Hungary and the Nazis
Few countries in Europe are in a more uncertain or less enviable position than Hungary. Linked vaguely with the Axis Powers, she knows well that in Germany's eyes she exists primarily to serve Germany's ends, and might cease to exist at any moment if her removal were a convenience to Herr Hitler. It well might be, for Hungary stands across Germany's path to Rumania, and it seems more and more probable that Rumanian oil will be indispensable to the German army and air force if any protracted campaign on a great scale is in prospect. The German military concentra- tions now in progress in Slovakia can as well be a threat to Hungary as to Poland. In spite of all that, the Government is showing some vigour in its endeavours to follow a Hun- garian and not a German policy, and it continues to take active steps against its own Nazis, some of them Magyars and some members of the German minority. The Daily Telegraph on Wednesday published a curious story, which, if confirmed, has obvious significance, to the effect that Herr Hitler has abandoned a proposed visit to the Hungarian Regent, Admiral Horthy, because Herr Himmler, the head of the German Secret Police, maintained that his safety while in Hungary could only be guaranteed if he were accompanied by a bodyguard of something like io,000 men, and the Regent was not prepared to countenance that influx. There is no doubt that Nazi efforts at internal penetration are intense, but the Government is handling them firmly.
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