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

planted by the bridge over the creek flowing between the two villages,
dedicated to the memory of the assassinated former prime minister, István
Tisza. After the reunification, a memorial stone column was erected at its base
as a reminder of the former boundary of 1919-1923. The plaque on the stele
described the escape from Serb occupation. 512 February 9 became a village
memorial day, which celebrated every year until 1945. 513
During the years of the Communist dictatorship, the authorities did not look
kindly on Hungarians remembering, in any form, either the territorial robbery
of the Trianon Peace Decree or the days of glorious national resistance. The
local residents had to stay mute of the ejection of the Serb occupiers. In fact, on
the order of the local Party Secretary, the memorial column had to be destroyed
in 1949, the Tisza memorial tree was chopped down. It was only in 2002, 82years
after the events, that a ceremony was again celebrated. The village
petitioned the Council of Vas County to be granted the title Communitas
Fortissima, or Bravest Village. A private member’s bill was raised in
Parliament in November of 2005 but was not accepted. Later, on November 20,
2008, it passed the House and since then, the village of Karcaszomor proudly
displays the Communitas Fortissima label in its coat-of-arms. 514
The Border Adjustment Committee visited the annexed parts of Vas and
Zala counties, the Vend (Slovene) Region (also Mura Region), during the third
year of Serb occupation on September 19-20, 1921. The population of the
region massed with Hungarian flags and butonnieres alongside the roads that
the commission’s cars took. The convoy was stopped in many places and held
up while the crowds sang the Hungarian national anthem and cheered Hungary,
before letting them proceed. “Col. Cree, the head of the Committee, reported to
the Council of Ambassadors of these stirring scenes. It was as a result of these
demonstrations that the Committee brought down its decision, recommending a
new border for the Vend Region. The Yugoslav government did not accept it.
The sad result of the demonstrations was that the Yugoslav authorities went
from village to village and arrested anyone they suspected of taking part: men,
women, youths girls. They were all jailed. The jails and barracks of
Muraszombat and Marburg (today Maribor in Slovenia) were full of those
arrested. The Hungarian government, as well as Col. Cree and the Council of
Ambassadors, intervened in an effort to gain their release.” 515
During the 1920s, those Vends (Slovenes) and Hungarians living in minority
status would sneak across the border after receiving their draft notice from the
Royal South Slav regiments and present themselves for military service at the
Hungarian barracks in Körmend, Szombathely, Zalaegerszeg or Nagykanizsa.
Hungarians and Vends, who emigrated for economic reasons before WWI to
512
Zsiga, 1996, op. cit., p. 153.
513
In 1942, the villages of Kerca and Szomoróc were amalgamated into Kercaszomor.
514
Tiszai, 2009, op. cit., p. 15.
515
Fall, Endre: Jugoszlávia összeomlása. A Délvidék visszatérése [The collapse of
Yugoslavia. The return of the southern region]. Budapest, 1941, p. 62.
201