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

Proclamation: “Our historical issue, expressing Western Hungary’s people’s
loyalty to the thousand-year Hungary, condemned to be torn from the country,
and their protest against separation, has been handed to the members of the
Entente Mission in Sopron and forwarded to the appropriate places in Paris.” 204
It is interesting to note that the prime minister’s office annotated with regard to
the Proclamation: “Without doubt, it fulfills our needs very well, but too bad
that the author included his initials at the end, which could lead to identification
of the author.” 205 According to the document, the author of the piece was A.
Ullein, a Foreign Ministry official of German background. 206
The following situation report was attached to the previous proclamation to
the Budapest management of the League on April 23, 1920: “As regards to the
general situation, happily I can finally report that the atmosphere in the border
villages is improving by the day, especially due to the more open manifestation
of Austrian bolshevism. We have included the improvements into the present
mapping after mutual agreement, i.e., whether this is of temporary or permanent
character?! The Austrian workers threaten us with a May 1 raid, hence the
border settlements are begging for soldiers at the county military headquarters.
All of a sudden, they are happy to see Hungarian soldiers, which is a great
achievement.” 207
While these events were unfolding, the final text of the Trianon peace treaty
was being finalized in Paris. 208 The ‘circumspection,’ and often cynical
behavior of the decision-making gentlemen, was reflected in the borders of the
‘new’ Hungary. It soon became clear that the decisions of the border defining
committees, which consistently ignored ethic realities, facts and operated
perfunctorily, were essentially accepted without alterations by the Council of
Foreign Ministers and the Council of Four. Their decisions resulted in the
pitiless breakup of the thousand-year-old Hungary. The documents of the peace
204 Ibid, pp. 3–4.
205 MOL. K 26. 1240. csomó. 1920–XLII–2939. szám, 1. old.
206 A. Ullein, later known as Antal Ullein-Reviczky (Ullein until 1934, 1894–1955).
Sopron born lawyer and diplomat, served in the shared Foreign Ministry of the Austro-
Hungarian Monarchy (1913-1918), afterwards in the Hungarian Foreign Ministry. He
served in various capacities in Vienna, Paris, Ankara and Zagreb (1923-1938). He led
the Press and Propaganda department of the Foreign Ministry (1938-1943). As
ambassador to Sweden (Sep. 1943-March 1944), he was part of the Kallay
government’s peace feelers towards the western allies. After the German occupation of
Hungary, he resigned on March 21, 1944 and criticized the Sztóyai government in an
official statement. After WWII, he lived as an émigré in several countries, finally
settling in London in 1950. From June of that year, he was the London representative of
the Hungarian National Committee, headquartered in New York. His memoirs: German
war – Russian peace. Hungary’s Drama, was publishe in French (Neuchàtel, 1947) and
later in Hungarian (Budapest, 1993, p. 324).
207 MOL. K 26. 1240. csomó. 1920–XLII–3459. szám, 7. old.
208 Count Albert Apponyi, Albert Berzeviczy et al: Igazságot Magyarországnak. A
trianoni békeszerződés következményeinek ismertetése és bírálata [Justice for
Hungary]. Magyar Külügyi Társaság. Budapest, 1928, p. 175.
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