The State Protection Authority became an independent agency on the 1st of January 1950. It originated as the Budapest Department of State Political Police in 1945 and transformed through several structural changes before gaining full autonomy.
Gábor Péter served as the absolute head of the State Protection Authority from 1945 until 1952. Born Benjamin Eisenberger, he directed the cruelty and brutality associated with the agency during his tenure.
Miksa Domonkos was kidnapped by officials on the 7th of April 1953 to extract confessions regarding Raoul Wallenberg. He spent a week in hospital after being released but died shortly afterwards due to torture endured during interrogation.
The Imre Nagy government abolished the State Protection Authority entirely when the revolution began in 1956. Insurgents attacked police headquarters and lynched officers while the crowd took political prisoners from the building.
Political prisoners were imprisoned across a network including Recsk Kistarcsa Tiszalök and Kazincbarcika. Early camps focused on death through overwork and maltreatment before conditions improved under Imre Nagy's first government from 1953 to 1955.