THE ARROW CROSS MOVEMENT IN TRANSCARPATHIA (1938–1942)

In recent years, numerous works have been published on the history of far-right parties in Hungary. However, scholarly literature dealing with the history of Transcarpathia between 1938 and 1944 has generally only mentioned Hungarian far-right movements in passing. This study therefore primarily presents the organizational efforts undertaken in Transcarpathia by the National Socialist Hungarian Party – Hungarist Movement and the Arrow Cross Party during the period between 1938 and 1942. The year 1942 marks a turning point in the history of the movement in Transcarpathia, as seventy-four local branches left the Arrow Cross Party and joined the Hungarian National Socialist Party. The disintegration of Arrow Cross unity also affected political life in Transcarpathia. The far-right political landscape was reshaped in the region: the influence of the Arrow Cross Party declined noticeably, while the Party of Hungarian Renewal and the Hungarian National Socialist Party began to gain ground. Due to limitations of length and the complexity of the events, this study will focus only on the period up to this turning point, the years between 1938 and 1942. The term «Transcarpathia» in the title of this study refers to both the Hungarian inhabited lowland strip reannexed to the Hungarian Kingdom in November 1938 and the Rusyn inhabited mountain territories occupied in March 1939. It is important to emphasize that today’s Transcarpathia did not constitute a unified administrative area between 1938 and 1944: the parts reannexed by the First Vienna Award were integrated into the Hungarian county system1, while a separate administrative unit called the Transcarpathian Governorate2 was established in the mountain territories reclaimed in 1939. Therefore, in geographical terms, this study covers both administrative units, and the term «Transcarpathia» is used solely for the sake of clarity. In the course of the research, I primarily examined materials preserved in the Berehove division of the Transcarpathian Regional State Archive. Particularly valuable for the topic are the records of various administrative bodies, which include official reports related to the Arrow Cross Party, registration sheets of local branches, names of local party leaders, etc. At the same time, it is important to note that although the Berehove archive holds a vibrant source base, the fonds containing documents from the 1938–1944 period are often incomplete and contain only fragmentary sources. Moreover, significant record groups, such as the records of the deputy lord-lieutenant of Bereg County, are currently inaccessible to researchers.