Here's how Admiral Horthy described his abduction in his memoirs, and it doesn't seem remarkably different from what happened to General Kriepe (except that Germany and Hungary were allies, while Germany and Great Britain were not):
The Palace was in a state of siege. The approaches had been mined, incidentally isolating the German Embassy on the Palace Hill. As we learned during the night, the German attack on the Palace had been timed for the early hours of the morning of October 16th (17).
We had just lain down, fully dressed, when Lieutenant Field Marshal Vattay, Chief of the Military Chancellery, and Ambrózy, head of the Cabinet Chancellery, were announced. They had come to deliver the message that the Fuehrer 'offered' me asylum, provided I abdicated, relinquished all powers, and surrendered the Palace. I refused this 'offer' and emphatically told the messengers that I was not to be approached again concerning this matter.
Shortly afterwards, the two men returned with my aide-de-camp, Lieutenant-Colonel Tost, to urge my daughter-in-law to persuade me to accept the 'offer'. My daughter-in-law, who, like my son Nicholas, gave me unceasing help and had, in these last days especially, proved to be an indefatigable collaborator, knew me too well to lend herself to such a project. All their entreaties were of no avail, not even the threat that an attack on the Palace was imminent.
Lieutenant-Colonel Tost pleaded with her to change her mind, saying: "Think of
the safety of your family, and especially of your son. It is to your advantage."
She terminated the conversation by telling them that she would be the last
person to attempt to influence me.
In expectation of the attack, I sent my wife, daughter-in-law and grandson at
four o'clock in the morning under guard to the residence of the Nuncio, who had
in the past offered us sanctuary.
Yet, what was the sense of allowing the situation to develop into a fight? In view of the enemy's superior strength in men and artillery, we had nothing to oppose to their armoured vehicles, a fight could lead only to the decimation of our faithful Guards. Though I had been unable to achieve my aim of bringing peace to Hungary, my radio proclamation had nevertheless proved to the world that Hungary was not willingly submitting to occupation. But I intended to ask no one to lay down his life for me. I therefore ordered that no resistance should be made. This order failed to reach only one unit in the Palace park, a unit that was commanded by the son of the former Premier, Kállay. Shots were fired, and four German soldiers were killed (18). Andreas Kállay (19) was taken prisoner and sent to Dachau.
Shortly before 6 a.m., Dr. Veesenmayer appeared and asked me to go to the Hatvany Palace, "to spare me the pain of seeing the occupation of the Royal Palace". That, I thought, was a definite, if courteous, form of arrest. On our arrival at the Hatvany Palace, the headquarters of the SS, Dr. Veesenmayer said, "Here Your Highness is under the Fuehrer's protection."
My reply to that was that I had sought no one's protection and did not consider that I needed it in my own country. Dr. Veesenmayer stared at me in amazement. My words were as incomprehensible to him as his behaviour was to me. Not until considerably later, the autumn of 1947, in fact, did I obtain the explanation of this mutual misunderstanding. I received my information from a man whose name I cannot give but to whose reliability and veracity I can testify. According to his account, which tallies with the testimonies of witnesses made during the Budapest trial of Szálasi in February, 1946, these were the events of that October night from the 15th to the 16th:
"On October 15th, at 11 p.m., Ambrózy, the head of the Cabinet Chancellery, and Vattay, the Chief of the Military Chancellery, went to the Prime Minister's office, where they found Premier Lakatos in conference with the Ministers, Ivan Rakovszky, Gustav Hennyey, Louis Csatay, Baron Peter Schell (20) and Parliamentary Secretary Stephen Fáy (21). Vattay declared that he feared that the life of the Regent of the Realm was in danger. The only way by which he and his family could be saved was to place them under the protection of the German Reich. The Premier rejoined that if that was indeed his opinion, it was Vattay's duty to propose that course to the Regent. Vattay declared himself willing to do so, left with Ambrózy, and returned alone at midnight while the Ministers were still in session. He claimed to have brought the Regent's answer: 'His Serene Highness has agreed to the proposed solution. He makes only one condition, that he may take with him his close collaborators, so that these shall not fall victims to Arrow-Cross revenge.' Vattay then gave the names of Ambrózy, Lehár, and himself. Premier Lakatos, who had no reason for doubting that this was indeed the Regent's answer, undertook to inform the German Embassy. This then was the basis for later developments. The Germans, going by what the Premier had told them, thought that the Regent had completely capitulated before midnight, both politically and militarily. Premier Lakatos undertook the part of intermediary in arranging for the abdication to take place on the afternoon of the 16th. As he saw it, and was bound to see it, capitulation demanded a formal abdication."
