No. XIX. Main Group of Fonds – High Organs of the Public Administration

1944–1993; 6.847,13 linear metres

The fond of protocols, proposals and resolutions of the Council of Ministers forms a significant part of the archival material of the department. The material, originating from the period of 1944–1960, consists of two record groups. Group a) contains the protocols and their appendices; group b) contains the proposals and resolutions.

Finding aids: Index of agenda, repository register.

The fond of the Prime Minister’s Office is an important and valuable historical source of the period 1944–1949. Half of the fond consists of internal administrative documents and the fragments of the documents of former Prime Ministers and other government officials. The rest comprises general files.

Finding aids: Contemporary registers and indexes.

Between 1953–1972, the Secretariat of the Council of Ministers (in fact one of its departments) directly supervised the activities of local councils. In addition, the fond also contains the documents of other internal organisational units as well as the records of certain officials of the Council (e.g. Ernő Gerő, Lajos Fehér, Jenő Fock or János Kádár).

The Council’s Office of the Cabinet, which were formed during the preparation of the 3rd act on local councils, was an important organ in the system of the local council. Its material contains various documents concerning the central administration of local councils.

The fond of the State Office for Church Affairs graphically describes the policy of the socialist state towards churches. The Office, established in 1951, under different names and subordinated to various authorities, operated until 1989. Its competence included the supervision of all churches and religious organisations of the country. During its work the Office administered all religious affairs in every detail, what is more, it decided essentially upon every significant question, making the independence of denominations and churches theoretical.

The Supreme Economic Council was established in 1945 in order to meet the requirements of the economy. The Prime Minister in power hold the position of the Council’s President as well. The Secretary-general of the Council, who at the same time acted as head of the Council’s administrative Secretariat, was appointed by the Government. The Council’s material, created during the period of 1949–1952, is arranged by subject groups and forms an important historical source concerning the post-war restoration of the economy and financial stabilisation. Between 1949 and 1952 the Supreme Economic Council was responsible for the systematic management of the "people’s economy". Among others, the determination of the general guidelines of the socialist economic development, the issue of directives concerning national economic plans and the co-ordination of the work of different economic ministries and other economic organisations belonged to the Council’s duties. The Council supervised the activities of the Central Planning Board, the Central Statistical Office and the State Control Centre. From 1948, such central authorities as the Registry of Public Investigations and its legal successors, the State Control Centre and the Ministry of State Control served the establishment of a state control system. (After 1956 the management of state control was taken over by the People’s Central Commission of Control. See its description above.)

Some of the government committees, such as the Economic Committee, the National Nuclear Energy Board or the Science-Political Board deserve special attention.

The archival material of the Ministry of the Interior is badly fragmented. The records of the Ministry’s Department of Associations and the documents concerning elections are:

The documents of the Ministry of Public Welfare (established in 1944) and its legal successor, the Ministry of Health (1950) as well as the Ministry of Labour (1957–1981), are in the custody of the Archives. The record unit of health, public welfare and labour includes the documents of the Repatriation Commission for Prisoners of War in Debrecen and the National Veteran Welfare Office as well. The material of the Repatriation Commission basically consists of registers. Most of the records of the Veteran Welfare Office are filed documents.

The record unit of the Ministry of Justice, among others, includes the originally separately handled archival legacies of high-ranking officials (Erik Molnár, Ferenc Nezvál, Mihály Korom, Imre Markója). The material of the Department of Penal and Pardon Issues illustrates the jurisdiction of the era and the close connection between state administration and jurisdiction. The record units of the Codification Department, Department of People’s Courts and the Department of Courts have significant historical value.

Within the fond of the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Public Education, the Department of International Cultural Relations, which was responsible, among others, for the development and maintenance of international scientific and cultural relations, the preparation of international cultural agreements and the administration of educational affairs of the ethnic minorities in Hungary, deserves special attention. The Department of Primary Education, Department of Secondary Education and Department of Higher Education and Science contain valuable information concerning the public education of the period between 1945–1951.

The Ministry of People’s Education was operating between 1949 and 1957. The larger part of its material consists of general records.

Only small part of the material of the Ministry of Public Education (1951–1953) and the Ministry of Education (1953–1957) survived. The documents of the Ministry for Educational Affairs (1957–1974), the Ministry of Culture (1974–1980) and the Ministry of Education (1974–1980) are also in the custody of the National Archives. The Chief Administration of Publishing and Chief Administration of Films were characteristic censorial institutions of the "socialist" era. The group of the institutions which were responsible for archival administration, such as the National Inspectorate of Archives (1949–1950), the National Centre of Archives (1950–1957), the Bursary of Archives (1951–1968), or the Archival Directorate (1968–1972) and Archival Department (1973–1978) of the Ministry for Educational Affairs, also forms a part of the cultural group of fonds.

The most remarkable record units of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1944–1990) are the material of the Department of Peace Preparations and the Truce Department, which contains the correspondence concerning war damage compensation and cease-fire negotiations. The documents of the Hungarian Peace Delegation also form a significant group of records. The extent of the expired international agreements of 1945–1989 is 60,96 linear metres. With some exceptions, the latest material of foreign representations which were transferred to the Archives is the material of the 1960s. The archives of foreign affairs also includes the material of the Hungarian Delegation of the [Vietnamese] International Commission of Control and Supervision.