Chapter VIII: The Magyar Minorities in the New States

It is one of the principal complaints of the Magyars that since the division of Hungary the Magyar minorities in the surrounding States have been oppressed and unfairly treated. That such a complaint should be made by a nation, the whole of whose recent history has been one of coercion of racial minorities, is astonishing; but the very fact of the accusation having been put forward makes it necessary that it should be investigated.

Magyar minorities exist at the present day in Czechoslovakia, Rumania and Yugo-Slavia, each of which States includes some part of the former dominions of the Crown of St. Stephen. According to recent figures, Czechoslovakia contains a Magyar population of about 636,000, mostly in Slovakia; Rumania a Magyar population of about 800,000 (if the Szeklers are included among the Magyars), mostly in Transylvania; and Yugo-Slavia a Magyar population of about 100,000, mostly in Croatia. It will be seen, therefore, that the Magyar minorities in Czechoslovakia and Rumania are the most important.

We may deal first with the position of the Magyars in Slovakia under the rule of the Czechoslovak Republic, upon which we have been able to obtain indisputable evidence, and which may help us in estimating the value of the Magyar charges in other cases. Enough has been said of the condition of Slovakia under Magyar rule in earlier chapters of this book to make further reference to the subject unnecessary. It is sufficient to say that the Magyar minority in Slovakia comprises 21·2 per cent. of the population of the province, and about 5·5 per cent. of the total population of the Republic.

Articles 8 and 9 of the Treaty of St. Germain (September 10, 1919) between the Allied and Associated Powers and Czechoslovakia, stipulate that Czechoslovak subjects belonging to racial minorities are to be granted the liberty of founding, managing and governing schools and other institutions established specially for them, and that the Czechoslovak Government is to grant all its subjects, whatever may be their mother-tongues, adequate educational facilities. The children of such subjects are to be granted the right of instruction in their native languages when they form a considerable fraction of the total number of the inhabitants of a town or district.[43]

So much for the theory of nationalities in the Czecho-Slovak Republic. We will now turn to the practical manner in which this theory has been carried out. It will be remembered that in Slovakia under Magyar rule there were no schools in which the Slovak population could secure general instruction in the Slovak language. It is interesting to see how the Magyars fare in their turn. The tables which follow give the educational figures for Slovakia alone for the year 1921. In examining them it must be borne in mind that the proportion of Magyars in the population of Slovakia, contemporaneous with these figures, was 20·6 per cent.

-----------------------------+--------+---------+--------+---------
Language of Instruction. | No. of |Per Cent.| No. of |Per Cent.
|Schools.| |Classes.|
-----------------------------+--------+---------+--------+---------
_Elementary Schools_: | | | |
Slovak | 2,613 | 70·7 | 4,207 | 68·2
Magyar | 762 | 20·6 | 1,373 | 22
Magyar-Slovak-German | 3 | -- | 20 | 0·3
Magyar-Slovak | 26 | 0·7 | 53 | 0·8
Magyar-German | 2 | -- | 48 | 0·7
| | | |
_Higher Elementary Schools_: | | | |
Slovak | 85 | 77·3 | 434 | 77·9
Magyar | 15 | 13·7 | 94 | 17·2
Slovak-Magyar | 2 | 1·8 | -- | --
Magyar-German | 2 | 1·8 | -- | --
| | | |
_Secondary Schools_: | | | |
Slovak | 28 | 70 | 267 | 69·5
Magyar | 4 | 10 | -- | --
Slovak-Magyar | 3 | 7·5 | 31 | 8
Slovak-German-Magyar | 1 | 2·5 | -- | --
Magyar-Slovak | 1 | 2·5 | -- | --
Magyar-German-Slovak | 1 | 2·5 | -- | --
-----------------------------+--------+---------+--------+---------

From the above it will be seen that as regards elementary education the Magyar minority in Czechoslovakia obtains better terms as regards education than are provided for in the Treaty. The latter only provides for facilities for elementary education for the racial minorities, whereas the Magyar minority not only gets this in greater proportion than its strength warrants, but also gets the advantages of higher elementary and secondary education in its own language. As for the Slovak majority, their lot is so different now that Slovakia is released from the Magyar yoke, that it is almost unrecognisable. The population now has complete freedom in educational matters, and facilities for their enjoyment. Instead of being compelled to imbibe what knowledge it could through the medium of a foreign tongue, it has at its hand a modern and extensive system of schools of all grades. As a consequence the percentage of illiterates is decreasing by leaps and bounds, and the backward state of the remoter parts of the country, such as Ruthenia, which under Magyar rule were left in mediæval darkness, is rapidly giving place to intellectual consciousness.

