Identity Statement

Reference Code

HU OSA 408-1-4

Title

Documentation on War Crimes and Political Trials

Date(s)

1901 - 2003

Description Level

Series

Extent and medium (processed)

5 Archival boxes, 0.62 linear meters

Context

Archival history

Originals of documents are preserved in the Historical Archives of the Hungarian State Security (ÁBTL), The Archives of Political History and of Trade Unions (PSZL), and occasionally in the Budapest City Archives (BFL).

Content and Structure

Scope and Content (Abstract)

The government set up special courts, the so called people’s courts in early 1945 to try war crimes and crimes against the people. The first such procedure took place in Budapest as early as 1945, without proper legal authorization, ending with the public execution of army officers Péter Rotyis and Rudolf Spóner. Files of people’s courts and the transcript of a lecture are at the beginning of the series.

Similarly in early 1945, the political police, not even existing formally yet, started to arrest the “traitors” of the communist party. Only Pál Demény was sentenced, rightfully according to contemporary laws and court practices, but having served his sentence he was not freed until 1956. In the series there is ample documentation of his highly controversial case and two interviews with him.

Trial files of high ranking military officers in World War II (Gusztáv Jány, Ferenc Szombathelyi, János Vörös) as well as of chiefs of the earlier political police (Péter Hain, Antal Juhász) are in the series too.

The law on the protection of the People’s Republic passed in 1946 made it possible to persecute political crimes committed after the war, which meant the persecution of people opposing the communist party. The most important trials were against the members of the loose organization called Hungarian Community. The documents include lists of membership compiled by the political police, contemporary official publications, memoirs and a detailed bibliography. A bibliography of trials against churches is part of the series too.

The series also includes documents of trials on economic crime cases (Nitrokémia, Standard), as well as trials against individuals (the already mentioned trials of Rotyis and Spóner, colonel József Babos judge of military tribunal, chief of staff colonel Pál Hadházy, and social democrat politician Anna Kéthly etc.)

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information

The bibliographies have never been published and are hardly available anywhere else. Presumably, not substantial destruction of documents was carried out by the creators.

Accruals

Not Expected

System of arrangement

Arranged alphabetically

Conditions of Access and Use

Conditions governing access

The general rules of research in OSA Research Room apply.

Conditions governing reproduction

A dokumentumok oktatási és kutatási célból digitálisan másolhatók az OSA kutatótermében.

Description Control

Archivist's note

Processed by László Varga, March 2, 2015.