The Arrow-Cross (Nyilas) Government
Under the Arrow-Cross regime, Hungarian Jews were terrorized: deportations were resumed, and nearly 80,000 Jews were forced on a death march to the Austrian border. At the same time, thousands of Jews were murdered in Budapest.
Sunday, 15 October, 1944
At 2:00 p.m., Horthy announced in a national radio broadcast that Hungary had signed an armistice with the Soviets. The Germans, aware of Horthy's behind-the-scenes maneuvering, had set in motion plans to replace his government with the far-right Hungarian Nazi Arrow-Cross (Nyilas) party. [1]
Szálasi became "Leader of the Nation" and the prime minister of an Arrow-Cross-dominated Government. The Germans armed the Arrow-Cross rabble with rifles, handguns, and grenades. 13-14-year-olds strutted in front of public buildings with their rifles.
The Yellow-Star buildings’ gates were locked all the time. Jews were not permitted to receive visitors or leave their buildings, whatever the emergency. We relied on whatever food was still at hand since shopping was impossible.
There was an after-dark curfew. We could hear gunshots at night.
What we didn’t know:
Tuesday, 17 October
Adolf Eichmann returned to Budapest to resume our deportation. A shortage of railroad cars, of fuel, and Germany's fast-disintegrating communication network largely prevented this from happening.
Tuesday - Thursday, October 17-19
On 17 October, as a prelude to the deportation, the residents of buildings marked with stars in the VIII District received orders to assemble in the courtyards the next morning. On 18 October they were marched, hands above their heads, along Rakoczi road to the Tattersaal Racecourse north of Kerepesi Cemetery, and on 19 October to the Danube embankment. When they were lined up facing the river, a German officer stopped the eminent execution and the Jews were sent home. … A favorite place for mass executions was the Danube embankment. [2]
Sunday, 22 October
We woke up to another air raid. It was very cold outside. New posters in the streets announced that all Jewish men aged 16-60 and Jewish women aged 16-40 must enlist for 3 days, starting at 8 am on October 23rd. Those enlisting must carry 3 days’ worth of food.
Tuesday, 24 October
More posters: all ages must enlist, and they should bring good footwear, a blanket, and enough food for 5 days. The designated collection points were in towns around Pest, but neither the railway nor the streetcars were operational. At 8 pm, we were informed that the radio announced the withdrawal of all mobilization orders.
We heard rumors of the forced evacuation of Budapest. Would that apply to Jews?
Thursday, 26 October
At 9 pm, we heard the 91st ARS. Russian planes were coming from the north. Heavy bombing lasted over 2 hours. From the sound of the anti-aircraft guns, the main attack was in the area of the Corvin department store. Winter weather, with a combination of rain and snow, caused additional hardship in the many apartments without windows. We were not allowed to heat…
What we didn’t know:
Friday, 27 October
The Russian plan was for Budapest to be the bridgehead. The German newspapers forecasted our fate as another Stalingrad. The Arrow-Cross Minister of Defense announced that they would blow up all the Danube bridges if required. The bridges are already mined and guarded by SS soldiers to ensure that the resistance can not remove the mines. [3]
[The Jewish building] gates were still locked all day, and no one was allowed in. The superintendents were threatened with deportation. Obtaining groceries was an ongoing problem. [4]
Monday, 30 October
Freezing cold and 3 ARS. In the evening, with planes over Budapest, the whole city was in darkness … Before a bombing raid, some of the American planes laid down a smoke cloud over the targeted area, and the planes that followed dropped their bombs in that area. It’s called “carpet-bombing.” The next day they signalled that such and such a place received a carpet. [5]
Wednesday 2 November
We could hear cannon fire from the Russian units near the city's southeastern edge.
All Jewish women between 16 and 50 years of age who knew how to sew were the subject of a special call-up order.
Thursday, 3 November
More bombs. More and more refugees arrived in the city from surrounding towns, marking a significant human migration. This morning, a new regulation stated that all Jewish property belonged to the state.
A call-up repeated the order of October 26 for the registration of all Jewish women between 16 and 40 years of age for "labor-service related to national defense.”
