Hungarian Workman’s Party, POW Office, 1946-1949

Collection

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

Scope and content:: The collection holds private requests and inquiries of individuals looking for their relatives who went missing during World War II, mostly while serving in the Hungarian Army. These people included quite a few Jews, who served as unarmed labour servicemen and were also captured en masse. The Jewish-related part of the material is not separated and the records mostly lack any indication of religion or Jewish origin. Therefore, the collection requires case by case investigation.

Archival history:: The archival material of the Hungarian Workman’s Party was inherited by its successor, the Hungarian Socialist Workers’ Party (1957-1989). The records were taken to the Institute of Political History in the 1990s and to the Hungarian National Archives after 2010.

Administrative/biographical history:: The Hungarian Workman’s Party was a Soviet-style communist party, which was established on 12 June 1948, formally as a fusion of the Hungarian Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party. In fact, it was one of the major steps in the direction of a one-party dictatorship in Hungary. The Party was dissolved at the end of October 1956, following the anti-Soviet uprising.

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