Hungarian neo-Nazis prepare for armed struggle

September 7, 2009

BUDAPEST (JTA) -- A coalition of anti-fascist public figures called on the Hungarian government to investigate press reports of secret military training courses run in the country for neo-Nazis.

Published over the weekend by the authoritative Hungarian Népszabadság newspaper and the German Junge Welt, the reports – considered credible - describe training with heavy weaponry and in hand-to-hand combat allegedly carried out during the summer at a camp operated under the auspices of the extremist Hungarian National Front organization.

The articles quote HNF leaders explaining that the courses were held in preparation for armed struggle in which the nation would be “re-born in fire, filth and blood.” They suggest that members of the Hungarian Guard, the banned paramilitary organization established by the extreme nationalist Jobbik party, are receiving significant military training.

The coalition's public letter issued Monday and addressed personally to Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai, reminds the prime minister that “Hungary is bound by the 1947 peace accords to eliminate all Nazi organizations operating on its territory and to prevent the establishment or operation of new ones.”

The letter calls for an urgent public inquiry into what its authors perceive as a grave national security threat. Among those signing the letter are Miklós Gáspár Tamás, a philosopher; Tamás Hirschler, chairman of the League of Hungarian Antifascists; and József Márton Gold, chairman of the Civic Parliamentary Association.

Publicly active since the late 1990s, the HNF was the first to organize commemorative ceremonies in the Castle of Buda in honor of the German and Hungarian Nazi resistance against the Soviet siege of Budapest during World War II.

http://jta.org/news/article/2009/09/07/1007669/hungarian-neo-nazis-prepare-for-armed-struggle