Records of the Minister of Finance Lajos Reményi-Schneller, 1938-1944

Collection

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

Title:: Records of the Minister of Finance Lajos Reményi-Schneller, 1938-1944

Title (official language):: Reményi-Schneller Lajos miniszter iratai, 1938-1944

Scope and content:: The collection contains fragments of files of Lajos Reményi-Schneller, Hungarian minister of finance from 1938 to 1944. The material holds his semi-official correspondence, such as letters requesting his patronage, jobs, benefits, tax write-off, etc. The papers also contain the proposals he submitted to the Council of Ministers and a collection of documents (Files on Economy) concerning agricultural, commercial, industrial affairs and credit policy. Furthermore, the collection contains clippings from newspapers and journals pertaining to financial issues. There are miscellaneous documents on the "Jewish question" in the collection such as the letter received from John Sebastian in 1939 who proposed the collection and publication of regulations and restrictions for Jews.

Archival history:: The papers of the Ministry of Finances from 1944 were transported to Sopron (Western Hungary) at the end of 1944. The bulk of the collection disappeared after the end of the Second World War. A part of the material from the previous period was sorted out in 1949-1950. The surviving records were taken to the National Archives in 1950 and 1958.

Administrative/biographical history:: The Ministry of Finances played a crucial role in the state-directed and state-controlled campaign systematically to seize the assets of Hungarian Jews between 1938 and 1944. During this period the Ministry was headed by Lajos Reményi-Schneller (1892-1946), who was appointed Minister in March 1938 and kept his post (uniquely in Hungarian political life) in all successive governments until the end of the war, including that of Darányi, Imrédy, Teleki (his second term), Bárdossy, Kállay, Sztójay, Lakatos and Szálasi. Reményi-Schneller even held the position of economic superminister (gazdasági csúcsminiszter) in the governments of Teleki, Bárdossy and Kállay. His policies were strongly in favour of Nazi Germany during the war years. In 1946, he was sentenced to death and executed as war criminal.

Subject terms:: Antisemitism; Antisemitism--Antisemitic legislation; Financial matters; Financial matters--Banks, banking, and bankers; Holocaust; Holocaust--Collaboration; Plunder; Plunder--Aryanisation