Hungary Key Words

Key terminology, regions, and sites related to the Holocaust in Hungary include:

• Arrow Cross Party The Hungarian fascist, violently antisemitic movement led by Ferenc Szálasi. They seized total power in a German-sponsored coup on 15 October 1944, and initiated brutal street-level massacres of the remaining Jewish population.
• Gendarmerie The rural police force of Hungary. They played a critical role in executing the rapid roundup, concentration, and deportation of Jews from provincial towns to the border.
• Miklós Horthy The conservative Regent of Hungary who ruled from 1920 to 1944. While he authorised harsh anti-Jewish laws and the deportation of provincial Jews, he temporarily halted deportations in July 1944 to protect the Jews of Budapest amid growing international pressure.
• Labour Service A forced labour system implemented by the Hungarian military for ‘unreliable’ citizens, primarily targeting Jewish men aged 20 to 48. Sent to the Eastern Front without weapons or proper clothing, tens of thousands died from exhaustion, starvation, or execution.
• Kamianets-Podilskyi Massacre The first major mass murder event involving Hungarian Jews. In August 1941, Hungarian authorities deported roughly 18,000 ‘foreign’ or stateless Jews into German-occupied Ukraine, where they were systematically shot by the Einsatzgruppen.
• International Ghetto A separate network of safe houses in Budapest protected by neutral diplomatic missions, including Sweden, Switzerland, and Spain. 
• Yellow Star Houses A unique system deployed in Budapest in June 1944. Instead of a single walled ghetto, authorities forced the city’s Jewish population to relocate into roughly 2,000 designated apartment buildings marked with a yellow Star of David.
• Raoul Wallenberg A Swedish diplomat who arrived in Budapest in July 1944. He issued protective Swedish passports (Schutzpass) and set up safe houses, saving tens of thousands of lives.