Szálasi, Ferenc

Born Jan. 6, 1897, in Kassa; died Mar. 12, 1946, in Budapest. Hungarian political figure.

The son of a soldier, Szálasi became an officer and from 1925 to 1930 he was attached to the general staff. In 1935 he founded the fascist party of National Will. Accused of anti-Horthy activity, he was imprisoned from 1938 to 1940. Szálasi was the leader of the Nazi Arrow Cross Party (see NYILASISTS). In August 1944 he planned, with the support of the Hitlerites, to seize power so as to prevent Hungary from withdrawing from World War II. Szálasi was in power as “leader of the country” from October 1944 to March 1945 in the parts of Hungary that had not been liberated from the fascist German occupation forces. In 1946 the Hungarian People’s Tribunal sentenced him to death as a war criminal.