, Dossiers l and m: records pertaining to parliamentary interpellations, bills and proposals.

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

Administrative/biographical history:: Miklós Kállay (1887–1967) was a Hungarian landowner and conservative politician. He was prime minister from March 1942 to March 1944. He aimed at distancing Hungary from Germany and strove to establish contacts with the western Allies. His domestic policies were characterised by two opposing trends: loud, antisemitic rhetoric together with new “Jewish Laws” on the one hand and resolute resistance to German and far-right demands calling for ghettoisation and deportation on the other. Following the German occupation, he fled to the Turkish embassy. After the Arrow Cross coup, he was arrested and deported to a German concentration camp. He was not held accountable after the war. He lived in Italy until 1953 and then emigrated to the United States.

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

System of arrangement:: The letters are arranged by years (1942: dossiers 1 to 4, 1943: dossiers 6 to 10) and 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.