Károly Beregfy

Károly Beregfy

Birth name	Károly Berger
Born	12 February 1888 (1888-02-12) Cservenka, Bács-Bodrog County, Kingdom of Hungary, Austria-Hungary now Crvenka, Vojvodina, Serbia
Died	12 March 1946 (1946-03-13) (aged 58) Budapest, Republic of Hungary
Allegiance	Austria-Hungary Hungarian Soviet Republic Kingdom of Hungary
Years of service	1912–1945
Rank	Vezérezredes (Colonel General)
Commands held	Hungarian Third Army, Hungarian First Army
Battles/wars	World War I World War II

Károly Beregfy (12 February 1888 – 12 March 1946) was a Hungarian military officer and politician, who served as Minister of Defence in the 1944–45 Arrow Cross Party government.

He was born as Károly Berger in Cservenka (Crvenka). He fought in the First World War where he was seriously injured. Then he joined the Hungarian Red Army to fight against the rebel nationalities. Between 1939 and 1941, he was commandant of the Royal Military Academy.^{[citation needed]}

He fought in the Second World War from 1941 as commander of the VI Corps, and later commanded the Third Army and the First Army. In April 1944 he suffered a serious defeat by the Red Army. The commission examining the reasons of the defeat established Beregfy's personal responsibility, so he was dismissed from his field command.^{[citation needed]}

He sympathized with the Arrow Cross Party from the beginning, although he could not join since under Hungarian Army regulations the members of political parties could not be officers in the Hungarian Army. After Operation Margarethe Arrow Cross leader Ferenc Szálasi sought him out and asked him to assist in a coup if Miklós Horthy tried to negotiate a surrender.

After the Arrow Cross Party's coup (15 and 16 October 1944) the new Prime Minister Szálasi appointed Beregfy as Minister of Defence. He also served as Chief of Army Staff. Beregfy declared Hungary a manoeuvre area on 30 October and subordinated all attainable human and economical resources to the war.^{[citation needed]}

On 30 April 1945 he was captured by United States Army troops. Brought to trial before the People's Tribunal he denied his guilt throughout. The court did not accept his arguments (Beregfy referred to disability and compulsion) and sentenced him to death. He was hanged on 12 March 1946, along with Ferenc Szálasi, Gábor Vajna, former interior minister in the Arrow Cross Party's cabinet and József Gera, who was a Hungarist ideologist.^{[citation needed]}

Sources

Magyar Életrajzi Lexikon
Géza Lakatos: As I saw it: the tragedy of Hungary. Englewood, New Jersey: Universe Publishing, 1993.

Political offices
Preceded by Lajos Csatay	Minister of Defence 1944–1945	Succeeded by János Vörös
Military offices
Preceded by Lieutenant-General Lajos Csatay	Commander of the Hungarian Third Army 12 June 1943 – 15 May 1944	Succeeded by Lieutenant-General József Heszlényi
Preceded by Lieutenant-General Géza Lakatos	Commander of the Hungarian First Army 15 May 1944 – 1 August 1944	Succeeded by Lieutenant-General Béla Miklós
Preceded by Colonel-General János Vörös	Chief of the General Staff 16 October 1944 – 30 April 1945	Succeeded by Colonel-General János Vörös

Ministers of Defence of Hungary since 1848

Transition period

Transition period

Für
Keleti
J. Szabó
Juhász
Szekeres
Hende
Simicskó
Benkő
Szalay-Bobrovniczky

v t e Far-right nationalism and fascism in Hungary until 1945
Political parties and groups	Arrow Cross Party Christian National Socialist Front Hungarian National Defence Association Hungarian National Socialist Agricultural Labourers' and Workers' Party Hungarian National Socialist Party National Front National Socialist Hungarian Workers' Party Rongyos Gárda United Hungarian National Socialist Party
People	Gábor Andreánszky István Antal Endre Bajcsy-Zsilinszky László Baky István Balogh László Bárdossy Károly Beregfy Zoltán Böszörmény László Budinszky László Csatáry László Endre Ákos Farkas Sándor Festetics Imre Finta József Gera Gyula Gömbös Iván Héjjas Árpád Henney Miklós Horthy Béla Imrédy Győző Istóczy Andor Jaross Béla Jurcsek Gábor Kemény András Kun Lajos Méhelÿ Zoltán Meskó József Nyírő Fidél Pálffy Ottokár Prohászka Pál Prónay Ferenc Rajniss Jenő Rátz Lajos Reményi-Schneller Dezső Szabó Ferenc Szálasi Jenő Szemák Döme Sztójay András Tasnádi Nagy Gábor Vajna Charles Zentai
Related articles	Arrow Cross Budapest ghetto Government of National Unity Greater Hungary Gyorshadtest Kolozsvár ghetto Labour service Levente Associations Szeged Idea Treaty of Trianon Turanism First Vienna Award Second Vienna Award

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