Göncz, Árpád (1922- )

Hungarian politician, president 1990–2000. He was an active opponent of the communist administration as a founder member of the Free Initiatives Network, the Free Democratic Federation, and the Historic Justice Committee. He became a member of parliament in 1990, and acting president of Hungary from May 1990 until August 1990 when he formally took office.

Born in Budapest, Göncz was educated at Pazmany Peter University, Budapest. His early career included working as a banking clerk for the Land Credit Institute. He was a member of the Industrial Smallholders Landworkers and Bourgois Party and the Industrial Youth Organization. In 1957 he was sentenced to life imprisonment as a defendant in the political Bibo trial. He was released under an amnesty in 1963. As a writer, he won the Wheatland Prize and the Attila Jozsef Prize, and served as the president of the Hungarian Writers Federation 1989–90.