- Headline
-
Hitler’s Troops Occupy Hungary
- Sub-Headline
- Leaders of Nation Are Prisoners
- Publication Date
- Tuesday, March 21, 1944
- Historical Event
-
Deportation of Hungarian Jews Begins
This database includes 630 articles about this event - Article Type
- Page Section and Number
- 1
- Author/Byline
- AP
- Article Text
- LONDON, March 21—(AP) —Upwards of 100,000 German and Rumanian troops were reported occupying Hungary today against the growing threat of Russian armies a bare 100-miles from the borders of the expanded Balkan kingdom.
Some scattered fighting sprung from the occupation, but there was nothing to suggest any serious difficulties for Hitler. Top-flight Hungarian leaders including the regent Admiral Nicholas Horthy; and foreign ministers and possibly Premier Nicholas Kallay, were believed virtually kidnaped in Germany, whence they had been summoned to receive preemptory [sic] demands for all-out military assistance.
Taking Over Government
Bela Imredi, former premier and foreign minister and a Hungarian Nazi, was reported establishing a government. He was said to have convoked parliament for tomorrow at which time he was expected to assume Horthy's powers.
The Russian columns in old Poland were nearest war-weary Hungary.
Red troops at Tarnopol were 100 miles from Transylvania, the province amputated from Rumania [sic] with German connivance. Red troops in the old Rumanian province of Bessarabia were 150 miles from the Carpatho-Ukraine territory which Hungary wrested from Czechoslovakia. Others advancing on Lwow were within 125 miles.
A German foreign office spokesman was quoted by the Berlin Radio as saying "no detailed discussion of the Hungarian problem was possible as long as certain phases in the development were not yet concluded." The German press was silent.
Tito Reported Active
Stockholm dispatches said there were some indications that the satellite gateway kingdom to Nazi communications in the Balkans might become a new area of partisan activity directed against German transport and military operations. One report was that Marshal Tito's Yugoslav partisans had recently been in Hungary organizing units.
The newspaper Tidningen of Stockholm said German troops had hidden in boats on the Danube near Budapest and burst forth to occupy strategic points in the capital at a given signal.
Some Hungarians were reported fighting this new invader at the call of their leaders, but the Nazis retained control at the center of the country. This was indicated by the fact that the Hungarian news agency's regular midday broadcast sounded as though all was serene. The first item on this commentary was a sort of essay on the importance of cultural and political ties with neighboring peoples in the Danube basin.
Rumanians Attacked
Unconfirmed reports from Stockholm said that two Rumanian divisions were among the force the Germans had sent into Hungary and that they were being resisted stiffly by the Hungarians.
The Turkish Radio said the Germans had occupied "important points and communication centers in Hungary and the whole of Southeastern Hungary is now under control of a German officer whose name and scope of authority will be announced shortly."
Hitler's main motive was to bring trustworthy troops into position to stop gaps in the Carpathian Mountains. Another purpose might be to try and persuade the Rumanians that danger to their Transylvanian territory from the Hungarians had been reduced by occupation.
Reports that Admiral Nicholas Horthy, the regent, had been seized were varied on the Hungarian reaction, but few expected determined and prolonged resistance.
Jews to Suffer
If the Germans take over civil as well as military rule large numbers of Jews still in Hungary may expect to suffer.
It is likely that Russia will take the opportunity to intensify its propaganda calling on the Balkan Slavs to overthrow German-Dominated leaders and join the Soviet in a common fight.
A reliable direct report from the …
(Continued on Page Two) - History Unfolded Contributor
- Bluse Y.
- Location of Research
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Learn More about this Historical Event: Deportation of Hungarian Jews Begins
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- The Holocaust in Hungary: An Introduction (Video)
- Raoul Wallenberg and the Rescue of Jews in Budapest (Encyclopedia Article)
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- 1944: Key Dates (Encyclopedia Article)
Bibliography
Braham, Randolph L. and Miller, Scott, eds. The Nazis’ Last Victims: The Holocaust in Hungary. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, in association with United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2002.
Braham, Randolph L. The Politics of Genocide: The Holocaust in Hungary. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2000.
Braham, Randolph L. “Hungarian, German, and Jewish Calculations and Miscalculations in the Last Chapter of the Holocaust.” Washington, DC: Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2010.
Braham, Randolph L. “A Post-Mortem of the Holocaust in Hungary: A Probing Interpretation of the Causes.” Washington, DC: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, 2012.
Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, ed. Hungary and the Holocaust: Confrontations with the Past: Symposium Proceedings. Washington, DC: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2001.
Vági, Zoltán, László Csősz, and Gábor Kádár. The Holocaust in Hungary: Evolution of a Genocide. Washington, DC: AltaMira Press, in association with United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2013.
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