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Timeless Nation |
CHAPTER 26
". . . (Karolyi) thought that he was going to assure a better armistice for the new, pro-Allied Hungary, so he went, probably following Czech advice, to Belgrade, to receive what he thought more generous terms from General Franchet dEsperey. . . Their humiliation, indeed, was complete When a socialist member of the delegation was introduced to the French commander, the latter exclaimed, "Etes-vous tombes Si bas?" (Have you sunk to such depths?). . ." (From "History of the Hungarian Nation" S. B. Vardy, Danubian Press, Astor Park, 1969).
On March 20, 1919, Karolyi addressed the following proclamation to the people of Hungary:
"To the people of Hungary!
The government has resigned. Those who had been governing by the will of the people with the support of the Hungarian proletariat, have now realised that the compelling force of circumstances demands new directions. . . The Paris peace Conference has decided to place almost the entire territory of the country under military occupation. . . The aim of the military occupation is to use Hungary as the operational and supply area against the Russian Soviet army, which is now fighting on the Soviet-Rumanian border. The territories taken from us are to be the reward given to the Rumanian and Czech troops to be used against the Russian-Soviet army.
As the provisional President of the Hungarian Peoples Republic I turn to the proletariat of the world for justice and assistance against this decision of the Conference of Paris. I resign and hand the power to the proletariat of the peoples of Hungary.
Mihaly Karolyi."
In his "Memoirs", published in 1956 (J. Cape, London), Karolyi asserts that he never signed this proclamation, and that in fact he was removed from office by a "coup detat" staged by the Social Democrats and instigated by the Entente (!). (Pp. 156-157). He fails to explain, however, why his regime was replaced by Kuns Communists, not the Social Democrats who had allegedly ousted him, why he remained in Budapest during the Kun regime (in the fashionable Svabhegy district), on very friendly terms with the "usurpers" (Communist Kun and Socialist Kunfi), and why he left Hungary in a hurry a few days before the downfall of the Kun regime (July, 1919). He also fails to explain why he had to wait until 1956 to repudiate the famous (and fatuous) proclamation.
After a counter-revolutionary uprising in Budapest, the Kun government issued a proclamation urging the Communists to "retaliate by the Red Terror of the proletariat. .
(Hungarian text quoted in "Magyarorszag Tortenete Kepekben", Gondolat publ. Budapest, 1971).
General H. H. Bandholtz, U.S.A. member of the Inter-Allied Military Mission in Budapest wired to Paris on August 16, 1919: ". . . the Rumanians were doing their utmost to delay matters in order to complete the loot of Hungary. . . (after having carted away locomotives, railroad cars, machine tools and other equipment) they proceeded also to clean the country out of private automobiles, farm implements, cattle, horses, clothing, sugar, coal, salt and, in fact, everything of value. . . dismantled telephones even in private residences." Another member of the U.S.A. Mission reports that the "total amount of rolling stock taken by them (Rumanians) from the Hungarian State Railways was 1,302 locomotives and 34,160 railroad cars." The Rumanian occupation caused damage, as it was officially estimated, of almost three billions of gold crowns (equivalent. to the same amount in US dollars).
In another telegram, addressed to the Supreme Allied Council in Paris (October 13), General Bandholz states that "in all towns occupied by the Rumanians we found an oppression so great as to make life unbearable. Murder is common: youths and women are flogged, imprisoned without trial, and arrested without reason. . ." (Quoted in S. B. Vardy: "History of the Hungarian Nation" pp.214-215. Ed. Danubian Press. Astor Park, 1969.) (Cf. also: H. H. Bandholtz, "An Undiplomatic Diary", ed. by F. K. Kruger, New York, 1933).
The "White Terror" myth was born in the imagination of Karolyi and his emigre friends in Paris and London The ex-president substantiated his accusations by grossly misstating the date of Horthys entry into Budapest. In his "Memoirs" he writes: "On August 12th Admiral Horthy, having waited for the departure of the looting Rumanian troops, made his entry into the city (Budapest). . . and started his punitive White Terror". (Karolyi: Memoirs, J. Cape, London, 1956, p. 174). It is a historic fact that Horthy entered Budapest on November 16th (1919), by which time the worst of the lawless acts of individual revenge against Kuns henchmen was over. During the months of the "legal vacuum" (August-November, 1919), Horthy and his collegues of the Counter-Revolutionary Government (Bethlen, Teleki etc.) lived under the watchful (and some-what suspicious) eyes of the Allied (French) commander in Szeged and had therefore neither the authority nor the opportunity to commit (or to stop) "atrocities."
