Records of László Endre 1944-1945

Collection

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

Scope and content:: The collection contains files documenting László Endre’s activities as administrative state secretary of the Ministry of the Interior from March to August 1944. During this period, Endre closely cooperated with Adolf Eichmann’s Sonderkommando in the ghettoisation and deportation of more than 430,000 Jews from the Hungarian provinces to the Auschwitz-Birkenau killing centre, where most of them were murdered upon arrival. The collection mostly contains petitions and reports addressed to Endre, responses written by him and his secretary Albert Takács, various proposals and drafts, newspaper clippings and other documents pertaining to Hungarian municipal administration and the “Jewish question”. The material also includes documents from the previous stages of his career as well as from the Arrow Cross era (from October 1944 to April 1945) when Endre served as commissioner for the civil administration of the military operational zone.

Archival history:: The collection was probably found and confiscated by the US Army in 1945 after they arrested former State Secretary László Endre in Austria. The material was later sent to Hungary and was transferred to the Hungarian National Archives. Until the early 2000s the collection was part of Section P (P 1434), from where it was relocated to Section K, the Archives of the Ministry of the Interior (K 557).

Administrative/biographical history:: László Endre (1891-1946), Hungarian politician and administrative leader, one of the chief protagonists of the Holocaust in Hungary. Serving as chief constable of the Gödöllő district (1923-1939) and as the subprefect of Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun County (1939-1944), he was one of the forerunners of antisemitic and race protectionist policies in interwar Hungary. After the German occupation of Hungary in March 1944 he was appointed the administrative state secretary of the Ministry of the Interior, where he was responsible for “Jewish matters”. At the end of the war Endre escaped to Austria, where he was arrested and extradited to Hungary. He was put on trial, sentenced to death and executed in 1946.

Subject terms:: Holocaust; Holocaust--Collaboration; Holocaust--Deportation; Holocaust--Ghettos

Finding aids:: Container list (draft inventory) prepared by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives and item-level inventory prepared by the Yad Vashem Archives (both in Hungarian)