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

Szombathely travelled to the Vend region at the request of Commissioner and
High Constable Obál, to restore public order. Obál did not accompany him but,
using trumped up charges – Mikes favored a Pan-Slav policy and had begun
organizing armed forces – reported him to the Ministry of Religious Affairs 150
while the prelate visited several settlements, urging all to stay in Hungary. He
avoided confrontation by not visiting some Vend-populated settlements where
Sloveneophile priests roused the people against him. The subsequent reports
and false accusations played a crucial role in the Interior Ministry’s February
26 decision to take the bishop into custody and to restrict him to house arrest in
the Benedictine abbey of Celldömölk.
After the proclamation of the Hungarian Soviet Republic on March 21,
1919, the local organs of it came into existence in Vas County. Béla Obál,
government commissioner and High Constable under the Károlyi government,
continued to retain his position and became the president of the Vas County
Directorate, as well as the people’s commissar of minorities. Similarly, Vilmos
Tkálecz, deputy commissioner for minorities, became deputy people’s
commissar for the Vend region and headed the nationality department in
Muraszombat, while also filling the post of president of the Vend Region
Directorate. The so-called ‘Vend Region Government Committee’ had
responsibility for 114 settlements in the Muraszombat district, 14 in the
Szentgotthárd district and 28 in the newly created Belatinci district. 151
Tkálecz was often arbitrary in many of his decisions and one of the
members of the Directorate reported him to the higher authorities, which made
him somewhat more guarded. But, sensing the trust of the officers and soldiers
he met, he decided to proclaim the Mura Republic, citing the self-determination
of people. His plan was nothing less than a pre-emptive move. Making use of
the vicinity of the Hungarian-Styrian border, the increasing traffic of goods
ordained a priest in 1899, elevated to bishop on December 16, 1911 by Pope Pius X and
became bishop of Szombathely on January 6, 1912. During his time, his diocese opened
7 new poor-houses and 22 new parishes. He was a supporter of Count László Almásy
(1895–1951) in his explorations of Africa. [Think the film The English Patient-ed.]
During the period of the Hungarian Soviet Republic, bishop Mikes spent March to July,
1919 in a Budapest jail. Later, he played a key role in Charles IV’s first attempt in 1921
to regain the throne. The bishop was an inveterate monarchist, which played a part in
his forcible resignation on December 31, 1935. The following year, Pope Pius XI made
him designated archbishop of Selimbria. He was a member of the House of Lords from
1911-1918, of the Upper House from 1927-1935 and a Hungarian royal privy
counsellor from 1936 onwards [similar to Queen’s Counsel (QC)-ed.]. He died in 1945.
For more, see Székely, László: Emlékezés Mikes János gróf szombathelyi
megyéspüspökről [Recollections of Count János Mikes, bishop of Szombathely].
Vasszilvágy, 2009, p. 286.
150 Bakó, Balázs: Az ellenforradalmár püspök. Eljárás gróf Mikes János szombathelyi
püspök ellen 1918–19-ben [The counter-revolutionary bishop. Case against Count
János Mikes, Bishop of Szombathely, in 1918-1919]. In: Vasi Szemle, 2007. 1. szám,
75. old.
151 Göncz, op. cit., p. 50.
65