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Ferenc József Nagy (22 April 1923 – 14 May 2019) was a Hungarian agrarian engineer and politician, who served as Minister of Agriculture between 1990 and 1991. After that he was appointed minister without portfolio, he also held this position in the cabinet of
Péter Boross Péter Boross (born 27 August 1928) is a Hungarian retired politician and former member of the Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF) who served as Prime Minister of Hungary from December 1993 to July 1994. He assumed the position upon the death of h ...
until 1994. Nagy was the chairman of the
Independent Smallholders, Agrarian Workers and Civic Party The Independent Smallholders, Agrarian Workers and Civic Party (), known mostly by its acronym FKgP or its shortened form Independent Smallholders' Party (), is a political party in Budapest, Hungary. During its existence, the party participated ...
for a short time.


Professional life

Ferenc József Nagy was born into an affluent peasant family in
Kisharsány Kisharsány is a village in Baranya county, 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 ...
,
Baranya County Baranya (, ; German language, German:Croatian language, Croatian:'' Baranjska županija'') is a Counties of Hungary, county () in southern Hungary. It is part of the Southern Transdanubia statistical region and the historical Baranya (region), B ...
on 22 April 1923. His
Calvinist Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Protestantism, Continenta ...
parents, Ferenc Nagy (1890–1939) and Ilona Kovács (1896–1980) were farming on 47 acres. He had a sister, Ilona (1920–1980). Ferenc József Nagy married Erzsébet Bobár in 1951. They had three children: Ferenc (b. 1952), Piroska (b. 1953) and Attila (b. 1957). Ferenc József Nagy was a
Presbyter Presbyter () is an honorific title for Christian clergy. The word derives from the Greek ''presbyteros'', which means elder or senior, although many in Christian antiquity understood ''presbyteros'' to refer to the bishop functioning as overseer ...
since 1957.Horváth, Zsolt (ed.): ''Az 1990-ben megválasztott Országgyűlés almanachja'' he Elected Members of the National Assembly of Hungary, 1990 Országgyűlés, Budapest, 1992. p. 279. Nagy finished his elementary studies in his birthplace, then attended a secondary school at the nearby
Siklós Siklós ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=/, Šikloš, Шиклош) is the 4th largest town in Baranya county, Hungary. The Malkocs Bey Mosque was built by the order of the Malkoçoğlu family. Ottoman conquest During Sultân Süleymân's 1543 campa ...
from 1933 to 1937. He farmed the family estate then. At the age of 14, he joined the local branch of the Independent Smallholders' Party (FKGP) in 1937. He became organizing secretary of the interest association Hungarian Peasant Alliance in 1941. As a notary, he was also involved in the Civic Reading Club between 1941 and 1948. Beside that he was a youth leader of the Christian Youth Alliance (KIE) from 1937 to 1948. He was a founding member of the Youth of Awakening Baranya in 1942. Following the
Soviet Occupation of Hungary During World War II, the Soviet Union occupied and annexed several countries effectively handed over by Nazi Germany in the secret Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 1939. These included the eastern regions of Poland (incorporated into three differe ...
and the Communist takeover, he was labelled as "''
kulak Kulak ( ; rus, кула́к, r=kulák, p=kʊˈɫak, a=Ru-кулак.ogg; plural: кулаки́, ''kulakí'', 'fist' or 'tight-fisted'), also kurkul () or golchomag (, plural: ), was the term which was used to describe peasants who owned over ...
''" and the half of his farm lands was confiscated, while Nagy was sent to compulsory military service to Kunmadaras in 1951. During his absence, his family was evicted and deported to Kunmadaras. Nagy worked for the
Hungarian State Railways The Hungarian State Railways (, , formally MÁV Magyar Államvasutak Zártkörűen Működő Részvénytársaság (MÁV Zrt.). The full official name of the company is MÁV-csoport () now commonly known as MÁV) is the Hungary, Hungarian natio ...
there from 1952 to 1956. He returned to Kisharsány in 1956, where continued to farming on his remaining estate of 22 acres. He distanced himself from the events during the
Hungarian Revolution of 1956 The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 4 November 1956; ), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was an attempted countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the policies caused by ...
, which also affected his village. He graduated from the correspondence course of the Agricultural Technical School of
Szentlőrinc Szentlőrinc () is a town in Baranya county, Hungary. The current mayor of Szentlőrinc is Péter Koltai, who is independent, and all the members of the municipal council are also independent. Demographics According to a 2023 report, the populatio ...
, attending there from 1958 to 1962. Meanwhile, he became head of the local
agricultural co-operative An agricultural cooperative, also known as a farmers' co-op, is a producer cooperative in which farmers pool their resources in certain areas of activities. A broad typology of agricultural cooperatives distinguishes between agricultural service ...
in 1959. He involved in the organization and its legal successors until his retirement in 1983. Nagy was a member of the Executive Committee of the Local Council of Kisharsány between 1960 and 1978. He earned a degree of agrarian engineer at the College of Agricultural Sciences in
Keszthely Keszthely (; also known by alternative names) is a Hungarian city of 20,895 inhabitants located on the western shore of Lake Balaton. It is the second largest city by the lake and one of the more important cultural, educational and economic hub ...
in 1967.


