A Hungarian Jewish umbrella organization is worried about an extreme right party’s creation of an armed guard with uniforms resembling those of fascists during World War II.
Mazsishisz, The Federation of the Hungarian Jewish Communities, said it was“at a loss to explain the recent creation of this armed body.”
The party, Jobbik, said on Friday that it planned to create the Hungarian Guard because the country lacks “physical, mental or spiritual self-defense,” The German press agency DPA reported.
The guard will be adorned with black uniforms with red-and-white Arpad Stripes, a medieval coat of arms associated with the fascist Arrow Cross party, DPA said. The pro-Nazi Arrow Cross directly murdered thousands of Jews during World War II and oversaw the deportation of hundreds of thousands to death camps.
Mazsihisz said it hoped the government would find a way to lawfully ban Jobbik and similar groups to “guarantee a peaceful life for Hungarian Jewry and every Hungarian resident.”
