| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ferenc Szálasi (6 January 1897 – 12 March 1946) was the leader of the fascist Arrow Cross Party – Hungarist Movement, the "Leader of the Nation" (Nemzetvezető), being both Head of State and Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Hungary's "Government of National Unity" (Nemzeti Összefogás Kormánya) for the final six months of Hungary's participation in World War II, after Germany occupied Hungary and removed Miklos Horthy by force. During his brief rule, Szálasi's men murdered 10,000–15,000 Jews. After the war, he was executed after a trial by the Hungarian court for crimes against the state committed during the war.
Ferenc Szálasi in The Hot War
While Ferenc Szálasi had been dead for five years when World War III broke out, he and the Arrow Cross Party cast a long posthumous shadow on the Hungarian People's Republic.[1]
When Jewish soldier Istvan Szolovits was offered a promotion to lance corporal by his sergeant, Gergely, Szolovits realized that Gergely, who'd served under Miklos Horthy and Ferenc Szálasi would have just as happily put Szolovits on a train to the concentration camps during the latter's rule. Now, oddly enough, Gergely was serving the communists.[2]
References
- ↑ Bombs Away, pgs. 121-122, ebook.
- ↑ Ibid., pg. 255.
| Political offices (OTL) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Miklos Horthy (as regent) |
Leader of the Nation of Hungary 1944–1945 |
Succeeded by High National Council |
| Preceded by Géza Lakatos |
Prime Minister of Hungary (de facto) 1944–1945 |
Succeeded by Béla Miklós |
| Preceded by Ferenc Rajniss |
Minister of Religion and Education Acting 1945 |
Succeeded by Géza Teleki |
| |||||||||||||||||||||
