Pál Losonczi

Born Sept. 18, 1919, in the village of Bolhó, Somogy megye (county). State and political figure of the Hungarian People’s Republic (HPR).

Losonczi was the son of a peasant. He was a farm worker until 1945, the year in which he joined the Hungarian Socialist Workers’ Party (HSWP). From 1948 to 1960 he was chairman of an agricultural cooperative founded on his initiative. Minister of agriculture of the HPR from 1960 to 1967 and chairman of the Presidium of the HPR since 1967, Losonczi was a candidate member of the Central Committee of the Hungarian Socialist Workers’ Party from 1954 to 1956 and has been a member of the Central Committee of the HSWP since 1957. Losonczi further served as a member of the All-Hungarian Council of the People’s Patriotic Front (PPF) from 1954 to 1964, a member of the Presidium of the PPF since 1968, and a member of the All-Hungarian Council of Producers Cooperatives from 1965 to 1967. A deputy to the National Assembly of the HPR since 1953, Losonczi is a Hero of Socialist Labor of the HPR (1954) and the recipient of the State Kossuth Prize (1956).