William Penn Life, 2016 (51. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2016-07-01 / 7. szám
Checking Tibor’s take on WWII Trianon affected Hungary's course I JUST READ the second part of Tibor Check's article on World War II (WPL, June 2016), which also deals with Hungary's involvement in that war. Tibor discusses Hungary's role in the Jewish Holocaust when hundreds of thousands of Hungarians of the Jewish faith were exported to Germany's death camps. He seems to indicate that this mass murder was in effect a "Hungarian affair" and was done in collusion with the Hungarian government. Nothing could be further from the truth. First of all, you have to know that during the interwar period, the whole Hungarian nation was suffering from the so-called "Trianon Syndrome." This refers to the fact that following World War I (the so-called "Great War), based on the Treaty of Trianon (June 4,1920), the victorious Great Powers partitioned Hungary (which had been a partner state of the Austro-Hungarian Empire) into several parts. In addition to rump Hungary, various segments of the country were given to Romania, newly-created Yugoslavia, newlyestablished Czechoslovakia, much-reduced Austria, reestablished Poland and finally Italy. In effect, this 1,000- year-old country was shorn of over two-thirds of its territories and half of its population, half of whom were Magyars or Hungarians. This was an unprecedented act on the part of such great powers as France, Britain, Italy, and the United States. Naturally, Hungarians everywhere (including those in America) were sickened by this cruel destruction of a 1,000-year-old Christian Kingdom in the center of Europe, where they were known as the shields of Christianity against the Mongols, Ottoman Turks and various other Asiatic invaders. They demanded "Justice for Vour comments on our magazine and W'H'am Icnn Assoziation are always welcome. Pease wnte to us at; William fennL'F Wiliam Fenn A Saabon 709 fyíghton Road /U7 UZ' Ö Pittsburgh, Qr, you can send your comments via email to-. ílovasz@ illiampennassociation.org W! Hungary," which became their call for revisions of the unjust frontiers. But none of the above-mentioned great powers listened to their pleas. In the 1930s, there appeared some hope. This came from the direction of Benito Mussolini of Italy and Adolf Hitler of Germany, especially from the former, who was sympathetic to the Hungarian cause. This was how Hungary became tied to these two dictators, and this was how she became embroiled in World War II. In the course of 1938 to 1940 — with Mussolini's and Hitler's support — Hungary regained a significant portion of its lost territories but at the cost of being forced to join Hitler's armies in Russia. In his relevant book Hungary: The Unwilling Satellite (1947), the prominent American diplomat and Minister to Hungary for eight years (1933- 1941), John F. Montgomery, described Hungary's effort to escape from Hitler's clutches without loosing the regained territories. Within two years it became evident that this was a bad choice. Hitler was losing on the Eastern Front, and he was pressuring his unwilling "allies" (satellites) to support the war effort. Admiral Nicholas Horthy, the regent of Hungary from 1920 to 1944, tried to wiggle out of this "unwilling alliance." But when Hitler learned of this effort, he ordered Hungary's German military occupation (March 19,1944). From this point on, Hungary was in effect under German control. The Germans ruled Hungary with the help of the Hungarian Nazi "Arrow Cross Party" and participated in the collection and transportation of the Hungarian Jews to one of several German extermination camps. Until Oct. 15,1944, Admiral Horthy still had some nominal power. But on that day, when he announced on radio that he was pulling out of the German alliance, he was arrested and taken to Germany, along with members of his family, who were to be shot upon the appearance of the Western invading forces. (The commander of the German guard unit refused to carry out Hitler's orders, so the Horthy family survived.) Many historians are convinced that without the March 19,1944, German invasion of Hungary, all of Hungary's Jews would have survived. Therefore, the new memorial on Freedom Square in Budapest — which depicts both the Hungarian Holocaust and the German invasion of Hungary that made it possible — is justifiably dedicated to both of these horrendous events. But this does not put an equality sign between the two. The Holocaust is undoubtedly the most gruesome historical event in history, right next to Stalin's Gulag and Mao's Cultural Revolution. The rule of these vicious dictators resulted in the death of tens of millions. As a final note, I would like to inform Mr. Tibor Check that, at Tab Q W Delete End 4 0 July 2016 0 WILLIAM PENN LIFE
