Ministry of Justice Szombathely Section (Arrow Cross Ministry of Justice), 1944-1945

Collection

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

Title:: Ministry of Justice Szombathely Section (Arrow Cross Ministry of Justice), 1944-1945

Title (official language):: Igazságügyminisztérium Szombathelyi részleg, 1944-1945

Scope and content:: The surviving fragments of the papers of the Arrow Cross Ministry of Justice are mostly from the first months of 1945 and are mostly of a general nature. The records from 1944 and those of more confidential nature were presumably destroyed. The remaining part includes complaints and requests sent to the Ministry (thematic unit A), cases that concerned international law (thematic unit D), matters of supervising courts, lawyers and notaries, the issues of press censorship (thematic unit R), etc. criminal cases and procedures (thematic unit T), personnel and private matters of prisons (thematic unit S).

Archival history:: The records in this collection were held and eventually captured in the western Hungarian town of Szombathely. After 1945, they were taken to Budapest and handed over to the Hungarian National Archives, probably in the 1950s.

Administrative/biographical history:: The Arrow Cross Party (also known as the Hungarist Movement) was the most popular right-wing extremist movement during the Horthy regime from the late 1930s led by former military officer Ferenc Szálasi. After Horthy’s attempt to extricate from war on 15 October 1944, they assumed power with Nazi support. From 16 October 1944, until 28 March 1945, Szálasi was prime minister of Hungary as well as its plenipotentiary head of state, bearing the title “Leader of the Nation.” Following the war, he was sentenced to death and executed.

Due to the advancement of the Red Army towards Budapest, the Arrow Cross Ministry of Justice was also moved to Szombathely in Western Hungary in the second half of November, 1944, and continued to operate in the main courthouse of the town. The Ministry was in operation in Szombathely until the end of March, but could rely only on a reduced number of its staff there. The papers of the relocated Hungarian Ministry of Justice from 1944 were presumably destroyed.

System of arrangement:: The records are held in the collection according to their original registry number in ascending order. The records have a name and subject registry that were added at the Ministry of Justice in later years.

Finding aids:: No finding aids exist. The collection requires item-level research.