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Horthy file photo [752]

Miklós Horthy

SurnameHorthy
Given NameMiklós
Born18 Jun 1868
Died9 Feb 1957
CountryHungary
CategoryGovernment
GenderMale

Contributor:

ww2dbaseMiklós Horthy was a diplomat of the Austro-Hungarian Empire to Turkey then an aide-de-camp to Emperor Franz Joseph. During WW1, Horthy, an admiral in the Austro-Hungarian Navy, repeatedly defeated the Italian naval forces, earning the promotion to the Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Fleet in Mar 1918. After the Versailles Treaty separated Austria and Hungary into two separate states, he became an admiral to a non-existent Navy of landlocked Hungary. In 1919 civil war broke out when a Communist regime took over Budapest; Horthy established a government in Szeged. The Communist government collapsed on 3 Aug 1919, and Romania seized the opportunity to occupy Budapest. On 14 Nov, Horthy took back the city and drove the Romanians out of Hungary on 25 Feb 1920. In Mar, 1920, the National Assembly of Hungary re-established the Kingdom of Hungary, but elected not to recall Charles IV of Hungary from exile. Horthy ruled as regent. Befriending Adolf Hitler, he was awarded part of Slovakia, Carpathian Ruthenia, and part of Transylvania. Starting in 1938, he had also passed several anti-Semitic laws, restricting the freedom of Hungarian Jews.

ww2dbaseUnder Horthy's rule, Hungary entered the war in Apr 1941 when it joined the Axis alliance, but as early as 1942 he began negotiations with the Allies in secret. In Mar 1944, with Russian troops standing at Hungary's borders, German troops entered Hungary and held Horthy captive while installing a puppet government in Budapest. The German puppet government, headed by Döme Sztójay, deported Hungarian Jews to concentration camps in Russia. In Jun 1944, Horthy voiced resistance against the deportation of Jews and eventually re-established himself as the ruler of Hungary. He had to give up his rule once again, however, after German commando Otto Skorzeny kidnapped his son. He was then captured and imprisoned in Bavaria in relative comfort. He was arrested by American troops in May 1945. He was not tried as a war criminal after the war.

ww2dbaseAfter the war, he lived in Estoril, Portugal. He wrote his memoirs Ein Leben für Ungarn (A Life for Hungary), in which he argued that he had distrusted Hitler and he had given his life for the best interests of his country. He passed away in 1957. In his will, he asked that his body not be returned to Hungary "until the last Russian soldier has left." In 1993, when Russian troops left Hungary after the end of the Cold War, his body was returned to Kenderes where he now rests in peace.

ww2dbaseSource: Wikipedia.

Last Major Revision: Jan 2006

Miklós Horthy Interactive Map

Photographs

Horthy and Hitler observing Kriegsmarine U-Boats, 1938Miklós Horthy of Hungary with Adolf Hitler of Germany, Berlin, Germany, circa late 1930s

Miklós Horthy Timeline

18 Jun 1868 Miklós Horthy was born.
11 Nov 1938 Hungarian Regent Miklós Horthy toured territory newly gained from Czechoslovakia.
17 Apr 1943 Adolf Hitler met with Hungarian regent Miklós Horthy in an attempt to persuade him to further the attempt to deport Jews, who were "pure parasites" and compared to "tuberculosis bacilli" per Hitler, out of Hungary. Horthy would continue to meet this deportation request as little as possible.
15 Oct 1944 Shortly after announcing that Hungary would withdraw from the war, Admiral Miklós Horthy's son Miklós Horthy, Jr. was abducted by Sturmbannführer Otto Skorzeny's commandos. In Horthy's place, the new head of state, Fenenc Szalasi promised to maintain the alliance with Germany. Among the first pro-German policies implemented was the resumption of the deportation of Hungarian Jews.
17 Oct 1945 Miklós Horthy met with Thomas Dodd in Nürnberg, Germany.
9 Feb 1957 Miklós Horthy passed away.




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Visitor Submitted Comments

1. Anonymous says:
30 Nov 2009 01:55:18 AM

Horthy was a war criminal he is responsible fro masacre in Novy sad (Serbia) - killed lot of civilists. Same when he invades Slovakia, lot of Slovaks was killed. He also gived Hitler with jewish deportations. And after he escapes like coward to azyl, instead of punishment for his war crimes.
2. Anonymous says:
15 Apr 2010 05:23:19 PM

40-50 million peoples were killed in Europe in the 1930's and 40's. Who was responcible? only Hitler? No, almost everyone in Europe,in some way or other.
What could Horthy have done to change all that? What you would have done?
Horthy did the best he could uynder the circumstances at the time,as nobody,but nobody has succeeded doing any better to prevent,or alter the events in Europe. Without Horthy,hundreds of thousands of Jews had not survived.
Why do you think that Jews supported him and his family for the rest of his life?
3. Anonymous says:
23 Sep 2011 02:12:28 PM

Horthy couldn't do anything different, what Germans wanted from him. He had to do what Germany want or Germans occupy the country... What is already happened in 1944, when he tried to make peace with the Allies.
4. Anonymous says:
25 May 2014 02:54:46 AM

