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László Rajk (8 May 1909 - 15 October 1949) was a Hungarian communist leader who unsuccessfully opposed the Stalinist leader Mátyás Rákosi in the post-World War II period.
Rajk served in the International Brigade during the Spanish Civil War. He went to France before returning to Hungary in 1941, when he was imprisoned by the Hungarian authorities until the country was liberated by the Red Army.
In Hungary's post-WWII Communist Government led by Prime Minister Rákosi, Rajk served as Interior Minister and then Foreign Secretary.
Rajk incurred the hostility of Rákosi, who was wary of possible rivals. When Rajk criticised the imposition of Stalinist policies in Hungary, he was arrested in September 1949. At his trial Rajk made a forced confession claiming he had been a tool, among others, of the pre-Communist leader Miklós Horthy, the Yugoslav leader Tito, and the United States, and was executed as a result.
His reburial, on 6 October, 1956 was an important prelude to the Hungarian Uprising.
He is not to be confused with his son, László Rajk Jr., who was active in the opposition movement in the 1980s, and is involved in other fields.nl:László Rajk he:לאסלו רייק