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

Minister of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...

from 1984 until his death.

Biography

In 1945, he became a volunteer in the Hungarian People's Army. That same year he joined the Communist Party. In 1949 he graduated from the Kossuth Military Academy. In 1964, he 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 (24 March 1924 – 10 May 1998) was a Hungarian military officer and politician, who served as Minister of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defe ...

Death

Oláh died on 15 December 1985, a day before his 59th birthday. He was buried in Kerepesi Cemetery. Conspiracy theories about his death arose has his death occurred at a time when the defense ministers of 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 ...

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

and

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

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
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External links

on his involvement in 1980 events about the time of

death and state funeral of Josip Broz Tito Josip Broz Tito, President of Yugoslavia and leader of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, died on 4 May 1980 following a prolonged illness. His state funeral was held four days later on 8 May, drawing a significant amount of statesmen ...

References

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