Political Justice and People’s Courts in Post-War Hungary (1945–1950) in the Research of Hungarian Historians

Abstract

The people’s courts were special judicial bodies in Hungary in the wake of the Second World War, operating between February 1945 and 1 April 1950. During this period, more than 59,000 people were brought before people’s courts under Act VII of 1945. However, the people’s courts, in tandem with the prosecution of war criminals, became the controversial instrument of a regime change intended to be democratic. On the one hand, the people’s courts tried to convey the democratic values of the new political order to society, while on the other hand political justice increasingly became a tool for the Hungarian Communist Party’s aspirations for power. So far, no comprehensive summary has been published on the history of the Hungarian people’s courts. In the present article, I focus primarily on the most recent works of historians, including those who have become familiar over the years with a significant amount of proceedings from the people’s courts.