ENDRE, LÁSZLÓ°

ENDRE, LÁSZLÓ ° (1895–1946), Hungarian antisemite. After World War i Endre joined various antisemitic organizations and published anti-Jewish pamphlets, including a booklet in 1936 on the Protocols of the *Elders of Zion. In 1937 he organized the "Socialist Party for the Defense of the Race," which merged with Szalasi's party in August of that year. His administrative career started in the White Terror period; he served as county sheriff in various places and from 1923 on in Gödöllő. In 1937, as deputy prefect of the Pest district, he became known for his brutal orders against the Jews. In 1940, in a memorandum to Prime Minister Teleky, he proposed the sterilization of the Jews serving in forced labor units. He maintained close ties with the German Nazi party and attended several of its conventions.

Shortly after the formation of the puppet government under Sztójay (March 1944), he became director-general of the Ministry of Interior, with the special assignment of dealing with the "Jewish problem." He then issued various orders for the concentration of the Jews in ghettos, including the secret order of April 14, 1944, providing for the establishment of ghettos in Hungary. In his statement to the Israeli Police, Adolf *Eichmann described Endre as a very clever man who needed no urging to act against the Jews; on the contrary, he was sometimes forced to restrain Endre. In his negotiations with (Israel) Rezsö *Kasztner, Eichmann on one occasion hesitated to agree to one of Kasztner's requests, wondering "What will Endre say?" During the Soviet advance into Hungary in 1945, Endre fled to Austria, where he was caught by an American unit, turned over to Hungary, sentenced to death, and executed in Budapest.

bibliography

E. Landau (ed.), Kastner Bericht … (1961); M. Himler, Igy néztek ki a magyar nemzet sirásói (1958), 174–84; J. Robinson and P. Friedman, Guide to Jewish History under Nazi Impact (1960), 328; R. Hilberg, Destruction of the European Jews (1961), index.

[Yehouda Marton]