On 21 September 1942 the
Regent,
Miklós Horthy, offered General Nagy the portfolio of the Minister of Defense. In this position, and true to his convictions, Nagy did everything to keep the military out of politics, and struggled to modernize and preserve the remaining Hungarian military stationed at home to prevent the repeat of another debacle which followed the collapse of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918. Prior to his appointment, the government committed the 2nd Hungarian Army to the
Eastern Front, where they eventually met their end by their complete annihilation at
Voronezh. While Nagy was unable to bring back the troops from the front, he made every effort to preserve and safeguard the troops back home and ameliorate the conditions of the
forced labour battalions. He issued numerous orders for the improvement of their conditions. These actions were met with opposition from the officers' corps at the ministry and politicians of the extreme right. His political effectiveness diminished as he sought to curb the military's culture of
Antisemitism and the inhumane treatment of the forced labourers. He strenuously objected to the German request of sending Jewish forced labourers to the copper mines at
Bor, Serbia, and in February 1943, he opposed acquiescing to the German request of sending Hungarian troops to the
Balkans. Due to his position on these issues, he was viewed as increasingly dangerous by his enemies. He was ridiculed, accused of being a 'Jewish lackey' (
Zsidóbérenc), of being anti-
Axis, and was under constant attack by the extreme political right. Seeing that neither Regent Horthy, nor the Prime Minister
Kállay were able or willing to defend him, on 8 June 1943, he submitted his resignation. He was succeeded by Colonel-In-Chief
Lajos Csatay, and the daily press praised the person of the departing minister. On 16 June, the
social democratic daily
Népszava (Voice of the People) published an exceptionally warm appraisal.
Endre Bajcsy-Zsilinszky, in his memoirs on government related matters, he wrote that in his 10 June submission to the Regent, he praised the service of the departing minister. The city of
Marosvásárhely named him an honorary citizen but, due to 19 March 1944 occupation of Hungary by the Germans, the ceremony was cancelled.
The war's end From behind the scenes, Vilmos Nagy continued to support the efforts of those who wished to achieve a separate peace with the Allies.
Hungary lay in the direct path of the
Nazi armies retreating from the onslaught of the
Red Army and, based on past experience, he foresaw the utter destruction to be visited upon the land and the people as the fighting moved ever closer to the borders of Hungary. The extreme right was not satisfied with distancing him from a position of power and authority, and after the government's takeover by the fascist
Arrow Cross, on 16 November 1944, the
gendarmerie (
csendőrök) arrested him at his
Piliscsaba home. After being held for two days at Hotel Lomnic on
Svábhegy, which served as a prison facility of the Arrow Cross, together with his brother Béla and other prisoners, he was transferred to the prison in
Sopronköhida. As the Red Army approached, the prisoners, under the command of lieutenant colonel
Árpád Barcsay of the gendarmes, were transported to
Passau Bavaria, then to
Pfarrkirchen, and finally force marched to
Gschaid. The Ministry of Defense discovered the constantly moving prisoners in
Simbach, and their intervention forced the prisoners' transport to the ministry compound in
Tann where they were released. From Tann, on Sunday 28 April 1945, together with his brother, he moved to where he found accommodations on a Bavarian farm until the US forces reached them on 1 May.
Later life He managed to return to Hungary in 1946, and in the initial period of the governing coalition of the various political factions, he participated as a committee member for the assessment of military pensions. After the
Communist takeover of 1948, together with many of his peers, he was unjustly attacked, his apartment confiscated, and his pension revoked. He found employment as a gardener and caretaker at the tree nursery of
Pilisi Parkerdő gazdaság (
hu), where he tended to the planting and care of seedlings and, later, he found employment as a metalsmith. At the beginning of 1950s a singularly unexpected event transpired. He received an invitation to the fiftieth graduation reunion of his high school. The invitation came from his former classmate and fellow graduate, Dr.
Petru Groza, who at the time was the
President of Romania. Nagy replied that he could not participate due to his lack of funds and a passport. The President then used his influence with the Hungarian government, and the Secretary of the
Hungarian Communist Party,
Mátyás Rákosi, was obliged to provide the means to attend the reunion. Further intervention by the President saw the general's pension reinstated. He gained a measure of comfort and fulfillment when he was selected in 1965 as the first Hungarian
Righteous Among the Nations by the
Yad Vashem Institute of
Jerusalem. The aging general remained mentally active until his death by spending his time writing, editing, and reading. In 1964, he re-edited his work,
Végzetes esztendök ("Fateful Years"), which was originally published in 1947. The long-lived soldier died in
Piliscsaba on 21 June 1976, shortly after his ninety-second birthday. ==Works==