József Dudás (22 September 1912 – 19 January 1957), was a Hungarian politician and resistance fighter.

Early life

Dudás was born in Marosvásárhely (in Romanian: Târgu Mureş) in

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

(today in

Transylvania Transylvania ( or ; ; or ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjen'') is a List of historical regions of Central Europe, historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

). As a very young man, he joined the illegal Communist Party in Transylvania. In 1933 he was arrested and sentenced to nine years in prison. When Northern Transylvania was transferred to Hungary as part of the

Second Vienna Award The Second Vienna Award was the second of two territorial disputes that were arbitrated by Nazi Germany and the Kingdom of Italy. On 30 August 1940, they assigned the territory of Northern Transylvania, including all of Maramureș and part of Cri ...

in 1940, he was released and he moved to Budapest.

World War II

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 ...

, he worked within the anti-fascist movement acting as a liaison between groups. When the war ended, Dudás was a member of an unofficial ceasefire delegation that visited Moscow, and he was a founding member of the Liberation Committee of the Hungarian National Uprising. In late 1945 he joined the

Independent Smallholders' Party The Independent Smallholders, Agrarian Workers and Civic Party (), known mostly by its acronym FKgP or its shortened form Independent Smallholders' Party (), is a list of political parties in Hungary, political party in Budapest, Hungary. During ...

and was elected to the Budapest government. As the communists mounted their campaign to take over Hungary, Dudás was arrested and detained until he was handed over to Romanian state security in 1951. Released in 1954, he returned to Hungary.

Hungarian revolution and execution

Working as an engineer when 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 ...

broke out, he took to addressing crowds and on 29 October, established the Second District National Committee, with a 25-point program demanding, a coalition government, a multi-party system and neutrality. He also started a newspaper (Magyar Függetlenség—Hungarian Independence), which headlined, ‘We do not recognize the present government!’ At this same time the so-called "Dudás Group" consisting of about 400 armed men was formed. Dudás was an odd character but there were rumors about him among the revolutionary forces, such as that he sat around a desk with hoards of cash, and had a torture chamber for members of Hungary's AVH

Secret Police image:Putin-Stasi-Ausweis.png, 300px, Vladimir Putin's secret police identity card, issued by the East German Stasi while he was working as a Soviet KGB liaison officer from 1985 to 1989. Both organizations used similar forms of repression. Secre ...

. Rumors that Dudás thought he could take over in place of the newly appointed Nagy circulated, and in an attempt to take over the Foreign Ministry, General Kiraly ordered Dudas' own men to arrest him for "counter-revolutionary" acts, or at least acts that were attributed to him (an attack on the Foreign Ministry; looting of the National Bank). Once in handcuffs, Dudás' men left the building, and he was released because he was not truly a threat to the government, but Nagy needed it to look like he was trying to neutralize threats in order to appease the Russian Communists. On 4 November he was wounded and taken to a hospital. On 21 November he was tricked into entering the Parliament building and was arrested by the Soviets. He was charged with leadership of a conspiracy and on 14 January 1957 he was sentenced to death, which was carried out on 19 January 1957.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dudas, Jozsef 1912 births 1957 deaths People from Târgu Mureș Romanian people of Hungarian descent Independent Smallholders, Agrarian Workers and Civic Party politicians Hungarian revolutionaries People of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 Romanian people executed abroad People executed by Hungary by hanging Executed revolutionaries