Budapest
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
– 29 March 1946) was a leading member of the Hungarian
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
movement that flourished before and during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
A military academy graduate, he came to prominence in
Szeged
Szeged ( , ; see also #Etymology, other alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county seat ...
in 1919 for his violent
counterrevolutionary
A counter-revolutionary or an anti-revolutionary is anyone who opposes or resists a revolution, particularly one who acts after a revolution in order to try to overturn it or reverse its course, in full or in part. The adjective "counter-revoluti ...
work and rose through the ranks to become one of the leading figures in the
Gendarmerie
Wrong info! -->
A gendarmerie () is a military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population. The term ''gendarme'' () is derived from the medieval French expression ', which translates to " men-at-arms" (literally, ...
.
Philip Rees
Philip Rees (born 1941) is a British writer and librarian formerly in charge of acquisitions at the J. B. Morrell Library, University of York. He has written books on fascism and the extreme right.
Works
*''Fascism in Britain'' (Harvester Pres ...
, ''
Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890
The ''Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890'' is a reference book by Philip Rees, on leading people in the various far right movements since 1890.
It contains entries for what the author regards as "the 500 major figures on the ...
'', Simon & Schuster, 1990, p. 20 A member of several
far right
Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...
groups he finally left the gendarmes in 1938 (as a major-general) to join the
Hungarian National Socialist Party
The Hungarian National Socialist Party ( hu, Magyar Nemzeti Szocialista Párt) was a political epithet adopted by a number of minor Nazi parties in Hungary before the Second World War.
Early Nazi groups
From its early origins up to the eventual f ...
, and passed through a number of incarnations of this fluid movement. He was elected as a deputy in 1939 and sat as a member of a Nazi coalition group. Close to
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
, he was appointed editor of the German-funded newspaper ''Magyarság''. He soon became a close ally of
Fidél Pálffy
Count Fidél Pálffy ab Erdőd (6 May 1895 Svätý Jur – 2 March 1946 Budapest) was a Hungarian nobleman who emerged as a leading supporter of Nazism in Hungary.
Early life
After service in the First World War he lived on an estate in Czechos ...
and the two united with the followers of General Ruszkay and
Ferenc Szálasi
Ferenc Szálasi (; 6 January 1897 – 12 March 1946), the leader of the Arrow Cross Party – Hungarist Movement, became the "Leader of the Nation" (''Nemzetvezető'') as head of state and simultaneously prime minister of the Kingdom of Hungary' ...
to form a wider coalition of pro-Nazi conservatives and military men.
After the Nazi invasion and occupation of Hungary in March 1944, Baky was elevated to state secretary in the Ministry of the Interior, under
Andor Jaross
Andor Jaross (23 May 1896 – 11 April 1946) was an ethnic Hungarian politician most active in interwar Czechoslovakia and later in Hungary during World War II. He also notably collaborated with the Nazis.
Born in Komáromcsehi, in the Kom ...
. Along with his fellow state secretary,
László Endre
László Endre (January 1, 1895, Abony – March 29, 1946) was a Hungarian right-wing politician and collaborator with the Nazis during the Second World War.
Early years
Born into a wealthy Abony family, Endre obtained a degree in political scien ...
, Baky eagerly accepted responsibility for deporting the country's
Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
to the
extermination camps
Nazi Germany used six extermination camps (german: Vernichtungslager), also called death camps (), or killing centers (), in Central Europe during World War II to systematically murder over 2.7 million peoplemostly Jewsin the Holocaust. The v ...
. Soon after his ascension, he wrote in a letter to Jaross, "The Royal Hungarian Government will soon have the country purged of Jews. I order the purge to be carried out by regions. As a result of the purge the Jewry - irrespective of sex or age - is to be transported to assigned concentration camps." On 4 April he chaired a meeting attended by senior members of
László Ferenczy
László Ferenczy (1898 – 31 May 1946) was a lieutenant colonel in the Hungarian Royal Gendarmerie and member of its "central dejewification unit" during World War II and the Holocaust.
Born in Felsővisó, Ferenczy served from March 1940 to ...
in which it was agreed that Jews, having first had their possessions seized, would be moved into urban ghettos before deportation to Germany. Under the direction of Eichmann Baky began the process of rounding up Jews in the eastern provinces of the country two days later.
Baky was removed from his positions during the summer of 1944 and was then arrested after conspiring, unsuccessfully, to lead a coup against
Miklós Horthy
Miklós Horthy de Nagybánya ( hu, Vitéz nagybányai Horthy Miklós; ; English: Nicholas Horthy; german: Nikolaus Horthy Ritter von Nagybánya; 18 June 1868 – 9 February 1957), was a Hungarian admiral and dictator who served as the Regent o ...
, who also ordered
Edmund Veesenmayer
Edmund Veesenmayer (12 November 1904 – 24 December 1977) was a high-ranking German SS functionary and Holocaust-perpetrator during the Nazi era. He significantly contributed to the Holocaust in Hungary and in the Independent State of Croati ...
to stop the deportation of Jews. However Baky would return to prominence that October after Szálasi and the Arrow Cross were put in power by the Germans. Under the Arrow Cross he continued his labors in deportation and mass murder. He fled the country in 1945 but was arrested in
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
and returned to Budapest. In early 1946 Baky, Endre and Jaross were all tried, found guilty of crimes against the state and sentenced to death. Baky was hanged by the
Austro-Hungarian
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...