1945
1945
18 Jan. Pest liberated, retreating German troops blow up the bridges across the Danube.
20 Jan. Hungarian armistice agreement signed in Moscow.
7 Feb. National Council of the Hungarian Free Trade Unions formed.
12 Feb. Voluntary Buda Regiment formed.
13 Feb. Soviet troops liberate Budapest.
19 Feb. New leader of the Social Democratic Party: Ferenc Szeder; general secretary: Árpád Szakasits.
23-24 Feb. Assembly of the central leadership of the Communist Party in Budapest. The Debrecen and Budapest party leadership merge. Mátyás Rákosi elected general secretary.
26 Feb. Decree 526/1945 of the Provisional National Government declares as void the first and second Vienna awards which took landed areas from Czechoslovakia and Romania in favour of Hungary.
3 March Hungarian Radical Party (MRP) formed in Budapest. President of the provisional steering committee: Imre Csécsy.
17 March Provisional National Government adopts decree 600/1945 on land reform.
29 March At Pusztaszer (Csongrád county), the distribution of land starts amidst celebrations.
4 Apr. Red Army liberates the village of Nemesmedves (Vas county), and with this. the whole of Hungary is liberated.
11 Apr. The Provisional National Government moves from Debrecen to Budapest, and the next day so does the Allied Control Commission.
24 Apr. The daily Népsport published in Budapest.
1 May Hungary celebrates its first free May Day. Hungarian Radio starts regular broadcasts.
20-21 May First national congress of the Hungarian Communist Party.
15 June Prime minister Miklós Béla Dálnoki and Marshall K.J. Voroshilov, president of the Allied Control Commission, sign the Soviet-Hungarian reparation agreement concluded on the basis of talks between 19 May-12 July. In accordance
with the treaty to a value of USD 200 million, Hungary is obliged to pay USD 169 million in industrial goods and the remaining amount in agricultural goods over a six year period.
20 June Soviet Union donates 250 trucks, 18,000 tons of wheat, 1400 tons of meat, 900 tons of salt, 180 tons of coffee, and 100,000 sq. m. of glass to Budapest.
16 Aug. Following the death of Jusztinián Serédi, Pope Pius XII appoints Veszprém bishop Mindszenty as archbishop of Esztergom.
18-20 Aug. 34th congress of the Social Democratic Party in Budapest. It elects Árpád Szakasits as general secretary and Antal Bán and Ferenc Szeder as deputies.
19-20 Aug. The steering committee of the Smallholders’ Party held in Budapest elects Zoltán Tildy as national party leader and Ferenc Nagy as president, Béla Varga as acting vice president and Béla Kovács as general secretary.
27 Aug. Hungarian-Soviet economic cooperation and goods exchange signed in Moscow.
5-13 Sept. The session of the Provisional National Assembly raises to a legal level decrees on the abolition of large estates, the distribution of land to the agricultural population, the setting up of peo-ple’s courts, and the election of MPs. The declaration of war against Germany and the armistice agreement signed in Moscow on Jan. 20 are ratified.
26 Sept. Béla Bartók dies in New York.
7 Oct. Municipal elections in Budapest.
4 Nov. During the National Assembly elections the Smallholders’ Party takes 2,697,508 votes (57%) and receives 245 seats; the Hungarian Com-munist Party 802,122 votes (17%) and 70 seats; the Social Democrats 823,314 votes (17.4%) and 69 seats; National Peasant Party 325,284 votes (6.8%) and 23 seats; Civil Democratic Party 76,424 votes (1.7%) and 2 seats.
15 Nov. Prime minister Miklós Béla Dálnoki and his government resign. The new prime minister is Zoltán Tildy. The composition of the new govern-ment: state ministers: István Dobi (Smallholders), Mátyás Rákosi (Communist Party), Árpád Szakasits (Social Democrats). Ministers: internal affairs: Imre Nagy (Communist), agriculture: Béla Kovács (Smallholders), defence: Jenő Tombor (Smallholders), justice: István Ries (Social Democrats), industry: Antal Bán (Social Democrats), trade and cooperatives: Sándor Rónai (Social Democrats), public supply: Károly Bárányos (Smallholders), transport and communications: Ernő Gerő (Communist), foreign affairs: János Gyöngyösi (Smallholders), welfare: Erik Molnár (Communist), finance: Ferenc Gordon (Smallholders), information: Antal Bala (Smallholders), reconstruction: József Antall (Smallholders), religion and education: Dezső Keresztury (National Peasant Party).
29 Nov. Opening of the first session of the new National Assembly.
29 Dec. In accordance with the Nov. 20/1945 decree of the Allied Control Commission, decree 12330/1945 issued by the Hungarian government arranges for the deportation of ethnic Germans from Hungary. Until the end of Dec. 1946, 135,655 persons are deported.
