Janos Kadar. Biography of the politician of Hungary

Janos Kadar (years of life - 1912-1989) - the figure is ambiguous. In Russian reference books he is called a great statesman and politician, under whose rule Hungary achieved economic prosperity. Other publications brand him as a Stalinist, who came to power on the bayonets of the Soviet troops, the Kremlin's protege and the organizer of the execution of Imre Nagy, the deposed prime minister of the country. Who, in fact, was Kadar, who was awarded the Order of Hero of the Soviet Union? In this article, we will try to understand his intricate biography.

Childhood

Janos Kadar was born on May 26, 1912. He was the illegitimate son of the servant of Barbola Chemranek from soldier Janos Krezinger. Since he was born in the territory of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in the city of Fiume (now Rijeka, in Croatia), he was recorded in the register under the name Giovanni Giuseppe Chemranec. When the boy was six years old, his mother moved to Budapest. In folk primary school, he showed extraordinary abilities. As the best pupil, he was sent to free education in the city's higher education college. However, the financial situation in the family was difficult. Janosz Chemranek at the age of fourteen dropped his education and hired an ancillary to the printing house. As strange as it sounds, it was brought to the Communist Party ... chess. Young Janos was very fond of this game. Once he happened to win a chess tournament. As a prize, he was presented with the book by F. Engels "Anti-Dyuring". This work, in the words of the most Chemranek, completely turned his consciousness.

Connection with Marxism

At the chess tournament, Janos Kadar won in 1928, when he was only sixteen. A serious and large-scale crisis in the world economy was brewing. The first worsening of wages and living standards was felt by workers. The young mechanic of the printing house helped organize a spontaneous rally and strike. The government brutally suppressed this performance of workers, and many of the comrades of Chemranek were arrested. In 1930 the printing house was closed due to the crisis. So unemployed Chemranek, imbued with even greater antagonism to the class of exploiters, came into contact with the then banned Communist Party of Hungary. In 1931, he joined the Komsomol cell of them. Ya. Sverdlov and took the underground name of Barna (Chaten). Already in May 1933 he became a member of the Committee of the Youth wing of the Communist Party in Budapest. The Soviet Union, which generously financed this organization, offered him studies at Moscow University, but the young Komsomol refused.

The Second World War

Janos Kadar, whose biography has since closely intertwined with politics, as a true Stalinist had nothing against the union of the USSR with Hitler's Germany. At that time, he had already changed the Communist Party, joining the ranks of the Social Democrats in 1935. There he also made a career and headed the cell of the SDP. In fact, throughout the war he was a formal participant in the Czechoslovak "Resistance", but he did not engage in special activities there. Years later, communist propaganda circulated information that he allegedly created the anti-fascist Hungarian Front, but no activity was recorded by this organization. At the beginning of the forties he changed also the Social Democrats, once again enrolling in the Pest Committee of the Communist Party of Hungary. And again a deafening career rise: in 1942, he was already a member of the Central Committee, and in 1943 - Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPV.

Career in the Soviet Union

In April 1944, Janos Kadar was arrested in Serbia for desertion. He managed to escape. Hiding, he took another pseudonym - Kadar (Cooper), which from now on became his name. In April 1964, the then leadership of the USSR, trying to expose its ally "an outstanding fighter against fascism," awarded him the title of Hero of the Soviet Union and awarded the most outstanding at that time awards - the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal. When Hungary was liberated from fascism, Kadar, at that time already an agent of the NKVD, was elected a deputy of the Provisional National Assembly, as well as a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (CPSU). Since then, his career has skyrocketed. In 1946, he became deputy general secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU. At the same time, from 1945 to 1948, he serves as the secretary of the capital's city committee. And, finally, in August 1948 he was appointed Minister of Internal Affairs of the country. In this position, he initiated the arrest of Laszlo Raiko, accusing him of anti-Soviet activities. Becoming a potential rival of the Stalinist Matthias Rakosi, Kadar was dismissed and himself became a prisoner of the concentration camp. He was released only in 1956.

Janos Kadar: politician of the regime of the socialist camp

At that time, discontent was ripening in Hungary over the Soviet model of country leadership. Member of the government Imre Nagy actively advocated cooperation with trade unions, the release of political prisoners, the abolition of censorship. Janos Kadar initially fully supported this policy and even said that he would stop with his body the first Russian tank that would cross the border of Hungary. Thus, he quickly made a career, and October 30, 1956 was appointed minister in the office, headed by Nadia. But already on November 1, Kadar escapes from Hungary and meets with Nikita Khrushchev in Uzhgorod, which gives him clear instructions on the formation of a regime controlled by the USSR. A week later a new ruler with Soviet tanks returned to Budapest.

The epoch of "goulash-communism"

November 8, 1956 Kadar announced the usurpation of power. Nadia and his associates sought refuge in the embassy of Yugoslavia. Kadar promised his former comrades-in-arms a full amnesty. But when Nadia left the embassy, he was arrested and two years later he was executed. However, Janos Kadar, whose photo is still venerated by the older generation of Hungarians, was a skilful politician. In the conditions of the Prague Spring, he managed to squeeze out of his great partner, the USSR, the maximum of benefits for his country. Cheap Soviet gas and economic liberalization, Hungary's openness to tourists from the capitalist bloc have made the country more or less prosperous. The era of "goulash-communism" ended even before the collapse of the USSR. Already in May 1988 Kadar was dismissed, and a year later, on July 6, he died.