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

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some sort of local uprising or a coup will occur to take over the command post. I order Your Excellency to prevent it by all means at your disposal, maintain order in all eventuality and, if anyone tries in the least to break the peace, immediately arrest them and send them under guard to Budapest.” 293 Kedves Szabolcs! Ide kellene betenni az eredeti, 2008-as könyvemből (162. old.) a „Nyugat-Magyarország vázlatos térképe” aláírású térképet. The Hungarian government had only two units to enforce law and order in the western Hungarian zone intended for annexation, both requested earlier by Chief Government Commissioner Sigray. One, the 1 st Gendarme Reserve Battalion commanded by Lt.Col. Prónay, who had to remain behind in Budapest for grave reasons, arrived on August 15 in Felsőőr (Oberwart). Prónay had personal problems for his actions during the period of the White Terror. As well, he took some unorthodox action against a Jewish renter of his brother’s who refused to pay and also swindled the local peasants. Prónay put him behind bars in the Nádor Barracks in Buda Castle. For his action, National Assembly representative Vilmos Vázsonyi (1868-1926) raised a complaint with the PM, Bethlen, who summoned him to the PM’s office and personally demanded an explanation. 294 The lieutenant-colonel made the bad situation worse by sending a coarsely worded letter, full of insults, to István Rakovszky (1858-1931), President of the National Assembly, which caused an outrage in parliament. 295 On top of it all, Prónay accused the Minister of Defense, Sándor Belitska, with an auto swindle, committing a serious disciplinary offense. 296 Commenting on the events, Army Bishop István Zadravecz said: “To me and other insiders, it was fairly clear why Bethlen executed (sic!) Prónay at just this time, and why Rakovszky’s group assisted so strongly. Bethlen wanted to rid himself of Prónay because his battalion was sent to assist in the evacuation of the western parts and he was afraid that Prónay was going to prevent exactly that, as the local commander. Rakovszky knew Prónay as an anti-monarchist and was worried that the Ostenburg Battalion would find itself up against the fearsome Prónay in the King’s coup planned in conjunction with the Western Hungary disturbances. In any case, the liberal Jewish press was glad for the fall of anti-Jewish Prónay.” 297 Due to the previous events, the 1 st Gendarme Reserve Battalion left on August 11 under Prónay’s deputy, militia captain Viktor Ranzenberger, 298 to its 293 Ibid, 1388. csomó. 1922–„H”-tétel. p. 135. 294 Fogarassy, László: A Prónay–Ranzenberger pör (1930–1932) [The Prónay– Ranzenberger case (1930-1932)]. In: Soproni Szemle, 1978, issue 1, p. 23. 295 Nemzetgyűlési Napló, XII. kötet. 1920. pp. 282–283. 296 Prónay, Pál: A határban a Halál kaszál… Fejezetek Prónay Pál naplójából [Death is mowing in the fields… Chapters from the diary of Pál Prónay]. Szerk./ed.: Szabó, Ágnes and Pamlényi, Ervin. Magyar Történelmi Társulat. Budapest, 1963, p. 253. 297 Zadravecz, 1967, op. cit., p. 154. 298 Prónay, 1963, op. cit., pp. 267, 274, 300, 303. 118
destination of Felsőőr, the district seat. Although officially Ranzenberger was in command of the battalion, however, the unit considered Prónay as its real leader, and shortly as the commander of the Western Hungary insurrection, too. The other unit in the field was the 2 nd Gendarme Reserve Battalion, commanded by Gyula Ostenburg, which also arrived on August 15 at its base of Kismarton (now Eisenstadt). 299 The two gendarme units were, in every way, identical with the earlier Szeged and Székesfehérvár infantry battalions, which were withdrawn from the Army’s Order of Battle on February 10, 1921 and transferred to the gendarmerie. The reality was that they were concealed military units, hidden from the eyes of the Entente. Hence, it is natural that Count Sigray did not notify the Entente generals in Sopron before the relocation of the two battalions to Western Hungary. Italian General Carlo Ferrario vehemently objected but the Chief Government Commissioner refused to withdraw them, thus staying in Felsőőr and Kismarton. The third significant force in the Borderland in August was the so-called Héjjas free-militia unit, recruited from volunteers between the Danube and Tisza Rivers, commanded by Iván Héjjas. 300 The fourth, also a free unit of volunteers, was the militia led by District Reeve László Endre (1895-1946), 301 (whose complement soon grew to 200) and who were volunteers mostly from the towns of Gödöllő, Aszód, Vác and their surrounding villages. He started to Szombathely by train on August 28, arriving the following day in Nagyszentmihály and Felsőőr, with the intention to of equipping his men and occupying the village of Pinkafő. The unit was marching towards its goal, unarmed, when four trucks, filled with Entente soldiers and machine guns, caught up to them. They were all taken prisoners and escorted to the courtyard of the County Court of Felsőőr, where they were handed over to British Captain Trotter and French African-colonial soldiers. Count Tamás Erdődy, landowner in Vasvörösvár and chief of the local fire brigade, hurried to their aid. That evening, alarm bells were rung and agitated men collected in the street and broke down the court’s front gate; with women and children, they surged inside for the fire hoses stored in the courtyard. It became apparent that it was a false alarm and that the count ordered the alarm to free the soldiers. In the chaos, the militia unit managed to escape, after hitting the few frightened black colonial soldiers over the head. The assembled during the night outside the village and, with the help of a local militiaman, sneaked into the Catholic school where they were provided with arms and equipment. In the evening hours of the following 299 The Ranzenberger battalion arrived on the western frontier with 1,610 men, of whom 150 deserted to the insurrection; other sources hold it to be possibly 300 or 400. The size of the Ostenburg battalion was 1,539 men, which was joined by 50 rebels in Sopron. Later, 105 deserted to the insurrection side, perhaps more. In: Fogarassy, 1994, op. cit., p. 312. 300 Héjjas, 1929, op. cit., pp. 13–15. 301 Endre László served as a reserve officer in WWI and was wounded on the Russian front. Served as reeve in a Temes County town (October 1918), later reeve and chief reeve in the Gödöllő district (1923-1938). 119
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The Fate of Western Hungary 1918-19
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CONTENTS Foreword………………
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contemplate - no matter how the cra
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declaration.” 3 The basis for the
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1918, in its second edition. 8 ) Ge
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of President Woodrow Wilson’s 14
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assessed from this perspective.”
