Antall, József (1932-1993)

Hungarian politician, prime minister 1990-93. He led the centre-right Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF) to electoral victory in April 1990, becoming Hungary's first post-communist prime minister. He promoted gradual, and successful, privatization and encouraged inward foreign investment.

He founded the MDF, a Christian-nationalist coalition, in 1988, when political pluralism was sanctioned by Hungary's ruling reform communists, and led the most stable and longest-serving administration of post-communist Eastern Europe.

The son of a former minister who was arrested by the German Gestapo in 1945 for helping to save the lives of hundreds of Jews fleeing the Third Reich, he trained as a historian and worked as a teacher, archivist, and museum director in Budapest. His support for the 1956 reform movement, crushed by Soviet tanks, led to his being taken briefly into police custody and banned from teaching and publishing until 1963.

As chairman of the MDF he showed skill as a negotiator in the round-table talks that led to the free elections of 1990. As prime minister, heading Hungary's first democratically elected government for more than 40 years, he oversaw the establishment of a legal system to promote a market economy and attract foreign investment. Relations with Western Europe, particularly Germany and Austria, were also greatly improved. Despite being diagnosed as having lymphatic cancer in 1991, Antall's deeply instilled devotion to public service persuaded him to continue with his duties until his death.