Political career

During the transition to democracy in Hungary, Nagy joined the re-emerging Independent Smallholders' Party on 23 March 1989. He was elected one of the vice-presidents of the party on 4 June 1989. He was elected a Member of Parliament for Siklós (Baranya County Constituency V) in the
1990 Hungarian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Hungary on 25 March 1990, with a second round of voting taking place in all but five single member constituencies on 8 April. They were the first completely free and competitive elections to be held in the cou ...
. Following the resignation of Vince Vörös, he was elected President of the Independent Smallholders' Party in May 1990. In this capacity, Nagy led the coalition negotiations on behalf of his party with
József Antall József Tihamér Antall Jr. (, ; 8 April 1932 – 12 December 1993) was a Hungarian teacher, librarian, historian, and statesman who served as the first democratically elected prime minister of Hungary, holding office from May 1990 until his d ...
, Prime Minister-designate and leader of the
Hungarian Democratic Forum The Hungarian Democratic Forum (, , MDF) was a centre-right political party in Hungary. It had a Hungarian nationalist, national-conservative, Christian-democratic ideology. The party was represented continuously in the National Assembly from t ...
(MDF). Nagy was appointed Minister of Agriculture in the forming Antall cabinet on 23 May 1990. He held his position until 16 January 1991, when he was made Minister without portfolio for Compensation.Bölöny, József – Hubai, László: ''Magyarország kormányai 1848–2004'' abinets of Hungary 1848–2004 Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, 2004 (5th edition). p. 401. He supervised the National and Ethnic Minority Office in that capacity too. The national board of the FKPG elected
József Torgyán József Torgyán (16 November 1932 − 22 January 2017) was a Hungarian lawyer and politician, chairman of the Independent Smallholders' Party (1991−2002), Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (1998−2001) i ...
as co-president of the party alongside Nagy on 27 April 1991. Nagy did not run as candidate in the following party congress, thus Torgyán remained the sole president of the party after 29 June 1991. Torgyán withdrew his party's support from the Antall cabinet, which resulted that the parliamentary caucus of the FKGP split into two groups on 24 February 1992. The majority of the MPs, including Nagy continued to support the government. He retained his position of minister in the cabinet too. As a member of the FKGP's Historic Division, Nagy joined the pro-government Historic Independent Smallholders' Party (TFKGP), led by Tivadar Pártay. By autumn 1993, the conflicts among the anti-Torgyán forces emerged as Pártay wanted to keep his party's monopolist status. Initially, Nagy remained a supporter of Pártay, but later he also joined the
United Smallholders' Party The United Historical Smallholders and Civic Party (, ), known mostly by its acronym EKGP or its shortened form United Smallholders' Party (), was an agrarianist political party in Hungary, after having several MPs and cabinet members left the Ind ...
(EKGP). Following the death of József Antall in December 1993, Nagy retained his position of Minister of Compensation in the cabinet of Péter Boross, until 15 July 1994, when the Socialist leader
Gyula Horn Gyula János Horn (5 July 1932 – 19 June 2013) was a Hungarian politician who was the Prime Minister of Hungary from 1994 to 1998. Horn was the last Communist Minister of Foreign Affairs (Hungary), Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary. He p ...
formed his government after the
1994 Hungarian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Hungary on 8 May 1994, with a second round of voting in 174 of the 176 single member constituencies on 29 May.Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p899 Nohlen & Stöve ...
. He retired from the politics in 1994.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nagy, Ferenc Jozsef 1923 births 2019 deaths People from Baranya County Independent Smallholders, Agrarian Workers and Civic Party politicians Ministers of agriculture of Hungary Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1990–1994)