Gábor Vajna

Gábor Vajna
File:VajnaGabor.jpg
Minister of the Interior of Hungary
In office 16 October 1944 – 27 March 1945
Preceded by	Péter Schell
Succeeded by	Ferenc Erdei
Personal details
Born	(1891-11-04)4 November 1891 Kézdivásárhely
Died	Budapest, Hungary
Political party	Arrow Cross Party
Profession	politician

The native form of this personal name is Vajna Gábor. This article uses the Western name order.

Ministers of the Arrow Cross Party government. Gábor Vajna is in the third from left of the upper row.

Gábor Vajna (4 November 1891 – 12 March 1946) was a Hungarian politician, who served as Interior Minister from 1944 to 1945.

Vajna was a confidant of Prime Minister Ferenc Szálasi, the Hungarian fascist party leader and founder of the extreme right "Party of National Will", which later became the Arrow Cross Party. Vajna took office as Interior Minister in October 1944 and served until March 1945.

While responsible for internal affairs, Vajna took a number of actions against Hungarian Jews. In cooperation with requests from German officials such as SS officer Edmund Veesenmayer, Vajna moved quickly to deport Jews in areas under Hungarian control to the Third Reich, where they were used as slaves and many were ultimately killed. As many as 76,000 Jews were delivered into Nazi hands through the end of 1944.

Following the fall of Budapest, Vajna attempted to escape to Western Europe but was captured by units of the United States Army along with other members of the government.

He was later tried in Budapest and sentenced to death for war crimes and treason. He was hanged in 1946 in Budapest on the same day as Ferenc Szálasi.

References

• Magyar Életrajzi Lexikon

Political offices
Preceded by Péter Schell	Minister of the Interior 1944–1945	Succeeded by Ferenc Erdei