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

undertake to evacuate zone ‘A’ (…) or there will not be an agreement, but then
we will not do a special favor for Austria. (…) If we cannot reach an agreement
and are forced to march out of zone ‘B’ due to compelling circumstances, the
proclamation of independent Burgenland is a matter of the local population and
the rebels, in which we cannot even get involved. Thus, the Hungarian
government cannot officially consider this matter.” 394
During the following days, the attempts of Robert Davy, governor of the
province of Burgenland, to relocate his offices to Sopron raised the interest of
the Hungarian government and public opinion. In all likelihood, the aim was to
underline that Austria has not given up its claim to the city.
In his noon report on September 15, Lt.Gen. Hegedűs informed that
Chancellor Schober’s request regarding this matter was read to him by the
Entente generals when he was conferring with them. The Vienna government
asked for assurances that Davy “would not receive any abuse from the Sopron
population” and he promised to look after his security. He could not, however,
assure that “he would not be verbally insulted on the street.”
The matter of the Austrian governor was also touched upon in the
September 17 report sent by Villani. The Entente’s reply to the Hungarian
memorandum announcing his arrival was: “Until Davy is in Sopron, Hungarian
liaison officers cannot be in zone ‘A’ with the Entente sub-missions. This reply
of the generals is without logic because, in my opinion, you cannot construct a
link between Davy’s whereabouts and the assignment of the Hungarian liaison
officers. Especially since the generals’ committee requested it at the time. The
recall of the liaison officers has already been ordered. Their task, which we
informed the generals’ committee beforehand, they were naturally enough
unable to complete, despite their best efforts.” 395
The situation was further complicated by the continued push of the Austrian
government of the Davy matter. Foreign ministerial adviser Villani reported
from Sopron at 11:00 on September 18 that the Entente generals had sent a
telegram to the Council of Ambassadors in Paris. In it they asked that the
council take action that Davy, as representative of the Austrian government, can
stay in Sopron permanently and the guarantee of his personal safety be the
responsibility of the Hungarian government. Regarding the potential Sopron
activities of Davy, as Landesverwalter [provincial head, or chief-J.B.], forced
Lt.Gen. Hegedűs to raise a objection with the generals, stating: “It is extremely
difficult to guarantee his personal safety because the population connects him
to the arbitrary actions and atrocities carried out by the Austrians. Namely: the
dissolution of the village representative bodies, sacking the elected district and
village civil servants, the taking and mistreatment of hostages. Since everybody
here is convinced that Dr. Davy is responsible for these acts, the bitterness
against him is so great that we would be able to protect his person from insults
only if we always accompany him. With armed men or at least several secret
394 Ibid, pp. 502–503.
395 Ibid, pp. 518, 520, 543.
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