December 6th, 1943
National Theater (Budapest) - It is St. Nicholas' Day and the regime organizes, as it does every year, a gala to celebrate the end of the year and to shower the Magyar children with blessings. As usual, Admiral Horthy attends, with his wife Magdolna. He presides over a ceremony of donation of land to veterans - the recipients form the Vitézi ünnepseg - the Order of the Valorous*. All this under the complacent eye of the Magyar Világhírado, which broadcasts on all the screens of the country the images of every appearance of the Regent, the father of the Nation, the brave soldier, thus maintaining the cult of his personality.
Although he obviously does not let it show, Horthy is struck by the presence of many small Hungarians, who could not help but remind him of his recent bereavement. This is the third child that he loses out of the four that Heaven has sent him: his two daughters Magdolna and Paula died of illness in 1918 and 1940.
But István, what did he die of? This question continues to nag at him, even though his government no longer really believes in the thesis of sabotage. The MAVAG Héja is an old design. On the Type II, a large armor plate was added behind the pilot's seat to protect him from enemy shells. The extra weight, which is not well placed, seems to aggravate the tendency of this big aircraft, already somewhat underpowered engine (a Hungarian copy of the Gnome-et-Rhône 14K), to go into a slide and to stall in turns. But the doubt will always remain...
However, Hungary multiplies tributes to the Viceroy: a naval barracks in Újpest already bears his name and a full-length statue of István guards the entrance. From October 9th, an official commemoration day was voted by the Parliament - August 27th will be forever synonymous with mourning in Hungary. And finally, a committee for the erection of a monument, the Horthy István Emlékbizottág, plans to commission the sculptor Zsigmond Kisfaludi Stóbl to create something grandiose at the foot of the fortress on Mount Gellért. But all this does not appease the torments of regent Horthy...
Indeed, what will be the future of the country from now on? The regency system is down since the death of István. And his poor little boy is only 2 years old ! It is out of question to put the future of Hungary on such fragile shoulders. There is indeed the last living child of the admiral, Miklós... But if he returned from Brazil last year, it was because that country had declared war on the Axis, not because he was needed. Horthy loved each of his descendants, but his youngest son gave him nothing but trouble: divorced, a lover of women and racing cars (which led him to have a serious and fatal accident, serious for him and fatal for a milkmaid who passed...), probably lover of the queen of Egypt Nazli Sabri**... In truth, the Admiral had named him in Rio de Janeiro to move him away. Less capable, more fragile, obviously less respectable...
Miklós could never approach his elder István. Horthy could no longer see who could succeed him.
Count Gyula Károlyi, a member of the regency council, had proposed to marry István's widow, Ilona Edelsheim-Gyulai, in order to become vice-regent - an elegant solution acceptable to all. Of course, the man was a Catholic and the Horthy are Calvinists, but Budapest is worth a mass! Alas, Horthy could no longer speak of Károlyi in the past tense: the man died in a plane crash! His plane plunged into the Danube during maneuvers on September 2nd. A very curious occurrence, which reminds us of another one in fact!
Miklós Horthy was not fooled. Accidents, coincidences or assassinations, these events isolate him and weaken the Hungarian censal democracy. All of this under the snide and perhaps complicit eye of the Reich, and while the Arrow Crosses of Ferenc Szálasi are lying in ambush, , like the Italian torpedo boats of yesteryear! The same Arrow Crosses who now reproach him for not having put himself at their head to impose a state inspired by the national-socialist example.
István did not like the Germans. On reflection, and even without much thought, the Admiral never liked them either. The fate of Bulgaria, of Tsar Boris III and of the regent Kyril of Preslav shocked him. In his mind, it was a warning. The Reich is brutal: Horthy had known this since the disastrous state visit of August 1938, when he and his wife had been received with great pomp and circumstance... but to be shamefully mistreated by a Hitler who was in a hurry to obtain Hungary's support against Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. And Admiral Miklós Horthy, a high-ranking officer who had worked with emperors, did not accept that this mediocre Bavarian corporal "with a vulgar character" gave him orders "in an inadmissible tone of voice". Trapped in a country which seemed to become more hostile each day in spite of this bon vivant of Göring, their stay had ended at the Staatsoper unter den Linden, with a performance of Lohengrin in an icy atmosphere. The photograph taken before the curtain summed up the visit: the audience made the Nazi salute to the box where Hitler, Horthy, his wife and the Nazi dignitaries, who all respond to the salute - except for Horthy and Magdolna, who gave the regent a reproachful look.
