Veres Gábor szerk.: Agria 45. (Az Egri Múzeum Évkönyve - Annales Musei Agriensis, 2009)

Nagy Nándor: Nyilaskeresztes pártok hatvani tevékenysége 1937-1940 között

Nándor Nagy The activities of the Arrow Cross parties in Hatvan between 1937 and 1940 During the course of the general elections held in the Whitsun of 1939 the Arrow Cross and the other far right parties received a considerable proportion of the votes both nationally and within Heves County. This was no different in Hatvan. The election which marked the Arrow Cross's breakthrough by no means took place in incontestably "democratic" conditions, as the election campaign, and indeed the period preceding it, saw the government, as well as the lower and intermediate echelons of the civil service, using any means at their disposal to minimize the election chances of the far right parties. The battle for the Hatvan constituency proved to be quite an election contest as the person challenging Jenő Szinyei Merse, the incumbent MP. and one-time parliamentary vice-chairman who was going for his third re-election, was one of the Arrow Cross's most immediately recognizable figures and foremost propagandists, Ferenc Fiala. Apart from tracing the events surrounding the election, our study looks at the type of social causes and the local factors that led to the emergence of the far right, and how Ferenc Fiala came to feature as an electoral candidate in Hatvan. While the police and local government archives of the time do not survive, we are fortunate to have numerous important documents referring specifically to Hatvan among the Ministry of the Interior's papers at the Hungarian National Archives. With the benefit of these, as well as the press coverage of the time, it has been possible to piece together what happened in Hatvan, and to uncover a chapter in the history of the town that has been shrouded in darkness for decades. 325