István Oláh (16 December 1926 – 15 December 1985) was a Hungarian military officer and politician, who served as

Minister of Defence A defence minister or minister of defence is a Cabinet (government), cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from coun ...

from 1984 until his death.

Biography

In 1945, he became a volunteer in the

Hungarian People's Army The Hungarian People's Army ( hu, Magyar Néphadsereg) or the HPA was the military of the Hungarian People's Republic and the armed branch of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party from 1951 to 1990. It only saw combat in a foreign country once du ...

. That same year he joined the Communist Party. In 1949 he graduated from the Kossuth Military Academy. In 1964, he a studied at the Voroshilov Soviet Higher Military Academy. From 1966 to 1973, he rose through the ranks of the Hungarian People's Army. He had been serving as a Deputy Minister of Defense of the Hungarian People's Army since 1966. In 1975, he was made a permanent member of the Central Committee of the Hungarian Socialist Workers Party. He was the Minister of Defense after the removal of

Lajos Czinege Lajos Czinege (1924–1998) was a Hungarian military officer and politician, who served as Minister of Defence A defence minister or minister of defence is a Cabinet (government), cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defen ...

Death

Oláh died on 15 December 1985, a day before his 59th birthday. He was buried in

Kerepesi Cemetery Kerepesi Cemetery (Hungarian: ''Kerepesi úti temető'' or ''Kerepesi temető'', official name: ''Fiumei úti nemzeti sírkert'', i.e. "Fiume Road National Graveyard") is the most famous cemetery in Budapest. It is one of the oldest cemeteries in ...

. Conspiracy theories about his death arose has his death occurred at a time when the defense ministers of 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 ...

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

and

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

had also died within the same year. It gave rise to assumptions by the media about a specially held action by the Western special services to eliminate the supporters of a forceful solution to the 1981 Polish hunger demonstrations.ТВЦ, 19 декабря 2014. Маршал Устинов: последний защитник социализма
/ref>

External links

on his involvement in 1980 events about the time of

death and state funeral of Josip Broz Tito The funeral of Josip Broz Tito, President of Yugoslavia and President of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, was held on 8 May 1980, four days after his death on 4 May. His funeral drew many statesmen from around the globe, from Western ...

References

1926 births 1985 deaths People from Hajdú-Bihar County Members of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party Hungarian soldiers Defence ministers of Hungary {{Hungary-politician-stub