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

Sopron and János Ambroschitz, columnist in the German-language paper of
Sopron, the Ödenburger Zeitung. The organization published a paper, Der
Freie Burgenländer (Free Burgenland), as well as printing several thousands of
flyers and posters. The activities of the Oedenburger Heimatdienst was made
significantly easier by the actions of a local citizen, Holzmann Gotlieb, who
continued to deliver to the organization various news items, exact reports on the
general feelings of the Germans, their thoughts and opinions. The agitation
material for the Croat population of Kópháza was translated by József Vukovits
into the mother tongue of the locals; in fact, issues of the Der Freie
Burgenländer were printed in Croatian. The organizations active in Sopron
were most likely financed by the Austrian government – the presence of court
councilor Rauhofer strongly suggests it – because it had vast sums at its
disposal, and the Austrian authorities provided strong moral support, too. 492
Austrian propaganda in Western Hungary to side with Austria gained
momentum when Hungarian public order enforcement units had to leave the
plebiscite area on December 12. Until then, it was possible keep the
‘neighbor’s’ contention to an acceptable level. Afterwards, almost impossible.
The Entente generals in Sopron did almost nothing to curb the ever-growing
potent anti-Hungarian Austrian agitation. It seems, though, that after a while
their conscience took a turn because they overlooked the ‘self-help’ principle of
the Hungarians. After the withdrawal of Hungarian soldiers and gendarmes
from the plebiscite area, public administration remained under the direction of
Hungary but there was a state of emergency in effect. As a result, between
December 12 and 15, there was no Hungarian public safety force in the area,
allowing free hand to the Austrian-side instigation. The protection of Hungarian
interests was taken over by the students of the Sopron Mining and Forestry
School – remember, most served during the war and demobilized as reserve
officers, many were active in the insurrection --, the association of Sopron
smallholder-citizens, and 40 detectives of state police from Budapest. First of
all, they organized the permanent state of readiness for Sopron: they patrolled
nightly in Sopron, checked the identities and detained the distributors of
Austrian flyers and placards; resistors were roughed up.
The leadership of the Academy Youth Circle divided the city into 10 patrol
districts and through “hard work” kept up an “increased surveillance” in the
districts they held unreliable. According to Lajos Krug, this primarily meant
that they sought out the hiding places of the “amazingly well organized, from
the Austrian side, propaganda committee” and prevent their activities. They
checked on the activities in the Buschenschanks, the little wine shops where the
vintners offered their wines for sale, as these seemed to be the hotbeds of
492 Miltschinsky, Victor: Der „Oedenburger Heimatdienst”. In: Burgenländische
Heimatblätter, 1926, p. 237. Miltschinsky’s name was previously linked with the
Carinthian referendum, where he was representative of the propaganda organization,
Kärntner Heimatdienst (Carinthian Home Service). Most probably, he brought his
experience to the Oedenburger Heimatdienst, created for the same purpose.
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