Claim:
The Arrow Cross movement in Hungary was a carbon copy of German nazism and apart from a short initial upward curve had very little support in society.
Rebuttal:
The claim is false. The Arrow Cross had unique, Hungarian spiritual roots.
In detail:
In Hungary the extreme right emerged as early as 1919, and it had a lot more influence in Hungary throughout the 30s than the at-the-time insignificant NSDAP had in Germany. The close similarity between the Arrow Cross and the Nazi ideology is undeniable, but it is wrong to try and originate one from the other. They were both attempted answers to the challenges of modernity on the right. It is also wrong to assert that the Arrow Cross movement had a small supporter base in Hungary. The Arrow Cross shooting Jewish citizens into the Danube in 1944 is not the same as the Arrow Cross from before 1941, among whose supporters we find numerous intellectuals, and that did have a significant supporter base. The Hungarian governments between 1920 and 1939 had to refrain to various administrative measures before each election to somehow limit the rise of the extreme right.[1]
[1] In more detail see: Ungváry Krisztián: Kik azok a nyilasok? In: Beszélő, 2003, június, 58-68.o.
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