Paramilitary Extremism in Interwar Hungary and its Anti-Jewish Argumentation

• Authors: Istvan Pal Adam
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The article explains the rise of popular extremism in post-World War I Hungary through the story of Iván Héjjas and the Ragged Guard/Rongyos Gárda. This interwar militia is responsible for anti-Jewish and anti-Communist atrocities in 1919-1923, and it was also deeply involved in the spreading of the anti-Semitic sentiment in the Hungarian countryside. Its case is particularly interesting because of its rejuvenation in 1938, when the Hungarian government relied on the militiamen in a secret mission in the Sub Carpathian borderlands against the integrity of Czechoslovakia. The paper also investigates the background of some common anti-Jewish accusations the Rongyos Gárda members propagated, and it tries to understand these arguments in a power framework.

Keywords

EN

Post-World War I anti-Jewish violence; White terror; Interwar anti-Semitism; Paramilitary atrocities; Borderlands; Trianon Treaty; First Vienna Award; Rongyos Gárda; Iván Héjjas

Discipline

• HISTORY: HISTORY

• Publisher: Masaryk's Institute and Archives, ASCR
• Journal: Střed. Časopis pro mezioborová studia Střední Evropy 19. a 20. století. / Centre. Journal for Interdisciplinary Studies of Central Europe in the 19th and 20th Centuries.
• Year: 2017
• Volume: 9
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 9-33
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Istvan Pal Adam

• Masarykův ústav a archiv AV ČR, v.v.i., Gabčíkova 2362/10, 182 00 Praha 8, Czech Republic