Nyilaskeresztes Párt, 1932–1945
- Arrow Cross Party, 1932–1945
Extent and Medium
52 boxes, 7,06 linear metres
Biographical History
Arrow Cross Party was the most popular right-wing extremist movement in Hungary before and during WWII. The party was founded in 1935 under the name of Party of National Will. Its leader, former officer of the General Staff, Ferenc Szálasi was imprisoned (1938-1940) and his party dissolved several times, however, managed to return to political life. In the last pre-war elections in 1939 the Arrow Cross gained 29 seats, making it the second largest party in Parliament. The party was re-named to Arrow Cross Party-Hungarist Movement in 1942. After Regent Miklós Horthy’s attempt to extricate from war on October 15, 1944, the Arrow Cross Party assumed power with Nazi support. From October 16, 1944, until March 28, 1945, Ferenc Szálasi was prime minister of Hungary as well as its plenipotentiary head of state, bearing the title “Leader of the Nation.” Paramilitary forces of the Party, known as Party Service (pártszolgálat) and Armed National Service (fegyveres nemzetszolgálat) committed several atrocities and war crimes during their short reign, which claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people, mostly Jews and Roma. Following the war, Szálasi and several other Arrow Cross leaders were sentenced to death and executed. The collection also contains the files of various national socialist parties and splinter groups that existed in Hungary between 1932 and 1945.
Archival History
The personal files of party members (card index) were in the possession of the Ministry of Interior and its subordinate authorities (state security organs). Following the transition of 1989-90, the files were transferred to the Institute of History, and its successor, the Historical Archives of the Hungarian State Security, and in 2006 were taken to the Hungarian National Archives.
Scope and Content
The first part of the collection (Boxes1-3) contains the survived records of the Hungarian National Socialist Party and its successor, the Arrow Cross Party, mostly from the war years. The material includes the documents of party administration (registered as well as unregistered fragments), cashier’s and registry books, regulations, orders, circulars and other internal correspondence, an undated brief history of the party, programs and flyers of the Hungarian National Socialist Party and various extreme right wing splinter groups, speeches, studies and other publications of party leader Ferenc Szálasi, and other prominent figures, including Pál Vágó, Ödön Málnási, Gábor Vajna, László Budinszky and Lajos Gruber, bills (törvényjavaslat), proposals, interpellations by and correspondence of the party MPs, reports to the Great Council (nagytanács, the central governing body of the party) and meetings of county leaders, newspaper clippings, flyers and other party publications. The second and largest part of the collection contains the personal files of party members arranged into a card index (Boxes 4-56) in an alphabetical order from the years 1939–1945.
Conditions Governing Access
The card index is only accessible for researchers holding a special permission (letter of support) from an academic institution.
Finding Aids
A registry book is available for the records from 1938. The bulk of the material, however, requires item-level research.
Publication Note
Miklós Lackó, Arrow Cross Men, National Socialists. Budapest: Akadémiai, 1969.; Rudolf Paksa: Ferenc Szálasi and the Hungarian Far-Right Between the World Wars. In:Vers un profil convergent des fascismes? „Nouveau consensus” et religion politique en Europe centrale. Ed. Traian Sandu. Paris: L'Harmattan, 2010. 125–139.
Archivist Note
Description was prepared by László Csősz
Rules and Conventions
EHRI Guidelines for Description v.1.0