The White Terror
Antisemitic and Political Violence in Hungary, 1919-1921
Mass Violence in Modern History Series

The White Terror was a movement of right-wing militias that for two years actively tracked down, tortured, and murdered members of the Jewish community, as well as former supporters of the short-lived Council Republic in the years following World War I. It can be argued that this example of a programme of virulent antisemitism laid the foundations for Hungarian participation in the Holocaust.

Given the rightward shift of Hungarian politics today, this book has a particular resonance in re-examining the social and historical context of the White Terror.

Contents

List of Maps

List of Figures

Acknowledgements

Preface

1 – The Tószegi Affair: The Role of Rumors

2 – Rhythm of Violence

3 – The Red Terror as a Reaction to the White Terror

4 – The Space of Violence

5 – Forms of Violence

6 – Sexual Assaults

7 – Violence as Social Positioning

8 – Bourgeois Rebels

Epilogue

Bibliography

Index

Béla Bodó is Professor of East European History at the University of Bonn. He is the author of Tiszazug: The Social History of a Murder Epidemic.