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agreement regarding the delivery of
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goal was to organize, in advance, t
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accompanied by an Austrian military
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The reasons for the minuscule milit
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statements, among other things, is
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counties. The Romanian Army advanci
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were made up of about 20,000 armed
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The tacit support by the Austrian g
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addressed a memorandum 63 to Prime
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county directorates published their
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with its seat in Sopron. It brought
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The later name of ‘Burgenland,’
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the representatives of Romania, Cze
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Romanians, in like manner, wanted t
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191,000 (13.5%) Slavs would have be
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committee of the Peace Conference u
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to a rejection of the Anschluss (un
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Pozsony County and, in the Paris Pe
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István Széchenyi (1791-1860) and
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and consultation of the affected po
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Also significant was the trade in p
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Austria,” and Zoltán Palotás,
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August 16, stating that every armed
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Finally, and once more, we must fir
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The center of the Vend region, 143
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Szombathely travelled to the Vend r
Page 67 and 68: his co-nationals in the Vend region
Page 69 and 70: force - 7 battalions, 8 mounted com
Page 71 and 72: Incidentally, to bolster their clai
Page 73 and 74: two Szekler battalions and an artil
Page 75 and 76: odies and contact with foreign enti
Page 77 and 78: large volumes of maps and statistic
Page 79 and 80: agenda.” Lansing: “Perhaps it w
Page 81 and 82: the subject matter and content of t
Page 83 and 84: consideration the existing western
Page 85 and 86: external political education, raisi
Page 87 and 88: Proclamation: “Our historical iss
Page 89 and 90: amount).” 210 French Prime Minist
Page 91 and 92: 31, 1920. 215 French forces pulled
Page 93 and 94: supported by the Styrian government
Page 95 and 96: stronger stance with regard to West
Page 97 and 98: continue talks with Hungary. Howeve
Page 99 and 100: Hungarian Cabinet meeting, that und
Page 101 and 102: involvement in the royal coup attem
Page 103 and 104: closed case - Please do something,
Page 105 and 106: it was a secret report by Lt.Col. O
Page 107 and 108: e ceded to Austria. The area is to
Page 109 and 110: trade concessions. This was justifi
Page 111 and 112: etained lawyer József Östör to a
Page 113 and 114: manifestation, any encouraging word
Page 115 and 116: ackground of this institution becau
Page 117: Chapter 6: The Western Hungary insu
Page 121 and 122: the first clash of Ágfalva. This w
Page 123 and 124: they expressed their thanks for our
Page 125 and 126: of Borostyánkő or the vicinity of
Page 127 and 128: and not to start to travel towards
Page 129 and 130: doctors, and, based on purely their
Page 131 and 132: in the skirmish and the gendarmes t
Page 133 and 134: evening. 348 Still back on the 4 th
Page 135 and 136: international news media and focuse
Page 137 and 138: Zárány was taken into custody by
Page 139 and 140: enemy incursion into Hungarian terr
Page 141 and 142: The second battle of Ágfalva - as
Page 143 and 144: Mayor Mihály Thurner of Sopron and
Page 145 and 146: On September 12, the prime minister
Page 147 and 148: insurrection was the already mentio
Page 149 and 150: the Hungarian government for financ
Page 151 and 152: police bodyguards, which he might n
Page 153 and 154: [Entente] generals’ mission deman
Page 155 and 156: well, they kept the pressure on the
Page 157 and 158: proclamation of the state of Lajta-
Page 159 and 160: They also burned the stamp inventor
Page 161 and 162: our principles from the flood of th
Page 163 and 164: The post of overall commander of th
Page 165 and 166: peace, attempting to bring down pub
Page 167 and 168: Kismarton and Ruszt). According to
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handling of issues, as decreed by t
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pensions, as well as stipulating a
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Banate was declared to be Hungarian
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expected. Thus, he asked Bethlen to
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Thus, it is clearly evident that th
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face, rather it carried four lines
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newspapers of the ‘20s and ‘30s
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Paris Peace Conference rejected it
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Aladár Boroviczény - Charles Habs
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prerogatives, although they must ha
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Borderland, although not openly wel
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Sopron and János Ambroschitz, colu
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Austria - who were ineligible to vo
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the voting stations, while attempti
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the Hungarians that they must submi
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inventoried the entire house and co
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planted by the bridge over the cree
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territory and 16.1% of the populati
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Bibliography 525 Chapter 1: From al
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Sopronyi-Thurner, Mihály: A magyar
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Romhányi, Zsófia: A saint-germain
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Fogarassy, László: Háború hadü
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Sopron, 1925.) Német nyelven: Trä
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Gévay-Wolff, Lajos: Csoda történ
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Gecsényi, Lajos: Iratok Magyarorsz
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