THE TRAGEDY OF HUNGARY

Hokitika Guardian, 17 December 1927, Page 4

THE TRAGEDY OF HUNGARY

('/K(T I< >-SJ.!>V A K OPPI{ KSKIOX. ißy Dudley ! li.iithcute). At. mi jic-rMjf 1 in history, .vivo perhaps ;it the o-ikl or the Napoleonic (-i'll. Inivc‘ men hoped more fervently that tliey l.ail seen the last of war than (Inline those months in lid's when the Allied statesmen were meeting in Pans m reenst l lie map «f Euiiip(. according u. tie principle ni -elldetermination. Yet. J strongly < I'll I tit u lie! liei a peace seitlement has never been devised which has provided a more Idtine illustration <>!’ the sterility ol human endeavour than that whirl, was imposed upon Hungary. And while an mil rime was thus

(■(uisuniinaied on (hat eountiy in which the partition ol Poland ahum oltii- ., parallel, the foul wrong that- has Pern done has not only set haying the dotts (I war m all the h'tint.s ol Km ope. hut separated lacial clement* that lor over a ihon-and years had found their economic and P"hlieal salvation in belonging In Ihe vine b;><ly politi* . 'illis still e <;i i- s “ nl ~r,* v t undanielli a l!> wrong: it; is al-o keeping alive a spirit of haired ami hostility m Central Kuropc that hols fair :il any mmm lit to break mil into

open v» ;i» f.i i v here is there fillt* no t Mile in he lost i: we would retailr a cruel in.iusi ice. and the claim I now put imwnid idler a visit hi t zecho-Sloviikia is : hat while limitary should reeo\er I lie ter-rit-iries lying just across her horders which are ins-pondcra in ly \lngyar, the Slovak mid H til In-nia ii populations that, were iirhitrarily ineoi poraied into the CVechu-Slnvnluau lieptihli,should he given t'he opportunity ol delariug whether they 100 would not pi eicr n re! Ill'll m liiodelled Europe a i i lie compli-l ill'll ol ihewa r. Ihe three thill particularly i'ppfied to lTuugary were the treaties ol Paris. St. Germain, and Trianon, and according lo these settlomenls idi elements within tlie .Magyar realm that were not strictly Hungarian were merged into the neighbouring omm-

t l ies. Transylvania was i tided In Rumiitiii, ; Croatia. Bosnia, Slovenia, and Dalmatia we*‘e incorporated into the Kingdom ol 5 ugoSliivs: a separate existence was vouchsafed to Hungary, and a new liepuhlie called Czei-ho-Slovakia consti tmed out of Du- provinces cl Bohemia. Mora via., and Slnvak ia I'l. AG It ANT I'N.JKSTIt K. Now. while it- is clear that the principle of sell'-dotei niinatinn ha% heen eompletely disregarded in recast - ing the boundaries ul tin- beneficial ies

of He pence treaties, in none ot these settlements has a more tlagrant injustice been (ommitted than in the ,-ase if C/.eelai-S'lovaUia—that hybrid creation which has no more raison d’etre than if Poland and .Bohemia were suddenly to call 1 hem-el ves ihe C/eeho-Poii h Kepuhln Motoring along its soul I'.ern Irontier, the traveller will lind a largo holt, of territory .stretching along the whole leu.,ill of the eountiy that is inhabited by a predominantly Hungarian population : 81)0.Him Magyars whom the actual setlleiiieni has subjoined to Czech rule, -imply heoau-e those annexed portions ol Hungarian territory boasted <nal miiio- or important. railway junctions! There is anol lier weighty. eonsidei’iition. however, wbieli even more than this umiaiTtintei.l tran-lereueo ot ooinpact masses ol Hungarl-uis lo loreign rule should impel us la adjust some nl tlee shortcomings of tile iroatios ol Si. Germain and di ianoii; l lie treatment of the Hungarian minorities.

Guardians of tin- ritli-s «l justice anil equity. tlir Great Powers i>i the AWst sllilllld till"' immediate stem- L,» fill! 1111 oppression c-< >l.lll >:i !•«.■« I will' which t ill- Turli i-h treatment »1 the A itiicii in ns n lime lien i's any resemblance. There must he no mure stilt shirking j >l’ rcspoiisihilit d nr nursing nl fill' belief t lint unpleasant truths euti bo ignored by saying that they are lion-existunt. Anti perceiving ihe -uliibiv miirrrns nl tlm |>uliey of cut bless ini iinid;,l ion by which an astute and unseriljnilntis Government is seekinn in assimilate a |iruml and iintient race, we must re|iair the titanic blunder whicli alunc Inis permitted nl the < I'Oiilinn nl' new Alsat e-Fiorraines. CONFISCATION. Alt lioijgh till' treaties of St. Germain and Triaimn included spedhc clauses li.v \i hifh the new ■'states mrr blared under the t blieat inn of ‘'protecting the interests ui any nl their inhabitant* who happened In differ front the majority of the population in race, language. nr re I iniun. the apnlication "I Hie nhure measures has been nullified hv delibernle attempts mi the part of the Czech V bivcriniient to ijrnoiv them. While thoitsMiuls nf dents uf Czechr.-Slnvakiii have hern disfranchised and deprived of Lheii citizen rights by making such <|iuiliticntiim depend on documentary evidence* that many 'Hungarians were unable In produce, the Government nl Prague adopted towards it Magyar minorities a deliberate policy of expropriation. deorivation of .cultural rights anil systematic oppression. The principal and perhaps the most vital grievance put forward by the Hungarian residents of Slovakia concernC the citizen rights which. according to the peace treaties. they are alleged to possess, assuming they ci,n prove the existence of identical privileges under a former regime. Before the war the usual way of securing niemtbershin in a parish rwis the so-called tacit or automatic system laid down in the Hungarian law of November 12. 18*5, hy which, any mail having lived in any parish tor a period of tour year- and having contributed to its taxes lor tile same period secured autoinatii itlv the status of citi/ciisliip.

