Anna Kéthly – A Trailblazing Socialist in the Hungarian Parliament – Budapest, Anna Kéthly Statue

Fact of the Hungarian figure „Margit Schlacta – The first woman to be elected to the Hungarian Parliament”

Part of the „The emancipation of women” topic

Anna Kéthly (1889-1976) was a Hungarian Social Democratic politician. She was the second female member of the Parliament and served as a member from 1922 until 1948. Kéthly was deeply committed to social justice, constantly pushing for equal pay, better working conditions, and gender equality. She became one of the most influential female politicians of her time. Anna Kéthly did not leave the country when the communists took power and was one of the most influential leaders among those who stayed at home. During the 1956 Revolution, he was president of the newly formed Hungarian Social Democratic Party. He refused to cooperate with the communists. He also held the post of Minister of State in the third Imre Nagy government formed on 3 November 1956. When the Soviet invasion of Hungary began, he did not return home from Vienna but went to New York to the Hungarian Committee of the United Nations. There he took part in the preparation of the report on the revolution and sent several memoranda to the organization on the situation in Hungary. In 1957 he became president of the Hungarian Revolutionary Council in Strasbourg. He eventually settled in Brussels and lived there for the rest of his life.