Miklós Novák provides important facts about the events of the end game of the Second World War in Hungary, referring to the conference organized by the Rubicon Institute on the subject (American betrayal after Hungarian word breaking, Magyar Nemzet, April 9, 2024). , the scientific advisor of the Institute of History of the Hun-Ren Humanities Research Center, drew attention to the fact, which was barely known to the public until now, that
the Anglo-Saxon powers had a basic interest in the German occupation of Hungary, since the Germans had to redeploy the necessary forces from the Western Front, and the Anglo-Saxons could begin the Normandy landings under more favorable conditions. In order to do this, the Americans specifically actively misled him and took anti-German actions,
specifically, in the fall of 1944, they provoked our country to carry out an attempt to jump out and transition, which ultimately proved unsuccessful, while leaking information about the desperate Hungarian plans to the Germans.
Of course, this is hardly surprising – it is a serious mistake to think that any great power forms its relationship with Hungary on an emotional basis. In fact, they only have their own interests in mind; we have to do the same, which is why it is particularly incomprehensible that some well-deserved foreign politicians rub their eyes against the United States, which betrayed us again and again (also in 1956).
It is also clear from the facts quoted by László Borhi that
Hungary could not count on any help from the West, our push into the Soviet sphere of interest was decided in Tehran in 1943 at the latest, because although the anti-communist Churchill made a weak attempt to advocate the opening of the Balkan front, the idea was swept off the table by Stalin and Roosevelt. more precisely, the international interests behind them and intertwined in the background. It also follows from this that the jump-over attempt would have been hopeless even at the beginning of 1944, as it proved to be in the autumn of that year.
Hungary’s fate was sealed, the German occupation took place as a result of Kállay’s self-destructive swing policy, and after the front reached our country, we could only hope for a miracle: that is, if we managed to stop the Soviet war machine, then maybe, just maybe, the Anglo-Saxons would get there first. It did not turn out that way, the pact of liberalism and Bolshevism pushed our country into a communist dictatorship for decades.
In the light of all this, it is especially blood-curdling to call Hungarians the “last henchman” and, in general, the incessant reviling of our country’s forced involvement in World War II.
It is time to get rid of the guilt industry’s falsification of history and to judge the actions of the Hungarian political and military leadership of the time based on the facts of reality. That is why the myth of breaking one’s word must be dispelled. This phrase appears as a collective self-accusation in Prime Minister Count Pál Teleki’s undoubtedly authentic farewell letter, but it is a serious mistake to regard its contents as unquestionable historical truth.
The dramatic letter is a transcript of the gnawing guilt of a desperate, shaken man, hit by political disappointments and family tragedies. The collapse of the world-renowned geographer and self-sacrificing patriot necessarily led to a narrowed state of consciousness, the self-deprecating outbursts of the Teleki farewell letter are not the conclusions of a rational mind analyzing provable facts. In conclusion, they are not historical facts.
So let’s see the reality! On December 12, 1940, in Belgrade, our country signed an “eternal friendship agreement” with the then pro-German Yugoslav government. It is important that in the agreement with a somewhat naive name, Hungary – very correctly – did not renounce the Hungarian territories languishing under foreign rule, including the Southern Region. Not only did the agreement not prove to be eternal, it did not even last four months. On March 27, 1941, a military coup led by the commander of the Yugoslav Air Force, Dušan Šimović, instigated by the Anglo-Saxons, overthrew the government in Belgrade, which had joined the German-Italian-Japanese Tripartite Pact two days earlier, and this created a completely new situation, the Hungarian-Yugoslav Pact the turn practically nullified it.
Following the anti-German coup d’état, Germany was preparing to invade Yugoslavia and wanted to obtain Hungary’s participation in the campaign by promising to fully satisfy the legitimate Hungarian revisionist demands and even to acquire additional territories. Of course, the Anglo-Saxons also learned about this and threatened our country for possible participation in the enterprise.
Pál Teleki, who was already shaken by the tragedies in his personal life, wrote his farewell letter on April 3 testifying to the unbearable inner pain, which is why he committed his fatal act.
However, Hungary did not attack Yugoslavia. It is true that we were forced to let the German troops marching against Belgrade pass through our country, just as Romania and Bulgaria did. Let’s pay attention to the timeline: on April 6, the Germans attacked Yugoslavia from the territory of Bulgaria, on the same day and the following day, the South Slavic state’s air force bombed Hungarian cities, including Siklós, Pécs and Szeged. In other words, Yugoslavia attacked our country, not the other way around. Despite this, the troops of the Hungarian Royal Army did not cross the Trianon border until April 11, when Yugoslavia ceased to exist following the declaration of Croatian independence. Underline:
Even in that geopolitical dogfight, despite German demands and promises, Hungary waited as long as possible to take military action, and it only took place when one of the contracting parties to the December bilateral agreement was legally terminated. And even then, our national guards marched exclusively into the areas historically belonging to Hungary, liberating Bácska, the Baranya triangle and Muramente in four days.
And if we have already cleared Hungary of the accusation of breaking one’s word against Yugoslavia, it is also important to state that our country – against the falsification of history spread by the communists – never declared war on the Soviet Union, but Miklós Horthy, as supreme warlord, established the state of war. This can be disapproved afterwards, but based on the information available at the time, the governor could not decide otherwise. On June 26, 1941, a Soviet plane attacked the Körösmező-Budapest high-speed train in the Rahó area with a series of machine guns that claimed three lives. A few hours later, Soviet-made planes attacked the Kassa airport and nearby Enyické with Soviet bombs, killing a total of 32 more people. The attack in Raho was indeed carried out by a Soviet plane, the assassination in Kassa and Enyicke – based on the information that has now come to light – was certainly a Romanian provocation with the aim of dragging our country into the eastern campaign, in which (leaving Southern Transylvania unprotected as it was) the Romanian army participated with significant forces.
We now know the consequences of the expanding Second World War for Hungary, but we can only judge the decisions of the time based on the information available to the decision-makers at the time.
