Editing State Protection Authority (section)

==Duties==
While the security apparatus was operating, it supported the [[Hungarian Working People's Party]] (MDP) directly, with little reference made to Government norms. This support was primarily through the secret gathering of intelligence, largely through a vast network of [[informant]]s, like the system used by the Ministry for State Security ([[Stasi]]) in the [[German Democratic Republic]].

The investigation network was supplemented with a mechanism of secret arrests, followed by extensive periods of [[torture]] (lasting between 3 and 18 months). When the apparatus had extracted [[Confession (legal)|confessions]] of varying quality from a [[prison]]er, the State's system of [[public procurator]]s and [[court]]s would be called in to make a ruling on the [[sentence (law)|sentence]]. This was the norm of operation for the ÁVH, and was diverged from in matters of only  utmost state security; for example, the illegal arrest and indefinite solitary detention of the [[Communist Party of Great Britain]] operative [[Edith Bone]]. Despite the forced nature of confessions, retractions at trial were not considered a danger to the process, due to the obvious threat of continued torture during a recess of the trial.

===International activities===
The ÁVH also assisted the Soviet sphere security apparatus by staging [[show trial]]s. In two cases, the ÁVH was given the privilege of leading an attack on undesired elements throughout Hungary. In 1948 the Roman Catholic Cardinal [[József Mindszenty]] was tried and imprisoned. In 1949, the ÁVH arrested [[Hungarian Communist Party]] member [[László Rajk]], who was then tried and executed for [[nationalism]] and [[Titoism]] in a show trial that signified to the international communist movement that [[Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]] was now a threat. (László Rajk was the man who had organised the ÁVH.)

===Concentration camps===
Following sentence, [[political prisoner]]s were imprisoned. To serve this purpose, more penal institutions (the prison in Vác, the transit prison, the state security prison in Mosonyi Street) and internment camps (in [[Kistarcsa]], [[Recsk]], [[Tiszalök]], [[Kazincbarcika]] and according to the latest research, in [[Bernátkút]] and [[Sajóbábony]]) were placed under the supervision of the State Protection Authority. <ref>[https://neb.hu/en/from-secret-interrogations-to-the-vatican-of-transit-prison From secret interrogations to the “Vatican” of transit prison]</ref> The most notorious of these camps were in [[Recsk forced labor camp|Recsk]], Kistarcsa, Tiszalök and Kazincbarcika.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.terrorhaza.hu/en/exhibitions/permanent-exhibition/basement/internment|title=INTERNMENT|website=www.terrorhaza.hu|accessdate=December 17, 2024}}</ref>
 
These camps were mixed and varied. Early camps tended to be cruder and more cruel. In particular, the status of ex-party members varied. In camps prior to 1953 they were more harshly treated than other prisoners. After 1953, ex-party members were a virtual [[aristocracy]] within prisons.{{Citation needed|date=April 2018}} Additionally, prior to 1953 certain camps had as their goal the eventual death of inmates due to overwork and maltreatment.{{Citation needed|date=April 2018}} In a number of cases, torture was an essential part of camp life and discipline.{{Citation needed|date=April 2018}}

Imre Nagy's first government from 1953 to 1955 vastly improved conditions in the camps and halted the efforts to exterminate political prisoners.{{Citation needed|date=April 2018}}

:''See also'': {{ill|Kistarcsa Central Internment Camp|hu|Kistarcsai Központi Internálótábor}}