Metadata: Records of the Office of the Regent’s Commissioner for Carpatho-Ruthenia, 1939-1944
Collection
- Country:
- Hungary
- Holding institution:
- National Archives of Hungary, National Archives
- Holding institution (official language):
- Magyar Nemzeti Levéltár Országos Levéltára
- Postal address:
- Budapest, Bécsi Kapu tér 2-4., 1014
- Phone number:
- +36 1 225 2843
- Web address:
- http://mnl.gov.hu/
- Email:
- info@mnl.gov.hu
- Reference number:
- K 774
- Title:
- Records of the Office of the Regent’s Commissioner for Carpatho-Ruthenia, 1939-1944
- Title (official language):
- Kárpátaljai Terület Kormányzói Biztosának Hivatala, 1939-1944
- Creator/accumulator:
- Regent’s Commissioner for Carpatho-Ruthenia
- Date(s):
- 1939/1944
- Extent:
- 1 fascicle, 0.08 linear metres
- Scope and content:
-
Despite its small size, the collection of the records of the Regent’s Commissioner of Carpatho-Ruthenia contains plenty of information on two key chapters of the Holocaust in Hungary. The records from 1941 hold records pertaining to the deportation of Jews labelled alien (including foreign citizens, refugees, but also a lot of Hungarian residents) in July-August of 1941. The documents concern the handling of the property of the deported Jewish families, measures against the return of the expelled Jews, the process of the deportations and reports on the murder of Jews on former Soviet territory. The material includes name lists of the deportees, reports, decrees of the Ministry of the Interior concerning the fate of the deportees, and petitions on behalf of expelled Jews. Key persons in this part of the collection, apart from the commissioners (see biographical history), include Minister of the Interior Ferenc Keresztes-Fischer, head of the public administration department at the Regent’s Commissioner’s office Géza Halász, and head of Central National Authority for Controlling Foreigners, Ámon Pásztóy.
The records from 1944 concern the decision-making process of the mass deportation of Hungarian Jews in April-May 1944, the implementation of anti-Jewish decrees, internment and arrests, the ghettoisation, transit camps and deportations from Carpatho-Ruthenia, and the confiscation, safekeeping and inventory of Jewish assets. The material include decrees of the Minister of the Interior and other governmental organs, law enforcement agencies and the offices of the Regent’s Commissioner, protocols of administrative meetings on the ghettoisation, reports on the transit camps and ghettos. Key persons in this part of the collection are Gendarme Colonel László Ferenczy, Prosecutor Lajos Meggyesy, Minister of the Interior Andor Jaross, head of the public administration department at the Regent’s Commissioner’s office Géza Halász, Army Major-General Zoltán Álgya-Pap and Gendarme Colonel Győző Tölgyesy.
- Archival history:
- The collection was acquired by the Hungarian National Archives in the early 1950s.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- The Regent’s Commissioner of Carpatho-Ruthenia was appointed by Regent Miklós Horthy 1939 to head the administration of the region, which was re-annexed to Hungary, but was not integrated into the regular administrative system of counties. The first person in this post was Zsigmond Perényi (1939-1940), who was followed by Miklós Kozma (1940-1941), politician, the director of Magyar Távirati Iroda (Hungarian News Agency, MTI), formerly Minister of the Interior. Kozma served as an army general during the First World War and began his public career as a member of the counterrevolutionary National Army of 1919. He was the Head of Department for National Defence and Propaganda at the Supreme Command and later served as the rapporteur for military affairs at the Military Office of the Regent. In 1920, Kozma was appointed head of the semi-official Bureau of the News Agency (although the News Agency was operated as a public company, the government also intended to exercise control over it). Kozma practically directed all matters at the public company, including those of political relevance. He was appointed member of the Upper House of Parliament and Minister of the Interior during the 1930s. In 1939, Kozma held the post until his death in December 1941. His successors were Vilmos Pál Tomcsányi (1942-1944) and András Vincze (1944).
- Subject terms:
- Holocaust
- Holocaust--Deportation
- Holocaust--Ghettos
- Plunder
- Refugees
- Finding aids:
-
A file-level description is available for the collection in Hungarian.
Szinai Miklós, ed. A Belügyminisztériumi Levéltár 1867–1945 /1949/. Budapest: Magyar Országos Levéltár, 1973.
- Yerusha Network member:
- Hungarian Jewish Museum and Archives