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

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a very sizable piece of Hungarian territory, even without these few square kilometers.” 504 From the quoted referendum results, it is apparent that a portion of the German-speaking citizens of Sopron voted for Hungary. A reason was that nobody clearly defined in the city: who is Austrian and who is German? The German-speakers held themselves to be Schwabians and were convinced, based on centuries old traditions that their ancestors emigrated from various parts of Germany to Sopron or Western Hungary. [They settled along the western border for the immediate opening their German language gave them in selling their products in Vienna-ed.] A Hungarian citizen, whose ancestors came from a distant German province [or state-ed.], most certainly harbors some fraternal feelings towards Germans but the same cannot necessarily be said towards Austrians. It was also not coincidental that, at the Sopron victory celebrations the following day, Mayor Mihály Thurner said: 70 million Germans can be proud of the Sopron Germans because they are “good Germans and not scoundrels, Germans who did not betray their country.” It must be noted here that, precisely during the Sopron plebiscite, a Czechoslovak-Austria agreement was signed on December 16, 1921 in the castle of Lány near Prague, the residence of Czechoslovak President Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk. The first article of the Treaty of Lány, 505 named for the signing location, stipulated that the signing parties undertake to defend the status quo as defined by the Saint-Germain and Trianon peace treaties. Article two: “The two countries mutually guarantee each other’s territory. (…) in the interest of maintaining peace and the guarantee of the integrity of the noted territories, they further oblige themselves to extend mutual support in the political and diplomatic arenas.” Article three: “Both countries undertake the responsibility that, in the instance that one is attacked, and is forced to defend itself, will declare itself neutral.” The treaty was signed by President Masaryk and Foreign Minister Beneš for Czechoslovakia and President Hainisch and Chancellor Schober for Austria. The latter two signed as if the two month old Venice Treaty did not exist. They, however, had an inkling that, with the plebiscite under way, Sopron was already irretrievably lost for Austria. Thus, as a last attempt to create confusion among the Great Powers, they brought up the Treaty of Lány, after unsuccessfully petitioning the Council of Ambassadors for a delay in the referendum date. The Treaty of Lány was greeted with great delight by Romania and the Kingdom of Serbs-Croats-Slovenes because, with its signing, Beneš was able to encircle and isolate Hungary, i.e., to force his neighbor, who was unwilling to accept the modifications, to its knees. “The ratification of the Trianon peace, the creation of the Little Entente, the unsuccessful attempt of Charles convinced 504 Ormos, 1990, op. cit., pp. 196–198. 505 For the text of the Czechoslovak-Austrian political agreement, see: Halmosy, 1983, op. cit., pp. 186-188. The agreement lapsed on March 15, 1927. It was not renewed. 196
the Hungarians that they must submit to our political direction,” wrote the Czechoslovak Foreign Minister in his notes. 506 Austria, in the meantime, could not come to terms with the referendum results. Between December 19 and 23, it sent a memorandum of objection to the Paris Council of Ambassadors, to the French government and the Entente ambassadors in Vienna, in which it lodged a protest against the referendum and the December 26 scheduled handover of the plebiscite area. As a complaint after the fact, Austria proclaimed loudly that certain abuses were committed when the rolls of the eligible voters was compiled and, thus, demands a repeat of the voting. By this time, the futile charges of the Austrian government greatly annoyed the Entente generals in Sopron. They sent a note to Paris on December 23 to the effect that, if the Council of Ambassadors does not send a note to Hungary by noon the following day, regarding the handover of Sopron and vicinity, then they will do it. The Hungarian government received, in the meanwhile, assurances of support from Italy and Great Britain. In light of the referendum results, the reports of the Entente ambassadors in Budapest and the generals in Sopron, the meeting of the Council of Ambassadors on December 23 – after a long debate – formed the opinion a repeat of the plebiscite would not bring a different outcome and decided to accept the validity of the referendum result. Subsequently, the Council informed the Hungarian government that the handover of Sopron and vicinity was to take place on New Year’s day, 1922, instead of the planned December 26. Finally, on December 28 – after the Council rejected Austria’s newest, and final, objection – President Hainisch signed, thus ratifying, the Venice Agreement. 507 When Hungarian citizens Dénes Kollár and Roland Lex arrived at Németújvár, on the territory annexed to Austria, to visit relatives over the Christmas holidays, Austrian authorities arrested and jailed him for no stated reason. This was clearly in contravention of the Venice Agreement. On their behalf, Albin Lingauer posed a question in the National Assembly, asking what the government intended to do so that “these transgressions will not poison the relations between the two countries and aggravate the mood of the people living along the border?” Foreign Minister Bánffy rose and replied: “When we received the news, we immediately contacted Austria – these sorts of abuses have been perpetrated by the lower echelons of authority – and the Austrian government complied with our wishes. The unjustly arrested pair was immediately released on December 26. According to the Venice Agreement, no one can be persecuted for their political activities. The Austrian government has completely accepted this position, and we have, to date, offered protection to all in every instance where local authorities have acted improperly by abusing their power.” 508 506 Ádám M., 1989, op. cit., p. 152. 507 Ormos, 1990, op. cit., pp. 198–202. 508 Nemzetgyűlési Napló, XVII. kötet. 1922. P. 98. 197
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The Fate of Western Hungary 1918-19
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CONTENTS Foreword………………
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contemplate - no matter how the cra
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declaration.” 3 The basis for the
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1918, in its second edition. 8 ) Ge
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of President Woodrow Wilson’s 14
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assessed from this perspective.”
