Sándor Olaszy

Nazi painter

Yesterday, I found Opapa’s May 1945 journal that gives the names and locations of the Hungarian war criminals he arrested and interviewed. For the next few days, I’ll be focusing on who these people were, and what happened to them. I’ll go in chronological order from the date that Opapa arrested/interviewed them.

Today, we begin with Olaszy Sándor. To be honest, I find this one to be especially depressing. I think it’s because it turns out that Olaszy was quite a good painter. And I find it painful to accept that a gifted painter could be so evil. Here is a painting he did that is currently for sale:

Alas, Olaszy was both a good painter and a Nazi, and he joined the rabidly anti-Semitic, far right extremist Arrow Cross party in 1938 — that was very early, and indicates he was committed to the cause.

Of course, he didn’t say all of that to Opapa. Here are Opapa’s notes about him:

About May 15. The first afternoon went out to Bad Ischl to see Olaszi Imre (or Sandor). Found him in CIC custody. He has grey hair, high forehead, and eloquent manner of speech. He had been beaten by some OFF people two days before who claimed that he was Hungarian SS general. Actually, accd’g to reports he was Commander of some Nyilas legion, and speaker for the party. To me he denied vigorously all political activity, though said he had been member of the party, but dropped because he was “too good to people.” Said he had always been an artist at heart. On the day the war started, he told his wife, “Anyuskam, ez a vilag vege.” He had made portraits of Szalasi, Kassai. He was picked up by CIC that morning, who took him from the courtyard of a hotel, where he was staying with his horses and wagon, wife and daughter. He doesn’t know what happened to them, they don’t know where he is.

To Opapa, Olaszy tried to claim that he was just “an artist at heart,” and that he was “dropped” from the Arrow Cross party (Nyilas legion) because he was “too good to people.” I doubt Opapa believed a word of this.

Opapa’s physical description of Olaszy, with the “high forehead,” matches the artist’s self-portrait, though the portrait — presumably from the 1920s or 30s — was done before the Nazi artist had “grey hair.”

Olaszy Sándor, self-portrait

Olaszy was a good artist who used his gifts to make “portraits of Szalasi” — the murderous leader of the Arrow Cross party and “Kassai” — the head of Propaganda for the Arrow Cross party.

Indeed, Olaszy’s work was propaganda: I haven’t been able to locate the portraits he did of the Arrow Cross leaders, but they offered legitimacy and even an aura of beauty to a murderous regime.

So what happened to Olaszy? He was extradited back to Budapest, where he was tried at the People’s Court and sentenced to a life of labor. Here is a Hungarian newspaper clipping from May 1946, describing his trial:

The newspaper report confirms much of Opapa’s interview: both the facts, and Olaszy’s efforts to defend himself. Based on a rough translation (via Google translate), this article confirms that Olaszy “joined the Arrow Party in 1938, of which he remained an enthusiastic member throughout.” He gave “many propaganda speeches,” even after the Arrow Cross was banned in the early 1940s, he “continued his party work together with his friends in the form of a rifle squad.” In 1944, when the Arrow Cross party was installed by the Germans, “he became the national leader of the party organization, even though he knew that the party workers were looting and killing.”

Olaszy, the report continues, “made a partial confession: he admitted that he was the leader of party officials, but defended himself by saying that he only did administrative work. He did not know about the atrocities of party officials.” (Sounds like a lie to me.)

Olaszy was sentenced to “forced labor for life,” though I’ve seem some records that indicate that he managed to emigrate to the United States, where he possibly died in the 1970s.