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

Which translates roughly to: Southern Borderland. / Union of Germans for
the Preservation of their Culture, in the country and outside.
The translation of the text on the lower half of the back 229 is as follows:
“German Western Hungary – Hienz or Burgenland – is a border province and,
as with all border provinces, owners changed frequently; it was so with Austria
and so with Hungary. Finally, a Habsburg emperor, Ferdinand III (1647) gave it
to Hungary, unlawfully and forcibly. Now it is returned to Austria by the peace
treaty of Saint-Germain. Ancient Germanic heritage, birthplace of Dietrich von
Bern, province of Charlemagne, once again became German; 300,000 Germans,
Hienzen and Heidebauers, as they call themselves, will raise the black-red-gold
flag [meaning the German flag—J.B.] It is possible that the return of the land of
the Hienz is an encouraging omen for the return to the homeland of all that we
were forced to lose in the surrounding German provinces. / Vienna, October
1920 / Dr. Alfred Walheim.”
The author of text popularizing the emergency money, Walheim, was simply
lying in his historical arguments when he wrote that emperor Ferdinand III gave
German Western Hungary [Hienzenland or Burgenland did not exist at the
time—J.B.], “unlawfully and forcibly, to Hungary” in 1647. He could not have
done it because the territory was an integral part of the greater principality, later
the Kingdom, of Hungary a few years after Trans-Danubia was occupied (in the
year 900) after the Conquest of 895 until the Treaty of Saint-Germain of 1919.
Emperor Ferdinand III simply could not have given away the mentioned
territory because, between 1637 and 1657, not only was he Emperor but also
King of Hungary, at the same time. Austrian historical and other writing stated,
and continues to state today, without any historical basis – even entering
international scientific works and encyclopedia – that, after the 1490 death of
King Mathias (ruled 1458-1490), Burgenland (sic!), meaning Western
Hungary, was, between 1491 and 1647, “for a century and a half under
Austria’s custody.” 230
Shortly after the issuing of the emergency currency, Michael Mayr again
filled the post of Chancellor on November 20, 1920 and he was willing to
229 The original text on the lower half of the back is: „Deutschwestungarn – das
Heinzen- oder Burgenland – ist ein Grenzland und hat wie alle Grenzländer öfter den
Besitzer gewechselt: bald war es bei Österreich, bald bei Ungarn. Zuletzt hat ein
habsburgischer Kaiser, Ferdinand 3:, das Land willkürlich und widerrechtlich an die
Ungarn verschenkt (1647). Durch den Friedensvertrag von St. Germain kommt
Deutschwestungarn nun zu Österreich zurück. Uraltes Germanenerbe, die Heimat
Dietrichs von Bern, die Mark Karls des Grossen, ist wieder deutsch geworden: 300 000
Deutsche, die Heinzen und Heidebauern, wie sie sich selber nennen, pflanzen die
schwartzrotgoldene Fahne auf. Möge die Wiederkehr des Heizenlandes und eine frohe
Vorbedeutung sein für die Heimholung aller derer, die wir, jetzt rundum an den
deutschen Marken verloren geben mussten! / Wien, im Oktober 1920. / Dr. Alfred
Walheim”. (Barbalics, 1983, p. 54–55.)
230 Dabas, Rezső: „Burgenland” álarc nélkül [“Burgenland” unmasked]. Történetiföldrajzitanulmány
az elrabolt nyugati végekről. Montréal, 1984, p. 213.
96