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

our principles from the flood of the Red tide, in the name of the peoples of our
communities we proclaim our independence, freedom and universal neutrality.”
(General agreement and enthusiastic hurrahs.)
The president went on to say: “I respectfully request that the reading of the
Proclamation of Independence be acknowledged.” (General, endless shouts of
agreement.) Next, the presiding official asked Dr. Lévay to present the
Proposition of Recognition.
“We request and authorize the Commander-in-Chief of the Western
Hungary uprising to publish the independence proclamation in our name, form
a responsible governing council, and have a draft constitution prepared.”
At the request of the meeting’s president – amid general agreement and
hurrahs – the conference unanimously accepted this decision proposal.
Following it, the rebel units swore their allegiance to the commander. The
standards, blessed by the Catholic and Protestant chaplains, were presented to
the rebel units, after speeches in Hungarian, German and Croatian. Finally, with
the words “May God’s blessing be upon the independence of our liberated
country and people,” the president concluded the constitutional meeting that
took place “in the most enthusiastic of atmosphere.” The record of the minutes
was closed, signed by all the peoples’ representatives and a stamped and sealed
copy of the Declaration of Independence was amended. 416
The minutes and the text of the declaration later appeared in the October 30
issue of the Lajtabánság Hivatalos Lapja [Official Paper of Lajta-Banate] 417 in
Felsőőr, published by the Governing Council of Lajta-Banate. Hungarian,
German and Croat language versions of the Declaration were printed and
posted in the villages of Western Hungary intended for annexation. 418
The complete text of the manifesto poster is as follows:
“Proclamation to the people of the world!
While proclaiming the principle of self-determination of nations, the dictated
Trianon treaty, without consulting us or asking us, wish to throw this territory
we have held in mutual agreement for a thousand years, as prey to the
Communists of a defeated Austria.
This forcible annexation is in opposition with law and rights, omitting our right
to self-determination and penalizes us as the defeated.
It deeply affronts out national self-esteem and historical traditions, which have,
over the centuries, bonded our Hungarian, German and Croatian fellow citizens
to the love of their country through a hatred of Austria.
416 Missuray-Krúg, 1935, op. cit., pp. 159–161.
417 Lajtabánság Hivatalos Lapja, I. évf. 1. szám. 1921. október 30.
418 One of the few copies can be found in the Jurisich Miklós Múzeum Helytörténeti
Adattára (Kőszeg) [Annals of Miklós Jurisich Museum of Local History (Kőszeg)].
161