Károly Peyer (9 May 1881 – 25 October 1956) was a Hungarian 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 ...

for six days after the end of the

Hungarian Soviet Republic The Socialist Federative Republic of Councils in Hungary ( hu, Magyarországi Szocialista Szövetséges Tanácsköztársaság) (due to an early mistranslation, it became widely known as the Hungarian Soviet Republic in English-language sources ( ...

in 1919. He was later Minister of Works in the cabinets of

István Friedrich István Friedrich (anglicised as Stephen Frederick; 1 July 1883 – 25 November 1951) was a Hungarian politician, footballer and factory owner who served as prime minister of Hungary for three months between August and November in 1919. His ten ...

and

Károly Huszár Károly Huszár de Sárvár (born as Károly Schorn, 1882–1941) was a Hungarian politician who served as prime minister and acting Head of State of Hungary from November 1919 to March 1920. His tenure coincided with a period of political i ...

. He took part in the consolidation policy of

István Bethlen Count István Bethlen de Bethlen (8 October 1874, Gernyeszeg – 5 October 1946, Moscow) was a Hungarian aristocrat and statesman and served as prime minister from 1921 to 1931. Early life The scion of an old Bethlen de Bethlen noble fam ...

in 1921: as the leader of the main opposition party (the

Hungarian Social Democratic Party The Social Democratic Party of Hungary ( hu, Magyarországi Szociáldemokrata Párt, MSZDP) is a social democratic political party in Hungary. Historically, the party was dissolved during the occupation of Hungary by Nazi Germany (1944–1945) ...

) he compromised with the Prime Minister (the Bethlen-Peyer Pact). Peyer was called "betrayer of the left-wing" by the

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 ...

s. In 1947 Peyer was excluded from his party, so he joined to the Hungarian Radical Party, which organised against communist rule. Soon Peyer emigrated to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The next year the People's Tribunal sentenced him to 8 years. Peyer died of a heart attack on 25 October 1956, while listening to the news of 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 ...

, which broke out two days earlier.

References

Magyar Életrajzi Lexikon
1881 births 1956 deaths People from Veszprém County Hungarian people of German descent Social Democratic Party of Hungary politicians Hungarian Radical Party politicians Hungarian Interior Ministers Members of the Diet of Hungary Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1945–1947) Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1947–1949) Hungarian emigrants to the United States {{Hungary-politician-stub