Imre Nagy led the Hungarians in the 1956 Hungarian Uprising. As Prime Minister, Nagy knew that he was taking a huge risk – a risk that end with Nagy being executed and his body being put in an unmarked grave. Imre Nagy was born in 1896 at Kaposvár in Southern Hungary. Nagy fought in World War One but was captured and spent time in Russia. He escaped from prison and fought with the Bolsheviks during the Russian Revolution.
Nagy returned to Hungary – but now as a committed, though secret, communist. While there were outposts of communism throughout Europe – in Weimar Germany the Communist Party had strong support – the general reaction of European governments to communism was one of fright and conflict. The murder of the Romanovs in Russia was used to portray the communists as power-hungry despots intent on destroying what many viewed as the established way.
Nagy had been part of the short-lived Soviet Republic led by Bela Kun but it collapsed in November 1919. After this Nagy had to be very careful with whom he associated, as the new government of Horthy was keen to hunt out communists. For his own safety, in 1928 Nagy left Hungary and moved to Austria.
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