Mihály Farkas (born Hermann Lőwy; 18 July 1904 – 6 December 1965) was a Hungarian Communist politician who served as Minister of National Defense of the

Hungarian People's Republic The Hungarian People's Republic ( hu, Magyar Népköztársaság) was a one-party state, one-party socialist state from 20 August 1949 to 23 October 1989. It was governed by the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party, which was under the influence ...

Biography

He was born in 1904 in

Abaújszántó Abaújszántó is a small town in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county, Northern Hungary, about from the county seat Miskolc. It belongs to the famous Tokaj-Hegyalja wine district. History Abaújszántó has been inhabited since ancient times. The Hung ...

to Jewish parents, in the

Abaúj-Torna County Abaúj-Torna ( sk, Abov-Turňa, german: Abaujwar-Tornau, la, comitatus Abaujvar-Tornensis) was an administrative county ( comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its capital was Kassa (present-day Košice). Its territory is now divided between Hung ...

of the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coronation of the Hungarian monarch, c ...

, and became a Communist in the 1920s. He lived in

Košice Košice ( , ; german: Kaschau ; hu, Kassa ; pl, Коszyce) is the largest city in eastern Slovakia. It is situated on the river Hornád at the eastern reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains, near the border with Hungary. With a population of a ...

and

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

then. He fought in the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlism, Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebeli ...

; later he moved to the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

. He returned to Hungary in late 1944 alongside other Hungarian communists and became a member of the Central Committee, the Political Committee and the Secretariat of the

Hungarian Communist Party The Hungarian Communist Party ( hu, Magyar Kommunista Párt, abbr. MKP), known earlier as the Party of Communists in Hungary ( hu, Kommunisták Magyarországi Pártja, abbr. KMP), was a communist party in Hungary that existed during the interwar ...

from May 1945. In 1945 he became under-secretary of Home Affairs. In 1946 he was elected deputy secretary and became the chairman of the party's Management Committee. He was Minister of National Defence from 9 September 1948 to 2 July 1953. He was one of the main instigators during the Rákosi era. In 1956 he was expelled from the party and convicted. He was released from prison in 1961 and spent his last years working as an editor and publisher in Budapest, where he died in 1965. His son Vladimir was a colonel of the

security police Security police officers are employed by or for a governmental agency or corporations to provide security service security services to those properties. Security police protect facilities, properties, personnel, users, visitors and enforce cer ...

during the Rákosi era.

Awards

Order of the Hungarian People's Republic 1st and 2nd Classes (1949) Order of the Freedom Silver Class (1945) and Golden Class (1946) Order of Kossuth 1st Class (1950) Medal for Public Security Silver Grade (1947, awarded for the services as Ministry of the Interior State Security) 1848-1948 Commemorative Medal Medal "For the Victory Over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945" Merit of the Star of the Garibaldi Brigade (1945) Military Order of the White Lion 2nd Class (1945)

References

Sources

* '' Magyar Életrajzi Lexikon 1000–1990'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Farkas, Mihaly 1904 births 1965 deaths People from Abaújszántó Jewish Hungarian politicians Hungarian Communist Party politicians Members of the Hungarian Working People's Party Defence ministers of Hungary Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1945–1947) Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1947–1949) Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1949–1953) Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1953–1958) People of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 Jewish socialists Jewish anti-fascists Burials at Farkasréti Cemetery