József Mindszenty [jo:ʒɛf mindsɛnti] (29 March 18926 May 1975) was the
Prince Primate,
Archbishop of Esztergom,
cardinal, and leader of the
Catholic Church in
Hungary from 2 October 1945 to 18 December 1973. For five decades, he personified uncompromising opposition to
fascism and
communism in Hungary in support of religious freedom. During
World War II, he was imprisoned by the pro-Nazi
Arrow Cross Party. After the war, he opposed communism and the communist persecution in his country. As a result, he was
tortured and given a life sentence in a 1949
show trial that generated worldwide condemnation, including a
United Nations resolution. After eight years in prison, he was freed in the
Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and granted
political asylum by the United States embassy in
Budapest, where Mindszenty lived for the next fifteen years. He was finally allowed to leave the country in 1971. He died in exile in 1975 in
Vienna, Austria.