Arrow Cross leader installed by Germany as 'Leader of the Nation' in 1944
Born a soldier's son in Kassa (now Košice), he served as an officer in the First World War and joined the General Staff in 1925. In the early 1930s he turned to politics as a prophet of 'Hungarism' and the restoration of pre-Trianon borders, left the army in 1935 and founded the Hungarian National Socialist Party in 1937. While imprisoned in 1938 he was proclaimed leader of the Arrow Cross Party, which won 30 seats in the 1939 election. When Germany removed Horthy in October 1944 he became head of state, restarted the deportation of Jews that Horthy had halted, and his militias massacred Jews in Budapest. Captured by American troops in Austria in May 1945, he was sentenced to death by the People's Tribunal and hanged in March 1946.
Activities and affiliations
- 1944–1945 Political and party leadership · Hungary
- 1915–1935 Military command · Hungary
Career Timeline
- 1915–18Austro-Hungarian Army officer in the First World War
- 1925–35Hungarian General Staff officer
- 1937Founded the Hungarian National Socialist Party
- 1938–40Imprisoned; proclaimed Arrow Cross leader; amnestied 1940
- 1944–45'Leader of the Nation', head of the Government of National Unity
- 1946Sentenced to death by the People's Tribunal and executed