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

well, they kept the pressure on the Austrian bridgehead at Királyhida and the
villages on the Austrian side. 407 Thus, by the end of September, all of zone ‘A’
was in the hands of the five rebel armies, with the exception of the strong
Austrian bridgeheads at Lajtaszentmiklós, Lajtaújfalu and Királyhida.
During the second half of September, the monarchist supporter former prime
minister, István Friedrich, and his circle once again began robust organizing,
based in part on the organization that was begun on August 30, the Western
Hungary National Defense Organization [Nyugatmagyarország Országvédelmi
Szervezete / Orszvé]. One of their flyers published at the time, Magyarok!,
contained the following: “Our brotherly peace, our marriage of a thousand
years is disturbed by the brutal incursion of the Entente Powers when, like
cattle, mocking our right to self-determination, without asking us, against our
wishes want to herd us to a rotting, destructive, syphilitic Austria subsisting on
alms. (…) the honor of our people will not tolerate this degradation, we will live
with our right of self-determination, will turn with protest to the people of the
world, and will defend our ancient land with weapon in our hand. We will not
concede, we will never give up. We, Germans, Hungarians and Croats of
Western Hungary, with eternal loyalty to the millennial country, ask you
Hungarian brethrens, do not leave forsake us, give us your support in our life
and death struggle. Men, who want to fight for our ancient land, stand by us
with arms in your hand and help out. We have formed our National Defense
Organization, those not afraid and willing to fight, join our ranks! (…) Western
Hungary National Defense Organization / [Signed[ Supreme Command.” 408 In
the interest of realizing these goals, Friedrich sent armed units to Kismarton
and co-operated with Maj. Ostenburg, too.
Kedves Szabolcs! Ide kellene betenni az eredeti, 2008-as könyvemből
(234. old.) „Az 1921. évi nyugat-magyarország harcok” aláírású térképet!
On September 24, representative István Rakovszky raised a question in the
National Assembly with regard to the fate of Imre Egan, former High Constable
of Békés County, who was a leader of a rebel unit and who was wounded and
taken captive in the September 2 clashes around Pörgölény (Pilgersdorf). Since
his capture, Egan was held in Vienna, in the Lower Austrian Provincial Court
Jail, charged with inciting revolt. In this matter, Rakovszky said: “Austria, in
spite of the Hungarian government complying within the time set by the
Trianon Treaty, could not establish its authority (imperium / imperial power)
there [meaning the territory to be annexed-J.B.], therefore, from a legal
perspective, the territory where Egan was captured was not under Austrian
authority and, hence, the case against him of inciting rebellion against Austrian
authority cannot proceed. (…) any time these free-forces captured Austrians in
Western Hungary, their first act was to hand the captives over to Hungarian
407 Héjjas, J., 1929, op. cit., pp. 74–89.
408 MOL. K 26. 1388. csomó. 1922–„H” tétel, p. 515.
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