Jenő Szemák (4 February 1887 – 30 July 1971) was a Hungarian jurist, who served as President of the
Curia Regia
The Curia Regia was the supreme court of the Kingdom of Hungary (Hungary and Croatia) between 1723 and 1949.
Charles VI in 1723 divided it into two courts: the ''Tabula Septemviralis'' (Court of the Seven) and the ''Tabula Regia Iudiciaria'' (Ro ...
from 1944 to 1945.
He finished his legal studies in
Kolozsvár
; hu, kincses város)
, official_name=Cluj-Napoca
, native_name=
, image_skyline=
, subdivision_type1 = County
, subdivision_name1 = Cluj County
, subdivision_type2 = Status
, subdivision_name2 = County seat
, settlement_type = City
, l ...
(today: ''Cluj-Napoca, Romania''). He taught at the Calvinist Law Academy of Máramarossziget (today: ''Sighetu Marmației, Romania'') until the
Treaty of Trianon
The Treaty of Trianon (french: Traité de Trianon, hu, Trianoni békeszerződés, it, Trattato del Trianon) was prepared at the Paris Peace Conference and was signed in the Grand Trianon château in Versailles on 4 June 1920. It formal ...
(1920) when he was banned from
Transylvania
Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the ...
. He moved to
Budapest
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
.
He was elected President of the Criminal Court in 1939. He led the trials in the cases of many Communist persons including Zoltán Szántó and
Mátyás Rákosi
Mátyás Rákosi (; born Mátyás Rosenfeld; 9 March 1892 – 5 February 1971) was a Hungarian . Szemák sympathized with the far-right movements. After the fascist
Arrow Cross Party
The Arrow Cross Party ( hu, Nyilaskeresztes Párt – Hungarista Mozgalom, , abbreviated NYKP) was a far-right Hungarian ultranationalist party led by Ferenc Szálasi, which formed a government in Hungary they named the Government of Nationa ...
's coup, he was appointed President of the Curia Regia in 1944. He escaped from Hungary after the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
. He was sentenced to death ''
in absentia
is Latin for absence. , a legal term, is Latin for "in the absence" or "while absent".
may also refer to:
* Award in absentia
* Declared death in absentia, or simply, death in absentia, legally declared death without a body
* Election in abse ...
''. He settled down in 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 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...