Gábor Péter (born as Benjámin Eisenberger in

Újfehértó Újfehértó (Yiddish, german: Ratzfert) is a small town in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County, in the Northern Great Plain region of eastern Hungary. History By 1920, the Jewish population had reached 1,303 people, 11% of the total population. On 17 ...

, 14 May 1906 –

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 ...

, 23 January 1993) 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. Between 1945 and 1952 he was the absolute leader of the

State Protection Authority The State Protection Authority ( hu, Államvédelmi Hatóság, ÁVH) was the secret police of the People's Republic of Hungary from 1945 to 1956. The ÁVH was conceived as an external appendage of the Soviet Union's KGB in Hungary responsible ...

(''Államvédelmi Hatóság'') which was responsible for much brutality and many political

purge In history, religion and political science, a purge is a position removal or execution of people who are considered undesirable by those in power from a government, another organization, their team leaders, or society as a whole. A group undertak ...

Early life

Born Benjamin Eisenberger to Péter Eisenberger, a Jewish tailor, and Róza Meczner, in

, Hungary. During his early years he worked as a tailor. He took part in the

labour movement The labour movement or labor movement consists of two main wings: the trade union movement (British English) or labor union movement (American English) on the one hand, and the political labour movement on the other. * The trade union movement ...

s from the early years of the 1920s. In 1931, he joined the

Hungarian Communist Party The Hungarian Communist Party ( hu, Magyar Kommunista Párt, abbr. MKP), known earlier as the Party of Communists in Hungary ( hu, Kommunisták Magyarországi Pártja, abbr. KMP), was a communist party in Hungary that existed during the interwar ...

. At this time he was also a lover of

Litzi Friedmann Alice Friedmann (née Kohlmann; 1910–1991), known as Litzi Friedmann, was an Austrian Communist who was the first wife of Kim Philby, a member of the Cambridge Five. Records identify her as the Soviet agent with the code name Mary. Early life ...

the future first wife of

Kim Philby Harold Adrian Russell "Kim" Philby (1 January 191211 May 1988) was a British intelligence officer and a double agent for the Soviet Union. In 1963 he was revealed to be a member of the Cambridge Five, a spy ring which had divulged British secr ...

, a member of the

Cambridge Five The Cambridge Spy Ring was a ring of spies in the United Kingdom that passed information to the Soviet Union during World War II and was active from the 1930s until at least into the early 1950s. None of the known members were ever prosecuted for ...

Career

In January 1945, he was appointed as leader of the Budapest Department of State Political Police (PRO), the Hungarian secret police. Péter's career rose quickly; he became leader of the Hungarian State Police State Defense Department (ÁVO) and its successor, the

(ÁVH). In 1952, he was discharged from his position because he was Jewish. Later he was arrested in

Mátyás Rákosi Mátyás Rákosi (; born Mátyás Rosenfeld; 9 March 1892
– 5 February 1971) was a Hungarian

villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became s ...

. According to historian Tibor Zinner, Gábor Péter was present on an official visit. Unexpectedly a handcuff clicked on his hand put back. After that

Mihály Farkas Mihály Farkas (born Hermann Lőwy; 18 July 1904 – 6 December 1965) was a Hungarian Communist politician who served as Minister of National Defense of the Hungarian People's Republic. Biography He was born in 1904 in Abaújszántó to J ...

stepped forward from behind the curtain and said: "the game is over". Gábor Péter's wife, Jolán Simon, who served as Rákosi's secretary, was also arrested. In 1954, a court martial sentenced him to life imprisonment. He was accused of being a Zionist spy and cooperating with

László Rajk László Rajk (8 March 1909 – 15 October 1949) was a Hungarian Communist politician, who served as Minister of Interior and Minister of Foreign Affairs. He was an important organizer of the Hungarian Communists' power (for example, organizi ...

Rudolf Slánský Rudolf Slánský (31 July 1901 – 3 December 1952) was a leading Czech Communist politician. Holding the post of the party's General Secretary after World War II, he was one of the leading creators and organizers of Communist rule in Czechosl ...

and other "agents of international Zionism". In 1957, his term of imprisonment was significantly reduced and in 1959 was released. He later worked as a librarian.

Death

On 23 January 1993, at the age of 86, Péter died of natural causes in a Budapest hospital, Hungary. He was nearly blind. He was survived by his wife, Jolán Simon.

References

Sources

Gábor Péter's birth entry
Újfehértó births, No. 1906/173. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Peter, Gabor 1906 births 1993 deaths People from Újfehértó Jewish Hungarian politicians Jewish socialists Hungarian Communist Party politicians Members of the Hungarian Working People's Party