Records of Ferenc Rajniss, 1923-1944

Collection

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

Scope and content:: The collection holds the private and official records of Ferenc Rajniss as Member of Parliament and prominent extreme right-wing journalist. The most substantial part of the collection is his notes and the handwritten and undated drafts of his political speeches, lectures and articles. Topics include the "Kristallnacht", Jewish question, Hungarian foreign policy, Fascist domestic program, Rajniss' testimony about his National Socialist worldview, territorial revision and many others.

Archival history:: The collection was acquired by the Hungarian National Archives in 1959. In the 1960s the material was rearranged.

Administrative/biographical history:: Ferenc Rajniss (1893-1946) was a journalist, politician and minister of religion and education in the Szálasi government between 16 October 1944 and April 1945. He was Member of Parliament from 1935 to 1944 as well as the editor of the New Hungariandom (Új Magyarság) and the Hungarian Courier (Magyar Futár), which were amongst the most influential antisemitic and pro-Nazi newspapers of the era. After the war he was sentenced to death as war criminal and executed.

System of arrangement:: The material is arranged by thematic units and in chronological order.

Finding aids:: There is a detailed item-level inventory on the collection in Hungarian.