On , Nazi Germany launched Operation Margarethe , invading its erstwhile ally Hungary. This triggered the most intensive phase of the Holocaust in Hungary:
: Post-war "People's Courts" were established to judge those responsible for the "historic disaster," including high-ranking officials and cultural figures like composer Ernő Dohnányi , whose case highlights the complexities of collaboration and political survival during the 1944 transitions. Diaries of 1944-1945 Budapest1 - Hungarian Cultural Studies
By late 1944, Hungary became a primary battlefield for the :
: Between May and June 1944, over 440,000 Jewish citizens were deported, primarily to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where nearly every third victim was a Hungarian Jew.