Thus Horthy and the Hungarian governments of two decades (and, indirectly, the entire Hungarian nation) were branded "fascists", "white terrorists" (and worse) because of the blatant distortion of facts by a confused ex-politician trying to excuse his own blunders.
Regrettably, most foreign historians (and politicians) repeated uncritically these accusations without bothering to check their dates or to read the reports of the members of the Allied Military Mission in Budapest, who were closely observing Horthys actions in 1919 and 1920 (while Karolyi and his friends collected their "evidence" in Paris and London). Thus the British High Commissioner P. B. Hohler, the leader of the Inter-Allied Military Mission, Brig. Gen. R. N. Gorton, and Admiral Sir E. Troubridge stated in their reports of February and March 1920: "There is nothing in the nature of terror in Hungary. . . life is as secure here as in England. . (Quoted by Karolyi in his "Memoirs", p.377). Similarly, the U.S. observer, Col. Horwitz (himself Jewish) attested:
"Horthys forces had done everything within reason to prevent such persecutions (of the Jews and Communists). . . as to there being a real "White Terror", there was nothing of the kind. . "(Quoted in Vardy: History of the Hungarian Nation, p.215).
The 10th of the "Fourteen Points" of President Wilson states that: ". . . the peoples of Austria-Hungary, whose place among the nations we wish to see safeguarded and assured, should be accorded the freest opportunity of autonomous development. . ." The Hungarians were one of the "peoples" of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy.
Historic Hungary including Croatia had, in 1910, an area of 325,000 sq. km. and a population of 21.800.000. An area of 232.500 sq. km. (71.4%) and a population of 13.280.000 (63.5%) were transferred to the succession states by the Trianon Treaty. Counting Hungary proper without Croatia the 1910 area of the country was 283.000 sq. km. with a total population of 18,300,000. The following detailed statistics refer to Hungary proper without Croatia-.
Total losses by the Trianon Treaty:
Area: 190.000 sq. km. (67%)
Population: 10709.000 (58%) Left to Hungary after 1920:
Area: 93.000 sq. km., population: 7,600,000
Gains by the succession states:
Rumania: area: 103.000 sq. km. population: 5,260,000
Czechoslovakia: area: 62.000 sq. km. population: 3,520,000
Yugoslavia: area: 21.000 sq. km. population: 1,510,000
Austria: area: 4.000 sq. km. population: 290,000
Poland: area: 600 sq. km. population: 25,000
Italy: area: 21 sq. km. population: 50,000.
The number of Magyars transferred to each succession state was about 1/3 of the population of each detached territory, i.e.: to Rumania 1,700,000;
to Czechoslovakia: 1,100,000;
to Yugoslavia 550,000.
Each detached area had also a large population of non-Magyar tongue who were alien to the nation to which the area was transferred (e.g. Germans) Thus the area annexed by Rumania had a Rumanian population of 55% only, the Czechoslovak area a Slovak population of 60%, the Yugoslav area a South-Slav population of about 33%.
For comparison, here are the data of the last Hungarian census before Trianon the census of 1910.: These data refer to Hungary proper (without Croatia):
Magyars: 9,950,000 (54%)
Rumanians: 2,950,000 (16%)
Slovaks: 1,950,000 (10.4%)
Serbs: 460,000 (2.5%)
Other South Slavs: 150,000 (1.1%)
Others: Germans, Ruthenes etc.: 2,840,000 (16%).
The proportion of foreign nationalities in the newly created succession states was very similar to the Hungarian situation in 1910. Thus the Trianon Treaty created three new states with similar minority problems.
Though the Wilsonian "Fourteen Points" guaranteed "self-determination" and "autonomous development" to "the peoples of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy", only one act of "self-determination" was allowed in connection with the Trianon Treaty: the western Hungarian town Sopron, claimed by Austria, was retained by Hungary after a plebiscite in 1921. No plebiscite and no "autonomous development" was granted to any Magyar-speaking region in the territories occupied by the victorious succession states, though large Magyar-speaking areas were contiguous to the Trianon frontier.
