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

Hungarian-populated Felsőőr 73 (Oberwart) was Comrade Wallner, from the
Kőszeg district, József Halász. Béla Kun (1886-1938) spoke at the meeting.
Although officially he was only one of five Foreign Affairs Commissars, but, as
the actual head of the Soviet Republic, every weighty decision had to be
introduced or approved by him. It was here that he made his famous/infamous
call towards Austria: “We are ready at a minute’s notice to create a unified,
federative country with the proletarians of German-Austria.” 74
The appearance of the Foreign Affairs Commissar in Sopron was not
accidental because it was important in the interest of the Hungarian Soviet
Republic to maintain good relations with its western neighbor. Also, hostile
powers ringed the country, while Hungary shipped foodstuffs to Austria. 75 The
Workers Council of Western-Hungary immediately objected against unification
of the region with German-Austria. 76 The Gaurat held the same view and,
citing the self-determination of people, opposed the annexation of Westungarn.
This was not by chance because it was aware of the top echelon of the
Republic’s, mainly Béla Kun’s intention, to voluntarily cede the demanded
western Hungarian territory to a socialist-structured Austria. It was also not by
chance that Kun, a little more than two months later at the collapse of the
Socialist Republic, fled to Austria, where he received political asylum.
The situation of the Germans was settled at the June 23 meeting of the
national meeting of Soviets, where it was incorporated into the constitution that
acknowledged the Germans living in Hungary as a nation. 77 The Governing
Council decreed – by decree CXXIX, based on paragraph 86 of the constitution
– the setting up of an ethnic German territory in western Hungary, to be an
autonomous part of the Soviet Republic. The July 11 session endorsed the
transfer of the towns of Moson, Magyaróvár, 78 Kőszeg and Szentgotthárd – all
of them with a majority Hungarian population – to the German ethic region
73
According to the data of the 1910 census, the population of Felsőőr was 3,912. Of
this, 3,039 were Hungarians (77.7%), 842 Germans (21.5%) and 17 Croatians. In:
Magyarország Közigazgatási Atlasza 1914 [Hungarian public administrative atlas
1914.], op. cit., p. 109.
74
Kővágó, op. cit., p. 58; Szinai, Miklós: A Magyar Tanácsköztársaság és Ausztria
kapcsolataihoz. Otto Bauer levele Kun Bélához [The relations of the Hungarian Soviet
Republic with Austria. The letter of Otto Bauer to Bela Kun]. In: Századok, year 103,
1969, issue 2–3, pp. 449–467; Flanner, Karl: Bécsújhely volt 1919-ben a
„fordítókorong” a Magyar Tanácsköztársaság irányában [Wiener Neustadt was the
‘turntable’ that pointed towards the Hungarian Soviet Republic]. In: Soproni Szemle,
1988, issue 2, pp. 156–162.
75
Gábor, Sándorné: Ausztria és a Magyarországi Tanácsköztársaság [Austria and the
Hungarian Soviet Republic]. Budapest, 1969, p. 81.
76
Nyugat-Magyarország proletársága az elszakadás ellen [The proletarians of Western-
Hungary against secession]. In: Népszava, 1919, May 21.
77
Tanácsköztársasági Törvénytár. Vol. V. Szerk/ed.: Pongrácz, Jenő. Budapest, 1919,
pp. 20-21.
78
The towns of Moson and Magyaróvár were later amalgamated in 1939 under the
name of Mosonmagyaróvár.
34