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

government.” 67
The statute was received with mixed feelings by the affected sides. Some
groups felt that the self-government rights of the Hungarian Germans were too
much; the leaders of the Western Hungary National Council, too little. They
especially felt the German community lacked the right to elect a national
assembly with legislative powers, and did not garner significant economic
opportunities. It did not dissuade the intention of those wishing to unite with
Austria. The development of an autonomous legal area completely faltered in
the last weeks of the Károlyi regime, mostly due to various, often overriding,
interests. One of the main reasons was that, with the planned creation of
German autonomy, some villages, which have been county seats for centuries,
were going to lose their position. Among them was Szentgotthárd, which had
36 German-speaking settlements in its district. The village’s National Council
petitioned the government in early 1919 to have Szentgotthárd be the district
seat for the villages of the German autonomous area, with a German county
court and office for the German county chief magistrate. The petition was taken
by a delegation to the Minister of Nationalities in Budapest, to the head of the
German National Council in Sopron, Géza Zsombor, and the High Constable of
Vas County. The 500 copies of the appeal were printed in Szentgotthárd, in
Hungarian and German, and sent to all the settlements in the district, even to all
shopkeepers with the request to have it displayed in their place of business. 68
The stand of the Szentgotthárd council met with success. The delegation to
Budapest reported on March 19 that they received assurance from the Minister
that, within the German autonomous region, the village would remain the
district center.
Mihály Károlyi handed over power to the Hungarian People’s Proletariat on
March 21, 1919 and the Hungarian Soviet Republic was born; the Communist-
Social Democrat coalition Revolutionary Governing Council 69 assumed power.
The new Nationalities Minister, Henrik Kalmar 70 (1870-1931), took over from
János Junker and held the position at the German People’s Commissariat as a
People’s Commissar, until his resignation on July 25. Kalmar was originally a
printer, was active in Pozsony as party secretary of the Social Democrats, and
later became Undersecretary in the German Ministry in the Berinkey
government. During the period of the Hungarian Soviet Republic, he continued
on the development of autonomy of Western Hungary. The newly created
67 Thurner, op. cit., pp. 9–10.
68 Kiss, Mária, 1981, op. cit., p. 234.
69 Revolutionary Governing Council: the highest executive body of the Hungarian
Soviet Republic, which transcended governmental spheres of authority and held state
and party powers. Members of the Council, on the Soviet model, were commissars,
heading various commissariats that replaced the former ministries. Its president was a
former bricklayer, the Social Democrat Sándor Garbai (1879-1947), but the real power
was excercised by Foreign Affairs Commissar, Béla Kun.
70 Biography of Henrik Kalmár. In: Révai Új Lexikona, vol. XI. Főszerk/ed-in-chief:
Kollega, T. István. Szekszárd, 2003, p. 114.
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