Ernő Gerő

Ernő Gerő
Ernő Gerő in 1962
General Secretary of the Hungarian Working People's Party
In office 18 July 1956 – 25 October 1956
Preceded by	Mátyás Rákosi
Succeeded by	János Kádár
Personal details
Born	(1898-07-08)8 July 1898 Terbegec, Austria-Hungary
Died	12 March 1980(1980-03-12) (aged 81) Budapest, Hungary
Nationality	Hungarian
Political party	Hungarian Communist Party, Hungarian Working People's Party

Ernő Gerő (born Ernő Singer; 8 July 1898 – 12 March 1980) was a Hungarian Communist Party leader in the period after World War II and briefly in 1956 the most powerful man in Hungary as first secretary of its ruling communist party.

Early career

Gerő was born in France, and also fought in the Spanish Civil War. He directed the campaign against Trotskyist groups in the International Brigades and earned the epithet of "Butcher of Barcelona".^[1]

The outbreak of the Second World War found him in Moscow again, and he remained for the duration of the war. After the dissolution of the Communist International in 1943, he was in charge of propaganda directed at enemy forces and prisoners of war. Gerő was among the very first communist functionaries to return to Hungary in early November 1944.^[1] Ernő Gerő was a member of Hungary's High National Council (provisional government) between 26 January, and 11 May 1945.

In the November 1945 election, Hungary, the Hungarian Communist Party, under Gerő and Mátyás Rákosi got 17% of the vote, compared to 57% for the Smallholders' Party, but the Soviet commander in Hungary, Marshal Kliment Voroshilov installed a coalition government with communists in key posts. The communists staged a sham election and took full control in 1949, with Rákosi as party leader, prime minister (and effective head of state). Gerő and Mihály Farkas were Rákosi's right-hand men.

Rákosi's authority was shaken in 1953 by the death of Stalin, when the Soviet Union insisted on Imre Nagy taking over as prime minister, but Gerő was retained as a counterweight to the reformers. Rákosi, having managed to regain control, was then undermined by Nikita Khrushchev's secret speech in early 1956 denouncing Stalinism, and forced to leave office on 18 July 1956 by Anastas Mikoyan, although he was able to designate Gerő to succeed him as party leader.

Gerő interregnum

After Rákosi stepped down, Gerő was instated as party leader in his stead. Gerő had been Rákosi's close associate since 1948, and was fully implicated in the purges, the industrialization and collectivization of Hungary. Gerő led the country for a brief period, known as the 'Gerő Interregnum', from 18 July 1956 to 24 October 1956, just over three months.

Later life and death

The Soviet envoys finally forced Gerő to resign on 25 October 1956, during the second day of the Hungarian Uprising, after he gave an unduly harsh speech that enraged the people. The central committee met and agreed that János Kádár should be made party leader and Imre Nagy be made prime minister, marking the end of the Gerő interregnum. Gerő fled to the Soviet Union, but after the revolution was crushed, the more moderate Communist regime of Kádár initially refused to let him return to Hungary.

He was finally allowed to return from exile in 1960, but was promptly expelled from the Communist Party. He worked as an occasional translator in Budapest during his retirement. His character plays a central role in Vilmos Kondor's 2012 novel Budapest Noir and the whole series. He died in Budapest in 1980 at the age of 81.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Eric Roman, Austria-Hungary and the Successor States: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present. Infobase Publishing, 2003, p. 478.

Bibliography

• Almendros, Joaquín: Situaciones españolas: 1936–1939. El PSUC en la guerra civil. Dopesa, Barcelona, 1976.
• Chacón, R.L.: Por qué hice las checas de Barcelona. Laurencic ante el consejo de guerra. Editorial Solidaridad nacional, Barcelona, 1939.
• The First Domino: International Decision Making During the Hungarian Crisis of 1956 Texas A & M University Press, 2004, p. 33.
• Johanna Granville, "Soviet Documents on the Hungarian Revolution, 24 October – 4 November 1956", Cold War International History Project Bulletin, no. 5 (Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars, Washington, DC), Spring, 1995, pp. 22–23, 29–34.