Throughout the Second World War, the Kingdom of Hungary was a prominent member of the Axis
forces joining with Nazi Germany and Facist Italy.
It benefited from it’s relationship with these nations, and more than 300,000 Hungarian
soldiers and 600,000 Hungarian civilians died during the conflict.
More than 400,000 jews died after scores were deported to concentration and extermination
camps, and many cities were heavily damaged during the conflict.
There were a number of political changes in the country throughout the war also, and one
man who served as the Prime Minister of Hungary from April 1941 to March 1942 was Laszlo Bardossy.
He was one of the main people behind Hungary’s involvement in the World War 2, but after
the conflict he was sentenced to death and was executed by a firing squad in January
1946, being found sentenced to death for collaborating with the Nazis and war crimes.
But what is the story behind his execution?
Join us today as we look at the compelling execution of Laszlo Bardossy, remember to
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Born in December 1890, Laszlo Bardossy completed his schooling in Slovakia and also in Budapest.
Whilst in the city, he trained as a lawyer and travelled to other European cities such
as Paris and Berlin and he learned German English and French.
He began a career in government in 1913 serving as an assistant clerk in the Hungarian government’s
ministry of culture and education, and he continued to rise throughout the ranks.
He was then made a ministerial secretary and in February 1922 transferred to the Ministry
of Foreign affairs.
He was seen as a important Hungarian envoy also and a diplomat, and he went to different
lands on government business.
But following the First World War, Hungary had lost significant territory and Hungary
wanted to regain much of it’s land under the ‘Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen.’
With this, Hungary wished to claim lands from Czechslovakia, Yugoslavia and Romania.
But there were discussions to enlarge Hungary’s territory and lands, and with this it absorbed
certain lands, and they received support from Nazi Germany to revise their borders, and
this brought Hungary and Germany closer, and on the 20th November 1940 Hungary formally
joined the Axis alliances.
The Germans and Italians wanted to neutralise Yugoslavia to make an invasion of Greece much
more straight forward.
Hungary and Yugoslavia signed a non aggression pact on the 12th December 1940, and Hungary
also at this time anted to limit any pressure from the Germans and also improve relations
with the UK which were now at war with them.
But in January 1941, the Minister of Foreign Affairs died and Laszlo Bardossy was appointed
to the position.
He believed that the Second World War would result in a German victory, and he quickly
was thrust into the action of politics during the world’s deadliest conflict.
He was told by the British that they weren’t happy as they had allowed Germans to walk
into Romania.
Bardossy and the Prime Minister Pal Teleki met with the Yugoslav foreign minister to
exchange documents relating to the Treaty of Friendship.
But it was clear that Hungary was being manipulated by the Germans.
Hungary were making excuses to the Allies and they were actively letting German troops
pass through their lands, to attack countries allied with Britain.
Threats were made against Hungary if they joined in any attacks.
Following the overthrow of the Yugoslav government, Hitler ordered his generals to attack and
he summoned the Hungarian Ambassador to Berlin.
He offered Croatia to Hungary in a message to the Regent of Hungary, and Bardossy tried
to get him to not join in with the invasion.
However it was believed by Hitler that Hungary would join the invasion, and Hitler regarded
Hungary as a friend of his.
Bardossy wrote to American and British ambassadors communicating the likely collapse of Yugoslavia,
and many warned in Hungary about an act warning against the threat and resources that Britain
and America.
Bardossy said it would be acceptable to enter former Hungarian lands in Yugoslavia after
the country had collapsed.
The British warned the Hungarian ambassador that if Hungary allowed German troops through
the country to attack Yugoslavia, Britain would break off diplomatic relations.
Hungary knew that any attack on Yugoslavia would breach the treaty they had, and the
Prime Minister Teleki even shot himself as he believed Hungary had disgraced itself by
siding with the Germans against Yugoslavia.
In his note he wrote to the regent, ‘We have become breakers of our word—out of
cowardice—in defiance of the Treaty of Eternal Friendship... we have placed ourselves at
the side of scoundrels...
We shall be robbers of corpses!
the most abominable nation.’
But after Teleki took his own life, Bardossy was appointed prime minister.
He remained interested in foreign affairs, and in control he pursued a strong pro-German
foreign policy and said an alliance with the Nazis would let Hungary retrieve it’s former
lands.
With this the Germans invaded Yugoslavia, and part of the German invasion was launched
from Hungarian territory.