As 1943 draws to a close and events seem to accelerate in the Balkans and Romania, Miklós Horthy, admiral of a landlocked nation and regent of a landlocked and regent of a country without a dynasty, wonders if he will go down in history as Saint Stephen the builder, Árpád the conqueror... or as the mediocre gravedigger of a millennium of culture. It is time to look for a way out for Hungary, he concludes deep in his soul.
Greece
The end of the reign
Athens - It is St. Nicholas Day and, as he had announced on October 29th, King George II officially abdicates. Choosing to remain discreet, the king of Greece contents himself with a short speech recorded and broadcast on the radio after the end of mass***, while each family gathers for the traditional St. Nicholas' Day meal - a meager one in these times of famine. Speaking in a dignified but weary voice - his heart is having more and more trouble doing its job - the sovereign makes his last public declaration. It is worth quoting in full.
"Valorous sons and daughters of Greece, my compatriots, my subjects,
On this day of celebration and tradition, while the struggle for freedom and against barbarism continues all over the globe, I come to you to express one last time the affection that I have always carried for you, but that I have not always known how to show.
Today, looking at the liberated Greece with new eyes, I am proud. Not of myself, but of each and every one of you. The Hellenic people are strong, they have survived setbacks, misfortunes and the vicissitudes of Destiny. It is now again a strong community, united by trials and sorrows as well as by joy and victory. And I am particularly happy to be part of it.
Since God placed me on this earth, I have not been given greater pride than to lead our glorious
than to lead our glorious and beautiful kingdom, worthy heir to 5,000 years of history and civilization, which has, as always, stood up to the darkness when it swept the world, and then rose again when the latter had knocked it down, and which has finally achieved victory thanks to our valiant fighters. And this is once again what happened.
When we took up arms against the Italians, and then against the Germans, we knew very well what misfortunes were awaiting our country. We knew how difficult it would be for our friends to come to our rescue immediately. France was on her knees, England far away, and most of the small nations of Europe, one by one, had bowed to the power of the invader. The immense strength of the United States of America and the other nations now fighting Germany had not yet given.
Despite this, no Greek doubted for a moment what his honor demanded. With the help of God and knowing that each of you was ready to give your life, I assumed my responsibility to history and to the entire people by taking the lead in a struggle that we all knew was inevitable. And, at one of the most critical junctures in history, when the fate of Civilization was at stake, Greece proved once again that in her eyes no price was too high for her Freedom.
Our sacrifices have not been in vain. The fierce struggle that we have waged on the continent thwarted the plans of the Enemy. At first, our victories in Albania irreparably shattered Italy's prestige. Then, our resistance to Germany saved precious time for our allies and offered the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, unfortunately crushed by all the power of the enemy, the possibility to save a part of its army and to protect its young sovereign. Finally, our constant and indomitable will to defend the fatherland allowed us, with the help of our friends, to preserve almost all the insular part of our territory from the invasion before regaining a foothold on our soil and finally pushing the enemy out of our borders. I know that tomorrow our armies will continue to give chase until he is cornered and slaughtered in his lair.
In this struggle, Greece is proud to find itself for the second time in a quarter of a century with powerful and generous democracies such as England, France and the United States. In these countries, the Kingdom has always found support and understanding. The valuable help given to us during this war shows that they have remained faithful to the values that Greece offered to the world three thousand years ago and that she will never be forgotten. The relief they are offering today to our starving countrymen is a manifestation of Christian charity. I thank them from the bottom of my heart.
Greece, in spite of her limited resources, has given everything for the Victory. But today as tomorrow, when this victory appears each day closer on the fiery horizon, she is still doing her best to participate. Knowing the immense means that the peoples of the world are committing to the common effort, it is my duty to speak with great modesty of the contribution of my country to this cause. But, however small as this contribution may seem, it will nevertheless continue. For our honor, our history and our civilization demand it.
The role of Greece in the epic of Humanity is therefore not over. But my role for me is coming to an end. I do not wish to cast the shadow of the past on the bright future that is drawing itself for my country. I therefore renounce here and now my title of sovereign of the Hellenes and withdraw from the affairs of the Kingdom. As I recently announced, and in accordance with our Constitution, the government of Mr. George Papandreou will together with my brother the diadoch Paul, lead the country to victory.
Afterwards, it will be up to the young generations, freed from the burden of arms, to decide on which path the Kingdom will take.
