Szűcs László: Dálnoki Miklós Béla kormányának (Ideiglenes Nemzeti Kormány) Minisztertanácsi jegyzőkönyvei 1944. december 23.-1945. november 15. B kötet (Magyar Országos Levéltár kiadványai, II. Forráskiadványok 28. Budapest, 1997)

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tioned as radical counterpoint of the government which resided in the country town of Debrecen. In some respects the government was deprived of independent expression of its opinion and the initiatives by regular inter-party conferences. In spite of the mentioned obstacles the work of the government was surprisingly wide-ranging. On the basis of authorization obtained from the Provisional National Assembly the government declared war on Germany on 28 December 1944, signed the Armistice Agreement with representatives of Allied Powers on 20 January 1945, nullified the territory expansions of 1938-1941, repealed acts and decrees of racial discrimination; measures were taken in connection with the rehabilitation of victims of racial or political persecution; fascist and extreme right political and military organizations were dissolved. The government arranged for banning and destruction of anti-Soviet and right wing printed matters, enforced the freedom of the press, made the land reform, established the people's court, reorganized the Hungarian Army, the police force, the public administration and public education; elections were held. It signed the Soviet-Hungarian Reparation Agreement and began to fulfill it and also signed the Soviet-Hungarian goods exchange agreement, took the preliminary steps in connection with the Soviet-Hungarian Economic Cooperation Agreement, established diplomatic relations with the United States of America and Soviet Union. The Provisional National Government also took the preliminary steps in expatriation of the members of German popular movement called Volksbund, took care of the Hungarian ethnic minority in neighboring countries and the life of Hungarian displaced persons and prisoners of war, dealt with the goods removed from the country and the abandoned property inside the country, prepared for the Peace Treaty. Measures were taken for reconstruction of the Hungarian economy and keeping the inflation in hand and for reduce the burden fell to the country as a consequence of the Armistice Agreement and the Soviet-Hungarian Reparations Agreement. Thus the Provisional National Government made the most of its authorization obtained from the Provisional National Assembly though this authorization was a controversial issue. The Government took certain measures which would have fallen within the competence of a freely and secretly elected Parliament. Some of this measures (e.g. the land reform) were inevitable because of extraordinary circumstances but some others (e.g. amendment the law of marriage) were not. The government had possibility to exceed its authority in consequence of contradictions of governmental system. On the one hand the activity of the Provisional National Assembly was suspended between December 1944 and September 1945 so the government was not under permanent control of the Parliament and the Political Committee of the Provisional National Assembly could not fulfill this function of controlling. On the other hand the power of the head of state was unstable due to the divided state of it. In consequence of the coalition-type governing there were sharp debates on the above mentioned matters and other issues at the cabinet. The Provisional National Government held 67 meetings, discussed about 1800 items on the agenda and issued 367 decrees between 23 December 1944 and 15 November 1945. The original minutes of cabinet meetings were handed over to the National 789