István Bethlen

Identifier
000570
Dates
1874-1946
Type of Entity
Person

History

Hungarian conservative politician. He was the prime minister of Hungary from 1921 to 1931. He represented a moderate right-wing, anti-Nazi, pro-English stance and he rejected the Hungarian anti-Jewish laws. After the German occupation he was forced to go into hiding. In the summer of 1944 he wrote a secret memorandum to Miklós Horthy, calling on him to stop the deportations of Jews. He was arrested by Soviets in 1945 and he died in Moscow in 1946.