Nor does the Czechoslovak Government spare expense in equipping Magyar schools. The outlay on education in Slovakia for the year 1921-22 was:--

Czechoslovak Crowns.
For State Elementary Schools 41,661,957
For Private Schools 90,808,142
-----------
Total 132,470,099
-----------

Out of this total expenditure, the following grants were made for non-Slovak schools:--

State Schools. Private Schools.
Magyar 5,770,173 24,245,763
German 1,587,318 4,267,981
Ruthenian 141,650 4,177,172
--------- ----------
Total 7,499,141 32,690,916
--------- ----------

Thus the Magyar schools receive 22·5 per cent. of the whole sum spent on elementary education in Slovakia. The outlay on secondary schools in Slovakia amounted to 9,712,526 crowns for 1921-1922. Out of this sum the Magyar schools received 2,048,006 crowns, or 21 per cent. of the total.

As regards the admission of Magyars into the public services, the Czechoslovak Government adopts an entirely unprejudiced attitude. The following figures show the distribution of the nationalities in various branches of the public services of Slovakia for the year 1921. They are worth comparing with the similar statistics for the same province under Magyar rule in 1910, which will be found on page 78.

Political Administration: Czechoslovaks 1,763, Magyars 397.

Posts, Telegraphs and Telephones: Czechoslovaks 1,631, Magyars 1,423.

Elementary School Teachers: Czechoslovaks 4,676, Magyars 1,685.

Higher Elementary School Teachers: Czechoslovaks 413, Magyars 137.

Secondary School Teachers: Czechoslovaks 431, Magyars 138.

Doctors and employees in State Hospitals: Czechoslovaks 248, Magyars
88.

Judges and Lawyers: Czechoslovaks 198, Magyars 160.

Public Works: Czechoslovaks 869, Magyars 144.

Agricultural Services: Czechoslovaks 993, Magyars 576.

From the above it will be seen that the proportion of Magyars in the public services of the Czechoslovak Republic is far greater than the actual strength of the Magyar minority would warrant.

In the Czechoslovak Parliament, including both the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, the representatives of racial minorities can use their own language, both in speeches and written communications.

Racially the present Chamber of Deputies has 199 Czechoslovak members, 72 Germans, and 7 Magyars. The Senate has 103 Czechoslovaks, 37 Germans, and 3 Magyars.

The manner in which the Czechoslovak Courts carry out their proceedings, even against Magyars who have committed acts of sedition, has received no higher justification than the tribute which was paid to it in the Parliament of Budapest by the deputy Rassay, who commended it to the notice of the Magyar Courts as a model of justice and impartiality. In any degree of court in the Republic racial minorities are permitted to plead in their own tongues.[44]

In carrying out agrarian reforms in Slovakia, the Government is showing the fullest consideration for the demands of the Magyar peasantry. It is natural that the owners of the large estates in this district, the majority of whom are of Hungarian nationality, should endeavour to delay the process of agrarian reform as much as possible, but the small farmers, whether Magyar or Czechoslovak, are opposed to their attitude. Wherever land has been distributed, it has been allotted to the workers irrespective of their nationality, according to the locality in which it was situated. Thus the whole of the Coburg estate, which is situated in a Magyar locality, and the area of which was about 2,500 acres, was divided exclusively among Magyar workmen.

The Czechoslovak law of languages does not restrict itself to the conditions imposed by the Treaty of St. Germain, but accords to the minorities far greater advantages than that Treaty contemplates. Where the Treaty mentions a racial minority, Czechoslovak law does not limit this expression to a given nationality, represented by a sufficient proportion of members, but extends the rights of minorities to all groups of citizens speaking other languages, who form a fifth of the population of any district. Thus, in a district of 20,000 inhabitants it is sufficient that there exist 4,000 citizens speaking other languages, not necessarily the same, to endow that minority with the rights appertaining to minorities in general. It is not only in this sense, but in a number of others, that Czechoslovak practice outstrips the letter of the obligation. For instance, the Treaty provides that: “Notwithstanding the establishment of an official language by the Czechoslovak Government, appropriate facilities shall be given to Czechoslovak subjects speaking languages other than Czech, for the oral or written use of their language before the courts.” The Supreme Administrative Tribunal published an order on October 5, 1921, to the effect that all members of racial minorities were to be given the advantage of this provision, whether they were Czechoslovak subjects or not.