Friday, 4 November
While at Szervita tér 5., Aunt Lily and four or five other women walked to the Margit bridge on their way to deliver finished uniforms to officers in Buda. They arrived at the bridgehead just a few minutes after the bridge was blown up [6]. The women came back with the uniforms that will never be delivered.
Also in November, (exact dates are not available) probably in response to the call-up order of 3 November, in an Arrow-Cross raid at Szervita tér 5, some of the women from the sewing group, including the two Lilys, were taken and marched to the Óbuda brick factory. Another woman from the residential sewing operation accompanied Margit and attempted to get the women out. They were not successful.
One of my memories seems to fit here:
Seven or eight women and I are standing in a semi-circle in the living room, facing a German officer. He selected two women: my aunt Lily and my cousin Lily. “Schnell, schnell,” [ Hurry, hurry ] he bellowed at them. They rushed to get their clothes on and pick up their knapsack, already packed for such an eventuality. I notice that in her rush, my aunt picked up my knapsack, but I am too afraid to say anything. They leave..
A few days later, both Lilys were back. They were able to sneak into the building and into “our” apartment. Aunt Lily told us about how a soldier helped them escape and how they managed to find transportation back to Budapest without being stopped or shot. After that brief visit, they went into hiding.
Cousin Lily confirmed this memory.
Both Lilys were afraid to stay with us and went to see my father’s sister (Idka Balázs Dückstein), where my father was hiding. They couldn’t stay there because Idka was afraid to hide more people.
Tuesday - Wednesday, 7-8 November
Evacuation posters began to appear.
There were rumours that we were going to be moving again. We didn’t know what to believe since we were locked in again for 3 days. Our contact at the Jewish Council told us that there would be a separation of the “protected” Jews from those without the protection passes.
What we didn’t know:
Tuesday, 7 November
The government's decision about the “protected” [7] Jews had been informally transmitted to the Central Jewish Council on November 7. … Jews, in possession of valid, foreign protective or safe conduct passes who failed to relocate to the protected buildings by November 15 would be arrested and placed in labor camps.
Official instructions for the relocation of the “protected” Jews were issued on November 12, 1944, over the signature of the deputy chief of police. They were addressed to the superintendent and air wardens of the Yellow-Star houses.
Under the agreement between the Hungarian government and the legations of the neutral states and the Papal representative, slightly more than 15,000 Jews were identified as officially eligible for relocation into the protected houses [the area of Budapest where these buildings were located became the “International Ghetto”]. Of these, 7,800 were under the protection of Switzerland, 4,500 of Sweden, 2,500 of the Vatican, 690 of Portugal, and 100 of Spain.[8]
Wednesday, 8 November
The Germans were leaving with all kinds of expensive, stolen goods; none of them left Budapest empty-handed. They no longer bothered to use the cover of night to hide their theft, but left, without shame, in full daylight, loaded with their bounty. [9]
Sunday, 12 November
On 12 November, 72 buildings near Szent István Square in the V district in Pest had been placed under Swiss protection, and after 15 November this area became officially known as the International Ghetto. It was intended to concentrate all Jews with foreign passes in these protected buildings, which had been designed to hold 3,969 people, but which began by taking in 15,600 and ended with nearly 40,000. In theory, the buildings were extraterritorial, and each should have been guarded by two police officers. Despite precautions, the Arrow-Cross hit squads regularly raided them. [10]
The rumors were true. The “protected” Jews were going to be relocated into special Yellow-Star buildings in the Fifth District . We didn’t have safe-passes.
After 12 November
Earlier in the month, after both Lilys were taken to the Óbuda brick factory, my mother, Margit, didn’t feel safe and didn’t know where to go. My father, Tibor (who was already in hiding) came to get us and spent the night. There was another raid. My mother and I were at risk. Tibor snuck out of the building and returned a few minutes later with a Swiss pass. [11]
Relocating to the “protected buildings” had to occur by November 15. For that reason, we were allowed freedom of movement on Nov 13, 14, and 15, between 8:00 am and 4:00 pm. The deadline was extended by 48 hours, which gave the Nyilas that much more time to rampage, plunder, and kill the Jews moving from one place to another. [12]
Sometime between 13-17 November
My father helped my mother and me move from Szervita tér 5 to a Swiss-protected building on Tátra Street. (This building is not on Lévai’s list, [13] nor is any building on Tátra Street. The protected buildings are indicated on the map of the Yellow-Star buildings, but there is no reference as to which country was the protector. The two Lilys joined us at this address.