CHAPTER 28
(E. Ady: "The White-Lady":)
An old, fearful castle is my soul,
A mossy, lofty, forlorn spot.
(Behold! how enormous are my eyes,
Yet sparkle not, and sparkle not).
The lone, forsaken rooms ring hollow.
From the walls so sad, so dreary,
Black windows look down on the valley,
(So weary are my eyes, so weary!)
Eternal are here apparitions,
The stench of vaults, the shroud of fog;
And shadows rustle in the darkness
And unforgiven phantoms sob.
(But rarely at the hour of midnight
My large eyes begin to flare )
The white-lady roams then the castle
And smiles, standing at the window there.
(Transl. by R. Bonnerjea. From: "Hungarian Poetry").
(From: "Up flew~the Peacock ")
New winds are shaking
The old Magyar maples,
Waiting we wait for
The new Magyar miracles.
Either we are madmen and
All of uu shall perish.
Or what we believe in
Shall verily flourish.
New flames, new faiths,
New kilns, new saints
Exist, or anew void mist
The future taints.
Either the Magyar words
Shall have new senses,
Or Magyar life will stay sad
Ever changeless.
(Transl. by C. W. Horne).
("Autumn came to Paris")
Yes, Autumn came to Paris yesterday,
Gliding in silence down Rue Saint-Michel;
Here in the dog-days, soft beneath the leaves
She met and haild me well.
I had been strolling toward the slumbering Seine,
Deep in my heart burnd little twigs of song:
Smoky and strange and sad and purple-hued;
I knew for death they yearned.
The Autumn understood and whisperd low;
Rue Saint-Michel grew tremulous and grey;
The jesting leaves cried out along the street
And flutterd in dismay.
One moment: then the Summer shone again,
And laughing Autumn left on tripping toe;
And I alone beneath these whispering leaves,
Beheld her come and go.
(Transl. by W. Kirkconnell. From: "Hungarian Poetry").
(From: "The horses of Death"):
On the white road of the moonlight
The winds, wild shepherds of the sky,
Drive on their flocks of scudding cloud
And towards us, towards us, without sound,
Unshod, Deaths horses onward fly.
He before whom those horsemen rein
Into that saddle mounts, his breath
Catching, grown pale, and with him fast
Along the white road of the moon
Seeking new riders, gallops Death.
(Trans. by J.C.W. Home).
(From: "A half-kissed kiss"):
This kiss consumed we should peacefully
Die without sorrow.
We long for that kiss, we crave for that fire,
But sadly we say: tomorrow, tomorrow.
(Transl. by R. Bonnerjea. From: "Hungarian Poetry").
(From: "A Kinsman of Death"):
I am akin to death, his kinsman,
Fleeting to the love l love, swift burning;
Her lips to kiss I love who goes
Not returning.
Roses I love, the sick, the languid,
Women whose passion fears the morrow,
Years of the past, radiant years,
Years of sorrow.
(Transl.. by J. C. W. Home)
("Craving for Affection"):
No gay forefathers, 110 successors,
No relatives and no possessors.
I belong to nobody,
1 belong to nobody.
l am what every man is, Grandeur, A North, Secret, and a Stranger Distant will othe wisp, Distant will othe wisp.
Alas, but I cannot thus remain, I mast make myself to all quite plai,i, That seeing they may see me, That seehig they may see me.
Therefore all: Sell-torture, n~elody! I want to be loved by
And to be somebodys, And to be somebodys.
(Transl. by R. Bonnerjea. Prom: "Hungarian Poetry").
A little lad came to me last night,
Who once was I, now dead, beguiling,
Gently smiling.
At my wrinkling lace he stares and stares,
And sheds many a tear in surprise
Upon my eyes.
(Transl. by R. Bonnerjea).
(From: "Detestable, lovable nation"):
If thousand times I turn from thee,
Tis but a dance, an illusion.
In Magyarland things are awry,
I shall wait till the conclusion,
My loving, beloved and loathsome nation.
(Transl. by R. Bonnerjea. From: "Hungarian Poetry").
("The Magyar Messiah"):
Our weeping is more bitter,
More piercing torments try us.
A thousandfold. Messiahs
Are Hungarys Messiahs.
