About Transsylvania

[Wilfried Abenaschon]

Did the Führer have the intention to give back this region to Hungary at some point ?
Weren't the Hungarians not too frustrated not to have it back ?
What was the position of the Sipenbürger on this matter ? Any will to join Hungary ?
Willab

[Milan Szekelyhidi]

Hitler want bigger influence in Balkans, he needed Yugoslavia (not worked), Bulgaria and Hungary. USSR not wants that. Hitler compromised with USSR (Molotov-Ribbentrop-pact), He gave to USSR Bessarabia from Romania. Bulgaria and Hungary want Dobruga and Transylvania from Romania. Hitler needed Bulgaria and Hungary, but he needed Romanian oil and military. He made a half decision, Bulgaria and Hungary got Shout-Dobruga and North-Transylvania.
Hungary knows it was not free, but they hope, enough only the economic (oil, aluminium, food, etc.) and political help, and Hungary will be neutral state (kept the contact with GB).
Started the competition for Germany's flavour. Hungary wants more, Romania want back. They fought on same side, but dislike. Therefore fought Italian army between Hungarian and Romanian army on the east front.

Hitler dislikes Hungary because, he blames them for the disintegration of Austro-Hungary, and he was angry, because Hungary didn't attack Czechoslovakia when he want annex that. (Hungary only afterwards attacks Slovakia. Hitler promises the Slovak territories, if Hungary attack earlier, but Hungary didn't attack, Hungary got fewer, and Hitler made the independent fascist Slovakia.)

In book:
Adolf Hitler: Monologue in the headquarters
Real German title: Monologe im Führerhauptquartier
Hitler sad lots of thinks.
Hitler's second mean, he want a Danube Germany and he want the Hungarian's territories and as the Hungarians didn't have the "right blood", they must be settle out to East. But that was Hitler's second mean only. The first was the peace with Hungary. He didn't choose it.

Milan

[ozs86]

the interesting thing is that although it was given to germany romania was on the germans side because the soviets attacked th country...

[Ovidius]

Hitler dislikes Hungary because, he blames them for the disintegration of Austro-Hungary

With no offensive intention from my side, Hitler was pretty much right in this aspect. The centrifugal tendencies of Hungary had fragmented the Empire up to the point where no internal coordination worked anymore. I agree theat Magyars wanted independence, but Hitler judged it from his point of view as a German: "they were with us and dragged us to dissolution".

In book:
Adolf Hitler: Monologue in the headquarters
Real German title: Monologe im Führerhauptquartier
Hitler sad lots of thinks.
Hitler's second mean, he want a Danube Germany and he want the Hungarian's territories and as the Hungarians didn't have the "right blood", they must be settle out to East. But that was Hitler's second mean only. The first was the peace with Hungary. He didn't choose it.

Again without any personally offensive intention from my side :apart from Germany, who was going to benefit in the hypothesis of a German victory from this scenario?

~Regards,

Ovidius

[Victor]

Did the Führer have the intention to give back this region to Hungary at some point ?

He did gave a large part of it to Hungary in 1940. However, he preferred to keep the matter opened until he won the war (which didn't happen), in order to stimulate both Romania and Hungary in supplying the war effort with more and more troops and resources. During each meeting between Hitler and Antonescu, the latter always mentioned the Transylvanian problem and Hilter always promised that it will be solved. I suspect he said the exact same thing to Horthy (or any other representative of the Hungarian government).
There is a mention in Gen. Friessner's (the commander of Army Group Southern Ukraine in August 1944) book ("Betrayed Battles" or something like that) that Hitler apparently told him in their last meeting that for him the Vienna Diktat didn't exist anymore. How much truth is in this statement I, for one, can not tell.

Weren't the Hungarians not too frustrated not to have it back ?

They probably were, but imagine the frustration of the Romanians.

What was the position of the Sipenbürger on this matter ? Any will to join Hungary ?

The word you are looking for is Siebenbürgen. It is the German name of Transylvania and it means "7 cities".

Well, the Romanians in Transylvania wanted to remain united with Romania. I suspect the Hungarians wanted the opposite. The Germans were generally loyal to the Romanian government, but I suspect they would have been loyal to any government. As for the Jews, I don't know who they preferred. The rest were meaningless (about 2% of the population). It's hard to say what Transylvania wanted because there was no opinion poll done.

[Abel Ravasz]

I think that the Jews would have liked to join Hungary rather, because (at least until the Arrow Cross terror) in Hungary they had more rights than anywhere in the E-Axis territories. Hitler blamed Horthy that he was too polite and had a "soft spot" for the Jews. Otherwise, there were more Jews in Hungary than in Romania (I mean in %).
Ovidius, as for the dissolving of Austria-Hungary, other nations were also catalizating the process, f.e. Czechs, Slovaks, the nations of the former Yugoslavia etc. etc. Of course, Magyars were the most important force.
As for Hitler's intention to give Erdely (Transylvania) back, the answer is a definite NO. He wanted the two nations to be at each others' throat all the time, and this was a handy weapon in his arsenal. The Hungarians were frustrated, but Horthy was of course optimistic (at least a bit). He was frustrated because half of the area was left behind in Romania, but he was happy for getting the other half back.

Abel[/quote]