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

The tacit support by the Austrian government for western Hungarian
secessionist aspirations and the officially declared claims of the Vienna
government for the territory of Western Hungary significantly contributed to
the December 3 semi-official announcement of the Károlyi government: it
supported the autonomy petition expressed by the Germans of Hungary. The
idea of self-government found support primarily in the city of Sopron and its
surroundings. A German National Council was organized in the city by Géza
Zsombor, which claimed the right to represent the interests of all the Germans
in Western Hungary. Géza Zsombor published a 70 page German-language
pamphlet in the second half of the following year (Sopron, Corvina publishing)
titled Western-Hungary. With Hungary or Austria? 57 The question, or territorial
affiliation, would drag on until the end of 1921.
Initially, the German National Council only asked for ending the mandatory
use of the Hungarian language in public administration and educational matters.
However, shortly after, it proposed to the government the creation of a German
autonomous region. Following this, adherents of autonomy held meeting after
meeting until the representatives of the German-speaking population of
Pozsony, Moson, Sopron and Vas counties formed, in Sopron on December 23,
1918, the Western-Hungary German People’s Council (Deutscher Volksrat für
Westungarn), which declared the autonomy of Western Hungary. 58 It is
important to note that the emerging German national movement of Hungary
wanted to remain within the borders of the country and did not wish to secede
from Hungary, as opposed to the Slovaks, Romanians, Croatians, Vends
(Slovenians) and Serbs. Two directions emerged: one, led by Jacob Bleyer
(1874-1933), literary historian, linguist and politician, and two, led by Rudolph
Brandsch. The difference between the two views consisted of the measure of
minority rights Germans living in various parts of Hungary were to enjoy. The
chief supporters of the creation of the self-administered municipality were those
who did not want to join Austria. Among them were the sizeable strata of
manufacturer and commercial middle class, possessing various amounts of
influence, who would be shorn of their customers and markets. A sector of the
press trumpeted in its articles that mainly Hungarian populated towns and
county seats within the autonomous region would slowly become Germanized.
At the turn of 1918-1919, the influencing of public opinion was in full swing in
Western Hungary, the campaign to popularize Austria. The chief magistrates of
the districts directed the notaries working in the villages to try their utmost and
prevent the agitation among the populace for the secession of the territory.
It was not by accident that at the same time, the regular visits to the German
304. Also, Soós, Katalin, G.: Magyar–bajor–osztrák titkos tárgyalások és
együttműködés 1920–1921 [Hungarian-Bavarian-Austrian secret talks and
collaboration]. In: Acta Historica, vol. XXVII. Szeged, 1967, pp. 3–43.
57 Zsombor, Géza: Westungarn. Zu Ungarn oder zu Oesterreich [Western Hungary. In
Hungary or Austria]? Corvina Verlag, Oedenburg [Sopron], 1919.
58 Kővágó, László: A Magyarországi Tanácsköztársaság és a nemzeti kérdés [The
Hungarian Soviet Republic and the national question]. Budapest, 1989, p. 78.
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