The crimes of the irregular military formation settled in Hotel Britannia, Budapest during the wave of paramilitary violence in Hungary after the First World War, 1919–1920
Author(s): Balázs Kántás
Abstract: After the collapse of the Hungarian Republic of Councils, the new right-wing government establishing its power with the help of the Entente states could rule the quasi anarchistic conditions of the country. Budapest was terrorized by irregular military formations that were formally part of the National Army, but often operated completely independently. One of the most notorious of these troops was the detachment settling in Hotel Britannia, subordinated to influential paramilitary commanders First Lieutenant Iván Héjjas and Lieutenant Colonel Pál Prónay. Mainly radical right-wing irregular soldiers exploiting the weakness of the government committed several serious crimes like robbery, plunder and even murders, many times by anti-Semitic motivations, and they did it in the disguise of law enforcement measures, since in this period the military authorities possessed police jurisdictions over civilians as well in order to restore the order. Our research article makes an attempt to reconstruct certain crimes committed by the members of the irregular military formation quartered in Hotel Britannia via micro-historical case studies, mainly based on archival records of criminal suits in the custody of the Budapest City Archive. Furthermore, beyond the introduction of individual cases, it intends to draw general conclusions about the relationship between the early Hungarian (paramilitary) radical right-wing movements and the government/military.
Pages: 96-106 | Views: 561 | Downloads: 236Download Full Article: Click HereHow to cite this article:
Balázs Kántás. The crimes of the irregular military formation settled in Hotel Britannia, Budapest during the wave of paramilitary violence in Hungary after the First World War, 1919–1920 . Int J Hist 2021;3(2):96-106.