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agreement regarding the delivery of
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goal was to organize, in advance, t
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accompanied by an Austrian military
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The reasons for the minuscule milit
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statements, among other things, is
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counties. The Romanian Army advanci
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were made up of about 20,000 armed
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The tacit support by the Austrian g
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addressed a memorandum 63 to Prime
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county directorates published their
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with its seat in Sopron. It brought
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The later name of ‘Burgenland,’
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the representatives of Romania, Cze
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Romanians, in like manner, wanted t
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191,000 (13.5%) Slavs would have be
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committee of the Peace Conference u
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to a rejection of the Anschluss (un
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Pozsony County and, in the Paris Pe
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István Széchenyi (1791-1860) and
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and consultation of the affected po
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Also significant was the trade in p
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Austria,” and Zoltán Palotás,
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August 16, stating that every armed
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Finally, and once more, we must fir
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The center of the Vend region, 143
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Szombathely travelled to the Vend r
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his co-nationals in the Vend region
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force - 7 battalions, 8 mounted com
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Incidentally, to bolster their clai
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two Szekler battalions and an artil
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odies and contact with foreign enti
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large volumes of maps and statistic
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agenda.” Lansing: “Perhaps it w
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the subject matter and content of t
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consideration the existing western
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external political education, raisi
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Proclamation: “Our historical iss
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amount).” 210 French Prime Minist
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31, 1920. 215 French forces pulled
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supported by the Styrian government
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stronger stance with regard to West
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continue talks with Hungary. Howeve
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Hungarian Cabinet meeting, that und
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involvement in the royal coup attem
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closed case - Please do something,
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it was a secret report by Lt.Col. O
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e ceded to Austria. The area is to
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trade concessions. This was justifi
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etained lawyer József Östör to a
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manifestation, any encouraging word
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ackground of this institution becau
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Chapter 6: The Western Hungary insu
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destination of Felsőőr, the distr
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the first clash of Ágfalva. This w
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they expressed their thanks for our
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of Borostyánkő or the vicinity of
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and not to start to travel towards
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doctors, and, based on purely their
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in the skirmish and the gendarmes t
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evening. 348 Still back on the 4 th
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international news media and focuse
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Zárány was taken into custody by
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enemy incursion into Hungarian terr
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The second battle of Ágfalva - as
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Mayor Mihály Thurner of Sopron and
Page 145 and 146: On September 12, the prime minister
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Page 151 and 152: police bodyguards, which he might n
Page 153 and 154: [Entente] generals’ mission deman
Page 155 and 156: well, they kept the pressure on the
Page 157 and 158: proclamation of the state of Lajta-
Page 159 and 160: They also burned the stamp inventor
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Page 163 and 164: The post of overall commander of th
Page 165 and 166: peace, attempting to bring down pub
Page 167 and 168: Kismarton and Ruszt). According to
Page 169 and 170: handling of issues, as decreed by t
Page 171 and 172: pensions, as well as stipulating a
Page 173 and 174: Banate was declared to be Hungarian
Page 175 and 176: expected. Thus, he asked Bethlen to
Page 177 and 178: Thus, it is clearly evident that th
Page 179 and 180: face, rather it carried four lines
Page 181 and 182: newspapers of the ‘20s and ‘30s
Page 183 and 184: Paris Peace Conference rejected it
Page 185 and 186: Aladár Boroviczény - Charles Habs
Page 187 and 188: prerogatives, although they must ha
Page 189 and 190: Borderland, although not openly wel
Page 191 and 192: Sopron and János Ambroschitz, colu
Page 193 and 194: Austria - who were ineligible to vo
Page 195: the voting stations, while attempti
Page 199 and 200: inventoried the entire house and co
Page 201 and 202: planted by the bridge over the cree
Page 203 and 204: territory and 16.1% of the populati
Page 205 and 206: Bibliography 525 Chapter 1: From al
Page 207 and 208: Sopronyi-Thurner, Mihály: A magyar
Page 209 and 210: Romhányi, Zsófia: A saint-germain
Page 211 and 212: Fogarassy, László: Háború hadü
Page 213 and 214: Sopron, 1925.) Német nyelven: Trä
Page 215 and 216: Gévay-Wolff, Lajos: Csoda történ
Page 217 and 218: Gecsényi, Lajos: Iratok Magyarorsz
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