Justus, Pál (1905–1965)
Social Democratic politician and journalist. Justus joined the social democrats in the autumn of 1925. He headed the intellectuals’ group in the Social Democratic Party (SZDP) in 1943–4, became head of its propaganda committee in February 1945, and then joined the national party leadership with responsibility for propaganda and youth work. He supported the merger with the communists and afterwards became a member of the › Hungarian Workers’ Party (MDP) Central Committee. He was deputy president of Hungarian Radio from 1948 until June 1949, when he was arrested. He received a life sentence in September 1949 as one of the accused in the Rajk trial. He was freed in November 1955 and partially rehabilitated in September 1956. Thereafter, he withdrew from public life in favour of literary translation.
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