This statement clarified what had been to me an inexplicable change of attitude. It showed that Premier Lakatos had based his actions on the false statements made by Vattay in his second interview with the Premier at midnight. What could have been Vattay's motive in bringing an 'answer' which in reality had never been given, an answer, moreover, that was in utter conflict with my clearly expressed views? I can explain his behaviour only if I postulate that Vattay, who had never failed in loyalty to me, took this otherwise inexplicable course of action in order to save my life and the lives of my family.
This account agrees also with the German statements. According to them, at one o'clock in the morning Lakatos telephoned the German Embassy, which was being evacuated before fighting took place. He spoke to Counsellor Feine (22), who informed Dr. Veesenmayer at once. During the night, a number of express telephone calls were made to the Fuhrer to obtain Hitler's acceptance of the conditions of my supposed capitulation. According to the Germans, Hitler did agree, and Lakatos was informed of this by Counsellor Feine personally at half-past two in the morning. He was asked to come to the German Embassy as quickly as possible and to go to the Palace with Dr. Veesenmayer; I was to leave the Palace before 6 a.m., as it was not certain that the attack on the Palace timed for that hour could be countermanded. A peaceful solution had been regarded as no longer possible at the Fuehrer's headquarters.
Two rooms were assigned to me at the SS headquarters. Guards swarmed in the corridors and an SS man was stationed on guard in my room. As I was about to take an aspirin, he snatched it with the glass of water from my hand in the belief that I was attempting suicide.
Lakatos, Vattay and Tost were with me. After a while, a German officer came in and announced that "the Premier wished to speak with me". Very surprised, I went into the next room and found Ferenc Szálasi. Giving me a Nazi salute, he made the request that I should appoint him Premier. In the whole of my long career, I had never before had a man asking me to appoint him to office. I advised Szálasi to have himself appointed by the Germans if they had not already done so. "As I am a prisoner here," I added, "I cannot perform my official duties, and in any case you are the last person I should choose to appoint to that function." That snub did not discourage this Arrow-Cross man from making another attempt that same afternoon, receiving, of course, the same reply.
The melancholy hours dragged by. Each one of us had his own sad thoughts. Not one of us could eat the food that was put before us. I soon withdrew to my own room, while the others went to another. Suddenly I heard a shot:
Lieutenant-Colonel Tost had risen to his feet and, before anyone had realized what he was about to do, he had shot himself and collapsed by the window, streaming with blood. By his death, I lost one of my most faithful officers; no doubt he preferred to escape by suicide from prolonged imprisonment and Gestapo interrogations which he knew might force him to betray others(23).
As I had brought no personal belongings with me, I asked to be taken to the Palace to pack necessary articles. At 6 p.m., Counsellor Feine came to accompany me. I had been prepared to find that a search had been made, but the disorder of the scene mocked my wildest imaginings. Skorzeny's men had made themselves comfortable on the damask-upholstered furniture. Cupboards and drawers had been broken open. My apartments had already been pillaged and these barbarians had helped themselves to everything that seemed to them of value, from my wife's jewellery to the servants' savings. A touch of comedy lightened even this macabre experience. As I approached the bathroom to fetch my toilet articles, the door opened and a man came out wearing my dressing-gown. He had just finished taking his bath. The apartments of my dead son Stephen and of my abducted son Nicholas had also been looted.
I gave my old servant instructions to pack what clothes, linen and other necessities remained. As I was still standing in the bathroom, three guards with sub-machine-guns in attendance, Lakatos suddenly appeared, together with Veesenmayer. Lakatos handed me a sheet of paper on which was set out in German the announcement of my abdication and the appointment of Szálasi as Premier. I quickly ran my eye over the typewritten page; at the bottom of the German text I read the typewritten words, 'Signed, Horthy'. I returned the sheet to Lakatos saying: "What's this? Am I supposed to sign this?" Lakatos said that I was. I replied that he must know that Szálasi had twice asked me that day to appoint him, and that I had twice refused. That, I thought, closed the conversation, and I went on packing. Lakatos continued to hover about in an obvious state of uncertainty, and it occurred to me that he did not understand my behaviour; I asked him why he wished me to sign the document. Surely, in answer to a direct question, he could only advise me not to sign it. He then indicated that it was a question of my son's life.
