Centre of State Security Presidential Records, 1942-1944

Collection

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

Scope and content:: The surviving records of the Centre of State Security mostly contain investigative files, including the cases of corruption, bribery, embezzlement, fraud, falsification of documents, black marketeering, trafficking and other violations of economic laws. A significant part of the suspects of these cases were Jews trying to circumvent the regulations of the anti-Jewish laws, or to escape internment, ghettoisation and deportation in 1944, as well as non-Jews who helped or cooperated with them. The Presidential Records also include letters of denunciation against Communists and Jews, including black marketers, as well as cases of bribery and corruption in favour of Jewish labour servicemen.

Archival history:: The collection was acquired by the Hungarian National Archives in the early 1950s.

Administrative/biographical history:: Established in June 1942, the Centre of State Security was a special governmental body under the Ministry of the Interior, whose task was to control and coordinate the activities of military counter-intelligence, the political investigation agencies (gendarmerie and police) and the civil administration. The Centre’s staff included military, police and gendarme officers and a chief prosecutor appointed by the Ministry of Justice. According to the confidential orders regulating its sphere of action, the Centre of State Security was mostly involved in the investigation of conspiracy, sabotage and other actions against the state and internal order, counterintelligence and activities dangerous for public supply and war economy.

Subject terms:: Crime; Holocaust; Holocaust--Collaboration; Law enforcement; Law enforcement--Police

Finding aids:: Szinai Miklós, ed. A Belügyminisztériumi Levéltár 1867–1945 /1949/. Budapest: Magyar Országos Levéltár, 1973.