Hungarian Prime Minister, Communist Party Leader. Born of the Jewish faith, he later changed his religious views to follow his Communist views. Rakosi served in the military during World War I and was captured in battle; after the war he returned to Hungary and became an associate of Communist leader Bela Kun. After a Kun-led government fell in 1919, he went to the Soviet Union. In 1924 he was imprisoned after coming back to his homeland, but he was released to the Soviet Union in 1940. During his stay, Rakosi became a disciple of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. He returned to Hungary in 1945 and helped engineer the installment of a Communist government, becoming Premier in 1952 and serving until his removal in 1953 by anti-Stalinists. His successor, Imre Nagy, who was partially blamed for Hungary's growing economic problems, was himself ousted in 1955 and Rakosi regained the premiership. In August of 1956, shortly before the anti-Soviet rebellion in Hungary, he was again forced to resign, and fled to the Soviet Union where he stayed for the rest of his life. Rakosi's rule is considered one of the most brutal in his country's history. The political purges he oversaw resulted in thousands being arrested, tried, and executed. He was known as the "bald murderer" who invented the term "salami tactics", which referred to his elimination of his non-Communist rivals by "cutting them off like slices of salami".
Hungarian Prime Minister, Communist Party Leader. Born of the Jewish faith, he later changed his religious views to follow his Communist views. Rakosi served in the military during World War I and was captured in battle; after the war he returned to Hungary and became an associate of Communist leader Bela Kun. After a Kun-led government fell in 1919, he went to the Soviet Union. In 1924 he was imprisoned after coming back to his homeland, but he was released to the Soviet Union in 1940. During his stay, Rakosi became a disciple of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. He returned to Hungary in 1945 and helped engineer the installment of a Communist government, becoming Premier in 1952 and serving until his removal in 1953 by anti-Stalinists. His successor, Imre Nagy, who was partially blamed for Hungary's growing economic problems, was himself ousted in 1955 and Rakosi regained the premiership. In August of 1956, shortly before the anti-Soviet rebellion in Hungary, he was again forced to resign, and fled to the Soviet Union where he stayed for the rest of his life. Rakosi's rule is considered one of the most brutal in his country's history. The political purges he oversaw resulted in thousands being arrested, tried, and executed. He was known as the "bald murderer" who invented the term "salami tactics", which referred to his elimination of his non-Communist rivals by "cutting them off like slices of salami".
Bio by: Mr. Badger Hawkeye
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