Villagers and far right members march to remember Hungary's WW2 ruler 

(17 Nov 2012) SHOTLIST
1. Wide of the nationalist Hungarian Guard uniformed members marching UPSOUND (Hungarian): "Follow me and march!"
2. Close of boots
3. Low angle of Hungarian Guard
4. Close of faces
5. Wide of mausoleum of Miklos Horthy, Hungary's WWII ruler
6. Wide of its entrance with WWII uniformed guards
7. Close of medals on uniform
8. SOUNDBITE (Hungarian) Ferenc Taskai, captain of the Hungarian Guard:
"Miklos Horthy was a great Hungarian, who made this nation big. Every member of the Guard believes in this. That's the reason why we are here."
9. Wide of Hungarian Guard UPSOUND (Hungarian): "Look forward and salute!"
10. Close of the Hungarian Guard UPSOUND (Hungarian): "Hungarian Guard, rest!"
11. SOUNDBITE (Hungarian) Janos Volner, Member of the Parliament, Vice President of the far-right wing Jobbik party:
"We have to keep remembering to our leader. We have to clean his legacy from aspersion made by our enemies."
12. Mid of the audience clapping
13. SOUNDBITE (Hungarian) Janos Volner, Member of the Parliament, Vice President of the far-right wing Jobbik party:
"We have to take back our country. We have to take back the lost territories."
14. Mid of the audience clapping
15. Wide of the audience singing
16. SOUNDBITE (Hungarian) Lajos Major, war veteran:
"He is the best Hungarian man. There were some good ones, but he (Horthy) was the only one to be able to fight with half of the world."
17. Various of participants laying wreath into the Horthy mausoleum.
STORYLINE
Members of the controversial far-right Hungarian Guard marched across the street of the town of Kenderes to join around a thousand people including war veterans, villagers and far-right politicians who gathered to pay tribute to Miklos Horthy, Hungary's WWII ruler at his mausoleum.
The Hungarian Guard is linked to Jobbik, a Hungarian radical nationalist party.
Most Hungarians view Horthy as an authoritarian leader who dragged Hungary into a disastrous alliance with Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler and was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Hungarian Jews in the Holocaust.
But as Hungary struggles to fend off recession and nationalist sentiment rises, there is a growing movement to recast Horthy as a patriotic hero who stood up to the Soviet Union and only reluctantly threw in his lot with Hitler.
And critics say the populist government of Viktor Orban is doing little to stop the cult that has sprung up around the wartime leader.
The Horthy era began with Hungary rebuilding after being forced to give up much of its territory and population as a consequence of losing in World War I, and ended with its troops fighting on Hitler's side in World War II.
Admirers see in Horthy a leader who tried to find space for Hungary to manoeuvre between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany and cracked down on domestic fascists and communists alike.
While Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government has largely steered clear of the far-right's attempts to rehabilitate Horthy, its attitude toward the era seems more sympathetic and emblems of that bygone time are gaining ground.
Orban and his conservative Fidesz party won a two-thirds majority in 2010, amid a recession and deep resentment over eight years of Socialist Party mismanagement.
Orban has since reshaped the country with a new, strongly conservative constitution, allowing him to concentrate power and exert greater political control over a wide range of institutions, from the media to the central bank.
Find out more about AP Archive: www.aparchive.c...
Twitter: / ap_archive
Facebook: / aparchives ​​
Instagram: / apnews
You can license this story through AP Archive: www.aparchive.c...