War Criminals at the Cinema!

And an Interview with Opapa, October 1945

I found another amazing source about Opapa’s post-war activities in a Hungarian-language magazine, Fényszóro, a weekly publication focusing on film and theater.

In the October 10, 1945 edition of the magazine, Opapa is mentioned in two different places in the magazine:

First, there is a picture of him walking with another Hungarian-American lieutenant named George Granville. The two American officers are visiting the staff of the magazine Fényszóro. You can see Opapa in the center, pointing down. To his right is George Granville, and to his left is someone who works on staff at the Fényszóro, possibly the editor.

Opapa stands in the center, next to Lieutenant George Granville, and a member of the staff at the Fényszóro magazine.

The same issue of Fényszóro includes an article about the Hungarian war criminals who were being extradited back to Budapest alongide an interview with Opapa and Granville. And this is where things get especially interesting.

The article begins with a description of the scene in Budapest, as the notorious war criminal Ferenc Szálasi — head of the extremist Arrow Cross party that controlled Hungary at the end of the war — was transported to a prison in Budapest:

Last Wednesday around three o'clock in the afternoon, a police car sped through the city and stopped in front of Andrássy-út 60. From the closed car, the handcuffed Szálasi and his traitorous accomplices were led by the political police to the basement prison of the building. Their first interrogation took place the next day, Thursday at noon.

I love the detail in this passage: a police car speeding through the city; a “handcuffed Szálasi” with his “traitorous accomplices” being escorted from the “closer car” to the “basement prison” of Andrássy-útca 60.

We can do more than imagine this scene: we can actually watch it, as many residents of Budapest did in October 1945. According to the Fényszóro article, just one day after the interrogation of the war criminals, on Friday, October 5, 1945 at “three o'clock in the afternoon,” the “extraordinary news report on the extradition and interrogation of the country-destroying brigantines was already screened amid thunderous applause from the audience of the News Cinema.”

I *think* I found the short film referenced in the article: its shows the arrival of the war criminals in Budapest, being transported to Andrássy 60. You can watch it here (I can’t embed video, unfortunately). They probably also watched this video, which shows the war criminals arriving on the plane, then lined up in the basement prison, and finally shows them being interrogated by Peter Gábor, head of the secret police. In the second video, you can see Lt. George Granville helping the war criminals out of the plane.

The article then describes how two of the Lieutenants who “accompanied the shipment” of war criminals — George Granville and George Gerbner — attended the premier of the video at the Hírádó mozi (Newsreel cinema).

Hírádó mozi, or News Reel Cinema, at the corner of Erzsébet körút and Dohány utca in Budapest. There were weekly newsreel screening here beginning from 1939 until 1979, when television replaced the newsreel as the primary source of visual news.

It’s interesting that Opapa and George Granville decided to go to the premier of the film — it must have felt like a major victory and an opportunity to celebrate. It’s also fascinating to learn more about how news was delivered in the 1940s: instead of television, people went to the cinema to watch newsreels about current events. So this is how they learned about everything from the arrest of the Hungarian war criminals to Hungarian folk dancing festivals to sporting events (I’ve watched several of the reels from the time period).

After the presentation of the film, a “Fényszáro employee spoke with the two American military officers, who turned out to be both Hungarians. They were born here in Hungary, then came to America and fought through the war.”

The rest of the article is an interview with both Granville and Opapa.

George Granville mostly talks about how the “shipment” of war criminals was delayed for several days due to weather. The “Hungarian public was not too happy about the delay,” so he eventually gives the order to send the shipment regardless of “bad weather, storm — whatever: we're going.”

Then, they turn to Opapa, who gets right to what people want to hear: who they’ve arrested, who they’re still planning to arrest, and the assurance that they will hunt down these criminals no matter what it takes:

“There are a lot of people out there who we will take home one by one, and many more are hiding, whom we are after. I captured Imrédy, Kassay Schallmayer, Kerekes, Péter Hain.

Here, we get names: I knew he captured Imrédy and Kassai Schallmayer, but I hadn’t seen the names Kerekes or Péter Hain before. More to research!

Then, Opapa tells an amazing story about how he tricked Péter Hain, the head of the Hungarian Gestapo, into his arrest:

I sent one of my men to the infamous Gestapo chief, who visited him as a representative of Otto the heir to the throne. He said that his majesty had secretly come to Salzburg to negotiate the resumption of the throne and wanted to win the services of the excellent master detective and determined bodyguard. Mr. Hain pulled on his ironed trousers…and ran to the given address — straight into our arms.

This is hilarious! Opapa tells one of his men to impersonate a “representative of Otto” — i.e. Otto von Habsburg, the would-be heir to the Austro-Hungarian empire. This “representative” tell Péter Hain that Otto von Habsburg has secretly arrived in Salzburg to “negotiate the resumption of the throne,” and that he hoped to hire Hain as a “master detective” and “bodyguard.”

Péter Hain falls for it, hook line and sinker: he “pulled on his ironed trousers…and ran to the given address — straight into our arms.”

It’s a brilliant little trick, drawing on Hungarian history and what Opapa knew was one of the dreams of Hungarian nationalists: to return Hungary to its’ borders from the Habsburg era. It also shows that Opapa retained his humor through the war. (Though I doubt Péter Hain was very amused).

In the final passage, Opapa describes how he “also captured Ferenc Kiss,” a Hungarian actor, but the “prisons were so crowded,” they could not admit him. Instead, he “had to check in with [Opapa] every day until [they] were finally able to squeeze in a place for him.” According to Opapa, Kiss claimed he “has never been politicized,” and “doesn’t understand why he was arrested.” He also reports that “Sári Fedák was arrested the day we set out,” and that they are looking for “Zita Szeleczky and Antal Páger.”

Opapa’s last words in the interview are directed to the Hungarian public:

“We will catch them and arrest everyone who has a part in the destruction of the country. The conversation is over.”

The Opapa that emerges from this interview is supremely confident, intelligent, and funny — exactly the Opapa I remember. It’s delightful to imagine Opapa playing tricks on the head of the Hungarian Gestapo, adding some lightness and humor to the what must have been a very challenging experience at times, interacting with people who had committed acts of atrocity. As a historian, I especially appreciate that Opapa was able to prank the head of the Gestapo with Austro-Hungarian historical references.

***

I’m going to try something new today, on Sean’s recommendation. He suggested that I add a little section at the end of my posts called “Nuts to Crack,” which lists questions I’m currently trying to answer in my research. If you have any leads/thoughts/answers, please email or drop them in a comment!

Nuts to Crack:

• Who is Kerekes?

• Zita Szeleczky, Sári Fedák, Antal Páger, and Ferenc Kiss were all actors. There seems to be a broader connection between propaganda, actors, and fascism here. What does this all mean?

• Did Hungarian nationalists have a some kind of elaborate theory about Otto von Habsburg retaking his throne? Otto von Habsburg was anti-Nazi, but he may still have appealed to Hungarian nationalists who didn’t want the Germans to occupy their country.