One of my memories could fit here:
There was a large group of us, all the Jews from the building, gathered in front of the main gate (kapu). Only a few men with guns watched us while their leader argued with a well-dressed man. They argued for quite a while until we were told to return to our apartments.
I don’t know who the well-dressed man was—maybe Carl Lutz, Raoul Wallenberg, or another imposing figure insisting that we were under the protection of his country. Whoever he was, I am grateful. We owe him our lives.
I remember my mother was with me, but I don’t know who else was there.
My mother, still afraid, saw people in front of no 6 Tátra Street, where passes to Swedish-protected buildings could be obtained. My mother went there and didn’t leave until she obtained papers for a Swedish-protected building on Katona Jozsef Street (address unknown).
We were now receiving some information from the Jewish Council that a new, large ghetto would be set up in District VII, which contained 162 Yellow-Star buildings. This meant relocating about 12,000 Christians from the ghetto’s area into vacant apartments. It also meant that about 60,000 Jews were to be crammed into about 0.1 square miles (0.26 square kilometres). Even children under the protection of the International Red Cross had to be transferred into this ghetto.
Sunday 26 November
I don’t remember the conditions in the protected buildings, but Ferenc Wilde describes what he saw:
Went to visit Irma [in a protected building]. It was a horrific sight: the apartment was on the fourth floor, all the way to the top. 2-3 men sat on the steps and also crowded the walkways. Irma lives in a small 3-room modern apartment with a low ceiling; 72 people live in the three rooms. Before noon, only women are in the apartment so that they can cook; that’s why the men are sitting in the stairwell. Irma complained about how she had to escape her own apartment and couldn’t bring anything. She has no money. I asked what she needed the most. A towel, drying cloth for the kitchen, soap, any kind of food, but mainly tea and aspirin, because the windows cannot be closed even with 72 people sleeping and everyone has a constant cold. I gave her the 500P I had on me, and she was delighted that she can now contribute to the shared kitchen.
29 November
A new decree announced the establishment of a large ghetto in District VII. Non-Jews had to leave the area by December 7.
The two older women (my grandmother Regina and her sister Irén) were still at Szervita tér 5, which was not a protected building. The two Lilys visited their mothers without a star, but they knew that at some point, the mothers would have had to join us on Tátra Street or Katona József Street. They visited as often as possible. The only alternative would have been to allow them to be taken to the large Budapest ghetto.
December
Friday, 1 December
Posters announced regulations regarding the establishment of the large ghetto.
Saturday, 2 December
Large posters announced the organization of the ghetto. All Jews without protection papers were required to move by the 7th of December into a defined area of the VIIth district. The cost of all kinds of transportation, even hand carts, has increased tenfold. All day we could hear loud cannon fire; there were many overflights and an ARS.
What we didn’t know
Unless otherwise indicated, the following is from Wilde.
