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

Mura Republic ceased, without it having been able to exert any kind of control.
Although the population watched the entry of the Red soldiers with trepidation,
there were no reprisals. The president of the Mura Republic, Vilmos Tkálecz,
and several other leaders of the ‘country’ managed to escape to Styria. The
surrounding population soon calmed down and the only resistance that we
know of came from a Mura-side village where several soldiers attacked the
Reds with machineguns. In retaliation, the Red command ordered four villages
(Barkóc, Korong, Muraszentes and Csendlak) to be bombarded by artillery for
four hours on June 3 and 4 – but in such a way as to avoid killing anyone or
damaging any property – merely to frighten the population. 155
The new president of the Muraszombat Directorate, Sándor Révész, quickly
sized up the situation and concluded that the population of the county seat
could not be charged with anti-revolutionary offenses. As his first order, he
announced on wall posters that, in the name of the government of the
Hungarian Soviet Republic, a general amnesty is proclaimed for all who were
involved in any way in the ‘Muraszombat anti-revolt.’ The soldiers were not
harmed, either, except they were urged to seize their officers, especially First
Lieutenant Vilmos Tkálecz. Soon after, Révész had to travel to Budapest, so he
left a three-member board in charge of affairs. This board selected hostages
from among the important citizens, who had to report daily to the Directorate
and the Red Army high command. This irregular situation lasted for only ten
days, until Révész returned to Muraszombat and immediately cancelled the
unwarranted order. 156 Apart from this episode, the following weeks in
Muraszombat were characterized by general public calm, until the fall of the
Commune on August 1. Vilmos Tkálecz reappeared in the Vend region in
August and was immediately arrested by the Serb occupiers, jailed in
Alsólendva, from where he escaped shortly and fled to Hungary.
In the weeks after the seemingly unnoticed end of the Mura Republic, in
existence between May 29 and June 3, 1919, nothing notable happened in
Muraszombat or the wider Vend region. Sándor Révész, taking over from
Vilmos Tkálecz as president of the Directorate, behaved honorably and did not
commit illegal acts. For his (lack of) actions, he was reported to higher
authorities many times for lacking drive, and was instigated against. However,
it was primarily thanks to Révész that, given the circumstances, relative calm
reigned in the southern region of Vas County, in Muraszombat and environs,
during the Hungarian Soviet Republic.
Two weeks after the fall of the dictatorship of the proletariat, on August 12,
1919, before the announcement of the decision of the Paris Peace Conference,
the royal South Slav forces arrived in the Lendva-region (Prekmurje) in such
155 Göncz, László: Muravidék, 1919. A proletárdiktatúra időszaka a Mura mentén és a
vidék elcsatolása [Mura Region, 1919. The period of the dictatorship of the proletariat
along the Mura and the annexation of the area]. In: Vasi Szemle, 2001, issue 2, pp. 155–
156.
156 Ibid, p. 156.
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