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Hungarians in Slovakia
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Hungarians or Magyars are the largest ethnic minority of Slovakia, numbering 520,528 people or 9.7% of population (2001 census). They are mostly concentrated in the southern part of the country, near the border with Hungary, and they form majority in two districts of Slovakia - Komárno (Komáromi járás) and Dunajská Streda (Dunaszerdahelyi járás).
Origins of the Hungarian minority in Czechoslovakia
After the defeat of the remaining Hungarian armies in 1919 the Paris Peace Conference that concluded the Treaty of Trianon in 1920 set the southern border of Czechoslovakia due to strategic and economic reasons much further south than the Slovak-Hungarian language border.
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Encyclopedia
Hungarians or Magyars are the largest ethnic minority of Slovakia, numbering 520,528 people or 9.7% of population (2001 census). They are mostly concentrated in the southern part of the country, near the border with Hungary, and they form majority in two districts of Slovakia - Komárno (Komáromi járás) and Dunajská Streda (Dunaszerdahelyi járás).
History
Origins of the Hungarian minority in Czechoslovakia
After the defeat of the remaining Hungarian armies in 1919 the Paris Peace Conference that concluded the Treaty of Trianon in 1920 set the southern border of Czechoslovakia due to strategic and economic reasons much further south than the Slovak-Hungarian language border. Consequently, fully Hungarian-populated areas were annexed to the newly created state.
When Czechoslovakia arose as a new country in this situation, many Slovak schools were established, while some Hungarian schools in largely Hungarian regions remained Hungarian and some German schools in largely German regions remained German. The Hungarians, for example, had 31 kindergartens, 806 elementary schools, 46 secondary schools, 576 Hungarian libraries at schools in the 1930s and a Department of Hungarian literature was created at the Charles University of Prague. The number of Hungarian elementary schools increased from 720 in 1923/1924 to the above number 806. The Hungarian University in Bratislava/Pozsony was immediately closed after the Czechoslovak occupation of the town.
Population statistics before and immediately after the end of World War I
According to the 1910 census conducted in the Kingdom of Hungary, there were 884,309 ethnic Hungarians, constituting 30.2% of the population, in what is now Slovakia compared to the 9.7% number recorded in the 2001 census, amounting to a 3 fold decrease in the percentage of Hungarians. The Czechoslovak census of 1930 recorded 571,952 Hungarians. All censuses from the period are disputed, and some give conflicting data for example in Kosice according to the Czechoslovak censuses 15-20% of the population was Hungarian. However during the parliamentery elections the Ethnic Hungarian parties got 35-45% of the total votes (excluding those Hungarians who voted for the Communists or the Social democrats). The whole matter is complicated by the fact that there was a high percentage of bilingual and similarly "Slovak-Hungarian" persons who could claim being both Slovak and Hungarian.
Some authors interpreted the difference between the 1910 census and the 1930 census as follows: there was a great decrease between 1918 and 1924 by 106,000 people, who were expelled or fled to Hungary after World War I and the authorities refused to grant Czechoslovak citizenship to a disproportionate number of Hungarians; later, 'Jewish' was also introduced as a separate ethnicity, which led to a further decrease in the number of Hungarians. Slovak sources usually do not deny that many Hungarian teachers and civil clerks were forced to leave or left for Hungary voluntarily, the numbers however are unclear but census do show a rapid decline in the number of Hungarians. Some teachers and civil servants were expelled from Czechoslovakia while some left due to the harsh circumstances. There are many examples of Hungarians who were forced to leave their homes from this territory (two famous ones are the families of Béla Hamvas, and of Albert Szent-Györgyi). The high number of refugees (and even more from Romania) necessitated entire new housing projects in Budapest (Mária-Valéria telep, Pongrácz-telep), which gave shelter to refugees numbering at least in the ten-thousands.
The aftermath of World War II
In 1945, at the end of World War II, Czechoslovakia was recreated and some politicians aimed to completely remove the German and Hungarian minorities from the territory of Czechoslovakia via complete ethnic cleansing. Both minorities were considered by some collectively "war criminals", because representatives from those two minorities, supported redrawing the borders of Czechoslovakia before World War II, via the Munich Agreement and the 1st Vienna Award. In 1945, President Edvard Bene revoked the citizenship of Germans and Hungarians by decree #33, except those with an active anti-fascist past (see Bene Decrees).