Monday, 4 December
There is a wall around the ghetto; a regulation states that Christians within the ghetto area must move out. On my way home from the office I watched whole caravans moving into the ghetto. By 4 pm the city is pitch black; mud, mist, the city looks spooky. [14]
Friday, 8 December
We heard that the large ghetto is locked down. Arrow-Cross men, policemen, and soldiers guard the entrance points. It is impossible to get any food in. In the evening, it is announced that Budapest is surrounded. [15]
10 December
On 10 December the area [of the large ghetto] was closed off with wooden boards, leaving only four exit gates. About 60,000 people were packed into 4513 apartments, sometimes 14 to a room. ... Officially the daily food ration was 900 calories plus any supplies available from the Jewish Council and the neutral embassies. In reality five soup kitchens provided barely 790 calories. [16]
15 December
Today we started having constant bombing and gunfire without ARS. 3 grenades hit a group of women standing in line for sugar. 8 dead and many wounded. There were more grenades and in the early afternoon — without ARS — there was continuous bombing. Great snowfall, the trams are not running. The partisans blew up an Arrow-Cross bookstore on Kossuth Lajos Street, several dead. In the evening, among heavy snowfall and cannon-fire we had a visitor who felt very secure on the Buda side (Buda was under siege for 4 weeks longer than Pest, with many dead). We heard the cannon throughout the night. [17]
21 December
There are rumours that the bread allocation will be dropped from 15 dkg to 10 [for non-Jews] when even the 15 is not enough. Apparently the fleeing government took with it several hundred trucks full of the city’s food reserve, so that we might have only 2 weeks’ worth in the city. [18]
23 December
The germans have again mined the bridges. Apparently, as of tomorrow, the swiss passes will not be valid, and many friends have only that security. The markets are bare, the merchants have heard that there is only 2 weeks’ worth of food in reserve, they hide everything, and they don’t redeem food coupons anywhere. The black market is exceedingly expensive. [19]
Monday, 25 December
We went for a walk yesterday afternoon. In front of the Astoria hotel on Kossuth Lajos Street — that was the main residence of german officers — a recently installed road sign indicating the way to Esztergom. We now know that what we heard on the foreign radio stations is true: the capital is surrounded, particularly toward Vienna. We didn’t sleep all night from cannon fire. We didn’t go out all day. There was bombing in the evening without ARS, it looks like maybe the German anti-aircraft gunners have also left; that would be a good sign. [20]
January
Bela Almay as we have seen, was one of the last to be flown out of Budapest. This is what he observed:
The streets are deserted, the shops closed, the people in unheated cellars. Gas is not available and electricity only in a few places in Pest. Demolition by nonexperts often make the water pipes unusable for days. Since 1 January the population has been receiving 50 g of bread a day. As from 31 December all the horses are being slaughtered. Food supplies cannot last longer than 10 to 14 days, even if systematically collected. The hospitals are unheated. There is not even enough fuel for the operating theaters. The deprivation of the population are beyond imagination. [21]
NAZI OCCUPATION BEGINS - 19 March 1944
YELLOW-STAR BUILDINGS - 24 June 1944
THE ARROW-CROSS (NYILAS) PERIOD - you are here
Notes and References
Please see the Bibliography for full details
[1] In this context, the Arrow-Cross rule was short and brutal. In under three months, their death squads killed as many as 38,000 Hungarian Jews. Arrow Cross officers helped Adolf Eichmann re-start deportations from which the Jews of Budapest had thus far been spared, sending some 80,000 Jews out of the city on slave labour details and many more straight to death camps.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrow_Cross_Party
By the time of the Nyilas coup, the Hungarian Jewish community was reduced to one-third of what it had been at the beginning of the year. (Braham, 2016, p1110)
The “Shoes along the Danube” exhibit was installed in memory of the Jews who were shot into the Danube.
[2] In reference to Ungváry, 2005, pp 286-287 :
Several years later, a friend from Budapest came to see us in Montreal. He survived getting shot into the Danube. He had been tied to another person. Since bullets were in short supply, tying two people together was the Arrow-Cross solution.
[3] Wilde
[4] Ibid
[5] Ibid
[6] 4 November, about 2 pm. Ungváry, 2005, p 258 makes the following reference to Kovalowszky’s diary regarding the collapse of the bridge in the section between Pest and Margit island:
On the Pest side two arches of the bridge had collapsed. Streetcars, cars, and hundreds of people had fallen into the river. Two shattered number 6 streetcars jutted out of the water, and the moans of the injured could be heard. Bodies were hanging from the railings, and in the swirling water, there were dead and wounded. …. About 800 people had been on the bridge at the time of the explosion.
[7] Braham, 2016, v2, p1131
[8] Braham, 2016, v2 p1134
[9] Wilde
[10] Braham, 2016, v2 p1135
[11] Schutzbrief is a “letter of protection” issued by the diplomats of neutral countries and the Vatican. Following this concept, Wallenberg issued "protective passports" (German: Schutz-Pass) that identified the bearers as subjects of the issuing country awaiting repatriation.
[12] Braham, 2016, v2 p1134
[13] Levai’s list, Lévai, 1948
[14] Wilde
[15] Ibid
[16] Ungváry, 2005, p299
[17] Wilde
[18] Ibid
[19] Ibid
[20] Ibid
[21] Ungváry, 2005, p299