World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseLászló Bárdossy de Bárdos was born in Szombathely. After working in the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Ministry of Foreign Affairs for over ten years, he became part of the Hungarian delegation to London from 1931 to 1934. In 1934, he was appointed Hungary's Ambassador to Romania. In Feb 1941, he became Minister of Foreign Affairs, then two months later added the title of Prime Minister to his portfolio upon the suicide of Pál Teleki. His pro-German position brought Hungary into war. His popularity soared after Hungarian and German troops returned territories lost to neighboring countries in previous wars, and then allowed Hungarian borders to grow further into Yugoslavia. His close association with Nazi Germany influenced his domestic policies, leading to the enactment of anti-communist and anti-Semite laws. In Aug 1941, the Third Jewish Law took away economic, social, and other basic rights of Hungarian Jews. Under Bárdossy's leadership, many Yugoslavian Jews living in Hungarian-occupied territory were killed systematically. Initially hesitant to declare war on Russia, he declared war on Russia in Jun 1941 after a Russian aerial bombardment on the Hungarian city of Kassa, by which act he violated the Hungarian constitution which required the consent of the parliament first. On 13 Dec 1941, he was pressured by Germany into declaring war on the United States. On 7 Mar 1942, he was pressured by Hungarian regent Miklós Horthy to resign, but after the resignation he continued to assert a degree of political influence, especially after German occupation of Hungary in 1944. When the war ended, Bárdossy was arrested and found guilty of war crimes. He was executed by firing squad in Budapest in 1946.

László Bárdossy Timeline