A short contribution to the history of Hungarian-French relations
A short contribution to the history of Hungarian-French relations

Summary/Abstract: Following Hitler’s coming to power the Versailles peace regime was given a fatal blow. To counter Germany’s growing influence in the Danube valley France was following a rather zigzagging way. Sometimes it echoed views according to which the Trianon treaties had to be revised thus Paris didn’t refuse Hungary’s claims for revision, sometimes it represented the most aggressive streams of the „Little Entente” concerning Hungary. The French-Hungarian relations perfectly mirrored the consequence of the swiftly changing attitude of Paris. A dramatic change occurred when France was crushed by Germany and Vichy became the governing force of the country – as the war neared its end Vichy France became more and more understanding toward Hungary’s territorial claims. A tragic chapter of the German occupation and Vichy’s anti-Semite politics was the handling of the situation of Hungarian Jews trapped in France. This paper traces the diplomatic history of the years 1933-1944 on the basis of reports of the Hungarian envoys to Paris and to Vichy.

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