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

populated border communities by the National Propaganda Commission
increased, spreading the logic of staying with Hungary. Its Szentgotthárd office
petitioned, on January 27, 1919, to ensure a supply of petroleum and a payment
of 1,000 Kroner in an attempt to calm the German villages. 59 On top of all this,
due to diminished public safety, robberies were frequent along the border, to
the extent that armed gangs occasionally even confronted the police forces. It
was for this that the border counties requested the strengthening of military
units along the border. These difficulties were not only used by German
propaganda, but further stirred up opinions against the country.
To address the situation, the Hungarian government publicized on January
29 the law passed the previous day, 1919:VI, titled “On the practice of selfgovernment
of the German people of Hungary.” 60 Among other things, the
statute stated that, in areas where Germans formed the majority, “autonomous
self-governing zones” may be created – with the agreement of other ethnics
living there. The law, within appropriate limitations, ensured complete selfgoverning
rights for the Germans in judicial matters, governing, internal
administration, the law, religious matters, public education and culture. A
German Ministry was created in Budapest, with local administrators who can
choose the location of their administrative centers, their areas of responsibility
further subdivided into districts. Probably because Germans were living
dispersed in Hungary that the new statute did not specify where their selfadministrative
areas were to be. This only came about during the time of the
Hungarian Soviet Republic. In the days following the publication of the statute,
on February 3, 1919, Mihály Károlyi, President of the Republic, 61 named János
Junker, a judge on the Court of Appeals, as Minister responsible for German
Affairs.
Two weeks after the passage of the ‘German Ethnicity Law,’ on February
14, the mayor of Sopron, Mihály Thurner, 62 also Government Commissioner,
59 Kiss, Mária: Gazdasági-társadalmi és politikai viszonyok 1918 és 1945 között
[Socio-economic and political matters between 1918 and 1945]. In: Szentgotthárd.
Szerk/ed.: Kuntár, Lajos - Szabó, László. Szombathely, 1981, pp. 232–233.
60 Collected statutes for 1919. Budapest, 1919, pp. 20–23; Bellér, Béla: Az
ellenforradalom nemzetiségi politikájának kialakulása [The development of the ethnic
policies of the counter-revolution]. Budapest, 1975, pp. 11–20.
61 Károlyi earlier resigned his post as prime minister on January 11, 1919.
Subsequently, Dénes Berinkey, the Minister of Justice, was named to the post on
January 18, who also took the job of minister without a portfolio responsible for
preparing the self-government of the minorities from Oszkár Jászi (1875-1957), who
also resigned.
62 Mihály Thurner (1878–1952) was born in Márcfalva (Sopron County), later annexed
to Austria. In 1912, he assumed the job as head of Sopron’s audit office. During WWI,
he was a soldier for a while but the city recalled him citing his indispensability.
Between 1918 and 1945, he was mayor of Sopron. It was during this period he
performed his duties as Sopronyi-Thurner. Of his career, see Turbuly, Éva: Adatok
Thurner Mihály polgármester személyének és szerepének jobb megismeréséhez a két
háború közötti Sopron életében. [Details of the person and role of Mayor Thurner in the
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