Pál Hoitsy

Pál Hoitsy was born on 23 August 1906 in Budapest, his father was an engineer. He was a professional officer in the Air Force from 1929, graduated from the Military Academy in 1943, and on 3 November 1944 was appointed Chief of Operations of the I Corps. He also hid several people in his apartment. He was taken prisoner of war on 12 February 1945 and returned home in 1948. When asked on the subsequent compulsory form whether he had done any anti-fascist work, he replied that he had 'listened to the regular propaganda lecture series, discussed and learned what he had heard'. He did not join any party and was dismissed from the actual staff in 1949.

In 1950, he was recalled to the People's Army because of his irreplaceable aviation expertise. His subsequent characterisation is a rare exception, for despite being a non-partisan, he has been described in all respects as a man of the highest character. In 1951, however, Lieutenant Colonel Lajos Troll added negative comments to his rating. "he necessarily meets the standards of the academy. He is politically passive, aloof and distant from political officers (...) He is too reserved. There can be no question of loyalty, nor of unconditional allegiance to the People's Democracy, because he has not yet demonstrated it. The same accusations were made a year later.

Unfortunately, your identity document collector does not answer basic questions. All we know is that he committed suicide on 30 January 1952. We are left to speculation as to the cause. The most likely is that he feared that, like his former officers, he would not escape arrest and trial by trial.