Service At End of War
In the final months of the war, Farkas presided over the trial of fellow Lieutenant General Lajos Veres von Dalnoki (former commander of the Hungarian Second Army) and Captain Kálmán Hardy (aide-de-camp to Horthy), who were charged by the Arrow Cross government with treason for having attempted to arrange a cease-fire or switching alliegience during the last days of the war. He sentenced both to death, though neither was executed.
After Ferenc Szálasi assumed power, Farkas was not dismissed despite his previous loyalty to Horthy, and he swore an oath to the new Prime Minister. Károly Beregfy, newly appointed on October 17, 1944 by the Arrow Cross government as Minister of War and Commander in Chief of the Hungarian Army, named Farkas as Government Commissioner for Evacuation, promoted him to General, and put him in charge of securing national treasures.
He was later accused of sending to Austria about USD$3 billion in national treasures, "including the crown jewels, priceless gold treasures and the collection of national seals." The crown jewels were in fact captured in Mattsee, Austria on 4 May 1945 by the U.S. 86th Infantry Division. The jewels were then transported to Western Europe and eventually given to the United States Army for safekeeping from the Soviet Union. For much of the Cold War, it was held at the United States Bullion Depository (Fort Knox, Kentucky) alongside the bulk of America's gold reserves and other priceless historical items. U.S. President Jimmy Carter ordered extensive historical research to verify the crown as genuine, and it was returned to the Hungarian people on January 6, 1978. None of the charges against Farkas relating to the expropriation of Hungarian treasures and seals was substantiated.
Facing the imminent fall of the government and the nation, the Hungarian Defense Ministry named Farkas as the leader of a four-man committee which was charged with representing the Hungarian Army with the Allies after the war's end. General officers of the Hungarian Army who returned to Hungary under Communist rule were likely to be arrested and become Prisoners of War again, and face charges and possible execution. Farkas drove across Austria and France to General Patton's headquarters. Farkas was placed in a prisoner of war camp in Foucarville, near Sainte-Mère-Église, Normandy, which housed 40,000 prisoners, including 218 generals and 6 admirals.
Read more about this topic: Ferenc Farkas De Kisbarnak
Famous quotes containing the words service and/or war:
“We have in the service the scum of the earth as common soldiers.”
—Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke Wellington (1769–1852)
“There is the guilt all soldiers feel for having broken the taboo against killing, a guilt as old as war itself. Add to this the soldier’s sense of shame for having fought in actions that resulted, indirectly or directly, in the deaths of civilians. Then pile on top of that an attitude of social opprobrium, an attitude that made the fighting man feel personally morally responsible for the war, and you get your proverbial walking time bomb.”
—Philip Caputo (b. 1941)