Again, the Government is not obliged, under the Treaty, to give the lingual advantages defined above except before the courts. But the law of languages extends the right of usage of a minority language beyond the courts to “all other services, branches of administration and agencies of the Republic”; in other words, to the postal, educational, financial, political and other services.

The Treaty speaks of “appropriate facilities,” which must be given the minorities for the use of their languages.

In Yugo-Slavia, also, the Magyar minority has been afforded every facility for the continuance of its national existence. It is confined almost exclusively to Croatia and Slavonia, which were formerly in Hungarian territory, and where, even then, the Magyars formed a very small fraction of the population. The Slavs of those districts have shown no tendency to retaliate upon their former masters the indignities they once suffered; the Magyars are permitted free use of their language and are subject to no restrictive legislation, notwithstanding the intrigues which exist between them and the irredentist societies of Hungary.

In Transylvania the problem which confronts the Rumanians is more complicated. The conditions which existed in this district before the War have already been touched upon, and the injustices of Magyar rule exposed. In Transylvania, and the same remark applies with equal force to the other transferred regions, the Magyar population was to a large extent made up of the official classes, who had been appointed by the Hungarian Government for the purposes of Magyarisation. Upon the transfer of the regions, these officials were offered terms, in many cases extremely favourable, upon which to continue in their posts, as long as they showed their intention of keeping faith with the new authority and refrained from supporting Magyar irredentist policies.

In many cases these officials showed themselves unworthy of the trust displayed in them. In Transylvania especially was this the case. Many of the leading Magyar families owned large estates in the agricultural districts of Transylvania, and were able to exert a pernicious influence upon those officials and others who, originally appointed under Magyar rule through the influence of the landowning families, preserved their appointments by the transfer of their allegiance. In many cases this transfer was only nominal, and was effected deliberately in order that they might be in the position to further the schemes of the Government of Budapest. As a result, the Rumanians have been faced with grave difficulties in assimilating their Magyar subjects, who have remained closely in touch with the sources of sedition. The defection of the official classes has been seconded by the efforts of the Magyar propagandists, and Magyar subjects of Rumania have been encouraged to offer a policy of passive resistance to the efforts of the administration to form a homogeneous Kingdom of Rumania, combined with an unceasing stream of complaints as to the injustice with which they assert they are treated under the new regime.

In many cases the Rumanians have been compelled at short notice to replace disaffected officials by men of Rumanian birth whose loyalty is unquestioned. Naturally the supply of men trained for such posts is limited, and in some cases men may have been appointed whose ideas of local administration have been modelled upon the methods of the Magyars when Transylvania was under their rule. The Magyar propagandists, always keenly on the watch for any incident upon which to base their protestations, have seized with avidity upon the acts of their Rumanian pupils to demonstrate the tyranny with which they are treated under Rumanian rule.

As a matter of fact, in Transylvania the Magyars under Rumanian rule are far better off than the Rumanians ever were under Magyar rule, even in the most extreme cases, which the Magyars themselves have been able to quote. But such a state of affairs is not sufficient to ensure the peaceful settlement of Transylvania, and of this the Rumanian Government is well aware. The oppressive acts of local officials, which are in fact limited to misinterpretation of the provisions of the law-giving freedom of language, education and religion to the Magyar minority, are entirely contrary to the express instructions of the Government of Bucharest, which is deeply concerned to enforce the provisions of the Treaties which ensure the protection of minorities. But the Government is in an extremely difficult position. The Rumanian population of Transylvania, from the highest to the lowest, is deeply incensed at the Magyar efforts, overt and covert, to stir up strife and to secure by hook or by crook the return of the province to Hungarian rule. The Magyar irredentists regard Transylvania as the Sinn Fein irredentists regard Ulster; both alike proclaim the iniquity of “partition,” regardless of the presence in Transylvania and Ulster respectively of large majorities in favour of such partition. In both the irredentist minority have committed acts of aggression against the majority; in both the servants of the Government have been guilty of hasty and ill-advised actions in restoring order and administering the law. But no reasonable person accuses the Ulster Government of a policy of repression of the Sinn Fein minority in Fermanagh and Tyrone. It would be equally unreasonable to accuse the Rumanian Government of a policy of repression of the Magyar minority in Transylvania.

