Dr. Franz Anton Basch ( hu, Basch Ferenc Antal) (13 July 1901 – 27 April 1946) was a Shwovish

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

, the chairman of Volksbund der Deutschen in Ungarn and the leader of the Shwoveh (

Danube Swabian The Danube Swabians (german: Donauschwaben ) is a collective term for the ethnic German-speaking population who lived in various countries of central-eastern Europe, especially in the Danube River valley, first in the 12th century, and in grea ...

) community in

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

. Franz Basch was born in

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

in 1901. He was a student of the more moderate nationalist activist Jakob Bleyer and earned his doctorate at the

University of Budapest A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

between 1920 and 1924. He matriculated from the University of Munich on 5 December 1925 In 1925 he became the secretary of the German Cultural Society. He published many works in this period. From 1930, he began to express extreme

nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...

and became a follower of

Nazism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

. In 1934 he resigned his position because he affronted the Hungarian nation with his ideas. In 1938 he founded the Racial Union Of Germans In Hungary (the Volksbund or VDU) and became its chairman, organizing it along Nazi lines with the financial backing of the

Third Reich Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

. In 1939, Basch took the title Volksgruppenführer (Racial Group Leader) of the ethnic Germans in Hungary. In 1940

Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then ...

appointed him the leader of

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

(the

Danube Swabians The Danube Swabians (german: Donauschwaben ) is a collective term for the ethnic German-speaking population who lived in various countries of central-eastern Europe, especially in the Danube River valley, first in the 12th century, and in grea ...

and the

Transylvanian Saxons The Transylvanian Saxons (german: Siebenbürger Sachsen; Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjer Såksen''; ro, Sași ardeleni, sași transilvăneni/transilvani; hu, Erdélyi szászok) are a people of German ethnicity who settled in Transylvania ( ...

). In the first two enlistment periods of ethnic Germans in Hungary in 1942 and 1943, Franz Basch, as head of the VDU, actively participated and was responsible for enlisting over 40,000 Hungarian citizens in the

Waffen-SS The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscripts from both occup ...

for Nazi Germany. At the end of 1944, he escaped to Germany but was ended up in Hungary in 1945. He was tried and sentenced to death for war crimes and executed in Budapest in 1946. A detailed but sympathetic analysis of Basch's trial is available in Seewann and Spannenberger (1999). Paikert, G. C. (1967) The Danube Swabians. Nijhoff:The Hague

References

External links

Magyar Életrajzi Lexikon: Basch Ferenc Antal (In Hungarian)Lyon, P. W. (2008) AFTER EMPIRE: ETHNIC GERMANS AND MINORITY NATIONALISM IN INTERWAR YUGOSLAVIA. PhD Dissertation. College Park:UMd.
* 1901 births 1946 deaths Danube-Swabian people Executed Hungarian collaborators with Nazi Germany Hungarian Nazis Hungarian politicians Nazi Party politicians Nazis convicted of war crimes {{Hungary-hist-stub

See also

References

External links