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Government of National Unity | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1944[1]–1945[2] | |||||||||||
| Motto: Regnum Mariae Patrona Hungariae (Latin)[3] ("Kingdom of Mary, the Patron of Hungary") | |||||||||||
| Anthem: Himnusz (English:"Hymn") Ébredj Magyar[4] (English:"Wake up, Hungarian!") | |||||||||||
Seal of Hungary (1945):.svg) | |||||||||||
 | |||||||||||
| Status | Puppet government ofNazi Germany | ||||||||||
| Common languages | Hungarian | ||||||||||
| Religion | |||||||||||
| Demonym | Hungarian | ||||||||||
| Government | Hungaristtotalitarian government underNazi administration | ||||||||||
| Leader of the Nation &Prime Minister | |||||||||||
• 1944–1945 | Ferenc Szálasi | ||||||||||
| Speaker of the House of Representatives | |||||||||||
• 1944–1945 | András Tasnádi Nagy | ||||||||||
| Legislature | Diet | ||||||||||
| Historical era | World War II | ||||||||||
| 15 October 1944 | |||||||||||
• Government formed | 16 October 1944[1] | ||||||||||
• Government fled to Germany | 28–29 March 1945[5] | ||||||||||
• End of German occupation of Hungary | 4 April 1945[6] | ||||||||||
• Capture of Szálasi | 6 May 1945[2] | ||||||||||
• Disestablished | 7 May 1945[2] | ||||||||||
| Currency | Hungarian pengő | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
| Today part of | Hungary | ||||||||||
TheGovernment of National Unity was aNazi-backedpuppet government of Hungary, which ruled theGerman-occupiedKingdom of Hungary duringWorld War II in Eastern Europe.[7] After the jointcoup d’état with which the Nazis and theArrow Cross Party overthrew the government of theRegent of Hungary,Miklós Horthy (r. 1920–1944), the Arrow Cross Party established the coalition Government of National Unity (Nemzeti Összefogás Kormánya) on 16 October 1944.[1][8][9]
As the national government, the Arrow Cross Party installedFerenc Szálasi as the prime minister of the Government of National Unity and as theLeader of the Nation, the head of state of Hungary. As a wartime ally of Nazi Germany, Prime Minister Szálasi's government readily executed and realised theHolocaust in Hungary (1941–1945); thus, in seven months, the Arrow Cross regime killed between 10,000 and 15,000Hungarian Jews in the country,[10] and deported 80,000 Jewish women, children, and old people for killing at theAuschwitz concentration camp.[11]
Late in the Second World War, at the time of the jointcoup d’état by which the German Nazis and theArrow Cross Party overthrew theRegent of Hungary, Miklós Horthy (r. 1920–1944), the Red Army occupied most of theKingdom of Hungary, which effectively limited the authority of the Government of National Unity to the city of Budapest and its environs as the Hungarian capital city. Despite the Red Army's strategic limitation of Hungarian forces, as agreed with the Nazis, the Arrow Cross regime realised theHolocaust in Hungary with Prime MinisterFerenc Szálasi's resumption of the Nazis’ scheduled deportations of Hungarian Jews, especially the Jews of Budapest; in 1941, 800,000 Jews resided in the expanded borders of the Kingdom of Hungary; in 1945, only 200,000 Hungarian Jews had survivedthe Holocaust;[12] moreover, PM Szálasi's deportation order also included theRomani genocide (Porajmos) of 28,000 HungarianRoma people.[13]
Prime Minister Szálasi established the "Corporate order of the Working nation" (Dolgozó Nemzet Hivatás Rendje) as the national economy for Hungary. Even as Hungary was in chaos, Szálasi refused theoretically to compromise Hungarian sovereignty, trying to retain nominal command of all Hungarian military units, including the local SS units.Ethnic Germans were still not allowed to join the Arrow Cross Party. Szálasi devoted much time to his political writings and to trips in the shrinking territory under his control: many political matters were effectively handled by his Deputy Prime MinisterJenő Szöllősi.[14] At the beginning of December, Szálasi and his government relocated out of Budapest as Soviet troops advanced towards the capital. In ascorched earth strategy, theGerman armed forces destroyed Hungarian infrastructure as the Soviets closed in.
In December 1944, theBattle of Budapest began. Fascist forces loyal to Szálasi and the badly damaged remnants of the Hungarian First Army fought alongside German forces. They fought against the Red Army to no avail. By 13 February 1945, all of Budapest was under Soviet control.[9]
In March 1945, duringOperation Spring Awakening (Unternehmen Frühlingserwachen), Fascist Hungarian forces of theHungarian Third Army fought alongside German forces in the last major offensive in Hungary against the Soviet forces. For ten days theAxis forces made costly gains. However, within twenty-four hours, the Sovietcounterattack was able to drive the Germans and Hungarians back to the positions they held before the offensive began.
