July 6, 2008

Dr. Béla Király, Hungarian General, Military Historian, Politician, and Associate Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Dies on July 4, 2009

Hungarian General Dr. Béla Király was the Commander-in-Chief of the National Guard during the 1956 Hungarian Revolution

The official joint announcement of the Hungarian National Assembly, the Ministry of Defence, and the Hungarian Defence Forces

The Hungarian National Assembly, the Ministry of Defence, and the Hungarian Defence Forces announce with deep regret that Dr. Béla Király, Professor and Retired General, has died at the age of 97.

Commissioned as an officer in the Budapest Ludovika Academy in 1935, Béla Király graduated with distinction from the Budapest Military Academy in 1942, then took part in World War 2. After being promoted to the rank of major general (vezérőrnagy) in 1950, he became commander of the Military Academy, legal predecessor of today’s Miklós Zrínyi National Defence University, which was followed by years of imprisonment.

A defining period of his life was the 1956 Hungarian Revolution and Freedom Fight, in which Béla Király served as commander-in-chief of the National Guard and the military commander of the city of Budapest. After the uprising was crushed, he first emigrated to Austria, then later to the United States, where he devoted his life to science and education. In 1989, he returned to Hungary. From 1990 to 1994 Béla Király was an independent member of Hungary’s first freely elected Parliament. In 1990, he was promoted to general (vezérezredes).

In 2006, on the 50th anniversary of the 1956 Revolution and Freedom Fight, he founded and supported, until his death, the „Council to Preserve the Heritage of the 1956 National Guard.”

As long as his health permitted him, he worked until his very last moment: he edited and reviewed books. The last two lines of his biography are the following: „I believe I have done for my country what I thought should and could be done. Providence and my fellow men have richly awarded me for everything.”

The Hungarian National Assembly, the Ministry of Defence, and the Hungarian Defence Forces will coordinate the official funeral of Dr. Béla Király, the date of which will be announced later.

Source: http://www.hm.gov.hu/hirek/elhunyt_kiraly_bela_vezerezredes

Biography of Dr. Béla Király: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%A9la_Kir%C3%A1ly