A thousandfold they perish,
Unblest their crucifixion.
For vain is their affliction,
Ah, vain is their affliction.
(Transl. by W. Kirkconnell).
(From: "Gog and Magog"):
Through Vereckes immortal pass came I.
Old Magyar. songs still clamour in my ears,
Yet may I through Deveny break in here
With new melodies of newer years?
(Transl.. by R. Bonnerjea).
(From: "Reminiscences of a Summer-night"):
I thought, at that time, I thought,
that some neglected God
would come to life and take me away;
and right up to now here I live
as the somebody that that night made of me
and waiting for God l reminisce
over that terrible night:
it was a strange,
strange summers night.
(Transl.. by Paul Desney).
("In Elijahs Chariot"):
God, as with Elijah, elects those
Whom he most loves, whom most he hurts.
He gives them quick-beating, fiery hearts
Which are like burning chariots.
This Elijah-tribe flies towards heaven
And stops where snow eternal is.
On top the ice-capped Himalayas
Crumble, rumble their carriages.
Twixt earth and heaven, sad and homeless,
The winds of Fate them onwards chase,
And their chariots gallop on towards
Vile forms of beauty, cold and base.
Their hearts burn, their brains are icicles,
The world mocks them and rocks with fun,
But with diamond dust their cold highway
Is sprinkled by the pitying sun.
(Transl.. by R. Bonnerjea).
(From: "The Lords arrival"):
When all deserted,
When I bore my soul crumbling violently,
The Lord took me in His embrace,
Unforeseen. silently .
(Transl. by R. Bonnerjea).
(From: "Adam, where art thou?"):
Tis only because God with flaming sword
To clear my human path has marched before.
I hear His footsteps walking in my soul
And His sad query: "Adam, where art thou?"
My breath replies in throbbing past control,
I have already found Him in my heart,
Ive found Him and have clasped Him in my arms,
ln death well be united, neer to part.
(Transl. by W. Kirkconnell).
(From: Gypsy Song", by M. Babits):
"Here the meadow, there the wood,
countries bad and countries good,
although all the same to you:
everywhere the skies are blue.
If a Jew walks woodland way,
without looking, thus you prey.
If a girl goes meadow ways,
without asking you embrace.
Thats because you sprang from branch
born beneath a tree in trench and as fruit falls far from tree
so your mother shall lose thee;
fatherless, motherless, homeless, landless, countryless."
(Transl.. by E. F. Kunz. From: "Hungarian Poetry").
(From: "They sang long, long ago in Sapphos day ")
The world is selfish grown:
Just common hunger, common fever, faint
Confusion stammering, and beyond that crew
Lies loneliness and silence. Song has flown,
And love, like doves soft kiss, is silent too.
In our own hearts, my dear, songs word is rife.
They sang long, long ago in Sapphos day.
Kiss me! For song is dead, and grieving life
Takes refuge where two hearts own single sway.
Once men were truly men; but now, a herd
Of tired beasts that chew the cud of care.
Be thou an island till the fens that gird
Thee round grow red with sunrise! Learn to con
Cocoons that breed bright moths! Who need despair?
The old gods pass and go, but man lives on.
(Transl.. by W. Kirkconnell. From: "Hungarian Poetry.").
(From: "The lyric poets epilogue"):
So I remain my own prison walls:
the subject and the object both, alas,
the Alpha and Omega both, am I.
(Transl. by A. Kramer)
("I have forgot" by Gy. Juhasz):
I have forgot the fairness of her hair;
But this I know, that when the flaming grain
A cross the rippling fields makes summer fair,
Within its gold I feel her grace again.
I have forgot the blueness of her eyes;
But when Septembers lay their tired haze
In sweet farewell across the azure skies,
l dream once more the sapphire of her gaze.
I have forgot the softness of her voice;
But when the spring breathes out its softest sigh,
Then l can hear her speak the tender joys
That blessd the springtime of a day gone by.
(Transl. by W. Kirkconnell. From: Hungarian Poetry").
(From: "The pendulum", by A. Toth):
Hoarse is the husky ticklings muffled chant
As often through the night my sad eye sees
Eternity (it seems) sway there aslant
And whittle futile Time to atomies.
Only a myriad pendulums are awake:
Blind, swaying splendors and mysterious miens,
Relentless sickles, golden guillotines.
