Ferenc Feketehalmy-Czeydner

Ferenc Feketehalmy-Czeydner
Ferenc Feketehalmy-Czeydner
Born	22 November 1890; Piski,Austria-Hungary; (todaySimeria,Romania)
Died	5 November 1946(aged 55); Žabalj,Yugoslavia
Allegiance	Austria-Hungary; Kingdom of Hungary
Rank	Colonel General; SS-Obergruppenführer
Commands held	V Corps (Hungary)
Battles/wars	World War I; World War II

Vitéz Ferenc Feketehalmy-Czeydner(22 November 1890 – 5 November 1946) was aHungarianmilitary officer who had a significant role in theNovi Sad massacreduring theSecond World War.

Military career

After training at the artillery cadet school inTraiskirchenand Theresia Military Academy, Feketehalmy-Czeydner became a lieutenant in 1910 for Zeidner Feldhaubitzregiment No. 12. DuringWorld War I,where he served as an artillery and staff officer and attained the rank of captain. After the war, he joined the newly foundedRoyal Hungarian Army,where he served in 1921 as a staff officer at the 7th Mixed Brigade inMiskolc.Additionally, he taught at the Hungarian Military Academy.

In the inter-war period, he changed his surname in German to Feketehalmy-Czeydner. In 1928, he was transferred to the Ministry of Defence, and, in 1929, was promoted to lieutenant colonel. From November 1934 he was deputy director of the aviation ministry, and in March 1938 he became Air Force Chief of Section in the Ministry of Defence.

In November 1938 he took over as commander of the 6th Infantry Brigade and was promoted toMajor Generalthe following year. From March 1940 he was Chief of General Staff of theHungarian First Armybefore he was appointed as Commanding General of theFifth Army Corpsstationed inSzegedin August 1941. In November of that year he was promoted toLieutenant General.

World War II

In January 1942, troops under his command conducted a large-scale retaliation inBačka(Bácska) which had beenoccupied by Hungary.The operation was arranged by Feketehalmy-Czeydner after the assassination of several Hungarian gendarmes and soldiers andYugoslav partisans' sabotage. Three battalions under ColonelLászló Deákwere dispatched to the area where they received assistance from local police, gendarmerie and army units that were home.

AtŽabalj(Zsablya) been observed in its vicinity, the partisans were under orders of Feketehalmy-Czeydner the entire population was massacred. From 21 to 23 January a pogrom was held in Novi Sad (Újvidék), when nearly 800 people, including 550 Jews and 292 Serbs were murdered. A total of up to adjust the action on 31 January had been murdered 3,808 people.^[1]

The Novi Sad massacre sparked protests in Hungary, which were led by the chairman of the oppositionSmallholders Party,Endre Bajcsy-Zsilinszky.As a result, Feketehalmy was retired, but remained unpunished. As recently as September 1943, when Hungary was already in negotiations with Western powers over a separate peace, a case was brought against the officers responsible.

On 14 December 1943 the trial of three police officers and twelve Honvéds was opened. Feketehalmy-Czeydner was sentenced to 15 years in prison, while seven co-defendants received sentences of over ten years. On 15 January-Czeydner Feketehalmy fled with three other convicts toVienna,where they requested political asylum. An extradition request by the Hungarian government was denied byAdolf Hitler.

In March 1944 Feketehalmy served in theWaffen SSat first^[2]and then joined theII SS Panzer Corps.After thecoupof Hitler faithful by theArrow Crossparty underFerenc Szálasihe went back to Hungary in October 1944 and became Deputy Minister of Defence. He was assigned to the war with the establishment ofXVII Hungarian-SS corpsthat practically existed only on paper.^{[citation needed]}

Capture and death

In May 1945 he fell into American captivity, from which he was shipped to Hungary. The Hungarian authorities handed him over in January 1946 along with four other Hungarian military officers in Yugoslavia. He was tried for war crimes, sentenced to death and executed on 5 November 1946 in Žabalj.

References

^Tibor Cseres (1991)."Vér Boss zú Bácskában"(in Hungarian).Magvető,Budapest.OCLC 25746228.Retrieved26 December2008.
^"A kamenyec-podolszkiji deportálás és az újvidéki mészárlás"(in Hungarian). A holokauszt Magyarországon.Retrieved26 December2008.

Sources

Zinner Tibor–Róna Péter:Szálasiék bilincsben,Lapkiadó Vállalat, 1986,ISBN 963-272-008-3
Christian Gerlach–Götz Aly:Das letzte Kapitel. Realpolitik, Ideologie und der Mord an den ungarischen Juden 1944/1945.Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart, 2002,ISBN 3-421-05505-X.

[1] Tibor Cseres (1991)."Vér Boss zú Bácskában"(in Hungarian).Magvető,Budapest.OCLC 25746228.Retrieved26 December2008.

[2] "A kamenyec-podolszkiji deportálás és az újvidéki mészárlás"(in Hungarian). A holokauszt Magyarországon.Retrieved26 December2008.

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