The article “Holocaust remembered” (The Budapest Times, 1-7 February 2013) incorrectly states that 550,000-600,000 Hungarian Jews perished in the final year of the Second World War “the vast majority after Nazi Germany invaded its ally and installed a quisling Hungarian fascist party in power”.
The 16 October 1944 abdication of Miklós Horthy appointing Arrow Cross leader Ferenc Szálasi “nemzetvezetõ” took place three to six months AFTER the deportation of some 437,000 Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz during the prime ministership of Döme Sztojay with Horthy’s knowledge and consent. What Horthy did not know was that a majority of those deported to Auschwitz were to be gassed upon arrival.
The presence of German troops on Hungarian soil notwithstanding, Horthy eventually succumbed to international pressure to stop the deportations and at one point actually deployed Hungarian troops to prevent trains laden with Jews from leaving Budapest.
The notion that the Hungarian government somehow looked on haplessly while the Wehrmacht rounded up and deported 437,000 Jews (mostly women, children and those too old or infirm to serve in forced-labour battalions) ignores the fact that the deportations were organised by the Hungarian government at the behest of the German government with the knowledge and consent of the Hungarian Parliament and the active participation of some 200,000 Hungarian citizens.
The short-lived government of Ferenc Szálasi is directly responsible for the death of some 10,000 to 15,000 Jews, many of whom were dragged out of their homes, shot in the back and thrown into the icy waters of the Danube by members of the Arrow Cross. The number of Arrow Cross victims could easily have exceeded 100,000 but for the extraordinary actions of Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg who, in addition to issuing Swedish passports and setting up safe houses, is credited with preventing the liquidation of the Budapest Jewish ghetto in the final weeks of the war.
If President of the Republic János Áder truly wanted to honour the memory of Hungarian victims of the Holocaust he would acknowledge the active role the Hungarian government played in their persecution and murder. At the same time he should acknowledge the efforts of hundreds of Hungarians to protect Hungarian Jews, often at great risk to themselves and their families.
Sincerely,
Richard Field
When the Koszorus operation took place (July 6), Germany had already removed a significant portion of their army from Hungary due to the Normandy landing (June 6). Before the withdrawal of German troops, even Koszorus’ secret tank division (which was planned for a bailout from the war) would have had no chance of resisting. Thus, Horthy was indeed “hapless.” The consent of the Hungarian Parliament is an exaggeration. No one asked the Parliament. Many politicians (including PM Kallay, former PM Bethlen, etc.) had to go underground after the German occupation. Thus, regardless of the formal presence of the Parliament, it ceased functioning in a sovereign and democratic fashion after the German occupation. Horthy appointed the Sztojay government, but the appointments were done practically at gunpoint (a tank’s cannon was pointed at the Regent’s quarters in Buda Castle) and the composition was decided by Veesenmayer. Horthy was able to negotiate a minor point. The Germans wanted Imredy as PM, and finally consented to Sztojay. It was not much of a compromise.
The Hungarian government (i.e., the Sztojay government and later the Szalasi government) played an active role in the deportation and and murder of Jews in Hungary. I doubt that Ader denied it. These people were willing collaborators of the Nazis. The issue is that they were able to rise to power not by the will of the Hungarian people, but by the support of the occupying German forces, i.e., when Hungary lost its sovereignty.
I understand that these events are impossible to view without strong emotions. However, it is better to stick to the facts.
What Richard Field wrote is missing some key aspects.
Hungary lost its sovereignty on 19th March 1944 when the Wehrmacht occupied the country. We became a fascist puppet-state of Germany with Hungarian far-right government(s) under German military rule. Until this moment, Hungary was the last place of rescue for Jews in Central Europe as Horthy was against deportations.
After the Auschwitz protocol (description of what is happening in the camps) was received by Horthy in the summer of 1944, he organized a putsch with general Géza Lakatos, who became p.m. between August-October 1944. This actually saved many Jews from being deported and killed as deportations were stopped instantly; far-right members of government responsible for this were kicked out of offices etc.
After this came the Szálasi putsch in October, but at that time Horthy was taken out of the game by the Germans. After taking hostage of his only son (the other was shot down on his plane in Ukraine, probably also by Germans), he was forced to appoint Szálasi. Later he was taken to prison in Germany with all of his family left. His son was taken to Auschwitz and put in a cell just right beside the ovens and torture chambers…
Field also missed to mention that Hungarian priests and also laic families saved many Jews by hiding them. That was much more risky than the Red Cross houses by Wallenberg, which was also a brave thing, no doubt about that. (It’s also a mystery why Wallenberg was killed later by the Red Army and not the Gestapo…)
The picture Field painted is the narrative of “leftist” Jews in Hungary who are not really able to evaluate objectively what happened, for obvious reasons…