Public Administration, Legislation and the Hungarian Republic Seventy Years Ago

Abstract

The statutory meeting of the Provisional National Assembly was held in the town of Debrecen on 21st December, 1944, which was under the occupation of the Soviet Red Army. The Provisional National Assembly declared itself the sole legitimate body to express the nation’s will and the exclusive representative of the sovereignty of the Hungarian state. On the next day – on the basis of the list approved by Moscow – it elected the Provisional National Government. The Provisional Government signed an armistice agreement in Moscow on January 1945, invalidated the Vienna Awards and obliged the government to withdraw all Hungarian administrations behind Hungary’s state borders as of 31st December, 1937. After the parliamentary election the new National Assembly and new, formally coalition government was formed on 15th November, 1945. On 31st January 1946 the National Assembly passed Act I of 1946 on institutionalizing the republic as form of Hungarian government. The leftist transformation of the Hungarian society, legal system, government and public administration began on the day of Provisional National Assembly’s formation. What this really meant was that in matters concerning Hungary’s future, the Soviets and Hungarian communists had the say. This article is a review of some typical legal norms from 1945–46.