Long live the Kingdom of Greece, Long live free Greece, Long live eternal Greece!"
.........
Although announced since his visit to Salonika, the abdication of George II (see below) will surprise some people - either they were not informed of it, or they thought, with some malice, that the sovereign was going to claim to have changed his mind.
It is even said that in the countryside of Peloponnese, certain old peasants had believed in an April fool's joke at the time of the speech of Salonika. But by this abdication, a page was finally turned, and with it a dark period of instability and dictatorship.
The kingdom of Greece will survive the conflict.
George II of Greece (1890-1946): Greek statesman. Prince of Denmark and king of the Hellenes from 1922 to 1923, then from 1935 to 1943. Member of the house of Oldenburg, he was born in the royal domain of Tatoï (in the north of Athens) on July 19th, 1890 of the union of Prince Constantine of Greece and his wife Sophie of Prussia. It is the elder of a brotherhood including also two boys, Alexandre and Paul (known as Paul I), and three girls, Hélène, Irene and Catherine. He was also one of Queen Victoria's grandsons.
His character was reserved and perhaps overshadowed by the weight of his role as heir apparent, George spent his childhood between royal palaces and stays abroad, before having a military education in the Greek infantry: he was appointed second lieutenant in 1909. But that same year the "Goudi coup" broke out, launched by a part of the army against his grandfather George I and which forced the young heir to go into exile to the German Empire, with his father and brothers. There, he will be part of the famous 1st Regiment of the Prussian Guard.
In 1912, George returned to the kingdom of Greece to participate in the 1st Balkan War as a staff officer. Not hesitating to expose himself, he will take part in the capture of Salonika on November 8th, 1912. On March 18th, 1913, following the assassination of George I, his father ascended the throne under the name of Constantine I. At 23 years old, George II is from now on crown prince, Diadoch of Greece and duke of Sparta.
That same year, the prince took part in the 2nd Balkan War, which ended with the victory of the forces of several Balkan countries at the expense of Bulgaria. A rapprochement with Romania, via a marriage with the princess Elizabeth, is then outlined.
However, the First World War suspended these projects. Constantine 1st tries to maintain an uneasy neutrality for his country, while being suspected of being favorable to Germany, whose Kaiser was his brother-in-law. We know what will happen to this policy, which brought the country to the brink of civil war and a confrontation with the Allies: Constantine had to abdicate on June 10th, 1917 and leave the place to his son Alexander, instead of George, who was considered too Germanophile. The family then left for exile in Switzerland, leaving Alexander I on the throne, but a prisoner of the Venizelist party.
After the death of the latter, on October 25th, 1920, the kingdom of Greece suffers several institutional crises. Prince Paul having refused the crown, the throne remained vacant while the Greco-Turkish war rages and until the elections held at the very end of 1920 and won by the monarchist party. A referendum of dubious transparency allows then the return of the royal family to Athens, in the middle of a popular jubilation however proven. Constantine 1st goes back on the throne then.
After this dark period, George finally marries Princess Elisabeth of Romania on February 27th, 1921, to the great displeasure of the United Kingdom. However, the couple will have no children.
In spite of all its good will, the house of Oldenburg cannot prevent the defeat of Sakarya in 1921 and the "great catastrophe" of the emigration of the Greeks from Asia Minor across the Aegean Sea. This tragedy leads to a new coup d'état on September 11th, 1922, with a new abdication and a new exile of Constantine I.
George II, the only member of his family still in the country, then ascended the throne, in a terrifying context, with no international recognition and no power in the face of the Revolutionary Committee. The Revolutionary Committee will try to imprison or eliminate as quickly as possible the statesmen close to the sovereign.
In October 1923, a badly prepared royalist coup d'état failed. Although a stranger to this attempt, George II was accused of complicity and had to go into exile in Romania under the pretext of a family vacation and while the new national assembly was discussing the future of the monarchy in the country. On March 25th, 1924, the Second Hellenic Republic is proclaimed; George II and his family are deprived of their titles and declared stateless. The landless king is forced to seek protection with his cousin the king of Denmark, Christian X. Queen Elizabeth chooses to stay definitively in Bucharest, to the indifference of her husband, who spends most of his time between Tuscany and Great Britain. She divorced on July 5th, 1935, in insulting circumstances but in the absence of George II - in the meantime, he had found comfort with Joyce Wallach, a British woman he had met in India.
