Kadar, Janos, << KAH dahr, YAH nawsh >> (1912-1989), ruled Hungary from 1956 to 1988 as first secretary of the Communist Party. In 1988, party members removed him from the office of first secretary and appointed him to the newly created, largely ceremonial post of president of the Communist Party.
Kadar gained power in 1956, after Soviet troops crushed a revolt by the Hungarian people. He was premier from 1956 to 1958 and from 1961 to 1965.
Kadar was born Janos Czermanik on May 26, 1912, probably in what is now western Croatia. He became a Communist in the early 1930’s and was arrested several times for antigovernment activities. During World War II, Kadar joined the Hungarian underground and fought the Germans. When Communists gained control of Hungary in 1948, Kadar became minister of the interior and chief of the secret police. He was imprisoned from 1951 to 1953 for sympathizing with the Yugoslav Communists, who had split with the Soviet Union.
