Hungarian general who directed the Novi Sad massacre, fled to Germany after his conviction and joined the SS
Born Franz Zeidner into a Transylvanian Saxon family, he served as an artillery and staff officer in the Austro-Hungarian army in the First World War, and between the wars changed his surname to the more Magyar-sounding Feketehalmy-Czeydner. In August 1941 he became commander of the Fifth Corps at Szeged. In January 1942 Chief of Staff Szombathelyi sent him against the partisans in Bačka; villagers there were massacred on his orders, and he organised the Novi Sad massacre. Sentenced to fifteen years by a court martial in January 1944, he fled to Vienna with other convicted officers and volunteered for the SS. As deputy defence minister under the Arrow Cross he signed the death warrant of his critic Endre Bajcsy-Zsilinszky. After the war he was handed via Hungary to Yugoslavia and executed in November 1946.
Activities and affiliations
- 1919–1942 Military command · Hungary
- 1944–1945 Military command · Nazi party and regime
- 1944–1945 Government and administration · Hungary
Career Timeline
- 1910Commissioned lieutenant of artillery
- 1914–1918Austro-Hungarian artillery and staff officer
- 1941–1942Commander, Fifth Corps; directed the Bačka massacres
- 1944Convicted by court martial; fled to Vienna and joined the SS
- 1944–1945Deputy defence minister under the Arrow Cross
- 1946Executed in Yugoslavia