Population exchanges
Some 30,000 Hungarians left the formerly Hungarian-annexed territories of southern Slovakia (see Vienna Awards) immediately at the end of World War II. While the Germans were expelled from Czechoslovakia, the allies prevented a unilateral expulsion of Hungarians, but agreed to forced population exchange between Czechoslovakia and Hungary, one which was initially rejected by Hungary. This population exchange proceeded by an agreement, whereby 55,487, 74,407, 76,604 or 89,660 Hungarians from Slovakia were exchanged for 60,000, 71,787 or 73,200 Slovaks from Hungary, the exact number depending on the source used. Slovaks leaving Hungary moved voluntarily, but Hungarians leaving Czechoslovakia were mainly forced.
The result of the expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia was a desperate need of work force in that country, especially farmers, in the part of Czechoslovakia known as the Sudetenland. As a result, the Czechoslovak government deported more than some 44,129 Hungarians from Slovakia to the Sudetenland between 1945 and 1947. Of the above 44,129 Hungarians, some 2,489 were resettled voluntarily, receiving houses, good pays and citizenship. Later on, from November 19, 1946 to September 30, 1946, the remaining 41,666 were resettled by force, deported by the Czechoslovak Police and Army as "lifestock" in rail cars and offered to the new Czech settlers of Sudets on village markets as "slaves" - farmwork labour for free, without any status/rights. These conditions ease up slowely, after a few years the resettled Hungarians started to return back to their homes, and by 1948 some 18,536 had returned already, causing conflicts over the ownership of their original houses since they were re-inhabited by Slovak colonists. The waste majority of these enslaved Hungarians returned by 1950, when the status of Hungarians in Czechoslovakia was resolved and citizenship given by Czechoslovakia.
Re-Slovakization
Materials from Russian archives prove how insistent the Czechoslovak government was on destroying the Hungarian minority in Slovakia. Hungary itself gave the Slovaks equal rights and demanded the same solution to the issue from Czechoslovakia.
In the spring and summer of 1945, a series of decrees stripped Hungarians of property and all civil rights. In 1946 in Czechoslovakia the process of "Reslovakization" was implemented with the objective of eliminating the Magyar nationality. It basically referred to the forced acceptance of Slovak nationality. They were pressured into having their nationality officially changed to Slovak, otherwise they dropped out of the pension, social and healthcare system. Since Hungarians in Slovakia were temporarily deprived of many rights at that time (see Benes decrees), as much as some 400,000 (sources differ) Hungarians applied for, and 344,609 Hungarians received a re-Slovakization certificate and thereby Czechoslovak citizenship.
With the disappearance of Eduard Benes from the political scene, the Czechoslovak government issued decree No. 76/1948 on April 13, 1948, allowing those Hungarians still living in Czechoslovakia, to reinstate Czechoslovak citizenship. A year later, Hungarians were allowed to send their children to Hungarian schools, which had been reopened for the first time since 1945.
Most re-Slovakized Hungarians gradually readopted their Hungarian nationality. As a result, the re-Slovakization commission ceased operations in December 1948.
Despite their promises to settle the issue of the Hungarians in Slovakia, in 1948 Czech and Slovak ruling circles still maintained the hope that they could deport the Hungarians from Slovakia. According to a 1948 poll conducted among the Slovak population 55% were for resettlement (deportation) of the Hungarians, 24% said "don't know", 21% were against. Under slogans for the struggle with class enemies the process of dispersing dense Hungarian settlements continued in 1948 and 1949. By October 1949 preparations were made to deport 600 Hungarian families.
Hungarians remaining in Slovakia were subjected to extremely heavy pressure to assimilate. including the forced enrollment of Hungarian children in Slovak schools.
Population statistics after World War II
In the 1950s census the number of Hungarians in Slovakia decreased by 240,000 in comparison to 1930 and in the 1961 census it increased again by 164,244 to 518,776. The low number in the 1950 census is likely due to the above mentioned re-Slovakization, the higher number in the 1961 census is due to the fact that the re-Slovakization was cancelled .
The number of Hungarians in Slovakia increased from 518,782 in 1961 to 567,296 in 1991. The number of Hungarians in Slovakia decreased after decades between 1991 and 2001, due to assimilation accelerated by continues pressure from the Slovak society and state institutions and partly the introduction of new categories in the last census (particularly the Roma).
