Hungary meets German pressure with Nazi taunts

Tensions between Germany and Hungary have flared over remarks by the countries’ leaders, including references to Hitler’s occupation of the eastern European country in 1944 and an irritated German government response condemning Hungary’s allusion to the Nazi era as “deplorable derailment”.

The spat was set off last Thursday, when German chancellor Angela Merkel said in Berlin that, despite concerns about Hungary’s democratic deficits, she would not seek to resolve disagreements by “sending cavalry”.

“We will do anything to get Hungary onto the right path — but not by sending the cavalry right away,” Merkel said at the Europaforum WDR, an annual meeting of politicians, business leaders, and journalists.