(Transl.. by W. Kirkconnell. From: "Hungarian Poetry").
(From: "Trees of Ulloi-ut" by D. Kosztolanyi):
The yellowed fields are withering, trees of Ulloi-ut
My moods like suns of autumn sink;
soughing and slowly blows the wind
and kilts the past springs root.
O where, 0 where does fly the youth?
You sad leaved trees, 0 tell the truth,
trees of Ulloi-ut
(Transl.. by E. F. Kunz. From: "Hungarian Poetry.).
(From: To my wife")
You came in my room telling something odd;
so after years of years I realised
that there you are and scarcely listening
surprised I looked at you. I closed my eyes.
And this to myself I repeated mumbling:
"I am used to her as I am used to air.
She is giving me the breath."
(Transl.. by E. F. Kunz. From: "Hungarian Poetry").
(A. Jozsef: "Mama")
For one week I havent stopped to think
always of Mama, at the sink,
bearing a creaking basket of soft
clothes at her lap up to the loft.
I was still a plain-spoken lout
l shouted, stamped my feet about:
let her leave the clothes in a heap
and take me up the stairs so steep.
She went on dumbly hanging clothes,
not scolding, nor even looking on
and the clothes, shining, swishing,
wheeled and soared up high.
I should not wimper its too late
I now see how she was great
grey hair flowing on the sky,
dissolving blue starch there up high.
(Transl.. by Paul Desney).
(From: "Ars Poetica"):
Ferment is fine to lose oneself in!
Repose and tremors embrace
and clever charming chit-chat
arises from the foam.
Other poets? of what concern are they?
Let them all mime their intoxication
up to their necks
in phoney images and wine.
I go past todays pub
to meaning and beyond!
A free mind will never serve
the scurrilous modes of drivel
(Transl.. by Paul Desney).
(From: "Lullaby"):
The sky is closing his blue eyes,
the houses eyes close one by one,
the fields sleep under eiderdown
so go to sleep my little son.
On the armchair sleeps the coat,
dozes the tear, his job is done,
he wont tear further, not to-day
so go to sleep, my little son.
The dream like glassball will be yours,
you will be giant, mighty one,
but only close your little eyes
and go to sleep, my little son.
(Transl.. by E.F. Kunz).
(From: "The three Kings"):
Jesus, Jesus, God greet you, God greet you!
Three kings are we well and true.
Flaming star stood round our place,
so we came on foot in haste.
Lord Saviour, God bless you, God bless you!
Far and warm lands crossed we through.
All our bread and cheese is gone,
all our shining boots are worn,
but we brought you gold a lot,
incense in an iron pot.
Blushes, blushes Mary red, Mary red,
happy mother bends her head.
Through the tears, which fill her eyes
scarcely sees her Jesus Christ.
All around the shepherds sing.
Time to feed the little thing.
Dearest three Kings, kind and true,
now good night, good night to you!
(Transl.. by E. F. Kunz. From: "Hungarian Poetry").
(From: "A painter in the Village" by G. Gardonyi):
"Id like to beg you, Mr. Picture-maker, to paint my little daughter, my Ilonka "
"Which one is your daughter?" asked the painter.
"Shes dead, Sir, shes dead," the woman said with tears in her eyes.
"She was an only daughter," I explained as the other faltered, "a lovely creature, with blue eyes.
"Its a difficult business," the painter answered. "Have you got some photograph of her?"
"No, l havent, my dear Sir, thats why I want her to be painted, because I havent got a picture of her."
On our way home the painter suddenly asked:
"Did the little girl look like her mother?"
"Shed have grown up to be just like her, if shed lived."
"Im going to try something," he said merrily. "Ill paint that woman as though she were seven years old."
And the following day he began to paint the portrait of the dead child. The mother posed zealously, though she did not quite know what for . . . When the picture was ready, the artist took a large green shawl and from it improvised a frame around the painting. Then he called the woman.
No sooner had she glanced at the picture than she burst into tears.
"Do you recognise her?" I asked, deeply moved.
Of course I do, Sir," she answered, "although the poor thing has changed a lot in the other world."
(Transl.. by L. Halapy. From: "Hungarian Short Stories").
