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(State Protection Authority) was the national security department of Hungary after the World War II. It became very similar to the KGB and other communist secret services.

This is a summary term for the Political police forces between 1945 and 1956. The list of forces:

• 1945, Budapest Police Main Command Political Dept., (Budapesti Fokapitányság Politikai Rendészeti Osztálya)
• 1946, Hungarian State Police State Protection Dept., (Magyar Államrendorség Államvédelmi Osztálya, ÁVO)
• 1950, State Protection Authority, (Államvédelmi Hatóság, ÁVH)
• 1956, the authority was officially cancelled, but the methods were used by several, unnamed governmental or communist entities. Hungary would go on to be the only Warsaw Pact country without an intelligence service.

They supported the Communist Party with secret or illegal wiretappings and investigations, ran several prisons and concentration camps, and assisted in several political court cases, notably those of László Rajk and József MindszentyCardinal Jozsef Mindszenty ( 1892- 1975) was a Hungarian Cardinal and steadfast opponent of the Hungarian communist regime. Mindszenty was born Jozsef Pehm on March 29, 1892, in Csehimindszent, Austria-Hungary. He became a priest in 1915. In 1917 the firs.

1 The ÁVH in the 1956 Hungarian RevolutionBudapest The 1956 Hungarian Revolution also known as the Hungarian Uprising was a popular revolt against Soviet influence and control in Hungary. The revolt was brutally suppressed by Soviet troops. About 25-50,000 Hungarian insurgents and 7,000 Soviet tr

When Hungarians rose up against their government in 1956, one of the first things they did was hunt down and kill known and suspected ÁVH officers and informants.

When the Revolution began, a mob thousands strong attacked the police headquarters in Budapest, chanting "tear down the star!" and "free the prisoners!", a reference to the enormous red starThis article is on red star the symbol. For astronomical meanings of the red star see red dwarf or red giant. The five-pointed red star is a symbol of Communism and represents the five fingers of the worker's hand, as well as the five (inhabited) continen that stood on the building's roofA roof is the top covering of a building that prevents the ingress of weather into the building interior. Roofing comes in sloped or 'flat' form, however roofs are never really truly flat. Flat roofs are often covered with tar and gravel and provided with and the many prisoners kept inside. Fearing for the lives of both himself and his officers, the chief of police let the mob into the building, allowing them to take any political prisonerA political prisoner is anyone held in prison or otherwise detained, perhaps under house arrest, because their ideas or image either challenge or pose a real or potential threat to the state. In many cases, a veneer of legality is used to disguise the facs they wanted.

A Western eyewitness said:

"The secret police lie twisted in the gutter [...] the Hungarians will not touch the corpse of an ÁVH man, not even to close the eyes or straighten the neck."

Mobs who had just lynched ÁVH officers would often throw Party paybooks on to the corpses to show their disdain for both the Party and the ÁVH.

Almost unsurprisingly, when the Soviet Union invaded Hungary to support the government, ÁVH officers carried out brutal reprisals against those who had killed their comrades.