The Velvet revolution and the independence of Slovakia
After the Velvet revolution of 1989, Czechia and Slovakia separated peacefully in the Velvet divorce of 1993. Following the independence of Slovakia, the situation of the Hungarian minority worsened, especially under the reign of Slovak Prime minister Vladimír Meciar (1993-March 1994 and December 1994-1998).
One example of this is that an official language law was promulgated providing the legal framework for the official use of the Slovak language not only in official communications but also in everyday commerce, in the administration of religious bodies, and even in the realm of what is normally considered private interaction, for example, communications between patient and physician.
On January 23, 2007, BBC's radio broadcasting was shut down by the local broadcasting committee giving the language law as the reason.
Especially in Slovakia's ethnic Hungarian areas, the administrative division of Slovakia was pronounced as a case of gerrymandering, designed so that in all the 8 regions created, Hungarians are in the minority. The 1996 law created such a system of administration in the reorganized system that only two districts (Dunajská Streda and Komárno) have a Hungarian majority population. The gerrymandering while also done to maximize the success of the party HZDS was espacially harsh in ethnic Hungarian areas, where new boundaries drawn minimized the Hungarians' voting power. In all the 8 regions created, Hungarians are in the minority, though 5 regions have Hungarian populations within the 10 to 30 per cent range. The Slovak government created legislation establishing new territorial districts from north to south, dividing the Hungarian community into five administrative units, where they would become a minority in each and every administrative unit. The Hungarian community saw a substantial loss of political influence in this gerrymandering.
On March 12, 1997, the Undersecretary of Education sent a circular to the heads of the school districts, ordering that in Hungarian schools the Slovak language should be taught exclusively by native speakers. The same exclusion criteria applied to non-Slovak schools in the teaching of geography and history. This measure was immediately repealed by the Mikulá Dzurinda government of 1998.
On April 10, 2008 the Hungarian Coalition Party (MKP) voted with the governing Smer and SNS supporting the ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon. This is the result of an alleged political bargain: Robert Fico promised to change the Slovak education law that would have drastically limited the Hungarian minority's usage of their native language in education facilities. The two Slovak opposition parties saw this as a betrayal, because originally the whole Slovak opposition had planned to boycott the vote to protest a new press code that limits the freedom of the press in Slovakia.
The situation of the Hungarian minority today
The 1992 Slovak constitution is derived from the concept of the Slovak nation state. The preamble of the Constitution, however, cites Slovaks and ethnic minorities as the constituency. Moreover, the rights of the diverse minorities are protected by the Constitution, the European Convention on Human Rights, and various other legally binding documents. It is also represented in the parliament by its own political party SMK, which was part of the government coalition from 1998 to 2006.
After the Regions of Slovakia became autonomous in 2002, the SMK was able to take power in the Nitra Region and it became part of the ruling coalition in several other regions. Since the new administrative system was put in place in 1996, the SMK has asked in vain for the creation of a Hungarian majority Komárno county. Although a territorial unit of the same name existed before 1918, the borders proposed by the SMK are significantly different. The proposed region would encompass a long slice of southern Slovakia, with the explicit aim to create an administrative unit with an ethnic Hungarian majority. Hungarian minority politicians and intellectuals are convinced that such an administrative unit is essential for the long-term survival of the Hungarian minority. The Slovak government has of yet refused to change the previously gerrymandered administrative units, which ensured that the Hungarian community would be in the minority in every single administrative unit.
The coalition formation after the parliamentary elections in 2006 saw the SNS party of Ján Slota(frequently described as ultra-nationalist, right-wing extremist and neo-fascist) become member of the ruling coalition, led by the allegedly social-democratic Smer party. However after signing a coalition treaty with a far-right extremist party SNS, the Smer's Social-democratic self-identification became dubious. In August 2006, a few incidents motivated by ethnic hatred caused diplomatic tensions between Slovakia and Hungary. Mainstream Hungarian and Slovak media blamed Slota's anti-Hungarian statements from the early summer for the worsening ethnic relations. The Party of European Socialists, with which the Smer is affiliated, regards SNS as a party of the racist far-right, and it reacted to news of the coalition by expressing its gravest concern. The PES suspended Smer's membership on 12 October 2006 and decided to review the situation in June 2007. The decision was then extended until February 2008, when Smer's candidacy was readmitted by PES.On 27th September 2007 the Bene decrees were reconfirmed by the Slovak parliament which legitimized the Hungarians and Germans calumination and deportation from Czechoslovakia after World War II.