I called Veesenmayer, who was standing outside the bathroom, and he confirmed Lakatos's statement that my son's life and eventual return did indeed depend on that signature. I realized that, with or without my signature, the sheet would be published as 'signed Horthy' and it would be proclaimed that I had abdicated after appointing Szálasi. This meant, I said to myself, that while I could change nothing by refusing my signature, I might save my only remaining sons life if I did sign.
I said to Veesenmayer: "I see that you seek to give your coup d'etat an air of legality. Will you give me your word of honour that my son will be liberated and will join us if I sign?" "Yes, Your Highness," Veesenmayer replied. "I give you my word of honour." I then told him that I neither resigned nor appointed Szálasi Premier, I merely exchanged my signature for my son's life. A signature wrung from a man at machine-gun point can have little legality.
Dr. Veesenmayer and Rahn were overjoyed at having blocked Hungary's attempt to conclude an armistice and at keeping Hungary in the war 'by peaceful means', as they had been instructed to achieve both these tasks 'if they valued their necks'. (Later I learned that Veesenmeyer had made repeated attempts to keep his word by obtaining my son's return, approaching Ribbentrop, Baron Dörnberg and others in the Foreign Ministry, and Himmler himself with Winkelmann, a high SS official in Budapest.)
The document that I had signed, a prisoner's forced signature, was obviously invalid, though this did not prevent a proclamation in Hungarian being issued. It was a translation of the German document that I had signed, and appended to it was a signed statement from Lakatos, attesting to the accuracy of the translation. I, of course, had never issued any such proclamation, and the signature to Lakatos's attestation had been obtained while he himself was a prisoner. Proof of this is the chit, 'Certificate of Release from Imprisonment', which Lakatos (24) was given on regaining his freedom.
On October 21st, Szálasi thanked Hitler by telegram for the 'true comradeship' that had been so 'inspiringly manifested' on October 15th and 16th in the 'mutuality of the German-Hungarian fate'. In his reply, Hitler referred to Szálasi as the 'responsible Premier' and assured him "that the German Reich will never fail Hungary". Not until after this interchange did Parliament meet again, on November 2nd. Since so many of the members had been arrested, considerably more than under the Sztójay Government, it could only be called a Rump Parliament. At the opening of the session, the Speaker, Tasnádi-Nagy (25), read out two declarations of mine which must have been the 'documents' referred to earlier. There is no evidence that they were ever submitted to the House. The election of a Regent of the Realm was deferred. Parliament 'took notice' of the fact that 'Premier' Szálasi would "provisionally perform the functions of Regent", and would henceforth assume the tide 'Leader of the Nation'. This Parliament could, of course, no longer claim to be a representative body. All attempts of the 'Nemzetvezetô', the Leader of the Nation, to have his 'Government' officially recognized in neutral countries failed dismally.
When my packing was finished as far as my circumstances permitted, I returned from the Palace to the SS headquarters, where I was visited that night by my wife and daughter-in-law. They had been brought from the Nuncio's(26) residence in a German Legation car, after armed SS men had intruded on this extraterritorial soil.
On October 17th, I left the capital and my country a prisoner. At half-past four in the afternoon, Counsellor Feine of the German Legation came to accompany me to the railway station. Under heavy military escort, our car drove to Kelenföld station. The special train, in which my wife and daughter-in-law with her small son were already seated, was waiting to leave the station. Dr. Veesenmayer had asked me, the day before, which members of my entourage I wished to take with me. I had named Ambrózy, Lázár (27), Vattay, and also my aide-de-camp Tost, who was then still alive. Veesenmayer had raised no objections to any of these names, but in the train I found only Vattay and Lieutenant Field Marshal Brunswick (28), whom I had not mentioned at all.
This was the saddest journey of my life. For almost a quarter of a century, I had stood at the head of my country, watching it grow steadily in strength until Hitler had plunged Europe into war and precipitated an unwilling Hungary into the maelstrom. Now I was perforce leaving Hungary; a usurper had thrust me aside with the aid of foreign arms and had set up a regime unworthy of Hungary.
So special forces operating behind enemy lines is "gangsterism"?
