 6/10/2010 - "Maybe it is Time for a Danubean / Carpathian Federation." June 4 marked the 90th anniversary of the Treaty of Trianon, the tragic event by which the dismemberment of historic Hungary occured in 1920. Hungarians in the four corners of the world commemorate the anniversary of the tragic event. This Treaty totally altered the political balance of Central Europe. The Treaty deprived Hungary of 65% of her inhabitants and 72% of her territory- an area as large as Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky combined. The dismemberment also created 16 million ethnic minorities, including 5 million Hungarians.
President Wilson called the “Treaty absurd." The US Senate never ratified it.
At that time, Walter Lippmann, the great journalist, called that event “balkanization”, which unfortunately proved to be true and thus contributed greatly to the events of WW II and recently the Bosnian conflict, Kosovo and we have not seen the end of it as Slovakia could be next due to its" Language Police" policy and the Benes Doctrine.
 The Kingdom of Hungary through its 1100 years of history and Poland played the stabilizing role in Central Europe. Whenever, Hungary was strong there was peace in the Danubean Basin and when there was no real power in the area as at the time of the Ottoman invasion and recently after the 1920 dismemberment, the area was an open invitation for both Germany and Russia to maneuver to gain foothold there and thus basically dominate Europe -thus WW II. Louis Kossuth, the great Hungarian patriot back in 1800's proposed a Danubean Confederation for the area (from the Baltic to the Adriatic) to act not only as a buffer from Eastern or Western invasion but as a means of securing peace and prosperity for the area. Flora Lewis of The New York Times recently pointed out that Kossuth’s dream of a Danubean Confederation: “ It might well have averted World War I and the ensuing tragedies. It is worth another look now.” – she wrote.
As recently as 1990, after the fall of the Iron Curtain, an attempt was made towards such confederation by the so- called “Visegrad Four” but the effort has not gathered enough steam due to lack of world leader's interests. Maybe, the time is ripe now as a result of the election of the new Prime Minister of Hungary, Victor Orban, to reopen the initiative and do something constructive not only for the people of the area but of Europe as a whole and also for the United States.
To remedy the errors of the past, I suggest the resurrection of Kossuth’s dream of a federation which guarantees self-determination through plebiscites, which was denied in 1920, and which provides autonomy to all ethnic minorities. The Danubean Federation would respect the right of all minorities to maintain their heritage and determine their own destiny, no matter how they evolved. Once that achieved, peace may become a reality in that trouble area.
The key to stabilization of Europe is the elimination of ethnic tensions by guaranteeing ethnic rights and autonomy throughout the region. We must do this not only for our own sake and peace but because it is the right thing to do or to paraphrase President Lincoln: “Nothing is settled for good until it is settled justly.” [Washington Times]
Geza Cseri
President, CIC, Inc.,
Former Science and Technology Advisor
to Supreme Allied Commanders of NATO, and Member, American Hungarian Federation
We ask you to join us and help us continue the
fight for justice.
Contribute or join online!
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 12/10/2015 - AHF mourns the loss of Geza Cseri, Father, Grandfather, Husband, Engineer, US Army Veteran, AHF member, patriot. Geza was born to Joseph and Mary Cseri on June 3, 1936 in Cegled, Hungary. He lived in the town of Abony along with his older brother, Zoli. They enjoyed a comfortable home with orchards and vineyards until they had to flee in September of 1944 due to advancing Russian forces. His family relocated to the most western part of Hungary, near Pozsony - Bratislava, and from there to Germany and eventually France where they became refugees. Geza was 9 years old.
[read more]
 Count Apponyi pleading to the Supreme Council of the Paris Peace Conference:
"In the name of the great principle so happily phrased by President Wilson, namely that no group of people, no population, may be transferred from one State to another without being consulted,- as though they were a herd of cattle with no will of their own,- in the name of this great principle, an axiom of good sense and public morals, we request, we demand a plebiscite on those parts of Hungary that are now on the point of being severed from us. I declare we are willing to bow to the decision of a plebiscite whatever it should be. Of course, we demand it should be held in conditions ensuring the freedom of the vote." [more on Count Apponyi]
At the time President Wilson said: “The proposal to dismember
Hungary is absurd” and later Sir Winston Churchill said: “Ancient
poets and theologians could not imagine such suffering, which Trianon
brought to the innocent.” We are sad to report that they were
right.
AHF Statements:
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Ethnic Distribution in the Kingdom of Hungary in 1910 (Hungarians shown in red)
[download extra large image 4962x3509]
[download large image 1000x707]
Hungarian populations declined significantly after forced removals such as the Benes Decrees and other pograms, the effects of WWI, and Trianon in 1920. With continued pressure and discriminative policies such as the 2009 Slovak Language Law, this trend continued over the past 90 years.
