Aladár Szegedy-Maszák papers

Copyright Holder: Marianne Szegedy-Maszak The collection consists of the personal papers of Aladár Szegedy-Maszák, a high ranking Hungarian diplomat and foreign ministry official during the Holocaust era. Includes correspondence and memoirs relevant to the Second World War and its immediate aftermath, with special emphasis on Hungary’s role, its efforts to leave the war and to avoid Soviet occupation. The collection also contains biographical information on Aladár, family correspondence, subject files, copies of his Voice of America commentaries, and phonographs. Aladár Szegedy-Maszák was born on November 19, 1903, in Budapest, Hungary. He studied history and politics at the University of Economy in Budapest and graduated from the Ecole des Sciences Politiques in Paris. He also studied at the University of Heidelberg, Germany. Aladár Szegedy-Maszák joined the Hungarian Foreign Ministry in 1928. In 1932, he was assigned to the Hungarian Legation in Berlin, Germany, where he served until 1937. Following that he worked at, and in 1943 became the head of, the Ministry's Political Division. After the German invasion in March 1944, he was dismissed because of this pro-Allies views and activities; subsequently he was arrested by the Gestapo, and deported to Dachau, where he was liberated in May 1945. His registration number was 125,739. He returned to Hungary, and in October 1945, he was appointed Ambassador to the United States. In December 1945, Aladár Szegedy-Maszák married Hanna Kornfeld, daughter of financier Baron Móric Kornfeld, published in Budapest, Hungary, in 1996