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Perception vs. Reality: Slovak Views of the Hungarian Minority in Slovakia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Ellen L. Paul
Ellen L. Paul*
Affiliation:
Bemidji State University, Minnesota, U.S.A. epaul@bemidgistate.edu
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Extract

After Slovakia and the Czech lands separated in 1993, concerns arose regarding Slovakia's ethnic Hungarian, or Magyar, minority. There were concerns about the Slovak government's attitude toward its considerable Magyar population as well as worries about the Hungarian government's stance regarding Magyars in Slovakia and the Slovak-Hungarian border. Frequently over the past decade, the topic of the Hungarian minority in Slovakia has been manipulated by politicians. In both Slovakia and Hungary, Slovak and Hungarian politicians alike have tried to expose “injustices” or “excesses” for political gain. Indeed, the maneuvering of national politicians might lead one to perceive that the reality of contemporary Slovak-Magyar relations was tenuous and acrimonious. But politics aside, what does the average Slovak think of the Magyar minority and Magyar-Slovak relations generally? To what extent do the political debates encompass their actual concerns and deeply held views?

Type
Articles
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 31 , Issue 4 , December 2003 , pp. 485 - 493
Copyright
Copyright © 2003 Association for the Study of Nationalities 

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References

Notes

1. I am grateful to the Fulbright-Hays Group Project Abroad program for the generous funding and extraordinary opportunities for research. The views recorded here are purely anecdotal and intentionally anonymous, taken from 20 Slovaks and Magyars living in Bratislava, the capital, Komarno, a town on the Slovak-Hungarian border south of Bratislava, and Kosice, located in southeast Slovakia.Google Scholar

2. In the ninth century, Magyar tribes arrived in Central Europe from Asia. Their language is unrelated to those of their neighbors. The closest European relative to Hungarian is Finnish.Google Scholar

3. See “Hungarian Minority in Slovakia,” <http://www.bhhrg.org/slovakia/slovakia1994/hung-minority.htm>..>Google Scholar

4. “Following the destruction of the Greater Moravian Empire by the Magyars in 906, the West Slavic Slovaks were eventually to come under the control of Hungary.” See Paul R. Magocsi, Historical Atlas of East Central Europe, Vol. 1 (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1993), p. 13.Google Scholar

5. Norman J. G. Pounds, Eastern Europe (Chicago: Aldine, 1969), p. 394.Google Scholar

6. Ibid. In contrast, the Czech lands and Moravia enjoyed a degree of independence before 1620. After the Habsburg victory at the Battle of White Mountain, the Czechs were subjects of the Habsburg monarch who ruled as Austrian Emperor and King of Bohemia until 1918. The Austro-Hungarian Emperor had the title of “King of Bohemia,” but was never crowned in Prague. He was, however, crowned King of Hungary in Budapest, in 1867. After 1867 in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, Hungary was virtually self-governing (except for common ministries for foreign policy, military, and finances), while the Czech lands were governed from Vienna, though there were regional diets in Bohemia and Moravia.Google Scholar

7. Miklos Duray, “The Hungarian Nationality in Slovakia,” website of Co-Existence, <http://www.hhrf.org/egyutt/A-MERANO.HTM>. Duray is the leader of Egyutteles or Co-Existence, a Hungarian party in Slovakia..+Duray+is+the+leader+of+Egyutteles+or+Co-Existence,+a+Hungarian+party+in+Slovakia.>Google Scholar

8. Stanislav J. Kirschbaum, A History of Slovakia: The Struggle for Survival (New York: St Martin's Press, 1995), p. 158.Google Scholar

9. Joseph Held, The Columbia History of Eastern Europe in the Twentieth Century (New York: Columbia University Press, 1992), pp. 166–168. The population, including three million ethnic Hungarians, and territories were distributed between the three new states created in the surrounding lands (Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Yugoslavia).Google Scholar

10. Jolyon Naegele, “Central Europe: Slovakia and Hungary Spar over Orban's Remarks,” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, <http://www.rferl.org/nca/features/2002/02/15022002095549.asp>. Viktor Orban is Prime Minister of Hungary..+Viktor+Orban+is+Prime+Minister+of+Hungary.>Google Scholar

11. <http://www.slovakia.org/history-magyarization.htm>..>Google Scholar

12. “Hungarians in Czechoslovakia/Slovakia (1918–1992): From Minority Status to Partnership,” <http://www.hhrf.org/egyutt/AD-PARTN.HTM>. For information about Czechoslovak and Slovak actions and legislation that eroded or limited Hungarian rights see also Duray, ibid. .+For+information+about+Czechoslovak+and+Slovak+actions+and+legislation+that+eroded+or+limited+Hungarian+rights+see+also+Duray,+ibid.>Google Scholar

13. The reconstructed bridge, which had been destroyed in World War II, was reopened in October 2001. See “Hungarian Minority in Slovakia,” <http://www.bhhrg.org/slovakia/Slovakia1994/hung-minority.htm>..>Google Scholar

14. Ibid. There was no war. To a certain degree, this scare tactic was related to the hostile climate between the press and the Meciar government. The leader of the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS), Vladimir Meciar, prime minister on and off from 1992 to 1999, was famous for his undemocratic ways, including the suppression of any opposition and his tolerance of white-collar crime. After his removal from office, relations with Hungary and the Hungarian Minority in Slovakia improved dramatically.Google Scholar

15. “Hungarians in Czechoslovakia/Slovakia (1918–1992): From Minority Status to Partnership,” <http://www.hhrf.org/egyutt/AD-PARTN.HTM>..>Google Scholar

16. See “Hungarian Minority in Slovakia,” <http://www.bhhrg.org/slovakia/slovakia1994/hung-minority.htm>..>Google Scholar

17. Human Rights Watch “World Report 2002: Europe and Central Asia: Slovakia”, <http://www.hrw.org/wr2k2/europe17.html>..>Google Scholar

18. Matthew J. Reynolds, Slovak Spectator, 11 June 2001, <http://www.slovakspectator.sk/clanok?cl=604>..>Google Scholar

19. See “Hungarian Minority in Slovakia,” <http://www.bhhrg.org/slovakia/slovakia1994/hung-minority.htm>..>Google Scholar

20. “Hungarians in Czechoslovakia/Slovakia (1918–1992): From Minority Status to Partnership,” <http://www.hhrf.org/egyutt/AD-PARTN.HTM>..>Google Scholar

21. Ibid. “The situation is even more grave by the lack of Hungarian [basic school] teachers: according to present estimations by [the year 2000] the lack will grow to 2,000 teachers!”Google Scholar

22. See “Hungarian Minority in Slovakia,” <http://www.bhhrg.org/slovakia/slovakia1994/hung-minority.htm>..>Google Scholar

23. Ibid. The BHHRG notes that although Soros contributes admirably to high-level academic and media groups in the two countries, “no funds have been directed towards bettering the condition of the ground [base?] of the Hungarian minority.” George Soros is founder of the Open Society Foundation.Google Scholar

24. Ibid. Google Scholar