Pál Maléter
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Pál Maléter | |
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Born | Eperjes, Sáros County, Kingdom of Hungary | 4 September 1917
Died | 16 June 1958 Budapest, Hungary | (aged 40)
Years of service | 1942–1956 |
Rank | Colonel General |
Pál Maléter (4 September 1917 – 16 June 1958) was the military leader of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution.
Maléter was born to Hungarian parents in Eperjes, a city in Sáros County, in the northern part of Historical Hungary, today Prešov, Slovakia. He studied medicine at the Charles University, Prague, before moving to Budapest in 1938, going to the military academy there. He fought on the Eastern Front of World War II, until captured by the Red Army. He became a Communist, trained in sabotage, fought against the Germans in Transylvania and was sent back to Hungary, where he was noted for his courage and daring.
In 1956 he was a colonel and the commander of an armoured division stationed in Budapest when he was sent to suppress the Hungarian Uprising, but on making contact with the insurgents he decided to join them, helping to defend the Kilian Barracks. He was the most prominent member of the Hungarian military to change sides, allying himself with the insurgents rather than the Rákosi government.
As the chief military presence on the insurgents' side he came into contact with the new government, and enjoyed a rapid promotion from colonel to general, and on 29 October was appointed Minister of Defense. On 3 November he went to Tököl, located near Budapest, to negotiate with the Soviet military forces based there. During discussions on the following day, and against international law, Soviet officers arrested Maléter at the conference and imprisoned him.
He was executed along with Imre Nagy and others in a Budapest prison on 16 June 1958, on charges of attempting to overthrow the Hungarian People's Republic. His first wife and three children went to the U.S. in the wake of the uprising, while his second wife remained in Hungary; both wives subsequently remarried.
In June 1989, on the anniversary of their deaths, Imre Nagy, Pal Maleter, three others who had died in prison and a sixth, empty coffin symbolising all those who had died were formally reburied in Budapest with full honours.
A pine cultivar has been named after him[1] – ironically, given Maléter's height, a dwarf variety. Maléter was known for his great height; according to historian Victor Sebestyen, Maléter was "more than two meters tall,"[2] or at least six feet eight inches.
References
- ^ Pinus mugo 'Pal Maleter'. arrowhead-alpines.com
- ^ Victor Sebestyen (2006), Twelve Days: The Story of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, ISBN 030727795X, p. 130.
Further reading
- Sebestyen, Victor (2006). Twelve Days: The Story of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. New York: Pantheon. pp. xix. ISBN 0-375-42458-X.
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- 1917 births
- 1958 deaths
- People from Prešov
- Hungarian Lutherans
- Hungarian Communist Party politicians
- Members of the Hungarian Working People's Party
- Defence ministers of Hungary
- Hungarian generals
- People of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956
- Hungarian military personnel of World War II
- Hungarian prisoners of war
- World War II prisoners of war held by the Soviet Union
- Hungarian revolutionaries
- Executed Hungarian people
- People executed for treason against Hungary
- 20th-century executions for treason
- People executed by Hungary by hanging
- Charles University in Prague alumni