| Part ofRevolutions and interventions in Hungary (1918–1920) andHungary in the interwar period | |
 A hanging inTab in 1920. | |
| Native name | Fehér Terror |
|---|---|
| Time | 1919–1921 |
| Perpetrator | National army of Hungary,Hungarian Republic |
| Deaths | 1,500–4,000[1] |
TheWhite Terror (Hungarian:Fehér Terror) was a two-year period (1919–1921) of repressive violence in Hungary carried out bycounter-revolutionary soldiers against the real and alleged supporters of the short-livedHungarian Soviet Republic, especially against the Jews perceived as its main supporters.[2][3] Tens of thousands were imprisoned without trial. Estimates for the number murdered between 1919 and 1921 range from 1500 to 5000.[4] Assuming all Jews were traitors and communists, far-right militias raped, robbed, and massacred them.[5]
At the end ofWorld War I, the political configuration of the Hungarian state was forced into swift and radical change. TheAustro-Hungarian Empire, of which Hungary had been a powerful member, collapsed. The victoriousEntente powers took steps to carve out Hungary's ethnically mixed border regions and grant them to theKingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes,Czechoslovakia, andRomania – efforts which resulted in Hungary's losing two thirds of its land area and one third of its Hungarian-speaking nationals. These losses, together with the postwar socioeconomic upheaval, catalysed deep feelings of humiliation and resentment among many Hungarians.[2]
In this volatile atmosphere, the nation's fledgling efforts to form a single stable government failed. In March 1919, a government of communists, taking over from a Social Democrat-Communist coalition, established theHungarian Soviet Republic. TheParty of Communists in Hungary, led byBéla Kun, had the most influence in the republic, although the government was ostensibly led by the Social Democratic-Communist coalition.[6] Kun's government lasted less than four months, eventually ending upon the Romanian invasion. During this period, heightened political tension and suppression led to arrests and executions in what came to be known as theRed Terror. This led to a decline in support for the government. Hungary attempted to retain Slovakia andTransylvania, but Romanian troopsinvaded Hungary, eventually reaching Budapest in August 1919. Upon the invasion, most Hungarian communists, including Kun, went into exile.
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In the south of the country, an alternative government was formed to replace the Hungarian Soviet Republic. Leading the armed wing of this new government, the "National Army", wasAdmiralMiklós Horthy, the last commander of the erstwhileAustro-Hungarian Navy.[7]
Among the officers who answered Horthy's call were ultra-nationalist soldiers who mounted a campaign of atrocities in a retaliation to theRed Terror; to eliminate communist supporters and frighten the population into obedience to the new order.[8]
The pogroms and mass murders were carried out by units of the "National Army" commanded by Mihály Horthy; paramilitary organisations also committed killings, especially during the "Hungarian Awakening".[9]
These units, commonly known as the "White Guard," carried out a campaign of murder, torture, and humiliation.Summary executions of people suspected of communist allegiance were common; these victims were often hanged in public places to serve as a warning to others. But the White Guard's definition of who was an enemy of the state was a broad one. They also preyed upon peasants, upon the politically liberal, and very often uponJews, who were broadly blamed for the revolution because most leaders of the communist repression had been Jewish.[10][8]
The most notorious of unit commanders wasPál Prónay, whose battalion engaged in sadistic violence against its enemies.[11] Others included Gyula Ostenburg-Moravek,Anton Lehár, andIván Héjjas, who focused his efforts on the Hungarian plain around the town ofKecskémet. Their detachments were part of the National Army, but tended to function as personal battalions, following a fanatical loyalty to their commanders.[8] Their atrocities included torture, rape, summary execution, and desecration of the corpses for public display.[12]
Hardest hit were the regions ofTransdanubia, the wider area of Horthy's headquarters inSiófok, and in the lowlands between theDanube and theTheiss rivers, where mass murders which aroused international attention were committed in Kecskémet andOrgovány.[9]
The National Army invadedBudapest in November 1919, and four months later Horthy becameRegent of the newly establishedKingdom of Hungary. But, far from discontinuing their campaigns, the reactionary units expanded and continued terrorising their targets for almost two more years; politically motivated violence devolved into grudge-murders and kidnappings for profit. White Guard officers began to vie for power among themselves and plotted one another's assassinations.[8] Horthy's biographer,Thomas L. Sakmyster, concluded that Horthy looked the other way in 1919 while the White Guard officers raged through the countryside.[13]
By 1920, the terror had receded noticeably.[9] In 1921, Pál Prónay was prosecuted for crimes related to the White Terror. After Prónay joined a failed attempt to restore the Habsburg king,Charles I of Austria to Hungary's throne, his battalion was disbanded.[14]
Despite the disbandment of the Prónay battalion, in subsequent years, sporadic attacks occurred.[9]
Media related toWhite Terror (Hungary) at Wikimedia Commons