Horthy was one of the biggest mass-murderer from all times. It does not matter the ethnicity of his victims - they were thousands and thousands.
By the way - Horthy, an admiral with a non-existent fleet drove the Romanian Army out of Hungary (ocuppied by the Romanian Army)... hahaha!
Wow, how? He kissed the Romanians' hands and implored them?
The Hungarians were always some big liers with a fake history and kingdom, untill the Austrians and the Romanians (and the whole World) decided to cutt this *** off.
5. Starchild says:
9 Jul 2014 09:27:01 PM

"Horthy was a war criminal he is responsible fro masacre in Novy sad (Serbia) - killed lot of civilists"-Maybe you need to do your research befor you post such mental diarchia. When the massacre happened in Novi Sad that was Hungary and by their law the partizans and their collaborants were considered terrorist(this is nothing new, even today many contries have this kind of law). They killed about 3000-3500 people ,serbs, hungarians, jews, etc. For this mass killing the military leaders in NS had no approval from the headquater. When Horthy received the news he ordered those military officers resposible giving orders to be arrested and prosecuted(this information is publicly available). Naturally, serbs are blinded with thier nationalism and hate toward Hungarians that they never mention these facts. On the otherhand, when the soviets and the partizans "liberated" Vojvodina they commited brutal torturing and killings of Hungarian civilians. The "partisans"(serb hatemonger low life trash) alone brutally murdered men, woman and children, about 30000-40000 of them and still present day the Hungarians in Vojvodina held under collective guilt, which by the way againts internaional law. These partisan terrorist got never prosecuted and still present day they are considered as heroes.
The collective guilt is still in effect in Slovakia and Czech republic known as Benes decretums. Unfortunatelly the EU found nothing wrong with that either, so that tells what a double standards they are applying.
"The Hungarians were always some big liers with a fake history and kingdom, untill the Austrians and the Romanians (and the whole World) decided to cutt this **** off."- This comment must come from a romanian hatemonger. So just you know, your nation is stealing our history all the time. Romania didn't even exsist when Hungary had constitution. Romania is well know about betraying all their neighbours and stealing their land. Transylvania is not Romania and you will loose it!!!
Slovakia is in the same boat with Romania stealing Hungarian history and make it appear as their own.
Bottom line, the WW1 and WW2 had nothing to do with Hungary nor resposible for it. Because of geographical position Hungary always been attacked from east as well as from the west. The other important fact that Hungary never fought a war for foreign territories. Vojvodina, Transylvania, large part of current Slovakia and lower Carpathians are stolen land from Hungary, thanks to the french and domestic traitors when they forced the trianon treaty on Hungary.
Horthy was a great heroe indeed. He did everything possible to protect Hungarian citizens(including jews, since lot of them seeked asylum in Hungary hoping for best)from destruction. He got never convicted for war crimes and after when he had to leave many jewish families helped him and his family with survival.
"Dear" serbs, slovaks and romanians we know that you hate us with passion, however, maybe you should look in your backyard for garbage before you commenting others. You all have commited war crimes in the past but never took resposibility for it and for most part never convicted for it. Gods mill works slow but for sure. Hungary has natural borders and it is a holly land. So far any counrty took part of Hungary got broke: turkish empire, austrian empire, yugoslavia, later serbia lost kosovo, czechoslovakia, soviet union, currently ukrian and at last romania will loose transylvania. Hungary is the property of the Holly Crown and you can't steal from something which is superior to you!
6. Anonymous says:
24 Oct 2014 05:38:10 AM

Starchild

Are you mentally retarded? Just how on earth can someone consider that a 2 week borned child to be a terrorist? And cut this crap with Miklos protected the jews...he wanted to protect his nation, so you won't extinct (thourgh maghiarization or how do you call it). Whoever opposed this, got killed. And to make other citizens in his country (that weren't hungarians) to fear him, he killed civilians and innocents (just in 1000 romanian 1939-1941 and I'm saying again, UNARMED CIVILIANS THAT WEREN'T HUNGARIANS (it can't be a coincidence that no hungarian citizen has been seen or convicted during that time as a "terorist"))

Hungary didn't existed as a country/kingdom (was just ~1000-1500 and from 1918-present) a big long time, and depending on how do you take it, it's a pretty "young" country (Serbia is the oldest ~1830, Ro-> ~1860). Another sad story for you involving Transylvania: it was a principate (untill 1500 under your influence afterwards under austrian influence). After WW1 some influent persons in Austria decided to break the union between Au and Hu and the same people draw the borderlines leaving the principates like in 1500. So, Hu left Trasylvania and they decided to unite with the Kingdom of Romania (I'm not talking about the serbian ground because you attacked them and gave the gains back). The Treaty from Trianon recognised this union! So Transylvania wasn't stolen from you - they decided to unite with Ro after you (Hu) left them alone!