George of Greece then lived for some time among the London gentry, trading in antique furniture, occasionally recalling his lost title by wearing the uniform of the Greek army at public events.
During this time, Greece had 23 governments, shaken by 13 coups d'état. In 1935, Prime Minister Geórgios Kondýlis finally had the return of the monarchy after an openly rigged referendum. On November 25th, 1935, George II and his brother Paul arrived in Phaleros on board the cruiser Elli. Unfortunately, the relations between the sovereign and Kondýlis are quickly strained - the political situation returns to uncertainty.
General Ioánnis Metaxás, maneuvering skilfully among the chaos, succeeded in being appointed Prime Minister on April 13th, 1936, in the face of parliamentary paralysis and communist agitation. Under the threat of a general strike, he suspended the Constitution on August 4th, 1936, dissolved the Assembly and arrested the members of the government who refused to support him. All this with the support of the king, who authorized him to proclaim martial law.
Five years of a real dictatorship followed, with the banning of political parties, the arrest of opponents and censorship of the government, arrest of opponents and censorship of a great number of writings (including those of Plato!).
For lack of a Constitution, George II became paradoxically isolated in a regime that supports him with fervor! The king ends up feeling, once again, alone and foreign in his own country, approving at least tacitly a regime of which he distrusts more and more but to which he adheres on a personal basis. Deprived of all power, he will succeed however to make repatriate the remains of his parents died in exile, but could not prevent the marriages under calamitous circumstances between his brother Paul and the princess Frederika of Hanover, or between his sister Irene and the prince Aymon of Savoy-Aosta. Greece seems then to pass under German influence, while it faces a fascist Italy always more aggressive towards it.
The fall of metropolitan France in 1940 isolates the kingdom even more - but less than it might have been had the French Republic not held out. However, Greece then raised its head. Refusing the "mediation offers" of the German Reich, which offered its support to Mussolini at the expense of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Metaxás and George II (now considered, according to Hitler, "too Anglophile to remain in place") prepared the country for the conflict they knew was inevitable.
Metaxás died on January 29th, 1941. Under the leadership of his successor, Alexander Korizis, convinced by the allied diplomats who offered him Rhodes and the other islands taken from Italy, the King and the Greek government finally took the lead by declaring war on Italy on February 19th, 1941. After significant initial success, the German counter-attack led to the total occupation of the mainland of the country at the end of the summer. Its liberation began on February 27th, 1942, with the landing in the Peloponnese of the 18th Allied Army Group led by Henri Giraud (later replaced by Bernard Montgomery). It will be complete on October 27th, 1943.
Yet, while the Allied forces - including large Greek forces - triumphed, civil war was brewing in the country at the end of 1943 due to the attitude of a Communist Party with powerful armed groups, despite the First Athens conference arbitrated by France and a "benevolent neutrality" on behalf of the Soviet Union. It is in this tense context that George II pronounced on October 28th, 1943 in Salonika a speech remained famous, announcing his abdication for the end of the year. This will be done on December 6th, 1943. By this strong symbolic act, the sovereign seems to have allowed his country to mourn a painful period, and stifled the last fires of civil discord.
Without a direct heir, George II gave up the regency, if not the crown, to his brother Paul. The latter will consolidate the monarchy until the end of the conflict, obtaining afterwards the maintenance of the Oldenburgs on the throne by the referendum of 1945 and finally bringing his son Constantine II to the throne in 1958. But this, George did not see it - living in discretion between the Villa Toscana and the royal palace in Athens, he died on September 1st, 1946 of a heart attack. He now rests in Tatoi, with his decorations. Which, put in chronological order, give an idea of his tumultuous destiny: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Victoria (1909), Order of the Red Eagle of the Kaiser with sword (1913), Order of the Annunciation of King Victor-Emmanuel III (1935), British DSO for courage in the face of enemy**** (1941), Norwegian War Cross (1942) and Grand Cross of the Legion d'Honneur (1943)."
* These donations were facilitated by the regime's anti-Semitic policy, which stripped Jewish landowners from their lands while protecting the large landowners of the nobility. Law XXVI of 1920 authorized the confiscation of land acquired after 1864 to be distributed to war heroes... and Jews could only buy land since 1867!
** The Hungarian ambassador in Egypt, who knew about this adventure but had covered it up, lost his post as a result of this frasque.
*** Which, according to the Orthodox liturgy, takes place from 10 am to 12 pm.
**** George II is the only foreign sovereign to have received it.
