My Life Story...

Szia (Hello)!!!

My name is János Kádár (originally named János József Czermanek) and I was born (May 26, 1912) and raised in the small Hungarian village of Kapoly, just south of Lake Balaton; one of the most prominent lakes in central Europe.       

My childhood was abnormal to say the least. My mother, Borbála Czermanek, raised me herself with her own two hands complemented with her iron will. Unfortunately, I never met my father, and thus I never really learned much about him. Besides, asking my mother was fruitless as she refused to mention him every chance she could. But that was understandable and yet it still left me amongst the most bewildered of children. As for school, I hated it, plain and simple. I ditched if I had the opportunity as my only true punishment was a smack to the head, which was definitely worth the price. Yet ironically, I proved to be a well-rounded student. But the need to study and learn was never my primary option, and football was always waiting around the corner. Anyways, I left school at the age of 14 and ultimately acquired the profession of a typewriter mechanic in 1927 (they were held in high esteem…seriously).

And this is when my life gets interesting. At the age of 19, I participated in a trade union strike in hopes of spreading communism…hehehe. It failed. But…man was that exciting. I eventually joined the Communist Young Workers' Association (KIMSZ) in the year 1931 (I joined the Communist Party of Hungary a year later) and advanced quickly up their ranks till I became a member of their central committee. I was even given an alias: Róna (how cool is that?). Eventfully, I was later arrested on charges of spreading communism and being a communist...twice. And a few more times after that. Anyhow, it took some time for me to reach political stability in terms of my motives and goals. Basically, I jumped from place to place; I became First Secretary of the Hungarian Communist Party, intervened with the Social Democratic party in fighting for the Hungarian Resistance against Nazi aggression in WWII ( I was deemed a war hero…sort of), and became a Minister of the interior at Budapest in 1948. Sadly, I was relieved of the latter in 1950. Safe to say, I was left in political limbo.

However, things got back on track when Matyas Rakosi ceased power of the Hungarian Communist Party.  You want to know why? It‘s because I was arrested for being perceived as a threat to his ambitions. I was tortured interrogated, held in solitary confinement, and for what you may ask? Nothing much actually; it just felt good to be relevant again. Anyways, shortly after I was released, Rakosi left office, and I was appointed First Secretary of the Budapest III. Moving on however, I was faced with the ever-growing concern of Imry Nagy’s liberalization process from the Warsaw pact. I mean seriously…what was he thinking? Anyways, his attempt for Hungarian independence was thwarted as the Red Army invaded Budapest (I literally sat on a Soviet tank upon arrival at the capital city) and along with the help of a special someone (me…hehehe), Nagy was replaced, the revolt was squashed, and yet many of Nagy’s economic reforms were retained. Nonetheless, I am proud to say that I had prevented some serious calamity and elevated my political status with my intervention in the Hungarian Uprising.

After the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, I continued the policy of a pro-soviet regime and emphasized some of their practices, namely collective farms. Moreover, I gained some favorable views with my decision to lift some restrictions on speech and movement, along with art and literature. To be honest, I really wanted the satellite countries to envy our renewed freedom, which was nonexistent in our neighboring counterparts. Furthermore, Hungary became a very attractive tourist spot under my regime, drawing many tourists from all over Europe, and eventually the world.

I remained in power till May 1988, and was eventually removed (I prefer resigned…) from office the following year. On the whole, I can be considered as one more moderate communist leader in the 20^th century. I was able to maintain the content of my people along with the Soviet Union, however hard that may seem to be. In essence, I truly lived and reigned the best of both worlds.