János Vörös (25 March 1891 – 23 July 1968) was a Hungarian military officer and politician who served as Minister of Defence in the unofficial Interim National Government which led by Béla Miklós. He fought in the First World War at the Eastern Front and the Italian Campaign.
When on 19 March 1944, the Nazis occupied Hungary, the prime minister Miklós Kállay summoned him along with István Náday and Károly Beregfy to the prime minister's office to ask him if were possible for Hungary to resist the invasion. Vörös stated that resistance was futile and advised Kállay to accept the occupation. When Kállay insisted on ordering resistance, Vörös along with Beregfy stated he would disobey any order to resist. After the occupation, General Ferenc Szombathelyi was dismissed as Chief of Army Staff and Vörös appointed as his successor. The German minister plenipotentiary, Edmund Veesenmayer, had personally selected Vörös as the chief of the general staff because he was a "careerist" who would serve whoever was in power as he lacked any sort of values and principles.
ON 11 October 1944, an armistice with the Soviet Union was signed in Moscow to come into effect on 20 October 1944. The Regent of Hungary, Admiral Miklós Horthy attempted to move his armies into place for the armistice and he decided on his own to bring the armistice into effect on 15 October. Horthy did not trust Vörös, whom he believed to be pro-Nazi, and did not properly explain to him why was deploying the Hungarian armies. On 15 October 1944, Vörös sabotaged the attempt of Horthy to bring into effect an armistice with the Soviet Union. At about 3: 00 pm on 15 October, Vörös issued a "clarification" to all Honved officers saying that Horthy in his radio broadcast that day had merely opened up armistice talks with the Soviet Union and as there was no armistice, the war would continue until further notice, an action which undermined the entire armistice that had just been signed in Moscow. Later in November 1944 Vörös defected and joined the Red Army which arrived at Hungary's eastern border. Vörös became minister of defense in the new provisional government that the Soviets had established to oppose the Arrow Cross regime.
He was the signer of the Moscow armistice convention as one of the members of the Interim Government delegation. In 1946 he was retired by them at his own request. During his 58th birthday (1949) he was arrested with the charge of spying by the military investigation service. The Military Court sentenced Vörös to life imprisonment him in 1950. He was released from prison in 1956 and died in 1968 in Balatonfüred.
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External links Magyar Életrajzi Lexikon