KISKA (Hungarian: Kisegitő Karhatalmi Alakulat)[1] was a force attached to the Royal Hungarian Army during the brief period of Arrow Cross Party rule late in World War II.[2] KISKA was activated by the Arrow Cross after the German takeover on 15 October 1944 and had replaced the Home Guard (Nemzetőrség) by early November.[3] There was generally one KISKA battalion in each city and university.[2] The force numbered some 7,000 noncombatants, mostly recruited from Budapest.[2][4] It was jointly controlled by the Ministry of War and the Ministry of the Interior.[3] The purpose of KISKA was to secure the hinterland.[5] It was rapidly infiltrated by dissenters, deserters, leftists and Jews,[4][5] becoming in effect "the legal cover of the organisations of resistance".[6] It was regarded as a nuisance by the Germans.[4] It was finally dissolved by the Arrow Cross government on 6 January 1945.[2]
Notes
edit- ^ Juhász 1988, p. 187: "Auxiliary Police Force Units"; Benshalom 2001, p. 204: "Security Aid Division"; Bartha 2022, p. 80: "Auxiliary Security Forces".
- ^ a b c d Ungváry 2005, pp. 71–72.
- ^ a b Bartha 2022, p. 80.
- ^ a b c Benshalom 2001, p. 204.
- ^ a b Bartha 2022, p. 81.
- ^ Juhász 1988, p. 187.
Bibliography
edit- Bartha, Ákos (2022). "Terrorists and Freedom Fighters: Arrow Cross Party Militias, 'Ragged Guard' and 'KISKA' Auxiliary Forces in Hungary (1938–1945)". Studia historica Brunensia. 69 (2): 67–89. doi:10.5817/SHB2022-2-3.
- Benshalom, Rafi (2001). We Struggled for Life: The Hungarian Zionist Youth Resistance During the Nazi Era. Gefen Publishing House.
- Juhász, Gyula (1988). "Problems of the Hungarian Resistance after the German Occupation, 1944". In William Deakin; Elisabeth Barker; Jonathan Chadwick (eds.). British Political and Military Strategy in Central, Eastern and Southern Europe in 1944. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 180–189.
- Ungváry, Krisztián (2005) [2002]. The Siege of Budapest: One Hundred Days in World War II. Translated by Ladislaus Löb. I. B. Tauris.