CHAPTER 29
The "First Jewish Law" decreed that, in the future, only 20% of the persons engaged in certain professions (Journalism, Medicine, Theatre, Law, Engineering) and salaried commercial employment could be Jewish.
According to the 1930 census, 5% of Hungarys population belonged to the Jewish faith. At the same time, the proportion of Jews in certain professions was the following: lawyers: 49% journalists: 32%, doctors in private practice: 55% salaried employees in commerce: 42% etc. (Cf. Macartney: October the Fifteenth" and contemporary statistical publications).
". . . Horthy warned Hitler not to undertake the operation (the attack on Czechoslovakia), because in his belief it would lead to a world war, and Germany would be defeated, because she would find the British Navy against her. Britain would assemble a coalition, and although she often lost battles, she always ended by winning the war. . ." (Macartney: "October Fifteenth" vol. I. p.242, Edinburgh Uni. Press. 1957).
The Munich Agreement of Sept.29, 1938, signed by Hitler, Chamberlain, Daladier and Mussolini, stated that: ". . . the problems of the . . . Hungarian minorities in Czechoslovakia. if not settled within three months by agreement between the respective governments, shall form the subject of another meeting of the Heads of Governments of the four Powers here present.
The "Second Jewish Law decreed that the proportion of Jewish persons in the free professions should be reduced to 6% gradually, (without dismissing those already employed) and in commerce to 12%. There were many exemptions.
". . . On the 9th (September, 1939), Ribbentrop asked Csaky (Hungarian Foreign Minister), requesting passage of German troops through Hungary against Poland. . . in return he offered Hungary . . . the oil wells of the (Polish) Sambor region. . . The next morning the meeting (of the Hungarian Cabinet) agreed unanimously to reject the request. . . Horthy added a rider that the Germans should be told that he was having the railways mined and would have them blown up if the Germans tried to use them "
" during the brief campaign (September 1939) Hungary had given Poland all active assistance that the laws of neutrality allowed. . . In fact a little more, for a legion (of Hungarian volunteers), some 6000 strong, had fought on the Polish side... (Both quotations from Macartney: "October Fifteenth" vol. 1. pp. 366-367).
By June 26, 1941, Italy, Finland, Rumania, Slovakia, and Croatia had followed Germany in declaring war on Soviet Russia whilst Hungary had only broken off diplomatic relations. The Germans kept urging Hungary to join the campaign, adding veiled hints to the territorial claims of Slovakia and Rumania which were already belligerents on the German side). After the attack on Kassa (26 June), Bardossy saw Horthy who demanded "reprisals" (but not a declaration of war). A cabinet meeting was inconclusive, though the majority of the ministers seemed to be in favour of a statement that "Hungary regards herself as being in a state of war with Russia". Without returning to the Regent or consulting the Parliament, Bardossy informed the German Legation and issued a press communique (June 27) that "Hungary was at war with the Soviet Union." Only then did he announce to the Lower House of the Parliament that "the Royal Hungarian Government concludes that in consequence of these attacks (the bombing of Kassa) a state of war has come into being between Hungary and the Soviet Union".
The Hungarian Constitution reserved the right of the declaration of war to the Regent but only after Parliament had previously given its consent. There is no doubt therefore that Bardossy disregarded the Constitution. Prof. Macartney suggests a typically "Magyar" reason: Bardossy wished that if things went wrong, alll responsibility should fall on himself, not on the Regent or the individual members of the Parhament. (Macartney: "October Fifteenth" vol.11. pp.28-30. Cf. also N. Horthy: "Memoirs", New York, 1957)
". . . the policy adopted by all the democratic and left-wing leaders alike was to shelter behind the Government, support it unobtrusively, and let it play their game for them.."
The stories spread abroad of heroic resistance by these elements to the German Fascists and their Hungarian abettors were pure fiction. Hungarian resistance to Germany throughout the war was directed from the top: its key figures were the Regent, Kallay and Keresztes-Fischer (Minister of the Interior in several governments)." (Macartney: "October Fifteenth" I. p. 379).
