Lóránd Utassy
Lóránd Utassy de Uljak (18 April 1897 – 3 June 1974) was a Hungarian general. He graduated from the Ludovica Military Academy and served in the artillery during World War I.
After the war he worked at the Hungarian consulate in Munich (1921–1928) and later for the Ministry of Defence. From 1937 to 1942 he was a military attaché in London, Washington, D.C., and Mexico City.
In 1942 he was promoted to colonel. In October 1943 he became head of the Ministry 21st Department for Prisoners of War and Internees, overseeing thousands of Polish soldiers held in Hungary. He resisted German pressure to transfer them and tried to have the Red Cross represent the Poles in Hungary. When the Germans occupied Hungary in March 1944, he refused to hand over the Polish prisoners.
On 16 October 1944 he was arrested by Hungarian fascists and deported to Bavaria. After World War II, in 1945 he returned to Hungary and was made a general, but he retired in 1946. In 1951 the Communist regime labeled him an “enemy of the people,” stripped some of his property, and sent part of his family to Hortobágy labour camp for two years.
Utassy died in Budapest in 1974 at age 77 and was buried at Farkasréti Cemetery. In 1990 he was rehabilitated and restored to the rank of general. On 19 June 2019 he was posthumously awarded the Virtus et Fraternitas Medal; the ceremony involved Polish President Andrzej Duda, with the medal accepted by his grandson on Utassy’s behalf.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 11:29 (CET).