Кozma Miklós iratai (1897-1941)

Miklós Kozma (1884-1941), director of Magyar Távirati Iroda (the Hungarian News Agency, MTI), Minister of the Interior, Governor of Kárpátalja. Kozma served as an army general during the First World War and began his public career as a member of the National Counterrevolutionary Army of 1919. He was the Head of Department for National Defense and Propaganda at the Supreme Commander and later served as the rapporteur for military affairs at the Military Office of the Regent. In 1920, Kozma was appointed head of the semi-official Bureau of the News Agency (even though the News Agency was operated as a public company but the government also intended to exercise control over it). Kozma practically directed all matters at the public company, including those of political relevance. He was appointed member of the Upper House of Parliament and Minister of the Interior during the 1930s. In 1939, Kozma was appointed governor of newly (re)acquired Kárpátalja while keeping his position at the News Agency. In the inter-war period, the News Agency became a large firm and the influence of Kozma’s increased accordingly. He was to personally report on the most important local and international news to Miklós Horthy, the Regent of Hungary, the Prime Ministers in office and other members of the government. Next to his presidential papers, his confidential reports, summaries and analyses thus also amount to a huge corpus and can be found among his personal papers – though they are an integral part of the workings of the Hungarian News Agency of the times. The massive collection of his papers consists of four main parts: Kozma's political papers, papers related to the Hungarian News Agency and the operation of firms belonging to it, papers on Kozma’s social activities and papers of a more personal nature.