The Fate of Western Hungary 1918-1921 - Corvinus Library ...

Sopron, I officially protest, in the name of the city, against letting the city and
Western Hungary be allowed to slip into the Austrian yoke.” 271
The author of the first of three motions, József Barla Szabó (delegate from
Szigetvár) stated: “On behalf of our party, we can state with astonishment and
justifiable indignation that the Austria with which we lived for four centuries,
in a union always disadvantageous to us, now wishes to take Western Hungary.
An Austria whose politicians and military leaders are so guilty of starting the
war that none of our greatest men were able to achieve anything against them to
prevent the war.” 272
The next speaker, Albin Lingauer, expounded that, in the territorial
annexation, the affected population “essentially knows nothing concrete.”
Opposing official, semi-official and private views come to light, of which the
people only learn from the newspapers. The majority of the mass of papers
coming from Germany to Western Hungary write that the settlements of
Sopron, Felsőpulya, Rohonc and Felsőőr, as well as their surroundings, will
remain Hungary’s. “The town of Kőszeg looks forward to its future with the
greatest trepidation because, to date it was living in the hope that negotiations
were so favorable that we would be able to retain Western Hungary. The town
of Kőszeg will be separated from its food supply so that the town, called the
Hungarian Graz because it is full of retired bureaucrats, retired soldiers and,
due to its nature, a typical school town, will be without an agricultural
hinterland and this town, who could thank its existence to date for being cheap,
now (…) will develop into a terribly expensive town. (…) For a year and a half,
we, the representatives of Western Hungary always received the same answer
to our queries from official sources: Have faith, have faith, there is hope for an
agreement, and we will not lose Western Hungary. (…) We, honored
Assembly, the representatives of Western Hungary can state here, in front of
the National Assembly, if we knew that all those assurance were without solid
basis and merely empty promises, then we ourselves would have organized the
population of Western Hungary and would have shown that this population id
solidly loyal to Hungary and would have taken up arms against annexation.
(…) Unfortunately, now it is too late. The people who would have been willing
had the threat of annexation dropped on their shoulders so suddenly that it is
impossible to think of organizing resistance now.” 273
Lingauer finally concluded: “Now, when (…) they are taking this part of the
country, I must painfully conclude that today, on the last day of the session, we
have heard some statements quavering with nationalistic bitterness in the matter
of Western Hungary. Over the past three weeks, when these people awoke to
the bitter truth of the fact of annexation, have wailed and cried, waiting for any
271
Nemzetgyűlési Napló, XII. kötet. 1921. 616–617. old.
272
Ibid, p. 623.
273
The last statement of Lingauer’s was addressed to the public. In the meanwhile, he
was one of the organizers of the Western Hungary insurrection that broke out a few day
later on August 28, which struggle led to the eventually imposed Sopron plebiscite.
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