The Die is Cast

  In early 1942, the Hungarian government responded favourably to the proposal made by the VOMI that Franz Basch act as the Führer of the expanded Volksbund in all of the territories that now made up “Greater Hungary”.  They also provided economic, educational and cultural incentives as part of the agreement.  They requested only one additional concession on Hungary’s part; permission for the young men in the German minority to fulfill their military duty by serving in the German Wehrmacht or the Waffen SS.  Surprisingly, the Hungarian Prime Minister who had always been seen as being pro-German rejected the proposal.  The radicals in the Volksbund were outraged and demanded action on Basch’s part.  In the meanwhile, the German ambassador in Budapest instructed Basch to tone down any criticism of the Hungarian government action and restrain his members to avoid endangering Hungarian-German relations. 

  Unfortunately, Franz Basch did not listen but took up the cause based on the “Führer principle” that he was above taking advice from anyone.  He attacked the Hungarian government publicly in a speech reported in the press.  The Reich ambassador was called in to the Prime Minister’s office and he received a dressing down for the actions of Basch and the Volksbund.  The VOMI informed Basch to co-operate because the invasion of Russia was just around the corner and Hitler needed Hungarian support, both economic and military to accomplish that.  He further added it was time that the German minority picked up the tab for past support by the Reich.  In April of 1942 a direct agreement was signed by Hitler with the Hungarian government, that the Volksbund be authorized to carry out a recruitment drive among the men of the German minority for volunteers to serve in the Waffen SS.  There was however a caveat:  the volunteers had to be members of the Volksbund and would lose their Hungarian citizenship by doing so.  It was assumed that meant that they would receive Reich citizenship in return but that never materialized.  Over 25,000 reported to the recruitment centres and 7,500 were accepted into the SS and 10,200 were taken into the Wehrmacht.  Almost 10,000 of the volunteers came from the Batschka where the drive had been most successful. 

  The reaction in the Swabian villages was mixed and there was an obvious decline in enthusiasm for the Reich and its war effort because of the way the recruitment had been carried out in some communities where coercion was used on the young men.  The Volksbund suffered membership losses and Basch and his associates were outraged by the Loyalty Movement and its growing success.  It’s counter-propaganda cost the Volksbund thousands of members and the support of the Roman Catholic and Lutheran clergy played an important part in holding the Volksbund accountable for its anti-Hungarian agitation.  In Tolna and Baranya the heartland of Swabian Turkey the Loyalty Movement had already attracted 10,000 members.  In corresponding with the VOMI, Franz Basch now recommended the introduction of compulsory conscription into the German armed forces. 

  In an attempt to counteract the charges of the Loyalty Movement the Volksbund in the mind of the Swabian public, Basch and his associates all professed to be Hungarian patriots.  Basch ordered that all local branches of the organization put up pictures of Regent Horthy next to that Adolph Hitler and always include Hungarian flags in parades and at all Volksbund events.  In response, the leaders of the Loyalty Movement issued a challenge to Basch and his cohorts to volunteer for the SS themselves. 

  On June 22, 1942 Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa the invasion of Soviet Russia.  A force of 4,500,000 men streamed across the frontier into Mother Russia including units from Finland, Croatia, Romania, Slovakia, Italy along with the Waffen SS and German Wehrmacht as the Luftwaffe flew overhead.  Four days later, Regent Horthy finally yielded to Hitler’s demands and on June 27^th declared war on the Soviet Union.  The Hungarian Second Army consisting of 200,000 poorly armed and equipped troops joined in the Crusade against Bolshevism.  The die was cast and everything that would follow had consequences for the German minority in Hungary that no one had ever envisioned except for Adolph Hitler himself.  The expulsion of the German population of Hungary at war’s end because three men met in Potsdam to redraw the map of Europe once more.  But then that’s another story for another time. 

  I was six and one half years old living at 23 Oak Street in Kitchener, Ontario in Canada on the night it was announced that Hungary had entered the Second World War.  As usual my father and Uncle Adam were huddled around the shortwave radio for the nightly report from the BBC, Dr. Joseph Goebbels shrieking from Radio Berlin and at eight o’clock as usual it was time for Gabriel Heatter.  I remember that night he did not begin his programme with his familiar trademark introduction: "There’s good news tonight!" He used that to boost the morale of his listeners in those very dark days of the Second World War.  Instead he began by saying, "There’s bad news tonight for all of the people of Hungary and what is now in store for them…"