Germany had the Nazi party: the NSDAP.
Italy had the fascist party: National Fascist Party.
Hungary had the Arrow Cross Party.
This party came to power in late 1944 after the Germans had taken over country.
And was led by Ferenc Szálasi.
Who was he and where did his party stand for?
In this video you are going to learn about the Hungarian Arrow Cross Party.
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A sore point in Hungarian history or perhaps thé sore point in Hungarian history was the
Treaty of Trianon.
It was drafted during the Paris Peace Conference that also drafted the Treaty of Versailles
for Germany.
Trianon was signed in 1920 and the territory of Hungary (that before was together with
Austria in a duo-monarchy) was reduced severily.
Hungary that was a medium sized country before, now became a landlocked small state surrounded
by new larger neighbors.
Eventually with German and Italian arbitration the Hungarians managed to get some of its
territories back.
Hungary signed the German-Italian-Japanese Triparte Pact on 20 November 1940.
In June 1941 the Hungarians took part in the invasion of the USSR.
In January 1943 the Hungarian armies suffered an enormous defeat on the Don.
About 50,000 Hungarian soldiers were killed or froze to death; 70,000 were POW or became
MIA.
The Hungarian government on several occasions had made contact with the Allies. And the Germans
were aware of this. The German invasion of Hungary happened mid-March 1944.
On some places Hungarian units offered light resistance, but in most places the Hungarian
army didn't fight the Germans at all.
Hungarian regent Miklos Horthy remained on his position.
He continued to contact the Allies and on 15 October managed an armistice with the Soviets.
The Germans then organized a take-over: Operation Panzerfaust (carried out by Otto Skorzeny).
Horthy refused to appoint Arrow Cross leader Ferenc Szálasi as prime minister but finally
acquiesced when the Germans threatened his family.
The Arrow Cross Party, what kind of party was this?
The Arrow Cross Party was founded in 1935 (initially known under the name: Party of
National Will).
Another far-right party was the Unity Party of prime minister Gyula Gömbös.
He strengthened the ties with fascist Italy and nazi Germany but passed away early in
1936.
Ferenc Szálasi was a dreamy retired army officer.
He brought the concept of 'Hungarism' to a new level.
“Szálasi’s ‘Hungarism’ was a bizarre version of racial geopolitics, but no more
bizarre than Hitler’s vision of an Aryan racialist–imperialist utopia.
In a way which was characteristic of inter-war fascist movements and ideologies, Szálasi
invented for the Hungarian Magyars a mythical and glorious past, which served as an ideal
to evoke and emulate, a stimulus to remedying Hungary’s inglorious present situation and
to securing its glorious future.”
He saw the Magyars as a global master race.
A ‘pure’ blend of Middle Eastern and Asiatic tribes, who by
location and settlement had a ‘Western’ culture, and so formed a bridge between Europe
and Asia.
In contrast with Hitler who believed the race had to be pure, Szálasi saw that by blending
races a superior race (the Magyars; the Hungarians) had been created.
Together with the Germans and the Japanse they had to rule over the world.
Szálasi envisioned a so-called Hungarista state.
“The Hungarista state, to be known as Hungarian United Ancient Lands, was to encompass the
Danubian basin, including all the Magyar-populated territories, as well as areas inhabited by
non-Magyar nationalities, Slovaks, Ruthens, Croats and so on.”
In Szálasi's fantasy land there was no room for the Jews, who were seen as responsible
for bolshevism and capitalism.
They had to be forcibly ‘repatriated’ outside Europe.
“The expulsion of the Jews would be a step towards creating a ‘Christian’ corporately
organised economy, where the state would nationalise the banks and financial services sector, energy
production and war industries, and foster the growth of a Magyar middle class of agricultural
and industrial entrepreneurs, by promoting land reform and industrial development.”
The construction of this new Hungarista state would see a national reconstruction where
the economy and society was reorganized, similar to the corporate system of Italian dictator
Benito Mussolini.
This corporatist model had gained many supporters in Europe before the outbreak of WW2.
Up to the war Arrow Cross members and leaders were, typically, army officers, or ex-army
officers, civil servants and professionals.
Later the Arrow Cross won over agricultural labourers and peasants, especially in the
poorest rural areas, and industrial and urban workers.
Szálasi was inspired by Hitler on achieving power.
First his party had to take the parliamentary road and once risen to power they would establish
a totalitarian dictatorship.
It didn't happen this way though.
Although the Arrow Cross did have some electoral success in May 1939 where a million votes
(25 per cent) were cast.
This also had to do because Szálasi was in prison at that time (for conspiracy to overthrow
the constitution).
However, it soon became apparent that no political party wanted to work with the Arrow Cross Party.
“As often happened to other inter-war fascist movements, momentum and expectations fell
away after the initial surge, when it became clear that the movement would not take power.”
The German leadership never preferred the Arrow Cross Party as leading party in Hungary.
This had to do with the fact that this party (and other fascist parties) often talked about the fascist revolution they had to proclaim.
and this was seen as unreliable.
Eventually the Germans did put Szálasi in power as leader of the Hungarian government after their take-over late 1944, but this was due to the lack of a better alternative.
When Szálasi was put in charge as a German puppet ruler the Hungarian Parliament was
not dissolved, but didn't have much power any longer.
The population greeted the change of power passively.
Szálasi believed that Hungary's only hope was to fully co-operate with Germany.
Hungary now became fully at the disposal of the Germans.
Szálasi wanted a levée en masse – full mobilization – to raise 14 new army divisions.
However many wanted to serve, out of fear for the Soviets, the orders had to be rescinded
because of the chaotic organization: there was not enough weaponry and uniforms for the
new recruits.
Speaking of uniforms, here you see some photos I took in the Budapest House of Terror Museum.
They wore green shirts with black tie and black jacket.
They also had an armband with the Arrow Cross logo: a cross of four arrows.
When the Hungarian fascists puppet government was proclaimed the Red Army was well within
the borders of Hungary.
In January 1945 the Hungarista government moved to the West of the country.
The Jews that were living in the territory that was controlled by the Arrow Cross Party; they suffered severily.