Andor Jaross

Who was Andor Jaross?

Andor Jaross was an ethnic Hungarian politician from Slovakia and collaborator with the Nazis.

Born in Komáromcsehi, he became general secretary of the United Hungarian Party, a group that sought to unite parts of Czechoslovakia with Hungary. As national chairman of the party he sought to forge a united Hungarian identity, claiming in his inaugural address that 'every member of the Hungarian minority should take a united stand on the issues of today and tomorrow'. Although effectively subordinate to János Esterházy in the party, Jaross became a well-known international figure, notably accepting an invitation to London from the Hungarian Committee of the House of Commons to present Hungarian grievances along with fellow United Hungarian Party MP Géza Szüllő.

Moving to Hungary in 1938 he joined the government of Béla Imrédy as Minister for Regained Territories and was one of the 18 deputies who formed the Party of Hungarian Renewal in 1940. After the Nazi regime invaded Hungary in March 1944 and raised Nazi sympathizer Döme Sztójay to the Prime Minister's post, Jaross was put in charge of the Interior Ministry.