The Czechs have. however. laid down, that while only those people who obtained citizenship before danuary 1. lOlti. are freed from the obligation of Inking out fresh nationality papers, the parish must also give its own special consent before the citizenship ol any [1 iingai'iiin call be validated, i lii~ regulation, incidentally. being applied with a ret respect he force.

As a result there are tens of thousands of Hungarians in Slovakia and Ifuthenia , as well as several menthols of Parliament, includrug Korlat, the leader of the Hungarian ltiitheiie Bund der Laiitlwirte Party, who possess no

nationality papers. DI.S Fit AXCHLSEI>. I So wholesale a denial ol the most, elementary rights is only one of the j many ex!»*dienis utilised hy the ( zee is i to reduce the apparent number of HrHungarian population of Slovakia and It tithe nia, and, as Parliament has aim j passed a law hy which the .Magyar, will only he accorded the full posses- I sion of their minority rights in those | districts in which they constitute at least -_’o per cent of the total ]X>pu- ■ la ion, ever.v at tempt has been made by fold mentis t»r cur to bring Him . rpiota down to below that figure. j Thanks to this di-franchising >’f j on'e-tiurd cr MTlie Hungarian elocto- j rate, the Czech authorities have been] alblo to deprive os many as 350.tH.t0 ‘ Hungarians ol their schools, clubs. | theatres, and euituial associations,! while the addition of certain little |

clauses iu the Czecho-Sluvak Constitution which .stipulate that even tile fundamental right possessed by every Czecho-Slovak citizen (which entitles him to use any language lie pleases, whether in private or commercial life or in his religious devotions) can he taken away “for higher reasons of State” has provided the Government with a further weapon for exploiting their unfortunate victims. The number of schools, clubs, and other cultural associations, therefore, that are still tolerated by the Czech authorities is hopelessly inadequate, and while the number of Magyar primarv schools in Ihe districts now belonging to (Veebo-Slovakia has fallen from 2.223 to just over 7110, the middle schools have .likewise! 'dropped from 95 to 20. ami the technical colleges and gymnasia Irom fii to id. A-, all Hungarian universities and training colleges for teachers hate been closed, the prospect the Dilute fields where education i> concerned is gloomv in the extreme. SHAMELESS OPPRESSION. (such shameless pariinlity and oppression are not. however. eonlined to educational mailers, and in the domains of tinanee and land relorm more especially the Czech Government stands convicted ol having tolerated

some i f the worst iniquities in the public life of to-day, the .system of law regulating the taxation of landod proportv <>t so intei pretal ions ihat any ingenious official Who is so minded can extort money from the people almost at will. Bui theie are many other grievances that struck the present, writer during |,is stay in C/.ci ho-Slovokm. and another glaring abuse is the maimer in winch the Land Reform Art continues to be admfnisiereit in utter defiance of the most elementary notions of justice. Thus I came across several cases m which hind-owners had not only received ihe mosi insignificant compensai cm lor Hie land expi('printed. hut had been even taxed ill the new gold currency upon tin- whole amount, mi property originally possessed by them, while the distribution that was made of the land thus expropriated lias been charactei ised by an equal disregard of equity, the partiality exercised in favour of the Czechs proving that the reform cannot. even claim solely to he directed against, the Hungarian landed gentry. The brief survey which I have now given Ol the treatment that has been accorded to the Hungarians m (V.echo-Slo vukia prove' conclusively Hint the Hungarian minority has every reason for being dissatisfied.

whde I intend in ihe subsequent orioles io show iliac even the Slovaks and Kill belies are alive u> the neressity of revising the present frontiers ct iht* Silt (vision Suites. Kunlo r. so long as l lit- Czech Govcnunciil eontinues to « ■uu,iiemii.ee measures thai. are only aimed against a sei tion of their own subjects, there will be a renewal of the counsels and methods of despair that are inevitable when patriotic men are attacked m everything Unit they hold dear. I won id therefore ask the Czechs wlietrhc\ lane gained anyrhing "> adhering to a policy Hai * *» 11 !;lU lead to tragedy.