Between 16 March and 25 March 1945, the remnants of the Hungarian Third Army were overrun and virtually destroyed. By the end of March and into April, what remained of theRoyal Hungarian Army were put on the defensive during theNagykanizsa–Körmend Offensive and were then forced intoSlovakia andAustria as Soviet forces occupied all of Hungary.Béla Miklós's government was nominally in control of the whole country.Nazi Germany itself was on the verge of collapse.
The Ferenc Szálasi regime, which had fled Hungary, was dissolved on 7 May 1945, a day beforeGermany's surrender.[2] Szálasi was captured by American troops inMattsee on 6 May[2] and returned to Hungary, where he was tried for crimes against the state and executed, along with three of his ministers. Most of his ministers also were sentenced to death and executed, except four of them. Béla Jurcsek committed suicide at the end of the war, Árpád Henney fled to Austria. Emil Szakváry was sentenced to life imprisonment, whileVilmos Hellebronth was sentenced to death, but the tribunal – before execution – changed his sentence to life imprisonment.
AfterMiklós Horthy announced an armistice with the Allies on 15 October 1944, the Germans kidnapped him and threatened to kill hisson unless he renounced the armistice and abdicated. To spare his son's life, Horthy signed a statement announcing both his abdication and the appointment of Arrow Cross leaderFerenc Szálasi asMagyar királyi miniszterelnök (Royal Hungarian Prime Minister) on 16 October.[15] He was then deported to Germany. This act merely rubber-stamped an Arrow Cross coup, as Szálasi's men had taken over Budapest the previous night.
In his memoirs, Horthy later contended that he never gave power to the Arrow Cross, but had "merely exchanged my signature for my son's life." As he saw it, the appointment of Szálasi was void, since "a signature wrung from a man at machine-gun point can have little legality."[16]
The Hungarian parliament approved the formation of a Council of Regency (Kormányzótanács) of three on 17 October.[1] On 4 November, Szálasi was sworn as Leader of the Nation (nemzetvezető).[17] He formed a government of sixteen ministers, half of which were members of the Arrow Cross Party. While the Horthy regency had come to an end, the Hungarian monarchy was not abolished by the Szálasi regime, as government newspapers kept referring to the country as the Kingdom of Hungary (Magyar Királyság, also abbreviated asm.kir.), althoughMagyarország (Hungary) was frequently used as an alternative.[18][19]
Szálasi was an ardent fascist and his "Quisling government" had little other intention or ability but to maintain fascism and to maintain control in Nazi-occupied portions of Hungary as Soviet troops poured into Hungary. He did this in order to reduce the threat to Germany. Szálasi's aim was to create a dictatorial state based on his "Hungarist" ideology.
On 21 December 1944, with the approval of theSoviet Union,Béla Miklós was elected as theprime minister of a "counter" Hungarian government (National Provisional Government of Hungary) inSoviet-controlledDebrecen. Miklós was a former commander of theHungarian First Army.[20] He had failed in his efforts to convince many of the men under his command to switch sides. The government that Miklós oversaw was an "interim government" and maintained control in the Soviet-occupied portions of Hungary.
| Portfolio | Minister | Took office | Left office | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leader of the Nation &Prime Minister | 16 October 1944 | 28 March 1945 | NYKP | ||
| Deputy Prime Minister | 16 October 1944 | 28 March 1945 | NYKP | ||
| Minister of the Interior | 16 October 1944 | 28 March 1945 | NYKP | ||
| Minister of Foreign Affairs | 16 October 1944 | 28 March 1945 | NYKP | ||
| Minister of Finance | 16 October 1944 | 28 March 1945 | Independent | ||
| Minister of Justice | 16 October 1944 | 28 March 1945 | NYKP | ||
| Minister of Defence | 16 October 1944 | 28 March 1945 | Independent | ||
| Minister of Religion andEducation | 16 October 1944 | 7 March 1945 | Party of Hungarian Life | ||
Ferenc Szálasi(act.) | 7 March 1945 | 28 March 1945 | NYKP | ||
| Minister of Agriculture | 16 October 1944 | 28 March 1945 | NYKP | ||
| Minister of Trade and Transport | 16 October 1944 | 28 March 1945 | NYKP | ||
| Minister of Industry | 16 October 1944 | 28 March 1945 | Independent | ||
| Minister of Welfare | 16 October 1944 | 28 March 1945 | Independent | ||
| Minister without portfolio in charge of the full-scale mobilization and arming of the nation | 16 October 1944 | 28 March 1945 | Independent | ||
| Minister without portfolio in charge of National Defence and Propaganda | 16 October 1944 | 28 March 1945 | NYKP | ||
| Minister without portfolio in charge of the continuous oversight of production | 16 October 1944 | 28 March 1945 | Independent | ||
| Minister without portfolio and special delegate to the Leader of the Nation, in charge of the Leader of the Nation's task force | 16 October 1944 | 28 March 1945 | Independent | ||
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