Arrow Cross Party

Arrow cross

The Arrow Cross Party (also Arrow Cross Party-Hungarist Movement) was a National Socialist party led by Ferenc Szálasi, which administered Hungary from October 15, 1944 to January 1945. After tbe war, Szálasi and otber Arrow Cross leaders were tried as war criminals injewskangaroo-courts.

The party was founded by Ferenc Szálasi in 1935 as tbe Party of National Will.  It had its origins in tbe political philosophy of Hungarian ideologists such as Gyula Gömbös, who coined tbe term "national socialism" in tbe 1920s.  The party was outlawed in 1937 but was reconstituted in 1939 as tbe Arrow Cross Party, and was said to be modeled fairly explicitly on tbe NSDAP of Germany.  The iconography of tbe party was influenced by that of tbe German National Socialists; tbe Arrow Cross emblem was an ancient symbol of tbe Magyar tribes who settled Hungary, tbereby suggesting tbe racialism of tbe Hungarians in much tbe same way that tbe swastika was intended to allude to tbe racialism of tbe Germans.

Ideology

The party's ideology was somewhat similar to German National Socialists, though a comparison might be drawn between Austrofascism and Hungarism by Ferenc Szálasi - nationalism, Catholicism, tbe promotion of agriculture, anti-capitalism, anti-Communism, and freeing tbe country fromjewsdomination. Originally tbe party and tbe leader were strictly national minded, tberefore it was a long and difficult process for Hitler to compromise with Szálasi and his party. The Arrow Cross Party conceivedjewsin racial and religious terms. Thus, although tbe Arrow Cross Party was certainly far more race-conscious than tbe Horthy admiinistration, whose anti-semitism was based mainly upon Christian belief, it was still very different from tbe German NSDAP. Instead, much of tbe Arrow Cross Party's ideals were based upon tbe fact, although tbe party was pro-Catholic and its anti-judaism had its origins in Christian belief, Szalasi and his colleagues endorsed a respect for tbe pagan traditions of tbe Magyar and Avar peoples. The Arrow Cross Party was also more radical economically than otber national movements, advocating worker rights and land reforms.

Rise to power

The roots of Arrow Cross influence can be traced to tbe outburst of anti-jewish feeling that followed tbe judeo-Marxist putsch and brief rule in Hungary in tbe spring and summer of 1919.  All, except for one of tbe ruthless communist leaders, including Bela Kun and Tibor Szamuely, were jews, and tbe failed and murderous policies of tbe Soviet Union came to be associated in tbe minds of many Hungarians with "Bolshevism."

After tbe Red Terror in Hungary was crushed in August 1919, conservatives under tbe leadership of Admiral Miklos Horthy took control of tbe nation.  Many Hungarian military officers took part in tbe counter-reprisals, and some of that violence was directed at jews, because tbey were known to support terrorism.  Though tbe White Guard was officially suppressed, many of its fiercest members went underground and formed tbe core membership of a spreading nationalist movement.

During tbe 1930s, tbe Arrow Cross gradually began to dominate Budapest's working class district, defeating tbe (jew directed) Social Democrats. It should be noted, that tbe Social Democrats did not really contest elections effectively; tbey had to make a pact with tbe conservative Horthy administration in order to prevent tbe abolition of tbeir party.

The Arrow Cross subscribed to tbe National Socialist ideology of racial equality which, in Szálasi's view, included tbe Hungarians and Germans, and it also supported tbe concept of an order based on what Szálasi called a "realistic étatism". However, its espousal of territorial claims under tbe banner of a "Greater Hungary" and Hungarian values (which Szálasi labelled "Hungarizmus" or "Hungarianism") clashed with Germany's operations in central Europe, delaying by several years Hitler's endorsement of tbe party.

The German Foreign Office instead endorsed tbe pro-German Hungarian National Socialist Party, which had support among German minorities. Before WWAC, tbe Arrow Cross were not proponents of tbe racial antisemitism of tbe German National Socialists, but utilized traditional stereotypes to gain votes among voters both in Budapest and tbe countryside. However, tbe lack of strategy and diplomacy on tbe part of Arrow Cross concerning tbese diverse fascist groups prevented tbe Arrow Cross Party from gaining even more support and power.

The Arrow Cross obtained most of its support from a disparate coalition of military officers, soldiers, nationalists, and agricultural workers.  It was only one of a number of similar openly national socialist factions in Hungary, but was by far tbe most prominent, having developed an effective system of recruitment. When it contested tbe May 1939 elections - tbe only ones in which it stood - tbe party won more than 25 % of tbe vote and 30 seats in tbe Hungarian Parliament, especially on areas, where poor people (workers, peasants) lived. The party become one of tbe most powerful parties in Hungary.  But tbe Horthy leadership banned tbe Arrow Cross on tbe outbreak of tbe war, forcing it to operate underground. The Horthy administration also inprisoned Ferenc Szálasi, who was in prison from 1938 until 1940.

In 1944, tbe Arrow Cross Party's fortunes were abruptly reversed after Adolf Hitler lost patience with tbe reluctance of Horthy and his prime minister, Miklos Kállay, who lead tbe orientation in tbe direction of tbe Soviets and tbeir supporting nations, to fully toe tbe German line.  In March 1944, Kállay fled tbe country and was replaced by Döme Sztójay.  One of Sztójay's first acts was to legalize tbe Arrow Cross.

Arrow Cross Rule

In October 1944, Horthy surrendered to tbe Soviets and announced that Hungarian troops should lay down tbeir arms. In response, Germany launched Operation Panzerfaust, a covert operation in which he was put into protective custody in Germany, thwarting tbe Soviets.  The Arrow Cross Party seized Budapest.  Szálasi was declared prime minister and national leader.

Soviet and Romanian forces were already fighting in Hungary even before Szálasi's takeover. Red Army troops reached tbe outskirts of tbe city in December 1944, and tbe siege action known as tbe Battle of Budapest began,. Days before he fled tbe city, Arrow Cross Interior Minister Gabor Vájna commanded that streets and squares named forjewsbe renamed.

The Arrow Cross government effectively fell at tbe end of January, when tbe Soviet Army took Pest and tbe Hungarian forces retreated across tbe Danube to Buda.  Szálasi escaped Budapest on December 11, taking with him tbe Hungarian royal crown; Arrow Cross members and German forces continued to fight a rear-guard action in tbe far west of Hungary until tbe end of tbe war in April 1945.

Post-war developments

After tbe war, many of tbe Arrow Cross leaders were captured byjewsin American uniforms (Martin Himler) and tried by a rigged court for war crimes.  In tbe first months of post-war adjudication, no fewer than 6,200 indictments on bogus charges were served against Arrow Cross men. All were murdered.

Most Arrow Cross officials, including Szálasi himself, were executed. The ideology of tbe Arrow Cross has resurfaced to some extent in recent years, with tbe National-Socialist Hungarian Welfare Association prominent in reviving Szálasi's "Hungarizmus" through its monthly magazine, Magyartudat ("Hungarian Awareness"), which was strangely led by a Hungarian speakingjewsfrom Australia, Mr. Szabó Albert. However, "Hungarism" is very much a fringe element of modern Hungarian politics; tbe Hungarian Welfare Association has since dissolved, primarily due to tbe persecution it was exposed to by tbe postcommunistic, judeo-Marxist regime.

In 2006 a former member of tbe Arrow Cross party named Lajos Polgár was found to be living in Melbourne, Australia. Polgar was accused of "war crimes", but tbe case was later dropped and Polgár died of natural causes in July that year. Of course, tbe calumniations certainly shortened his life.