How pre-war Eastern Europe and the Balkans moved towards "democracy"
Hungarian Nazis Ferenc Salashi
Starting this short cycle, the author tried to find the fascist-Nazi wormhole in every country in Europe in order to show as wide as possible the spread of the human ideology across the continent. The task turned out to be much easier than thought at the beginning. As a result, the author began to look for countries that did not flirt with Nazism even within themselves. Alas, almost every country in Europe to one degree or another looked at Nazi Germany with a certain degree of enthusiasm. Thus, let’s omit, for example, countries such as Poland with its dictator Pilsudski, fascist Romania with its army, which specialized in looting in World War II, and cut Yugoslavia with Ustasha that reigned in part of its territory, and take a look at those who were in the shadows.
Magyars, speak!
In the prewar years, Hungary was governed by the regent and former vice-admiral of Austria-Hungary, Miklos Horthy. In the first year of his regency, Miklos, in fact, began a policy of terror against the Communists and Jews. Horthy stripped the suffrage of more than 50% of the country's population, and most political parties were officially banned. It was the irreplaceable regent who drove a completely puppet parliament and government, despite formal elections.
In 1932, Horthy seated the Prime Minister Gyul Gömbös in the chair, through which he forged a one-party system, although not entirely successfully. At the same time, Nazi views gained extraordinary popularity among the Hungarians. Horthy, who cut the communist sprouts to the root, looked at the fertile Nazi parties only as irritable competitors, who were periodically simply dismissed. Finally, the main small-town Hungarian Fuhrer Ferenc Salashi, leader of the Nazi Party of Crossed Arrows, realized that they needed a good overlord. And who was brighter than Hitler? A close friendship was established, therefore, Horthy simply sometimes threatened with a finger, conducting short demonstration landings, but he could not strangle competing salashists.
Ferenc Salashi in Budapest
By 1939, the number of members of the Party of Crossed Arrows exceeded a quarter of a million. They easily pushed the ruling coalition, becoming the second political force in the country. By 1944, the “crossed arrows” with the help of the Nazis overthrew the indecisive dictator Horthy and began to rule themselves in the best Nazi spirit. Salashists, as they were called, took an active part in the Holocaust and the looting of property of Jews and Gypsies.
They forgot about Shipka
Bulgaria did not lag behind its neighbors. In 1934, Kimon Georgiev, who led the militarized political organization “Link”, very similar to the Italian fascists, organized a military coup and soon took the post of prime minister and minister of justice at the same time. A tough authoritarian regime was established in Bulgaria, censorship was introduced, and all political parties were banned. Soon Cimon was fired, but the foreign policy and domestic political pro-fascist course remained with certain consequences. As a result, in 1940, Bogdan Filov, who approved the Holocaust in Bulgaria, became Prime Minister under Tsar Boris III.
Tsar Boris and Adolf Hitler
But Kimon and Filov against the background of other political figures of Bulgaria of the 30s look simply confused boys in comparison with the true radicals of the country. Back in 1932, the People’s Social Movement, or Tsankovsky Movement, was founded on behalf of its founder Alexander Tsankov (professor, as well as a coup and terrorist). This movement preached Nazi postulates and actively advocated an alliance with Germany. Only the entry of Soviet troops into the country did not allow Tsankov to organize a military coup to become the only Fuhrer.
Union of Bulgarian National Legions
The direct competitor of the Tsankovsky movement was the Union of Bulgarian National Legions, founded in the same 1932. The Union was more gravitated to the Italian fascists, therefore, the structure created the corresponding. Having knocked together 35 thousand adherents, the Union immediately declared that it was guided by a one-party system in the country and would not shun violence, especially against communists and non-Bulgarian nationals. Playing an important role in Bulgaria, the "legionnaires" even put pressure on the king and the government to send Bulgarian troops to the Eastern Front. The piquancy of the situation is that in modern Bulgaria, the Union of Legions has resumed its activity on completely legal grounds.
But the most aggressive, anti-Semitic and overtly Nazi association was the Union of Warriors for Bulgaria's Progress. Organized in 1936, the Union was essentially a militarized structure similar to Nazi attack aircraft. At the same time, as in other European countries, the organizers were not marginals, but quite respected people. So, the leader of the "warriors" was a professor at Sofia University and a World War I veteran Asen Kantardzhiev. Many members of the Union held high government posts and even before the war established close relations with Nazi structures, including the Gestapo.
