Döme Sztójay ( sr-cyr, Димитрије Стојаковић, 5 January 1883 – 22 August 1946) was a Hungarian

soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a Conscription, conscripted or volunteer Enlisted rank, enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, a warrant officer, or an Officer (armed forces), officer. Etymology The wo ...

and

diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...

of Serb origin, who served as

Prime Minister of Hungary The prime minister of Hungary () is the head of government of Hungary. The prime minister and the government of Hungary, Cabinet are collectively accountability, accountable for their policies and actions to the National Assembly (Hungary), Par ...

in 1944, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Biography

Born in Versec (modern-day

Vršac Vršac ( sr-Cyrl, Вршац, ) is a city in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. As of 2022, the city urban area had a population of 31,946, while the city administrative area had 45,462 inhabitants. It is located in the geographical ...

) into a Serb family as Dimitrije Stojaković ( sr-cyr, Димитрије Стојаковић), Sztójay joined the

Austro-Hungarian Army The Austro-Hungarian Army, also known as the Imperial and Royal Army,; was the principal ground force of Austria-Hungary from 1867 to 1918. It consisted of three organisations: the Common Army (, recruited from all parts of Austria-Hungary), ...

as a young man and served as a

colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. After the war, Sztójay served in

Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in many navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force. Admiral is ranked above vice admiral and below admiral of ...

Miklós Horthy Miklós Horthy de Nagybánya (18 June 1868 – 9 February 1957) was a Hungarian admiral and statesman who was the Regent of Hungary, regent of the Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946), Kingdom of Hungary Hungary between the World Wars, during the ...

’s counter-revolutionary

Royal Hungarian Army The Royal Hungarian Army (, ) 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 inherited from the Royal Hungarian Honvéd which went under the same Hu ...

, specializing in

counter-espionage Counterintelligence (counter-intelligence) or counterespionage (counter-espionage) is any activity aimed at protecting an agency's intelligence program from an opposition's intelligence service. It includes gathering information and conducting ac ...

. After Horthy became

Regent In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

, Sztójay was promoted to

general A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

and served as a

military attaché A military attaché or defence attaché (DA),Defence Attachés
''Geneva C ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

from 1927 to 1933. He Magyarized his name to Sztójay in 1927. From 1933 to 1935, Sztójay served in the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

. In 1935, Prime Minister Gyula Gömbös named Sztójay as Hungarian

ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, a position he would hold until 1944. As ambassador, Sztójay formed strong ties with the Third Reich and often voiced support for German policies to his superiors in Hungary. In

Operation Margarethe In March 1944, Hungary was occupied by the Wehrmacht. This invasion was formally known as Operation Margarethe (Unternehmen Margarethe). Course of events Hungarian Prime Minister Miklós Kállay, who had been in office from 1942, had the kno ...

in March 1944, the German Army occupied Hungary and forced Horthy to remove Prime Minister Miklós Kállay from office. Kállay, like Horthy, knew that Germany was losing the war, and had put out numerous feelers to the West. On 9 September 1943 László Veress, an employee of the Ministry of Exterior signed a secret agreement to surrender unconditionally to the Western Allies. Although Kállay and his government had promised on numerous occasions to surrender to the Western Allies as soon as they reached Hungary, Veress' agreement was unauthorized, as in Kállay's consideration it effectively gave up Hungary's sovereignty. Nevertheless, the agreement didn't sit well with Berlin. When they took over the country, the Germans gave Horthy a choice between choosing a new prime minister who would cooperate with the Germans or undisguised occupation. Knowing that the latter would likely mean a

Gauleiter A ''Gauleiter'' () was a regional leader of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) who served as the head of a ''Administrative divisions of Nazi Germany, Gau'' or ''Reichsgau''. ''Gauleiter'' was the third-highest Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party, rank in ...

who would treat Hungary in the same manner as the other Nazi-occupied countries, Horthy chose the former. The German

