Gyula Kállai

Gyula Kállai
Speaker of the National Assembly
In office
17 April 1967 – 12 May 1971
Preceded byErzsébet Metzker Vass
Succeeded byAntal Apró
Chairman of the Council of Ministers
In office
30 June 1965 – 14 April 1967
Chairman of the Presidential CouncilIstván Dobi
Preceded byJános Kádár
Succeeded byJenő Fock
Minister of Cultural Affairs
In office
1 March 1957 – 28 January 1958
Chairman of the Council of MinistersJános Kádár
Preceded byAlbert Kónya
Succeeded byValéria Benke
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office
11 June 1949 – 12 May 1951
Chairman of the Council of MinistersIstván Dobi
Preceded byLászló Rajk
Succeeded byKároly Kiss
Personal details
Born(1910-06-01)1 June 1910
Berettyóújfalu, Bihar County, Austria-Hungary
Died12 March 1996(1996-03-12) (aged 85)
Budapest, Hungary
NationalityHungarian
Political partyHungarian Communist Party
Hungarian Working People's Party
Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party
Spouse(s)Anna Kárpáti (1st)
? Berkes(2nd)
ChildrenJudit
Zsuzsa
The native form of this personal name is Kállai Gyula. This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals.

Gyula Kállai (Hungarian: [ˈɟulɒ ˈkaːllɒi]; 1 June 1910 – 12 March 1996) was a Hungarian communist politician who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1949 to 1951, Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Prime Minister) from 1965 to 1967 and Speaker of the National Assembly from 1967 to 1971. He was also President of the National Council of the Patriotic People's Front from 1957 to 1989.

Biography

The son of a bookmaker, Kállai was born in Berettyóújfalu. In 1930, he enrolled as a student of Hungarian and Latin at the University of Budapest in 1930, transferring to the University of Debrecen in 1932. While a student, Kállai joined the Hungarian Communist Party (MKP) in 1931. Because of his political involvement, he was expelled from university in 1937 and started working as a journalist for the newspaper Független Újság in Debrecen and the social-democratic Budapest daily Népszava.[1]

During World War II, Kállai was involved in the resistance against the pro-German regime of Miklós Horthy; he was arrested in July 1942 for participation in illegal demonstrations, but released in November of the same year due to lack of evidence. In September 1944, he participated in the refounding of the MKP, and served as representative of the party to the Hungarian National Independence Front.[1]

In 1945, Kállai was elected a member of the Central Committee of the MKP and made a Secretary of State in the first post-war government. He headed the Office of the President of the Republic from 1948, until his appointment as Minister of Foreign Affairs in August 1949. Kállai held this office until April 1951, when he was arrested on trumped-up charges and sentenced to life imprisonment in a secretly-held trial. Released in July 1954, Kállai joined the Ministry of Public Education. He was reinstated as a member of the Central Committee of the Hungarian Working People's Party (MDP) in July 1956, and would remain a Central Committee member (after 1957 of the reorganized Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party, MSZMP) until 1989.[1]

During the 1956 revolution, Kállai was a member of the Provisional Executive Committee headed by János Kádár.[1] In 1957, he visited and questioned Imre Nagy, who was Prime Minister during the revolution, in exile in Snagov, Romania. His report led to Nagy's ultimate execution.[2] From 1957, Kállai held a number of ministerial positions: as Minister of Cultural Affairs between March 1957 and January 1958, Minister of State between January 1958 and January 1960, and as Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers between January 1960 and April 1965. Between June 1965 and April 1967, he was Chairman of the Council of Ministers, and then a member of the Presidential Council until 1989 as well as Speaker of the National Assembly from April 1967 until May 1971.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Gyula Kállai, 1910–1996". Institute for the History of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. 23 August 2000. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
  2. ^ Nagy, Imre (2006). Snagovi jegyzetek: gondolatok, emlékezések, 1956-1957. Gondolat. ISBN 9639610550.
Political offices
Preceded by Minister of Foreign Affairs
1949–1951 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister of Education
1957–1958 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Prime Minister of Hungary
1965–1967 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Speaker of the National Assembly
1967–1971 		Succeeded by


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