Dénes Farkas

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Dénes Farkas de Boldogfa (1 October 1884 – 11 August 1973) was a Hungarian nobleman, landowner, and politician. He was born in Felsőbagod, Zala, into the old Farkas de Boldogfa family. His father, József Farkas de Boldogfa, was a landowner and Member of Parliament, and his mother was Rozália Sümeghy. He had two older brothers, Tibor and Kálmán.

After finishing school, he studied at the Hungarian Academy of Agriculture and ran his lands in Söjtör and a priesthood farm in Mezőörs. In 1912 he married Mária Stefánia Szűcs de Szentjános, and they had a son and a daughter. He loved horses and, in 1916, bought the horse Grignan. He later inherited an estate in Söjtör from his mother’s side.

Politically, Dénes followed his father’s path and joined the Independent Smallholders Party in the 1930s, while also writing articles for newspapers. After the Arrow Cross coup in October 1944, he retired to his Söjtör estate. In 1946 he became executive chairman of the Smallholders’ Party in Zala County and, in 1947, co-chairman. He also published the Independent Zala newspaper until August 1947. The party had run in the 1945 elections but did not win a seat.

In 1947 he left the FKGP and joined the Democratic People’s Party, taking part in the parliamentary election on 31 August 1947. He owned about 60 hectares of land, but in 1949 he was forced to give it to the Alsófakos State Farm. After his term ended in 1949, he retired from public life. The new regime confiscated his property, and he moved to the edge of Söjtör, then to Budapest with his daughter.

Dénes took part in the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. He, as the oldest former DNP representative, called on Kossuth Radio on 1 November 1956 to reorganize the party. After the revolution, he was prosecuted by the new government, sentenced to two years, and imprisoned for three months in Márianosztra Prison in 1957. After his release, he stayed away from politics and moved back to Budapest with his daughter. He died there on 11 August 1973.