Plenipotentiary A ''plenipotentiary'' (from the Latin ''plenus'' "full" and ''potens'' "powerful") is a diplomat who has full powers—authorization to sign a treaty or convention on behalf of a sovereign. When used as a noun more generally, the word can als ...

for Hungary, Edmund Veesenmayer, proposed that Horthy reappoint

Béla Imrédy Béla vitéz Imrédy de Ómoravicza (; 29 December 1891 – 28 February 1946) was Prime Minister of Hungary from 1938 to 1939. Born in Budapest to a Catholic family, Imrédy studied law as a young man before he started working for the Hungaria ...

, who had been prime minister earlier in the war (and who had, ironically, a Jewish great-grandfather). However, Horthy balked at appointing the strongly pro-German Imrédy and suggested Sztójay instead. Though Sztójay had been ambassador to Berlin for a decade and was known to be pro-German, Horthy believed that at bottom he was a soldier first and would not totally give in to German demands. The Germans readily approved of Horthy's choice, and on 23 March 1944, Sztójay was appointed prime minister and

Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

. As prime minister, Sztójay legalized

Ferenc Szálasi Ferenc Szálasi (; 6 January 1897 – 12 March 1946) was a Hungarian military officer, politician, Nazi sympathizer and founder of the far-right Arrow Cross Party who List of prime ministers of Hungary, headed the government of Hungary duri ...

’s

Arrow Cross Party The Arrow Cross Party (, , abbreviated NYKP) was a far-right Hungarian ultranationalist party led by Ferenc Szálasi, which formed a government in Hungary they named the Government of National Unity. They were in power from 15 October 1944 to ...

, increased Hungarian troop levels on the Eastern Front, dissolved the nation's

labor union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

s, jailed political opponents, and cracked down on left wing politicians and activists. He also significantly ramped up the pace of forced deportations of Hungarian Jews, but at the same time tried to reduce the consequences. Horthy quickly became appalled by Sztójay's actions and demanded his removal as prime minister, but Veesenmayer, backed by

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

, sternly refused to do so. Horthy refused to give in entirely, however, and used his influence to stop the deportations of Hungary's Jews and to force Imrédy out of Sztójay's cabinet. The Germans finally submitted to Horthy's pressure in August 1944 and Sztójay resigned as prime minister in favour of Géza Lakatos. When Horthy was removed from power by the Germans in October 1944, Sztójay was not reappointed prime minister due to poor health. Sztójay subsequently fled Hungary when the Germans were driven out of the country by the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

in April 1945. Sztójay was later captured by American troops and extradited to Hungary in October 1945, after which time he was tried by a People's Tribunal in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

. He was found guilty of

war crimes A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hos ...

and crimes against the Hungarian people, sentenced to death, and executed by a firing squad in Budapest in 1946.

References

Sources

* Thomas L. Sakmyster: A Hungarian Diplomat in Nazi Berlin: Sztójay Döme. In: Hungarian history – world history, szerkesztette Ránki György. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1984. * A magyar Quisling-kormány: Sztójay Döme és társai a népbíróság elõtt / zerk. Simándi Irén evezető tanulmányt írta, sajtó alá rend. és a mutatókat készítették: Karsai László, Molnár JuditBudapest: 1956-os KHT, 2004.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sztojay, Dome 1883 births 1946 deaths People from Vršac Serbs of Vojvodina Hungarian people of Serbian descent Prime ministers of Hungary Ministers of foreign affairs of Hungary Ambassadors of Hungary to Germany Austro-Hungarian military personnel of World War I K.u.k. War College alumni World War II political leaders Holocaust perpetrators in Hungary Hungarian people of World War II Hungarian people executed for war crimes Executed prime ministers Executed Hungarian collaborators with Nazi Germany Executed Serbian collaborators with Nazi Germany People executed by Hungary by firing squad Serbian Austro-Hungarians Heads of government who were later imprisoned Unity Party (Hungary) politicians