Nyilasists

members of the Arrow Cross Party (in Hungarian, Nyilaskeresztes Part), which existed in Horthyite Hungary (members were also known as Szálasists, after the party’s leader, F. Szálasi). The party was founded on the eve of World War II (1939–45) by the members of the former Party of the Will (1935–37) and the Hungarian National Socialist Party (founded 1937).

The Nyilasists’ program contained demands for closer collaboration with fascist Germany, intensification of the war against the anti-Hitlerite coalition, and increased struggle against the workers’ parties. After the dismissal of M. Horthy on Oct. 15, 1944, and until late March 1945, the Nyilasists were in power in the parts of Hungary that had not been liberated from the fascist German occupation forces. The party was banned by a decree of the Provisional National Government of Feb. 26, 1945, on the dissolution of fascist organizations. The party’s leaders were condemned as war criminals.