Ferenc Erdei

Ferenc Erdei (24 December 1910 – 11 May 1971) was a Hungarian politician and sociologist, who served as Interior Minister in the unofficial interim government led by Béla Miklós. After the Soviet occupation of Hungary this cabinet took office officially, in March 1945.

Ferenc Erdei
Minister of the Interior of Hungary
In office 21 December 1944 (officially 27 March 1945) – 15 November 1945
Prime Minister	Béla Miklós
Preceded by	Gábor Vajna
Succeeded by	Imre Nagy
Minister of Agriculture of Hungary
In office 11 June 1949 – 4 July 1953
Prime Minister	István Dobi Mátyás Rákosi
Preceded by	István Csala
Succeeded by	András Hegedüs
In office 30 October 1954 – 15 November 1955
Prime Minister	Imre Nagy András Hegedüs
Preceded by	András Hegedüs
Succeeded by	János Matolcsi
Minister of Justice of Hungary
In office 4 July 1953 – 30 October 1954
Prime Minister	Imre Nagy
Preceded by	Béla Kovács
Succeeded by	Erik Molnár
Personal details
Born	24 December 1910 Makó, Csanád County, Kingdom of Hungary, Austria-Hungary
Died	11 May 1971 (aged 60) Budapest, Hungarian People's Republic
Political party	National Peasant Party
Profession	sociologist, politician

Communist period

Under communist rule, Erdei served as minister of agriculture in 1949–53. As such he was responsible for the "attic sweepings" and other coercive happenings and atrocities in the villages. In July 1953 he was appointed minister of justice.[1]

1956 Revolution

Erdei became a deputy prime minister during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, and as such was one of the leaders of the Hungarian delegation who negotiated abortively with the Soviets. On 3 November he was arrested together with Minister of Defence Pál Maléter, but after some weeks Erdei was released after an intervention by János Kádár.[1]

Later posts

In 1957 he became secretary-general of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. He received a Kossuth Prize twice, in 1948 and 1962. He was also secretary-general of the National Council of the Patriotic People's Front between 1964 and 1970.[1]

References

1. Hungarian Biographical Dictionary (in Hungarian) Retrieved 4 July 2017.