Thesis
Of monumental importance: World War II, Hungarian nationalism, and the commemorative landscape of Budapest
Washington State University
Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
2016
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/104549
Abstract
The relationship between the modern nation of Hungary and the Second World War is complicated. Under the leadership of Regent Miklós Horthy, the Hungarians were members of the Axis alongside Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, participating in Axis military operations, and to a large extent, in Nazi racial policy and the Holocaust. Yet, Hungary was also invaded by Nazi Germany in 1944, the result of Horthy's last-ditch effort to escape from his Axis entanglements, and subjected to over a year of brutal war between the Germans (and their Hungarian allies) and the Soviet Union, culminating in the Siege of Budapest. As a result, the memory of the Second World War has proven difficult for many Hungarians who wish to privilege the events that occurred after 1944 in order to paint Hungary as a nation of victims. The goal of this thesis is unpack these memories by probing one particular element of Second World War memory in the country, the commemorative sites in the city of Budapest. These sites, namely the House of Terror museum/monument and the Memorial to the Victims of German Occupation in Szabadság tér, have been hotly contested by those who view this focus on the German invasion as an effort to whitewash the crimes of the Horthy regime before 1944. The argument put forth here is that the problematic nature of these monuments is a result of more than just Hungary's status as both perpetrator and victim during World War II, but also the symbolic and historical importance of the spaces in the city in which they have been placed and the connections of these spaces to the fledging Magyar nationalist movement in the nineteenth century. Furthermore, it is to be argued that these monuments to the Second World War were not placed arbitrarily, but intentionally following the fall of communism in 1989 as a political tool of Hungary's Christian-Nationalist right-wing, namely the Fidesz party and Prime Minister Viktór Orbán, who have used this memory as means of legitimizing their own ideology and political power.
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Details
- Title
- Of monumental importance
- Creators
- Calen Edward Rau
- Contributors
- Raymond Chien Sun (Degree Supervisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- History, Department of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University; [Pullman, Washington] :
- Identifiers
- 99900525111601842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis