Rice, Istvan

Early years

He was born into a wealthy Jewish family in Küngösh, located in Veszprem County. His father, Bernat, was a tenant of the land and moved to the Roman Catholic Church . As a result, Istvan also received a Catholic upbringing. He went to school in Budapest , and passed his final exam in Szekesfehervar . Received a law degree in Budapest. Since 1912 he was engaged in advocacy. He was a member of the anti-war Galilee circle.

During the First World War was among the first mobilized in 1914. He was captured in Russia, there he found the October Revolution as a prisoner of war and was able to return home in June 1918.

Revolution and Social Democracy

During the Hungarian Soviet Republic , he first worked in the People's Commissariat of Education, and then participated in the hostilities of the Czechoslovak-Hungarian War as a fighter of the Hungarian Red Army . After the fall of Soviet power in Hungary, he emigrated to Vienna .

He was able to return to Hungary in 1921 and reopened his law office. In 1924 he joined the Hungarian Social Democratic Party (MSZDP), of which he was a member of the leadership in 1933-1935 and 1939-1948, and became a member of the presidium in 1943. As part of his advocacy, on a voluntary basis, he defended persecuted activists of the labor movement , and also published articles in the publications Népszava and Szocializmus . As a result, his name became well known in social democratic circles.

He participated in the parliamentary elections of 1935 and 1939, but was not elected. During the Nazi occupation, Hungary was underground.

After World War II

I could return to politics after the siege of Budapest . He was elected to the Interim National Assembly of Hungary on April 2, 1945. He was appointed Minister of Justice of the Provisional National Government on July 21, 1945. He held a ministerial position until his arrest on July 7, 1950 (officially until July 17). Among others, with him, the perpetrators of the 1942 massacre in Novi Sad were handed over to the authorities of Yugoslavia for trial.

He participated in the “ministerial strike”, resigning in 1947 along with other cabinet members from the Social Democrats. Although in the end he remained at his post, this he incurred the wrath of the Stalinist leadership of Hungary in the person of Matthias Rakosi and Ernё Gerö . Despite this, he became a member of the central leadership of the Hungarian Workers Party , created as a result of the merger of the Social Democratic and Communist Parties of Hungary . As Minister of Justice, he played a significant role in the adoption of the new Hungarian Constitution on August 20, 1949.

Arrest and death

The current Minister of Justice, Rhys, was arrested on the basis of fictitious charges on July 7, 1950. He was officially dismissed on July 17. The rakoshist regime was going to judge him during a show trial over another Social Democrat in the leadership of the military-technical union - Arpad Sakasic , but even before the case was examined, he was beaten to death in the Váts prison by Dyulya Princes' assistants. Miklos Bauer, an investigator of the State Security Directorate (who used “swearing, spitting, and slapping” against the prisoner), mentioned torture over Rice, in the book by György Faludi .

Rice, like a number of other victims of the Rakosi regime (for example, Laszlo Raik ), was rehabilitated in 1956 during a de-Stalinization .

Sports Activities

In addition to political functions, Rhys also worked in several sports departments. Since 1947, he served as chairman of the Higher Council of Sports, president of the Hungarian Football Federation and the Council of Hungarian football referees.

• A népbíráskodásról szóló 81/1945. ME számú és az ezt kiegészítő 1440/1845 ME számú rendelet szövege és magyarázata ; magyarázatok Ries István; Politzer, Bp., 1945
• A büntetőjog általános elvei. Jezhebet ; MEFESZ Jogászkör, Bp., 1949
• Az Egyesült Államok igazi arca ; Szikra, Bp., 1949 ( A Magyar Dolgozók Pártja politikai akadémiája )