That local officials and members of the civil population of Transylvania have been guilty of foolish and arbitrary actions is undeniable, and not to be wondered at. It is indeed extraordinary that, overrun as the country is with Magyar _agents provacateurs_, these actions have not been of greater violence and frequency. Exasperated by the overbearing demeanour of their late tyrants, their political dishonesty and their perpetual efforts to stir up discord, the Rumanian inhabitants have at times retaliated by furtive efforts at petty persecution, not one of which has been allowed to pass unnoticed by the delighted Magyar propagandists. It is regrettable that the Rumanians have thus played into the hands of these men, as it affords them a ground upon which to base their futile cry for the restitution of Transylvania to Hungary, and so to delay the peaceful settlement of that province.

A distinguished Englishman,[45] as the result of investigations on the spot, sums up the situation as follows. “The Rumanian character is extraordinarily easy-going. They are not hustlers (perhaps it would be better for them if they _could_ hustle a trifle), and no one would suggest that in all sections of their country their administration is perfect. It must not be forgotten, however, that the country has been roughly doubled in area and that in the newly annexed territories it was impracticable to retain a large number of civil servants who had been brought up in the machinery of another State--at any rate, as far as the leading officials were concerned; but it may here be mentioned that the majority of the minor personnel on the Transylvanian railways, as well as postal officials, etc., who worked under the old regime, have been retained by the Rumanian Government. Every Englishman knows how long it has taken us to build up an efficient Civil Service. Rumania is a country which has not behind her the traditions of organisation which Great Britain enjoys, and in the selection of the various administrative officials during the short period which has succeeded the War, there have undoubtedly been appointed some men who have proved themselves unfitted to carry out the work. Humanly speaking, this was bound to happen, and in my humble opinion the Rumanian Government is doing all that is possible to make good when failure in this respect is discovered.”

Despite the exaggerated claims of the Magyars, there is no question that the Magyar minority in Transylvania is in every respect far better off than ever was the Rumanian majority under Hungarian rule. Such minor injustices as have been perpetrated towards the Magyars have been due to the misplaced zeal of isolated local officials, and are in no way representative of official Rumanian policy. Beyond these, Rumanian demonstrations of triumph inspired by the acquisition of an essentially Rumanian province, are naturally distasteful to a proud people. But of grievances such as would justify a reconsideration of the Treaties, even the Magyar propagandists can adduce no trace.

FOOTNOTES:

[43] These terms of the Treaty are embodied in the Czechoslovak Constitution, which contains the following provisions:--

128.

1. All Czechoslovak citizens are fully equal before the law and enjoy
the same civil and political rights, without distinction of race,
language or religion.

2. Differences of religion, confession, opinion or language can be no
bar to a Czechoslovak citizen, within the limits fixed by the general
laws, particularly to admission to the public service, offices or
honours, or in the exercise of the various professions or industries.

3. Czechoslovak citizens may, within the limits fixed by the general
laws, employ freely any language, in private or commercial matters,
in the exercise of their religion, in the Press or in any form of
publication, or at public meetings.

4. The rights in these respects belonging to State agencies according
to the laws at present in force or those which may be passed in the
future, in the interests of public order, the safety of the State or
of efficient supervision, are not prejudiced by the foregoing.

129.

The principles of the right of language in the Czechoslovak Republic
are fixed by a definite law forming part of the Constitution.

130.

The general laws according to citizens the right to establish, direct
and control at their own expense charitable, religious or social
institutions, schools and other educational establishments--all
citizens, without distinction of nationality, language, religion or
race, are equal and enjoy the right to use freely their own tongue
and practise freely their religion in these establishments.

131.

In towns and districts containing a reasonable proportion of
Czechoslovak subjects speaking a language other than Czechoslovak,
the children of these Czechoslovak subjects are guaranteed the
possibility, within the limits fixed by the general educational laws,
of receiving instruction in their own tongues, but Czechoslovak may
be declared an obligatory subject.

132.

In cases where in towns and districts inhabited by a reasonable
proportion of Czechoslovak subjects belonging to racial, religious
or linguistic minorities, certain portions of the public revenue
are earmarked for educational, religious or charitable purposes by
State, communal or other budgets, part of the amount so earmarked,
corresponding to the appropriation and the objects, shall be applied
to these minorities, within the limits of the general regulations
concerning the public administration.

133.

The putting into force of the principles of 131 and 132, and
particularly the definition of the expression “Reasonable
proportion,” will be provided for by special legislation.

134.

Any measures of forced denationalisation whatever are forbidden.
Violation of this principle may be declared by law a criminal act.

[44] See also below for an amplification of this statement.

[45] Sir Harry Brittain, in _Eastern Europe_, October-November, 1921.