Rakosi, Matyas (1892–1971)

Hungarian communist. He joined the communists in 1918, was tried and imprisoned in 1925 and was extradited to the Soviet Union in 1940. He returned to Hungary in January 1945 as general-secretary of the Communist Party and after accumulating personal power he became a ruthless dictator in 1949, as ‘Stalin's best Hungarian disciple’. He was forced to share power with Imre Nagy for a period following Stalin's death in 1953, but regained sole control in March 1955 only to lose all his positions in June 1956. He retired to the Soviet Union where he died.