Arrow Cross Party

The Arrow Cross Party (Hungarian: Nyilaskeresztes Párt – Hungarista Mozgalom) was a far-right Hungarian ultranationalist party led by Ferenc Szálasi. They formed a government in Hungary they named the Government of National Unity. They were in power from 15 October 1944 to 28 March 1945. During its short rule, ten to fifteen thousand civilians were murdered outright, including many Jews and Romani. 80,000 people were deported from Hungary to concentration camps in Austria. The party's iconography was clearly inspired by that of the Nazis. The arrow cross symbol had other ideological implications, including a desire to nullify the Treaty of Trianon, and expand the Hungarian state in all cardinal directions, out to the borders of the former Kingdom of Hungary. The roots of Arrow Cross influence can be traced to the antisemitism that followed the Communist putsch, the creation of the Hungarian Soviet Republic, and the Red Terror during the spring and summer of 1919. Most Communist leaders were from Jewish families such as Tibor Szamla, the leader and instigator of the Terror, had a secular father and a mother who was still a Jew.