Arrow Cross Party
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| “ | Awaken, Hungarian! | „ |
| ~ The motto of the Arrow Cross Party. |
The Arrow Cross Party (Hungarian: Nyilaskeresztes Párt – Hungarista Mozgalom, literally "Arrow Cross Party-Hungarist Movement", abbreviated NYKP) was a far-right Hungarist party led by Ferenc Szálasi, which formed a government in Hungary known as the Government of National Unity. They were in power from 15 October 1944 to 28 March 1945. During its short rule, ten to fifteen thousand civilians (many of whom were Jews and Romani) were murdered outright, and 80,000 people were deported from Hungary to various concentration camps in Austria. After the war, Szálasi and other Arrow Cross leaders were tried as war criminals by Hungarian courts.
Background edit
The party's ideology was similar to that of German Nazism or Fascism, although a more accurate comparison might be drawn between Austrofascism and Hungarian Turanism which was called Hungarism by Ferenc Szálasi – nationalism, the promotion of agriculture, anti-capitalism, anti-communism and a special type of anti-Semitism, called a-Semitism. This term was explained and described in the series of the four books of Hungarism written by Szálasi, it meant they support a society completely absent of Jews - in their interpretation contrary to anti-Semitism, that would nominally allow their existence with limited rights in the society - that should not be confused necessarily with original hatred, but rather their incompatibility to the regional culture, however this view was meant and extended to all the Semitic peoples.
The party and its leader were originally against the German geopolitical plans, so it was a long and very difficult process for Hitler to compromise with Szálasi and his party (they introduced the doctrine of connationalism, meaning the support the nationalist movements on their historical territories and influence spheres on the ground of the historical heritage and proven availability of cultural dominance; something that the Germans hardly understood, a kind of combination of nationalism and internationalism, the co-operation of the nations and their nationalist movements). Consequently, the party conceived Jews in racial as well as religious terms as incapable to be integrated into the society outside the place and culture of their historical origin. Although the Arrow Cross Party was certainly far more racist than the Horthy regime, it was still different in some ways from the German Nazi Party. It was also more economically radical than other fascist movements, advocating workers' rights and land reforms.