Erik Molnár (16 December 1894 – 8 August 1966) was a Hungarian communist politician, lawyer, economist and historian who served as

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, ...

twice: from 1947 to 1948 and from 1952 to 1953.

Biography

During the

First World War 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 ...

he fought at the Eastern Front and was captured by the Russians. As a prisoner of war, Molnár met with the communist ideas in a

prisoner-of-war camp A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured as Prisoner of war, prisoners of war by a belligerent power in time of war. There are significant differences among POW camps, inte ...

in Far East Asia. Later he returned to home and finished his legal studies. After that, he joined the illegal

Hungarian Communist Party The Hungarian Communist Party (, , abbr. MKP), known earlier as the Party of Communists in Hungary (, , abbr. KMP), was a communist party in Hungary that existed during the interwar period and briefly after World War II. It was founded on Novem ...

and worked alongside his younger brother, René. He published a lot of articles for the illegal communist newspapers (''Gondolat'', ''Társadalmi Szemle'', ''Korunk''). In the Interim National Government he served as Minister of Welfare (1944–1945). Later he was appointed Minister of Information and Minister of Foreign Affairs (1947–1948). Then he was the Hungarian ambassador to the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

(1948–1949), and later he worked as Minister of Justice (1950–1952). He was Minister of Foreign Affairs again between 1952 and 1953. He was the President of the Supreme Court of Hungary between 1953 and 1954, and was later appointed as Minister of Justice again (1954–1956). He was a member of the assembly from 1944 until his death, and also a member of the communist party's Central Committee. Molnár played a big role in the management of the history research as member of the

Hungarian Academy of Sciences The Hungarian Academy of Sciences ( , MTA) is Hungary’s foremost and most prestigious learned society. Its headquarters are located along the banks of the Danube in Budapest, between Széchenyi rakpart and Akadémia utca. The Academy's primar ...

's history institute and as chairman of the Hungarian Historical Society. He dealt with the problems of the Hungarian social development thoroughly, first of all with the land question. He applied

Marxism Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, ...

Leninism Leninism (, ) is a political ideology developed by Russian Marxist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin that proposes the establishment of the Dictatorship of the proletariat#Vladimir Lenin, dictatorship of the proletariat led by a revolutionary Vangu ...

principles to Hungarian affairs. During the

Second World War 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 ...

, bigger studies appeared about the

Árpád Árpád (; 845 – 907) was the head of the confederation of the Magyar tribes at the turn of the 9th and 10th centuries. He might have been either the sacred ruler or '' kende'' of the Hungarians, or their military leader or '' g ...

era's society. After 1945, Molnár dealt with the Hungarian prehistory and the

feudalism Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of struc ...

with the questions of age

social history Social history, often called history from below, is a field of history that looks at the lived experience of the past. Historians who write social history are called social historians. Social history came to prominence in the 1960s, spreading f ...

, the ideological antecedents of the historical materialism and with his philosophical basis problems, the questions of the contemporary

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...

, dealt with the development of the

nationalism Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation, Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Theory, I ...

and its development furthermore.

Publications

* ''Dialektika'' (Dialect),

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 ...

, 1941 (''Erik Jeszenszky'' pseudonym). * ''Magyar őstörténet'' (Hungarian prehistory),

, 1942 (''Lajos Szentmiklósy'' pseudonym). * ''A feudalizmus kialakulása Magyarországon'' (The development of the feudalism in Hungary),

, 1942 (''Lajos Szentmiklósy'' pseudonym). * ''Az Árpádkori társadalom 1. A gazdasági alap'' (The society of the Árpád Era I: The Economy),

, 1943 (''Lajos Szentmiklósy'' pseudonym). * ''Az Árpádkori társadalom 2. A Felépítmény'' (The society of the Árpád Era II: The Forecastle),

, 1943 (''Lajos Szentmiklósy'' pseudonym). * ''Dialektika'' (Dialect),

, 1945. * ''A magyar társadalom története az őskortól az Árpádkorig'' (The history of the Hungarian society from the Prehistory to the Árpád Era),

, 1945. * ''A magyar társadalom története az Árpádkortól Mohácsig'' (The history of the Hungarian society from the Árpád Era to the Battle of Mohács),

, 1949. * ''A történelmi materializmus ideológiai előzményei'' (The ideological antecedents of the historical materialism),

, 1952. * ''A magyar nép őstörténete'' (The prehistory of the Hungarian people),

, 1953. * ''A történelmi materializmus filozófiai alapproblémái'' (The philosophical basis problems of the historical materialism),

, 1955. * ''A jelenkori kapitalizmus néhány gazdasági problémája'' (Some economic problems of the contemporary capitalism),

, 1959. * ''Dialektikus materializmus és társadalomtudomány'' (Dialectic materialism and social science),

, 1962.

References

Magyar Életrajzi Lexikon
{{DEFAULTSORT:Molnar, Erik 1894 births 1966 deaths Politicians from Novi Sad People from the Kingdom of Hungary Hungarians in Vojvodina Hungarian Communist Party politicians Members of the Hungarian Working People's Party Members of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party Ministers of foreign affairs of Hungary Members of justice of Hungary Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1945–1947) Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1947–1949) Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1949–1953) Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1953–1958) Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1958–1963) Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1963–1967) Ambassadors of Hungary to the Soviet Union Hungarian Marxists 20th-century Hungarian philosophers Hungarian economists Hungarian jurists