János Gyöngyösi

János Gyöngyösi
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary
In office 22 December 1944 (officially 28 March 1945) – 31 May 1947
Preceded by	Gábor Kemény
Succeeded by	Ernő Mihályfi
Personal details
Born	(1893-05-03)3 May 1893 Berki, Sáros County, Kingdom of Hungary, Austria-Hungary
Died	29 October 1951(1951-10-29) (aged 58) Budapest, Hungarian People's Republic
Political party	FKGP
Parent(s)	Ferenc Heller Etelka Szányi
Profession	politician diplomat

The native form of this personal name is Gyöngyösi János. This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals.

János Gyöngyösi (born as János Heller, 3 May 1893 – 29 October 1951) was a Hungarian politician, who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs between 1944 and 1947.

Biography

He fought in the First World War. After the war, he worked as a journalist and finished his studies in the Budapest University (now Eötvös Loránd University). During the Second World War he was a reserve officer in Debrecen, near the Hungarian-Romanian border.

In 1931 Gyöngyösi joined the Smallholders Party. From 1944 he supported the Allies and the Red Army in his articles and called on the Hungarian home defence soldiers to capitulate. He became Minister of Foreign Affairs in the illegitimate Interim National Government. He could be minister because he was in good terms with leading politicians of the Soviet Union. However, Gyöngyösi realised the superpower's real intentions that helping Hungary may not be their best interests at heart. That's why he switched to strengthening ties with the Western powers (US, UK). In 1947 Gyöngyösi signed the Treaty of Paris. As a result, Hungary again lost large parts of its territory, for example Northern-Transylvania. Gyöngyösi's political career was doomed when Ferenc Nagy had to resign.

References

• Magyar Életrajzi Lexikon