Culture
- Új Szó, a Hungarian language daily newspaper published in Bratislava
- Madách - former Hungarian publishing house in Bratislava
- Kalligram - Hungarian publishing house in Bratislava
Education
585 schools in Slovakia, kindergartens inclusive, use the Hungarian language as the main language of education. 194 schools use both Slovak and Hungarian. In 2004, the J. Selye University of Komárno was the first state-financed Hungarian language university outside Hungary to be opened.
Hungarian political parties
Towns with a large Hungarian population
Note: only towns are listed here, villages and rural municipalities are not.
Towns with a Hungarian majority
- Velký Meder (Nagymegyer) - 9,113 inhabitants of whom 84.6% are Hungarian
- Kolárovo (Gúta) - 10,756 inhabitants of whom 82.6% are Hungarian
- Dunajská Streda (Dunaszerdahely) - 23,562 inhabitants of whom 79.75% are Hungarian
- Královský Chlmec (Királyhelmec) - 7,966 inhabitants of whom 76.94% are Hungarian
- túrovo (Párkány) - 11,708 inhabitants of whom 68.7% are Hungarian
- amorín (Somorja) - 12,339 inhabitants of whom 66.63% are Hungarian
- Filakovo (Fülek) - 10,198 inhabitants of whom 64.40% are Hungarian
- ahy (Ipolyság) - 7,971 inhabitants of whom 62.21% are Hungarian
- Tornala (Tornalja) - 8,016 inhabitants of whom 62.14% are Hungarian
- Komárno (Komárom) - 37,366 inhabitants of whom 60.09% are Hungarian
- Cierna nad Tisou (Tiszacsernyo) - 4,390 inhabitants of whom 60% are Hungarian
- Velké Kapuany (Nagykapos) - 9,536 inhabitants of whom 56.98% are Hungarian
- eliezovce (Zselíz) - 7,522 inhabitants of whom 51.24% are Hungarian
- Hurbanovo (Ógyalla) - 8,041 inhabitants of whom 50.19% are Hungarian
Towns with a Hungarian population of between 25% and 50%
- Moldava nad Bodvou (Szepsi) - 9,525 inhabitants of whom 43.6% are Hungarian
- Sládkovicovo (Diószeg) - 6,078 inhabitants of whom 38.5% are Hungarian
- Galanta (Galánta) - 16,000 inhabitants of whom 36.80% are Hungarian
- Rimavská Sobota (Rimaszombat) - 24,520 inhabitants of whom 35.26% are Hungarian
- Nové Zámky (Érsekújvár) - 42,300 inhabitants of whom 27.52% are Hungarian
- Ronava (Rozsnyó) - 19,120 inhabitants of whom 26.8% are Hungarian
Towns with a Hungarian population of between 10% and 25%
- Senec (Szenc) - 15,193 inhabitants of whom 22% are Hungarian
- ala (Vágsellye) - 24,506 inhabitants of whom 17.9% are Hungarian
- Lucenec (Losonc) - 28,221 inhabitants of whom 13.11% are Hungarian
- Levice (Léva) - 35,980 inhabitants of whom 12.23% are Hungarian
Famous Hungarians born in Slovakia
- Gyula Andrássy (politician)
- Gyula Andrássy the Younger (politician)
- Bálint Balassi (poet)
- Miklós Bercsényi (politician, military leader)
- Lujza Blaha (actress, "the nightingale of the nation")
- Béla Gerster (engineer, canal architect)
- Mór Jókai (writer)
- Imre Madách (poet)
- Pál Maléter (military leader of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution)
- Sándor Márai (world-famous writer)
- Kálmán Mikszáth (writer)
- Francis II Rákóczi (prince, military leader, freedom fighter)
- Gyula Reviczky (poet)
- Mihály Tompa (poet)
- Lajos Kassák ( poet, painter, typographer, graphic artist)
- Erno Dohnányi (conductor, composer, pianist)
- Lajos Batthyány (politician, martyr)
Born after 1918 in Czechoslovakia
Born in Czechoslovakia, career in Hungary
- Katalin Szvorák
- János Manga
Hungarian politicians in Slovakia
See also
Footnotes
Further reading
External links
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