Horthys instructions to Kallay were: to defend, preserve and (if necessary) to restore the complete independence (internal and external) of Hungary, to develop toward the Germans spiritual and moral resistance and to keep the concessions to the minimum, short of provoking a German occupation. To keep the Army as intact as possible. . To seek contact with the British and to call a halt to the anti-Semitic measures. Later Horthy authorised Kallay to initiate armistice negotiations with the western powers but insisted, as a point of honour, on giving Germany previous notice of an eventual armistice agreement. (Kallay: "Hungarian Premier", Oxford Uni. Press, 1959. Also: Macartney and Horthy op. cit.).
The "Third Jewish Law" (1941, Bardossy) prohibited marriage between Jews and non-Jews but imposed no other restrictions.
The Fourth Jewish Law" (1942, Kallay) provided for expropriation, against compensation, of all Jewish-owned land. (There were very few Jewish landowners in Hungary). Another measure, introduced later, excluded the Jews from active armed service in the Defence Forces. Instead, they served in labour formations as auxiliaries.
Prof. N. Rich (a Jewish historian) in his work "Hitlers War Aims" 1-Il (London, Deutsch, 1974) praises Horthy for having preserved Hungary as a refuge (for Jews) until the Germans took over the country in 1944. Other (non-Hungarian) historians support this opinion (Macartney etc.).
After 17 days of fierce fighting the Hungarian IlIrd Army Corps was surrounded by strong Russian armoured formations. The German commander, general Siebert, ordered the Corps to "attack the Russians". The Hungarian Corps commander, general count Marcel Stomm issued the following order to his troops:
"Krasznoje Ohm, February 1, 1943. The Roy. Hungarian IlIrd Army Corps, having been separated after the Uryv breakthrough (13 January) from the Roy. Hungarian 2nd Army, was p]aced under the orders of the German Group Siebert. In this position, the Corps has been protecing the withdrawal of the German 2nd Army for the last 12 During this time, the Hungarian soldiers had to suffer the of the Russian winter nights outdoors, without food, without cover in the open snowfields. . . Today I received order to lead you in an attack to break through the Russian lines. . . through the Russian army which even the well equipped and armed German troops were unable to stop. . I not pass this order to you, as it would be senseless to the half-starved, half-frozen Hungarians to go to their defeat by the thousands. . . After this I must allow everybody look after himself as well as possible. . . God be with Hungarian soldiers!"
On issuing this order, general Stomm said good-bye to staff and began to walk. . . in the direction ordered by commanding officer, toward the Russians. He could hardly walk as both his legs were frozen. He was captured later with his service revolver in his hand the only captured armed by the Russians. . . (The authors own information. The generals order was published in the Hungarian newspapers after the war).
In the middle of 1944 about 1,100,000 men were on active service in the Hungarian Defence forces (out of a total population of 14 million) a remarkable effort after the horrendous losses at the Don in 1943. However, only one Army, the 1st (successfully defending the eastern Carpathians under generals Lakatos and Parkas) was fully equipped. The makeshift 2nd (northern Hungary) and 3rd (Transylvania) Armies consisted of troops without heavy equipment, modern transport, armour, air support or anti-tank defences. Moreover, several divisions were still on occupation duty employed by the German Command in distant sectors of the eastern front.
The suspicious Germans refused to equip the Hungarians with heavy and modern weapons even though the production of the Hungarian war industry (still working at full capacity) had been almost entirely requisitioned by the German command. Only a few new units could be provided with modern equipment, such as the elite "Szent Laszlo" division (general Z. Szugyi} ~ destined to become the last defender of Hungarian soil in 1945.
Budapest was defended by about 70,000 troops more than half of them Hungarians against 20 Russian divisions supported by 2000 planes.
It is impossible to give an estimate of the military and civilian losses, but we know that some units suffered very high casualties. The Budapest Guard Battalion fought to the last man and the University Regiment lost 80% of its effectives. Thousands of civilians died during the house-to-house fighting and in consequence of indiscriminate shelling, bombing, lack of food, fuel and medical help. The water, gas and electricity services broke down completely at the beginning of January (during the coldest winter in living memory). The districts occupied by the Russians were subjected to a reign of unbridled violence by armed gangs of Soviet army "deserters" (a term used by Russian Marshal Voroshilov).
On the 14th of February the pale winter sun rose behind a pall of smoke and red haze over the ruins of the city once called the "Queen of the Danube". The guns were silent at last and the screams of the wounded soldiers in the burning Buda hospital had stopped.
It was the dawn of Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent 1945.
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