- Béla Miklós
Knight Béla Miklós de Dálnok (
11 June 1890 –21 November 1948 ) was a Hungarian politician who served as acting Prime Minister of Hungary, at first in opposition, and then officially, from 1944 to 1945.Early career
Miklos was an army attache in
Berlin between 1933 and 1936, eventually coming to lead his own regiment. After various military posts in October 1942 he became director for the office of AdmiralMiklós Horthy , regent of Hungary.Closing period of World War II
Miklos became commanding general of the
Hungarian First Army from August 1, 1944 and he supported leaving the Axis powers and joining theRed Army .On16 October 1944 , Miklos, was ordered to appear at the headquarters of German General Heinritzi. Suspicious of an eventual arrest, he defected through the Hungarian front with one of his aides and two sergeants. He approached the Soviet forces. After some apprehension, they escorted Miklos to Lisko, near Prsemysl. This was the location of the Soviet general headquarters.On
17 October , Miklos arrived at Lisko in the morning. Per the request of the Soviets, he spoke on the radio and made a plea for the commanding officers of his Hungarian First Army to defect with their units to the Soviets.The Soviets re-armed prisoners of war and planned to form a Hungarian liberation army from the defectors. But, with the exception of one regimental commander, no other Hungarian officers defected in response to the pleas of Miklos. The one regimental commander who did defect was arrested by the Germans and immediately executed.
A few days later Soviet emissaries were sent to negotiate with Miklos about the formation of a Hungarian counter-Government. But these negotiations came to nothing.
Interim government
On December 21, 1944 the Interim Assembly met in
Debrecen . Representatives were present from the Communist, Smallholders, Social Democratic, Peasant Party and Citizen's party. The Assembly elected the interim government, withSoviet approval, which was headed by Miklos. He remained in this post until the coming elections on November 15, 1945.
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