Béla Biszku (13 September 1921 – 31 March 2016) was a Hungarian communist politician, who served as Minister of the Interior from 1957 to 1961. He was charged of suspicion of committing war crimes during the suppression of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, becoming the first and to date only former top-official in Hungary who has been prosecuted because of political role in the communist era.
Early life
Béla Biszku was born in Márok, Bereg County (today Márokpapi, Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County) on 13 September 1921 as the son of György Biszku and Etelka Debreczeni, who were farm workers. After finishing six years of elementary studies and four years of state civil school, he came afterwards to the locksmith's apprenticeship for the Wertheim Elevator & Machine Manufacture in 1937. Already in 1938 Biszku was active in the youth organisation of the metalworkers in the workers' area of Angyalföld in Budapest. From 1941 to 1942, he worked at Marx & Mérei Scientific Instruments Plant, and from 1942 to 1945, he was employed by Hungarian Philips Works. In 1943, Biszku joined Vasas Szakszervezet, the metalworker's trade union and participated energetically in organizing work.
Biszku joined the Hungarian Communist Party (MKP) in 1944 and participated in the Angyalföld resistance movement that fought against the Nazi German occupation force and against the collaborationist pro-fascist Arrow Cross Party government during the end of World War II. After the war, he played a role in the organization of the Budapest Police, then he established the Angyalföld branch of the communist party. He had worked for the MKP's Budapest Party Committee since 1946.
Political career
For six weeks, he functioned as deputy head of the Cadre Department of the Central Leadership of the Hungarian Working People's Party (MDP) in May 1949. By the 1949 parliamentary election, the MDP had established a single party state and Soviet-type totalitarian dictatorship. Biszku worked for the Cadre Department of the Budapest Party Committee until 1951, when he was replaced. Following that, he became the secretary of the Party Committee of the Kőbánya branch. He had attended the party's Political College (PF) since September 1953. He was appointed First Secretary of the Angyalföld branch's Party Committee in the Spring of 1955.
During the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, he recruited local pro-communist armed groups among party members and workers against the freedom fighters in the first days of the popular uprising. As a result, he was awarded with Medal for Worker-Peasant Power in April 1958, after the suppression of the revolution. Following long years of work in party organizations, Biszku sprang into prominence after the events of 1956.
Between 1957 and 1961 he served as Minister of the Interior in the government of János Kádár. In this capacity, he became known for the severity he showed in suppressing and punishing after the 1956 revolution, which was one of the largest revolt against the communist government in the Eastern Bloc and its Soviet-imposed policies, was defeated. Between 1961–1962 Biszku became the deputy prime minister, alongside Antal Apró, Jenő Fock and Gyula Kállai. He was replaced by Lajos Fehér on 27 November 1962. Biszku was also elected Member of Parliament during the 1958 parliamentary election, representing Constituency I in Szabolcs-Szatmár County. He was MP until April 1971, when did not stand for re-election in the 1971 parliamentary election. From 1962 until 1978, he was the Secretary of the Central Committee of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party (MSZMP).
Biszku, as a hard-line communist, strongly opposed the New Economic Mechanism (ÚGM) which was imposed by the Kádár regime in 1968 and contained "capitalist elements". In 1972, together with Zoltán Komócsin, and other fellow communists, he became involved in a plot to force János Kádár to resign from virtually all of his public functions in an effort to return Hungary to a more orthodox Soviet-style line. To achieve his goals, Biszku tried to convince Yuri Andropov of the rightness of his cause, who immediately alerted Kádár. Afterwards Kádár slowly removed Biszku from power. Biszku was again MP between 1975 and 1985, representing Constituency II in Szabolcs-Szatmár County.