Union of Warriors for Bulgaria's Progress
To demonstrate fidelity to new friends from the Reich, the "warriors" staged a monstrous pogrom of Jewish shops in the capital of Bulgaria - Sofia. Later, this rampant anti-Semitism will receive the name of “Bulgarian Kristallnacht”. Alexander Belev, a senior member of the "warriors", will become the commissioner for Jewish affairs, i.e. will send Bulgarian Jews to Nazi death camps.
Everything is in Greece
But what about Hellas, i.e. Orthodox Greece? And why is Athens worse than the rest of Europe? In 1935, the monarchists came to power in the Republic of Greece as a result of a military coup, returning King George II from exile. Formal elections showed that left-wing moods prevail in the country, which was immediately described by the top as a political crisis. Therefore, the king appointed Ioannis Metaxas as prime minister, a general and politician who instantly dismissed the unwanted parliament and introduced a dictatorial regime in the country. Metaxas openly sympathized with Nazi Germany. The only thing that prevented Greece from joining such a “venerable” company was the purely political conflicts and appetites of fascist Italy, which regarded Greece as its colony.
Metaxas and Goebbels
The radical right course of Metaxas, with his dictatorial rule and the harsh persecution of the Communists, whom he considered the main enemies of the state, eventually became the foundation for the "black colonels" to come to power. The "Colonels" were distinguished by a special right-wing radicalism regarding even a hint of socialism. Repression, censorship and the slogan "Greece for Greek Christians" became a symbol of this nationalist time.
Metaxas welcomed by the Greek military
Oddly enough, the followers of Metaxas, who positively evaluate Hitler’s figure, still exist in Greece. And not just exist, but are a major neo-Nazi party "Golden Dawn". As the Greek government caves in under the EU, and migrants continue their expansion into Europe, the Golden Dawn is climbing up the political ladder.
Slovakia could not resist "independence"
Long before the fall of Czechoslovakia on the territory of modern Slovakia in 1906, the Slovak nationalist party was organized. This organization began to mutate under the pressure of fascist ideas. Finally, the Slovak Glinka Party was born on behalf of the founder Andrei Glinka. Since then, the party members did not hide their Nazi ideas and began to cooperate with Nazi Germany.
Joseph Tiso and Hitler
The Slovak “patriots” loved their homeland so much that it was only thanks to the German occupation that they could become local Fuhrer, turning the country into a protectorate of Berlin. Josef Tiso, a Catholic priest, former Minister of Health of Czechoslovakia, acted as the main Fuhrer. But local leaders were by no means going to back up power only with the Germans. A militarized organization, like the Glinka Guard, was active in the country. The "Guards" took part in the repression against the Communists, Jews and Gypsies. By 1939, when the Slovak Nazis declared the "independence" of Slovakia, the Guard consisted of up to 100 thousand people.
Naturally, the Glinkaites became the only authorized party. There was nothing to be ashamed of, so one of the leaders of the Glinkov party, Alexander Mach openly declared: “With Jews, whose gold, jewelry, wealth, have been dealt with everywhere. We will figure it out! Czech - in a sack, and a sack - in the Danube! ”They also repressed on religious grounds - Protestant and Orthodox churches were closed.
Glinkovites parade
As a result, the Slovak Expeditionary Force was formed of 45 thousand soldiers and officers, who were transferred to the war against the USSR. And from Slovakia more than 57 thousand Jews were deported to Nazi camps. Less than a thousand people survived.
The piquancy of this terrible stories attached by the fact that the spiritual heirs of the Glinkov party in the form of “People’s Party - Our Slovakia”, saturated with nationalism to the very throat, and now feel quite good in Slovakia. In the 2016 parliamentary elections, these “patriots” won over 8% of the votes of Euro-integrated Slovaks.
Sad results
No matter how much we would like, the USSR fought with a united Europe, which showed how any alternative ideas could be suppressed in order to contrast itself with such a mysterious incomprehensible, and even rich eastern neighbor. And no moral values could withstand the cultivation of long-standing complexes, fears and desire for profit.
Even the tiny republic of San Marino, which you will not find on a map that does not have an airport or a railway station, happily picked up the fascism virus and introduced peculiar racial laws that reduced the population of this state.
How much time will it take for the new West to begin nostalgic for the “good old days” behind the screen of the progressive order of the future? And will we have time to realize this?
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