Attacks then occured on Hungary from the Yugoslavs, and quickly after the land fell, the Axis
puppet Independent state of Croatia was proclaimed.
Bardossy claimed to justify the invasion of Yugoslavia, but Winston Churchill held fire
on declaring war on Hungary for a few months until he was urged to do so by Joseph Stalin.
The Hungarian attack ultimately overseen by Bardossy was described as the ‘most shameful
act of wartime Hungarian policy.’
Following this they occupied lands and territory that formerly belonged to Hungary and these
lands were annexed.
Bardossy also declared war on the Soviet Union following an attack on the city of Kassa by
3 unidentified aircraft.
He stood up in Parliament and with this violated the Hungarian constitution, declaring war
without getting Parliament’s consent.
Britain then declared war months later, and Bardossy also announced a state of war with
America on the 15th December 1941.
However in Hungary, Bardossy’s policies were rather similar to the Nazis and the was
a virulent anti semite.
He limited Jewish employment opportunities and banned them from having relationships
with non-jews, and he also approved the policy of deporting Jews from the territory seized
from Yugoslavia.
With this he personally sanctioned the executions and killings of thousands of Jews.
But on the 7th March 1942, despite being only in the job of prime minister for a matter
of months, Laszlo Bardossy was forced out.
Regent Horthy forced his resignation and decided to settle on a more moderate prime minister.
It’s believed that Horthy removed Bardossy for a number of reasons, possibly as he refused
to stand up to Germany more, or the fact he was compliant in the growth of the far right
in the land.
Also he could have seen Bardossy as a reason why the Hungarian forces suffered very heavy
losses fighting the Soviet Union.
But also Bardossy opposed a plan that would have elevated Horthy’s son to the regency
after his death.
But after resigning as the Prime Minister, he then became the Chairman of the Fascist
United Christian National League, and as the Germans occupied Hungary in 1944, he and his
followers collaborated with Prime Minister Dome Szotjay, and later Prime Minister Ferenc
Szalasi and his arrow cross party.
In this Bardossy was working alongside a man who actively went after jews and executed
them, and also his men were involved in deporting dozens of thousands of people to the concentration
camps, where they were then killed as soon as they arrived.
Bardossy was complicit in this, and he was involved in these deportations.
But as the Soviets advanced towards Hungary, he fled to Germany heading towards Bavaria.
He obtained a visa to travel to Switzerland and then lived in a refugee camp, but he was
then deported back to Germany and was then arrested by the Americans as soon as he arrived
in Germany.
He was a man who as prime minister of Hungary was responsible for the deportations of thousands
of jews and also he had overseen his country as they were declared war on by Britain and
also America.
But after the end of the Second World War, he was sent back to his homeland on the 3rd
October 1945 and was placed on trial for being a war criminal.
He was accused of being complicit in mass murder, and also being charged with sending
more than 60,000 jews to Nazi death camps.
He was ultimately found guilty of war crimes and of being a collaborator with the Nazis,
and at his trial was sentenced to death by firing squad in Budapest.
He was imprisoned inside one of the cities prisons for a few months, before on the 10th
January 1946, he was taken to the courtyard of the Academy of Music in Budapest.
A Hungarian official read the death sentence of the former Prime Minister out aloud, and
watching the execution were thousands of Hungarian civilians.
Against the side of the building, a large number of sand bags had been set up to protect
the crowd and the soldiers from ricocheting bullets.
Accompanying Bardossy was a priest who remained with him until the very end, and Laszlo Bardossy
was then placed in front of the sandbags.
He had his legs tied to prevent him from running or escaping, and the crowd surrounded him
in a semi circle.
There were thousands there, and he was dressed in a suit.
Opposite him were four executioners, the firing squad armed with rifles who would take his
life.
The priest stepped to the side to allow the shooters to do their job, and to take Bardossy’s
life.
They were told to take aim, and the four soldiers did so before they fired straight into the
former prime minister at very close range.
Instantly he was killed.
Shortly after this the priest and a doctor went over to him and his death was confirmed.
Despite only being the Prime Minister of Hungary for a short while, Laszlo Bardossy oversaw
his countries involvement in the war.
In his time in office, Britain and the US declared war on his nation, also he allowed
German soldiers to invade one of his former allies, and also moved his soldiers into those
lands.
He was hated by many inside of his country, and at the barrel of four rifles he was executed
inside of Budapest.
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