Dr. Miklós Kállay de Nagykálló | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 1941 | |
| Prime Minister of Hungary | |
| In office 9 March 1942 – 22 March 1944 | |
| Regent | Miklós Horthy |
| Preceded by | László Bárdossy |
| Succeeded by | Döme Sztójay |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1887-01-23)23 January 1887 |
| Died | 14 January 1967(1967-01-14) (aged 79) |
| Nationality | Hungarian |
| Political party | Unity Party/Party of National Unity (1929–1935) Independent (1935–1939) Party of Hungarian Life |
| Spouse(s) | Helén Kállay (1914–1945) Márta Fényes de Csokaly |
| Children | Kristóf Miklós András |
| Parent(s) | András Kállay de Nagykálló Vilma Csuha de Eördöghfalva |
| Profession | Politician |
Miklós Kállay de Nagykálló (23 January 1887 – 14 January 1967) was aHungarian politician who served asPrime Minister of Hungary during World War II, from 9 March 1942 to 22 March 1944. By early 1942, Hungarian Regent AdmiralMiklós Horthy was seeking to put some distance between himself and Hitler's regime. He dismissed the pro-German prime minister,László Bárdossy, and replaced him with Kállay, a moderate whom Horthy expected to loosenHungary's ties to Germany.[1]
Kállay successfully protected refugees and prisoners, resisted Nazi pressure regarding Jews, established contact with the Allies and negotiated conditions under which Hungary would switch sides against Germany. However, the Allies were not close enough. When the Germans occupied Hungary in March 1944, Kállay went into hiding. He was finally captured by the Nazis but was liberated when the war ended.[2] He went into exile in 1946 and died two decades later inNew York City.
TheKállay family was old and influential among the local gentry of their region, and Miklós served as lord-lieutenant (ispán) of his county from 1921 to 1929. He then moved on to national government and served first as deputy under secretary of state for the Ministry of Trade (1929–1931) and later as minister of agriculture (1932–1935). He resigned in 1935 in protest over the right-wing policies of Prime MinisterGyula Gömbös. He kept out of politics for most of the next decade before Hungarian Regent AdmiralMiklós Horthy asked him to form a government to reverse the pro-Nazi policies ofLászló Bárdossy in March 1942.[2]
The German minister in Budapest,Dietrich von Jagow reported to Berlin: "Kállay is basically an apolitical person and has not been active in the last few years either in internal or foreign affairs. National Socialism is an "alien" concept to him and he bears no inner sympathy with it. Nevertheless he will no doubt continue the same relations with Germany as his successor".[3]
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In foreign affairs, Kállay supported the German war effort against theSoviet Union. However, he made numerous peaceful overtures to the Western Allies and even went as far as to promise to surrender to them unconditionally once they reached Hungary's borders. The Germans finally had enough of his policies andoccupied Hungary in March 1944, which forced Horthy to oust Kállay and replace him with the more pliableDöme Sztójay.
Kállay evaded the Nazis at first, but he was eventually captured and sent first to theDachau and later toMauthausen. In late April 1945, he wastransferred to Tyrol, together with other prominent concentration camp inmates, where theSS left the prisoners behind. He was liberated by theFifth US Army on 5 May 1945.[4]
In 1946 he went into exile and finally settled in theUnited States in 1951. In 1954, he published his memoirs,Hungarian Premier: A Personal Account of a Nation's Struggle in the Second World War (Columbia University Press).[5]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Minister of Agriculture 1932–1935 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by Ferenc Keresztes-Fischer Acting | Prime Minister of Hungary 1942–1944 | Succeeded by |
| Minister of Foreign Affairs 1942–1943 | Succeeded by | |
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
