Pénzügyminisztérium, Általános iratok (1867-1945)

The Holocaust was not only the largest genocidal operation in 20th century Hungarian history but also a gigantic campaign to systematically rob the wealth of Hungarian Jewry. In Hungary, the Europe-wide campaign of robbery usually referred to by the name of Aryanization had various initiators and a large segment of benefactors in society but it was planned as a state-directed and -controlled process with the Ministry of Finance playing a crucial role in it. Between 1938 and 1944, the Ministry was headed by Lajos Reményi-Schneller (1892-1946) who served as Minister of Finance under the successive governments of Darányi, Imrédy, Teleki (during his second term), Bárdossy, Kállay, Sztójay, Lakatos and Szálasi. Reményi-Schneller even had the position of economic superminister (gazdasági csúcsminiszter) in the governments of Teleki, Bárdossy and Kállay. His policies were strongly in favor of Nazi Germany during the war years. In 1946, he was sentenced to death and executed as part of the Sztójay-trial. The collection of Papers of the Ministry of Finance (általános iratok) contains a fragment of the materials produced at the ministry with the aim of assuring the financial basis of the functioning of state institutions, materials on how the use of these financial resources was regulated, the materials produced during the management of these matters and materials related to the organization of financial-administrative bodies. The financial plans and policies of the Ministry during the years of anti-Semitic radicalization and the mass deportations and robbery of 1944 are of particular interest to researchers. For instance, the papers of Department XV. on the sale of alcohol contains documents from the years 1940 to 1944 when the Aryanization of this part of the economy was realized. The process of its implementation was directed by Albert Turvölgyi who was appointed head of the Government Commissioner’s Office for Solving the Material and Financial Affairs of the Jews in 1944.

The collections consists of three main parts, only the second and third of which are of relevance for the study of the Holocaust in Hungary.