US intelligence archives: Washington and London fostered Hungary’s occupation by Nazi Germany
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Yesterday was the 75th anniversary that the troops of Nazi Germany invaded and occupied Hungary. The move resulted in the almost total destruction of the country during the final year of WWII, losing hundreds of thousands of lives, including 600,000 Jews murdered in death camps. Now, a Hungarian historian says that, based on the documents of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), an intelligence agency of the USA during WWII, Western Allies fostered the occupation to weaken German forces in France at all cost, and thus facilitate the success of D-day. Doing so, they did not care for the fate of e.g. the Jewish community in Hungary.
A gamble with the lives of millions
Interestingly, Hungary is widely regarded by the Western public as the last ally of Nazi Germany. However, it should be stated that Regent Miklós Horthy who was head of state between 1919 and 1944 wanted to surrender to the Western Allies at least after Hitler’s defeat at the gates of Moscow during the winter of 1941/1942. Though secret negotiations advanced slowly, Hungary was at the point of
accepting unconditional surrender by the fall of 1943.
However, this never happened.
According to László Borhi (Indiana University Bloomington), from March 1943, the aim of the Western Allies was to discredit the Hungarian political leadership in the eyes of Berlin and thus foster the occupation of the country by Wehrmacht – Index reported.
Even though Hungarians, Romanians, Bulgarians and the Finnish sent their emissaries during 1942, their reception was lukewarm. In fact, Western Allies feared that if they agreed with those small nations, Stalin would try to come to terms with Berlin as it happened before in 1939. This is why President Roosevelt declared the doctrine of unconditional surrender in 1943. However, the importance of such peace missions increased when Western Allies finally decided to invade Normandy and free Europe from there.
Sad, that Hungary was left alone and abandoned by the allies. The future of Europe had been cast years before, unfortunately. The destruction of Central Europe, the extension of the war could be placed and the enslavement of millions was put to work at Yalta. The invasion of Europe should have happened, as Churchill wished, through Europes underbelly, Greece and Yugoslavia. Like the previous world war, all nations had to rush to Frances defense