The Holocaust in Hungary

The Holocaust in Hungary
The Holocaust in Hungary
	Hungarian Jews arriving at Auschwitz II-Birkenau, German-occupied Poland, May/June 1944
	Europe in 1942
Location	Hungary
Date	April 1944 – 13 February 1945; (mainly 15 May – 9 July 1944);
Perpetrators	Kingdom of Hungary, Nazi Germany, Adolf Eichmann, László Ferenczy, Arrow Cross Party
Camp	Auschwitz concentration camp
Ghetto	Budapest ghetto
Victims	564,000 dead (1941–1945); incl. over 434,000 (15 May–9 July 1944);
Memorials	Shoes on the Danube Bank

The Holocaust in Hungary was the dispossession, deportation, and systematic murder of more than half of the Hungarian Jews, primarily after the German occupation of Hungary in March 1944.

At the time of the German invasion, Hungary had a Jewish population of 825,000,^[1] the largest remaining in Europe,^[2] further swollen by Jews escaping from elsewhere to the relative safety of that country. The Hungarian Prime Minister Miklós Kállay had been reluctant to deport them.^[3] Fearing Hungary was trying to pursue peace with the Allies, Adolf Hitler ordered the invasion.^[4] New restrictions against Jews were imposed soon after Germany occupied Hungary on 19 March 1944. The invading troops included a Sonderkommando led by SS officer Adolf Eichmann, who arrived in Budapest to supervise the deportation of the country's Jews to the Auschwitz concentration camp in occupied Poland. Between 15 May and 9 July 1944, over 434,000 Jews were deported on 147 trains,^[5] most of them to Auschwitz, where about 80 percent were gassed on arrival.^[6] The quick progress of the deportations was enabled by close cooperation between the Hungarian and German authorities.^[7]

Diplomatic pressure and the Allied bombing of Budapest persuaded Miklós Horthy, the Regent of Hungary, to order a halt to the deportations on 6 July.^[8] By the time they had stopped three days later, almost the entire community of Jews in the Hungarian countryside had gone.^[a]

The mass deportation of Hungarian Jews was the largest Holocaust killing after 1942.^[10] It took place as World War II appeared to be drawing to a close — and world leaders had known for some time that Jews were being murdered in gas chambers.^[11] The expropriation of Jewish property was useful to achieve Hungarian economic goals and sending the Jews as forced laborers avoided the need to send non-Jewish Hungarians.^[12] Those who survived the selection were forced to provide construction and manufacturing labor as part of a last-ditch effort to increase the production of fighter aircraft.^[13]

^ Braham 2016a, p. 88.
^ Bauer, Yehuda (2002). Rethinking the Holocaust. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. p. 224. ISBN 0-300-09300-4.
^ Braham 2016a, pp. 429–430.
^ Braham 2016a, p. 434.
^ Braham, Randolph L. (2016a). The Politics of Genocide: The Holocaust in Hungary. Vol. 1. New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 771, 774–775. ISBN 978-0880337113.
^ Kadar, Gabor; Vagi, Zoltan (2004). Self-financing Genocide: The Gold Train, the Becher Case and the Wealth of Hungarian Jews. Budapest and New York: Central European University Press. p. 125. ISBN 963-9241-53-9.
^ Gerlach 2016, pp. 114, 368.
^ Braham 2016b, pp. 960–961, 967.
^ Braham, Randolph L. (2011). "Hungary: The Controversial Chapter of the Holocaust". In Braham, Randolph L.; Vanden Heuvel, William (eds.). The Auschwitz Reports and the Holocaust in Hungary. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 45 (29–49). ISBN 978-0880336888.
^ Gerlach 2016, p. 103.
^ Braham 2016a, pp. xxxiv–xliii

Also see Braham, Randolph L. (2016b). The Politics of Genocide: The Holocaust in Hungary. Vol. 2. New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 938–990. ISBN 978-0880337113.
^ Gerlach 2016, p. 114.
^ Spoerer 2020, p. 142.

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

[FOOTNOTEBraham2016a88-1] Braham 2016a, p. 88.

[2] Bauer, Yehuda (2002). Rethinking the Holocaust. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. p. 224. ISBN 0-300-09300-4.

[FOOTNOTEBraham2016a429–430-3] Braham 2016a, pp. 429–430.

[FOOTNOTEBraham2016a434-4] Braham 2016a, p. 434.

[5] Braham, Randolph L. (2016a). The Politics of Genocide: The Holocaust in Hungary. Vol. 1. New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 771, 774–775. ISBN 978-0880337113.

[Kadar2004p125-6] Kadar, Gabor; Vagi, Zoltan (2004). Self-financing Genocide: The Gold Train, the Becher Case and the Wealth of Hungarian Jews. Budapest and New York: Central European University Press. p. 125. ISBN 963-9241-53-9.

[FOOTNOTEGerlach2016114,_368-7] Gerlach 2016, pp. 114, 368.

[FOOTNOTEBraham2016b960–961,_967-8] Braham 2016b, pp. 960–961, 967.

[9] Braham, Randolph L. (2011). "Hungary: The Controversial Chapter of the Holocaust". In Braham, Randolph L.; Vanden Heuvel, William (eds.). The Auschwitz Reports and the Holocaust in Hungary. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 45 (29–49). ISBN 978-0880336888.

[FOOTNOTEGerlach2016103-11] Gerlach 2016, p. 103.

[12] Braham 2016a, pp. xxxiv–xliii

Also see Braham, Randolph L. (2016b). The Politics of Genocide: The Holocaust in Hungary. Vol. 2. New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 938–990. ISBN 978-0880337113.

[FOOTNOTEGerlach2016114-13] Gerlach 2016, p. 114.

[FOOTNOTESpoerer2020142-14] Spoerer 2020, p. 142.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[a]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]