Népbíróságtól átvett peres ügyek iratai

People's court (népbíróság) is a term referring to special criminal courts established by the decree of the Interim National Government of Hungary on January 25, 1945. The primary function of people’s courts was to initiate criminal proceedings against the perpetrators of war crimes and the so-called crimes against the people. Their sphere of jurisdiction extended to Hungarian citizens, including the members of the army and law enforcement agencies as well as to foreign citizens captured in or extradited to Hungary.

When the Hungarian state dissolved the people’s courts in 1949, all the records of the unfinished criminal proceedings were allocated to the Budapest Criminal Court (Budapesti Büntetőtörvényszék). The Budapest Criminal Court was incorporated into the newly established Budapest County Court (Budapesti Megyei Bíróság) on January 1, 1951. Later on, the bulk of the trial materials were taken into the custody of state security organizations. The material was taken to the archives in several phases in the 1970s-1990s.