József Antall

Infobox_Prime Minister | name=József Antall


order=1st Prime Minister of the Republic of Hungary
term_start =May 23, 1990
term_end =December 12, 1993
predecessor =Miklós Németh
successor =Péter Boross
birth_date =birth date|1932|4|8|mf=y
birth_place =flagicon|Hungary|1940 Budapest, Hungary
death_date =death date and age|1993|12|12|1932|4|8|mf=y
death_place =flagicon|Hungary Budapest, Hungary
spouse=Fülepp Klára
party=MDF (conservative)

József Antall (April 8 1932 - December 12 1993) was the first democratically-elected prime minister of Hungary (from 23 May 1990 until 12 December 1993, his death), teacher, librarian, historian and political figure. He was the leader of the Hungarian Democratic Forum between 1989 and 1993.

Family

József Antall was born to an ancient Hungarian family from the lower nobility. His father, József Antall Sr. jurist and civil servant, worked for the government in several ministries. Antall, Sr. coordinated the first living wage calculations in Hungary, and he was a founding member of the Independent Smallholders' Party (1931)). During World War II, he presided the government committee for refugees. After the German occupation of Hungary he resigned, later he was arrested by the Gestapo. After the war, he became Minister of Reconstruction in the government of Zoltán Tildy. Later, he became president of the Hungarian Red Cross, but after the communist coup he resigned and retired to his family estate. In 1991, he was posthumously honoured by Yad Vashem.

His mother, Irén Szűcs, was the daughter of a village teacher. Her father, István Szűcs, also became a political figure as a deputy Secretary of State.

József Antall had a sister, Edith Antall. His brother-in-law, Géza Jeszenszky later became Minister of Foreign Affairs. Antall and his wife, Klára Fülepp, had two children, György Antall, a lawyer, and Péter Antall, a photojournalist.

Education

He graduated from the Budapest Piarist High School in 1950. He was interested in politics early on, but (quite understandably) didn't pursue his political career during the communist dictatorship of the 1950s. After graduating from high school, he studied Hungarian language and literature at the Eötvös Loránd University as well as history and archival science. He wrote his thesis about the politics of József Eötvös, obtaining degrees in teaching, library science and museology.

Career until the prime ministership

After graduating from the university, he worked for the Hungarian State Archives and the Research Institute of Pedagogy. In 1955, he started teaching in József Eötvös Grammar School, leading the Revolutionary Committee of the school during the 1956 Hungarian Uprising. During the revolution, he participated in the reorganization of the Independent Smallholders Party and in the founding of the Christian Youth Alliance. After the Soviet Union crushed the revolution, he was arrested and released several times. He continued his teaching career in Ferenc Toldy Grammar School in 1957, but in 1959 he was banned from teaching due to his former political activities.

Following this, he worked as a librarian for two years. In 1963 he wrote biographies of 80 doctors for the Lexicon of Hungarian Biographies. He became interested in the history of medicine, and conducted fundamental research in the area. He started working in the library and archives department of the Semmelweis Museum, dedicated to the history of medicine. Starting as a research fellow, he was promoted to deputy director and in 1974 he became director of the institute.

His research was recognised internationally, and in 1986 he was the vice president of the International Society for History of Medicine.

Return to politics

He was delegated to the National Roundtable Talks by the Hungarian Democratic Forum on March 22 1989 and worked in the committee on constitutional reform. He became well known for his activities during the negotiations.

On October 21 1989 he was elected President of the Hungarian Democratic Forum by an overwhelming majority, thus becoming the party's official candidate for prime minister. MDF won the elections in 1990 and on May 23 he became the first freely elected Prime Minister of Hungary since 1945.

Before he could finish his 4-year term, he became ill with cancer and died on December 12 1993.

ource

Debreczeni Jószef: A Miniszterelnök