The concept of vocational orders in Hungary between the two world wars (original) (raw)
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The Hungarian institution of military labor service inflicted on Jews and members of various other minority groups has been described in scholarly literature as a unique phenomenon. Indeed, whereas most of the Axis countries excluded Jews from their armies, Hungarian authorities compelled them to perform unarmed military service and sent many of them to the frontline alongside combat units, where they perished en masse. These facts rendered the problem of labor service to be interpreted exclusively within the realms of military history and Holocaust studies. However, this complex historical problem has ramifications that might capture the minds of nationalism and genocide scholars as well. Despite certain noteworthy peculiarities, the Hungarian institution of military labor service was heavily influenced by international trends. Still, there have been only scarce attempts to compare the Hungarian system with the policies of other countries. The cases of other Nazi satellites, including Bulgaria and Romania, are of particular significance. The political, economic and social milieu that formulated the policy against various minority groups – and therefore determined the evolution of the concepts of labor service – followed roughly the same patterns. Of course one can cite considerable country-specific differences. However, the national systems with different structural, management and operational schemes served analogous political, economic and social functions. Concepts of military labor service were also influenced by the aspirations of nationalistic political elites about ethnically and racially homogenous nation states and changing perceptions of belonging to the national community. Depriving certain social groups of the right to carry arms was one of the fundamental steps to degrade them to secondary citizens. There was a complex interplay between racist and nationalistic exclusionism in the army and state policies about definition, deprivation of rights and the gradual exclusion from society.
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