Another nice story (hidden by the most of Hu) is with Ferdinand I of Romania, which ordered the Ro army to help you to throw the communists out of your own country. The funny part was that after that, Horthy and others from Hu (again, influential people like Banffy and Teleki) wanted to give Ferdinand I the crown of Hungary and unite the 2 Kingdoms (Romania and Hungary) - because, if Romania wouldn't have been attacked or involved, Horty wouldn't have come to power and the Social Republic of Hungary would have still existed (but the Ro army got it all the way to Budapest and back to give you the freedom). Ferdinand would have said yes, but the people of Romania said "No, it's better to have some allies/brothers than more land. Give them the freedom that they deserve[...]". They couldn't know that the same "brothers" that they freed in 1919-1920, would kill them in 1940. Also, you can't call someone a thief if he liberated your country by conquering it and than giving it back.

Oh, and by the way (about "ohh romanians, they are the biggest traitors" etc.):
1) In the balcanic wars Kingdom of Romania and the Austro-Hungarian Empire were allied and you promised Ro help if they would participate in this wars (a help that didn't came). Romanian citizens and soldiers died for your interests. This is one of the reasons why Ro fought against you in WW1.
2) You are saying that "Horthy was a great heroe indeed. He did everything possible to protect Hungarian citizens(including jews, since lot of them seeked asylum in Hungary hoping for best)from destruction.". Indeed. He was a great hero for Hungary, as great as Avram Iancu for Romania. But not that's the point. My point is: if you say that he protected your citizens, so did Ro by accepting the union with Transylvania.
3) Yes, every country has it's persons, that should have been convicted for warcrimes and considered massmurderers. But the Ro's don't see Antonescu as a hero, neither the germans Hitler or the italians Mussolini (and I can bet that neither Stalin is seen by many russians as hero). All of us are accepting them, but not as hero's or gods or whatever (except the extremists), but as people who have some negative influence on the history of our country.

Also, let me tell you something: when one says you are crazy, maybe he lies and is just because of hate or joke. But if there are more people that says that you are crazy, you should go and find a doctor. Same applies in the real world, where the Holly Crown (not sure what the hell you think that this is) and all humas are equal. If you are considering Hu as superiors, you probably are coming from a different planet (in which case you stole some teritory from the earthlings)
7. american-hungarian says:
29 Nov 2014 07:45:39 PM

Man, this is insane. WWII is still being fought in heads. No matter what you're saying Hungary is the biggest loser and sufferer of the two world wars. That's true that the Hungarians were not angels but they've been fighting for existence since they showed up in the Carpathian basin. Hungary had great times but unlike other western powers received two major blow, first from the Mongols. The country's population was reduced to half but survived and thrived for three centuries. Then another major blow came. Hungary had been fighting with the Turkish already for hundreds of years but eventually exhausted and consumed by them. Hungary was really protecting the western civilization from running over by the Turks. The Turks divided Hungary into three parts first but the eastern part, which is Transilvania was the most independent under Hungarian leadership until the Turks were expelled. 150 years of none stop wars did not do any good to the country. A lot of area was depopulated and the whole population was reduced from 4.5 million to 2 million. Now the Habsburgs did the job of repopulating by forbidding Hungarians to settle back to the land of their ancestors. That's how Hungary got multinational. Now you say that the people of Transilvania declared unification with Romania. Why Hungarians were not allowed to vote? I'm sure you know the answer. Pure Hungarian populations were attached to the surrounding new countries. Hungary got screwed again. No matter how hard this nation had fought to protect western civilization for centuries the French eyes were blind by hatred when Clemenceau draw the borders and gave the stolen lands to pity nations like meat to dogs. Now there were magyarization. But show me a nation doesn't do this. You're not different. The Serbs get romanizide in Romania and vice versa, the Albanians in Serbia, most recently the Russian language was banned in Ukraine. No nation is immune to violence. And I don't want to mention the countless massacres happened in our countries. By the way the Serbs received the same reward like Hungary after WWI. Their country got disassembled. So please don't alter history and don't be in some kind of a romanticism of how you got new lands after WWI. If the west or other powers think you're in the way, don't worry your country will be screwed. This is nothing but all about divide and rule.
8. Anonymous says:
13 Sep 2015 09:25:32 AM

Is there a connection between HUngary's treatment of Muslim refugees and its history of excluding Turks from its borders?
9. Anonymous says:
20 Sep 2016 02:16:25 AM

To say that hungarians are liars and fakers is absurd. The nazi regime in world war 2 was so negative and destructive on so many levels. Most hungarians realized to survive it was a case of self preservation and as such each individual of power played the game wrongly or rightly. Some went to their death deservedly no matter their background, while others will never be forgotten for the courage they showed. War is war ! Nothing wonderful ever came from the acts of violence in war and the curtailing of peoples civil liberties. The question we need to ask ourselves is what have we learnt and what have we really achieved from those conflicts ? We cannot go back, only forward. Live today with peace and good will to fellow man.
10. Anonymous says:
13 Mar 2022 11:43:27 PM

Thankyou for this bit of historical reality

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Miklós Horthy Photo Gallery
Horthy and Hitler observing Kriegsmarine U-Boats, 1938Miklós Horthy of Hungary with Adolf Hitler of Germany, Berlin, Germany, circa late 1930s


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