Döme Sztójay
| Döme Sztójay | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Hungary | |
|
In office 22 March 1944 – 29 August 1944 |
|
| Monarch |
Miklós Horthy as Regent |
| Preceded by | Miklós Kállay |
| Succeeded by | Géza Lakatos |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Dimitrije Stojaković 5 January 1883 Versec, Temes County, Kingdom of Hungary, Austria-Hungary (today Vršac, Serbia) |
| Died | 22 August 1946 (aged 63) Budapest, Hungary |
| Nationality | Hungarian |
| Political party | Party of National Unity |
| Spouse(s) | Jozefa Landgráf |
| Profession | politician, diplomat |
Döme Sztójay (5 January 1883 – 22 August 1946) was a Hungarian soldier and diplomat of Serb origin, who served as Prime Minister of Hungary in 1944, during World War II.
Born in Vršac in a Serb family as Dimitrije Stojaković (Serbian Cyrillic: Димитрије Стојаковић), Sztójay joined the Austro-Hungarian Army as a young man and served as a colonel during World War I. After the war, Sztójay served in Admiral Miklós Horthy’s counter-revolutionary army, specializing in counter-espionage. After Horthy became Regent of Hungary, Sztójay was promoted to general and served as a military attaché in Berlin from 1925 to 1933. He Magyarized his name from Sztojakovich to Sztójay in 1927. From 1933 to 1935, Sztójay served in the Ministry of Defence. In 1935, Prime Minister Gyula Gömbös named Sztójay as Hungarian ambassador to Germany, a position he would hold until 1944. As ambassador, Sztójay formed strong ties with the Third Reich and often voiced support for German policies to his superiors in Hungary.
In Operation Margarethe in March 1944, the German Army occupied Hungary and forced Horthy to remove Prime Minister Miklós Kállay from office. Kállay, like Horthy, knew that Germany was losing the war, and had put out numerous feelers to the West, a course which didn't sit well with Berlin. The Germans then gave Horthy a choice between choosing a new prime minister who would cooperate with the Germans or undisguised occupation. Knowing that the latter would likely mean a gauleiter who would treat Hungary in the same manner as the other Nazi-occupied countries, Horthy chose the former. The German Plenipotentiary for Hungary, Edmund Veesenmayer, proposed that former prime minister Béla Imrédy (who had, ironically, a Jewish great-grandfather) be given the post again. However, Horthy balked at appointing the strongly pro-German Imrédy and suggested Sztójay instead. Though Sztójay had been ambassador to Berlin for a decade and was known to be pro-German, Horthy believed that at bottom he was a soldier first and would not totally give in to German demands. The Germans readily approved of Horthy’s choice, and on 23 March 1944, Sztójay was appointed Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs.
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