András Benkei (September 11, 1923 – August 8, 1991) was a Hungarian

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

politician, who served as

Interior Minister An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

between 1963 and 1980.

Biography

Benkei was born in 1923 into a poor

day labour Day labor (or day labour in Commonwealth spelling) is work done where the worker is hired and paid one day at a time, with no promise that more work will be available in the future. It is a form of contingent work. Types Day laborers (also kn ...

er family. After finishing four elementary classes, he worked as a manual worker (engine fitter assistant, then tobacco fermenter) in

Nyíregyháza Nyíregyháza (, sk, Níreďháza) is a city with county rights in northeastern Hungary and the county capital of Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg. With a population of 118,001, it is the seventh-largest city in Hungary and the second largest in t ...

. From August 1944, he served in the

Royal Hungarian Army The Royal Hungarian Army ( hu, Magyar Királyi Honvédség, german: Königlich Ungarische Armee) was the name given to the land forces of the Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946), Kingdom of Hungary in the period from 1922 to 1945. Its name was inher ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and was captured on the Eastern Front and deported to the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

as a

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...

in January 1945. He returned to Hungary in July 1948, and soon he involved in the tobacco fermenting trade union. He joined

Hungarian Working People's Party The Hungarian Working People's Party (, abbr. MDP) was the ruling communist party of Hungary from 1948 to 1956. It was formed by a merger of the Hungarian Communist Party (MKP) and the Social Democratic Party of Hungary (MSZDP).Neubauer, John, a ...

(MDP), the ruling Communist party in 1950. He held several functions at party and trade union's organizations. He functioned as secretary of the

Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg ( hu, Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg megye, ) is an administrative county (Hungarian: ''megye'') in north-eastern Hungary, bordering Slovakia (Košice Region), Ukraine (Zakarpattia Oblast), and Romania ( Bihor and Satu Mare cou ...

committee of the Food Industry Workers' Union. From April 1954 to November 1956, he was the leader of the MDP in Nyíregyháza. Following the

Hungarian Revolution of 1956 The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 10 November 1956; hu, 1956-os forradalom), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was a countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the Hunga ...

, he served as First Secretary of the

Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party The Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party ( hu, Magyar Szocialista Munkáspárt, MSZMP) was the ruling Marxist–Leninist party of the Hungarian People's Republic between 1956 and 1989. It was organised from elements of the Hungarian Working Peop ...

's Szabolcs-Szatmár County branch between November 1956 and 7 December 1963. After that he was appointed Minister of the Interior in the Second Cabinet of

János Kádár János József Kádár (; ; 26 May 1912 – 6 July 1989), born János József Czermanik, was a Hungarian communist leader and the General Secretary of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party, a position he held for 32 years. Declining health le ...

. Despite the lack of professional qualifications, Benkei held the office for 16 and a half years, until 27 June 1980. Thus he is the longest-serving Interior Minister since the establishment of the ministry during the

Hungarian Revolution of 1848 The Hungarian Revolution of 1848 or fully Hungarian Civic Revolution and War of Independence of 1848–1849 () was one of many European Revolutions of 1848 and was closely linked to other revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas. Although th ...

. Benkei was one of the most faithful supporters of General Secretary and Prime Minister János Kádár. He studied for a year at the MSZMP's Party College. Beside his government position, Benkei was also a member of the Socialist Workers' Party's Central Committee from 25 December 1959 to 28 March 1985. Benkei was also a Member of Parliament three times (1958–1967, 1971–1975, 1980–1985), representing Szabolcs-Szatmár county list, Nyíregyháza (Constituency II) and the second district of

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

(Budapest Constituency III), respectively. He became a pensioner in 1980.

Personal life

According to historians Tabajdi– Ungváry's ''Az elhallgatott múlt'' work, for most of his life, Benkei became a drunkard. József Végvári, an intelligence officer within the secret services, who allowed the infiltration of the case Duna-gate, said that both Benkei's son in law (Tamás Augusztini and Zoltán Nyitrai), and his daughter worked as a counterespionage officer in the III./II. section of the Ministry for Interior prior to 1989.MTI: Bemutatkozott a magyar Watergate-ügy kulcsfigurája (1990)
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References

External links

1923 births 1991 deaths People from Nyíregyháza Members of the Hungarian Working People's Party Members of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party Hungarian Interior Ministers Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1958–1963) Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1963–1967) Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1971–1975) Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1980–1985) {{Hungary-politician-stub