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

proclamation of the state of Lajta-Banate. The prime minister instructed Gyula
Gömbös at the end of September to prevent the possible proclamation of
independence by the territory. On September 29, Gömbös met with supreme
commander Prónay and informed him that the government must give up
Western Hungary but that there would be a plebiscite in Sopron and its
surrounding. Hence, he asked Prónay to take over public administration over
the entire territory, except the noted district, without proclaiming a “separate
imperium.”
In these critical days and weeks, to keep the events of Western Hungary in
hand, the Hungarian government made use of censorship, against which the
National Assembly opposition, and the minority pro-monarchist party, put up
spirited resistance. One of their targets was ministerial advisor Tibor Eckhardt
(1888-1972), head of the prime ministerial press department, who regularly
showed up in the parliament’s gallery. In his September 24 speech on the floor
of Parliament, representative Rakovszky also commented that “hardly a week
goes by that the outrages of censorship are not raised here. (…) with bullying
and cunning, free expression is suppressed. Newspapers that do not give in to
censorship are eradicated, discarded. (…) Is the Prime Minister willing to act,
to order media chief Tibor Eckhardt to handle censorship unbiased, and not use
it for the dissemination of his own political views, and not for the persecution
and discrediting of opposing views and those who hold them?” 411
In response to the questions posed by Rakovszky, PM Bethlen read out the
instructions given to the media publicity office with regard to the matter: “In
the matter of the question of Western Hungary, all communiqués are banned
that would upset our relations with our neighbors. Thus, it is especially not
permissible to call for organizing or resistance against Austrians, as well as
military threats, or voicing intent to support against Austria. Furthermore, calls
or proclamations, which call on the population to volunteer or offer military
resistance, and generally prevent the handover of Western Hungary by armed
conflict, is not to be published. This ban is primarily aimed at those
proclamations, whose publication and distribution has already happened over
the signature of the Supreme Command of the Western Hungary National
Defense Organization.” 412 The prime minister promised an unbiased review in
the matter of censorship.
The Italian Foreign Minister, Marquis Pietro Tomasi Della Toretta, invited
the representatives of Austria and Hungary to Venice on October 1 to settle the
Western Hungary question. Shortly after, on October 3, the Entente Mission
generals and Lt.Gen. Hegedűs signed an agreement in Sopron. Its substance
was that Hungary has handed over to Austria the territory specified in the
Entente memorandum of September 23. The representative of the Austrian
government did not sign the document saying: “Zone ‘A’ is still under rebel
control. The agreement is in pro forma agreement that Hungary has fulfilled
411 Nemzetgyűlési Napló, XIII. kötet. 1921, pp. 72, 74.
412 Ibid, pp. 75–76.
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