Külföldieket Ellenőrző Országos Központi Hatóság Elnöki iratok, 1936-1944

KEOKH records are relevant for the study of anti-Semitic radicalization and the Holocaust in Hungary for two chief reasons: it typically suspected foreigners and its reports on the raid it held tend to list the number of Jews concerned and expelled. In certain cases, so called Ostjuden are mentioned separately in these reports. Second, in 1941, KEOKH initiated and implemented the deportation of Jews from Hungary who could not prove their citizenship to newly occupied Galicia. This Hungarian anti-Jewish action eventually led to the first Nazi mass murder with over 10 000 victims. The collection of presidential papers is from the years 1936 to 1944 and they mostly concern the organization of KEOKH, its personnel and its operation. The Külföldieket Ellenőrző Országos Központi Hatóság (the Central National Authority for Controlling Foreigners, or KEOKH) exercised the rights of the Minister of the Interior in relation to non-citizens staying in Hungary. Formally, the Central National Authority for Controlling Foreigners functioned as a subdivision of VII (it was VII/c), the public security department of the Ministry of the Interior. KEOKH held authority regarding the right of foreigners to reside in the country as well as in cases of expulsions: in the capital city of Budapest, the Central National Authority for Controlling Foreigners exercised exclusive authority, while in cases from other parts of the country, it had a more supervisory role. The Central Authority was originally established by law in 1930 and started to operate in 1931. It opened and operated bureaus in a host of localities such as Esztergom, Kassa (Košice), Máramarossziget (Sighetu Marmației), Kolozsvár (Cluj), Csíkszereda (Miercurea Ciuc), Újvidék (Novi Sad) and Nagyvárad (Oredea). As can be seen from the list, its activities were concentrated in territories (re)acquired by Hungary between 1938 and 1941. KEOKH also had bureaus in Gyula, Makó and Munkács (Мукачеве) but these were closed in 1940. Hungarian National Archives Microfilm Collection X 4970