Ferenc Szálasi was a Hungarian military officer, politician and leader of the Arrow Cross Party who headed the government of Hungary during the country's occupation by Nazi Germany during World War II.
Szálasi in 1944
Ferenc Szálasi in Budapest, October 1944.
The Government of National Unity headed by Ferenc Szálasi (sitting in the center).
The Arrow Cross Party was a far-right Hungarian ultranationalist party led by Ferenc Szálasi, which 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, and 80,000 people were deported from Hungary to concentration camps in Austria. After the war, Szálasi and other Arrow Cross leaders were tried as war criminals by Hungarian courts.
Ministers of the Arrow Cross Party government. Ferenc Szálasi is in the middle of the front row.
World War II propaganda poster for the party – the text reads "Despite it all..!"
Jewish victims of Arrow Cross men in the court of the Dohány Street Synagogue
The "Shoes on the Danube Bank" memorial in Budapest, conceived by film director Can Togay with sculptor Gyula Pauer [hu] to honor those Jews who were murdered by fascist Arrow Cross militiamen in Budapest during World War II.