General Records of the National Public Supplies Office, 1941-1945

Collection

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

Title (official language):: Országos Közellátási Hivatal Általános iratok, 1941-1945

Scope and content:: The collection of the National Public Supplies Office includes various documents that are of relevance for the study of antisemitic social policies in the years of World War II. The group of documents records the supervision of public supplies in various county towns, the authorities’ supervision of and raids on Jewish traders and sellers, cases of various economic offenses, such as black-marketeering, involving many Jewish firms and individuals, seizure of the goods of Jewish traders, complaints against and denunciations of Jews by individuals and investigations in these matters as well as financial compensation paid for denunciators and police informants, legal cases of Jewish firms and individuals, and newspaper clippings. The material from 1944 includes files concerning the public supply of Jewish individuals and institutions, for example the requests of the Swedish Red Cross and the International Red Cross, and a report on the supplies seized by the SS Sonderkommando in Hungarian sugar factories.

Individuals serving as Minister without Portfolio for Public Supplies included Dezső Laky (1940-1941), Sándor Győrffy-Bengyel (1941-1942), Minister of Finances Lajos Reményi-Schneller and István Lossonczy in 1942, Lajos Szász (1942-1944) and Béla Jurcsek (1944-1945).

Archival history:: The National Public Supplies Office was evacuated from Budapest and operated in the Western Hungarian town of Sopron between November 1944 and April 1945. A large part of the records were destroyed or lost. After 1945, the remaining part of the collection was stored in the Ministry of Housing (Begyűjtési Minisztérium), where the material was selected in 1953. The records were handed over to the National Archives in 1954, where a part of the collection was burnt during the Soviet siege of Budapest in November 1956.

Administrative/biographical history:: In order to cope with the requirements of war economy, a Minister without Portfolio for Public Supplies (közellátás) was appointed in Hungary on 17 December 1940. The major objective of creating such a position was to exert increased state control and improve the organisation of the economic life of the country, to assure that foreign trade was beneficial for military as well as civilian purposes, and to have a uniform control and administration of the food supply and other public necessities. The National Office for Public Supplies (Országos Közellátási Hivatal) was organised to back the work of the Minister without Portfolio. The Trade Office, the Office of the Government Commissariat for Price Control and the Office for Public Food Supplies were subordinated to this new office and were gradually incorporated into it, becoming its departments. These included the Presidential department, the departments of Law Preparation, Public Supply Law Enforcement, Mobilisation, Liaison with the Gendarmerie, Auditor, Press and Information units in operation. The mayors of various towns and the prefects (főispán) of counties and cities served as local Government Commissioners for Public Supplies. In 1943, municipalities also had to form their Committees of Public Supply that functioned as the executive organs of the Minister without Portfolio.

Access points: persons/families:: Győrffy-Bengyel, Sándor 1886-1942; Laky, Dezső 1887-1962; Reményi-Schneller, Lajos

Subject terms:: Antisemitism; Antisemitism--Antisemitic legislation; Antisemitism--Antisemitic measures; Holocaust; Holocaust--Collaboration; Trade and commerce

Finding aids:: Contemporaneous registries and indexes (in Hungarian) are available for the collection, as well as a unit-level description (raktári jegyzék).