- In Upper Hungary (awarded to Slovakia, Czechoslovakia): 1,687,977 Slovaks and 1,233,454 others (mostly Hungarians - 886,044, Germans, Ruthenians and Roma) [according to the 1921 census, however, there were 1,941,942 Slovaks and 1,058,928 others]
- In Carpathian Ruthenia (awarded to Czechoslovakia): 330,010 Ruthenians and 275,932 others (mostly Hungarians, Germans, Romanians, and Slovaks)
- In Transylvania (awarded to Romania): 2,831,222 Romanians (53.8%) and 2,431,273 others (mostly Hungarians - 1,662,948 (31.6%) and Germans - 563,087 (10.7%)). The 1919 and 1920 Transylvanian censuses indicate a greater percentage of Romanians (57.1%/57.3%) and a smaller Hungarian minority (26.5%/25.5%)
- In Vojvodina 510,754 Serbs and 1,002,229 others (mostly Hungarians 425,672 and Germans 324,017)
- In Vojvodina and Croatia-Slavonia combined (awarded to Yugoslavia): 2,756,000 Croats and Serbs and 1,366,000 others (mostly Hungarians and Germans)
- In Burgenland (awarded to Austria): 217,072 Germans and 69,858 others (mainly Croatian and Hungarian)
About
the Treaty
by Bryan Dawson
One
thousand years of nation building successfully delineated groups
based on culture, religion, geography, and other attributes to create
the countries with which we are so familiar. While some Western European
nations would continue power struggles and princely battles and civil
wars, Hungary, founded in 896, was a peaceful multi-ethnic state for a
1000 years and her borders were unchanged. Until 1920...
The Treaty of Trianon in 1920...
in the aftermath of WWI, was extremely harsh on Hungary
and unjustifiably one-sided. The resulting "treaty" lost Hungary
an unprecedented 2/3 of her territory, and 1/2 of her total population
or 1/3 of her Hungarian-speaking population. Add to this the loss of up
to 90% of vast natural resources, industry, railways, and other infrastructure.
This was done to a nation whose borders were established
over a thousand years earlier (896 A.D.) and one who, as the "Saviors
of Christianity," lost millions of lives defending the rest of Europe
from numerous invasions from the likes of the Mongolian Tatars and the
Ottoman Turks.
 Hungary,
along with Germany and Austria, experienced rapid economic expansion during
the latter part of the 19th century and into the 20th. This challenge
alarmed France and Russia. Each needed a way to stave off German-Hungarian
economic competition. With the advent of WWI, France had her chance and
began fostering anti-Hungarian sentiment among non-Magyar speaking Hungarian
nationals. It is important to note that for over a thousand years, Hungary
never experienced ethnic civil war. France, eager to weaken Hungary, offered
to reward those nations and groups that assisted them in the war with
large pieces of territory. The "Little Entente" of Rumania (who
switched sides in the last minute), Czechoslovakia, and Serbia took that
opportunity and got very lucky.
The United States has never ratified this treaty. At the time President
Wilson said: “The proposal to dismember Hungary is absurd”
and later Sir Winston Churchill said: “Ancient poets and theologians
could not imagine such suffering, which Trianon bought to the innocent.”
We are sad to report that he was right.
The French, despite American protests and calls for
plebiscites, sent their troops to Northern Hungary in violation of the
cease fire, and then pushed through the Treaty
of Versailles (Trianon). Although Rumania, herself created only in
1862, switched to the French side almost at the very end of the war, she
gained all of Transylvania and majority of the Banat, but claimed the
river Tisza. The Czechs were awarded all of Northern Hungary (now Slovakia),
despite equal numbers of Hungarians and Slovaks in the region, to create
Czechoslovakia. The Serbs got Southern
Hungary (Vojvodina), Slavonia, and Croatia
(confederated with Hungary for 700 years) to create the unlikely "Yugoslavia,"
which, like Czechoslovakia, effectively, no longer exists. Perhaps most
amazingly, the Austrians who were responsible for getting Hungary into
the war in the first place, got Western Hungary (Burgenland).
The dictators in these successor states began to foster nationalism and
teach a less-than-accurate history to help bring legitimacy to their regimes.
These claims are based on some seriously unfortunate state propaganda-cum-history
about an ancient Roman
province called Dacia. In Rumania, this revised history, accelerated
by Ceaucescu, has become the accepted state historical doctrine even today,
making the process of reconciliation much more difficult. In the newly
formed Czechslovakia, Eduard Benes and his infamous "Benes
Decrees" forcibly expelled tens of thousands of Hungarians and
confiscated personal and church properties. See the additional
steps the Slovak Government has taken against the Hungarian minority.
AHF's efforts to guarantee anew the rights of the Hungarian "minorities"
continue.
Though the United States recommended a slightly more liberal approach
in regards to Hungary, it did not prevail. The "self-determination
of the nationalities" posited by President Woodrow Wilson resulted
in only one plebiscite in Sopron, in Western Hungary. The vote was overwhelmingly
pro-Hungarian and Sopron remained within the new borders. Oddly enough,
although Austria was also a loser in the war, she also received a part
of Hungary, and Sopron became a border city.
The dismemberment and instability brought economic collapse and governmental
crisis. The Rumanians, also in defiance of the armistice agreement with
their new-found French allies, took advantage of the turmoil in Hungary
and moved troops into the defenseless nation and occupied Budapest and
beyond. To this day, the Greater Rumania Party and other in Rumania still
claim territory that includes the river Tisza and even Budapest. A mini-communist
takeover, a republican government, finally gave way to Royalist Admiral
Miklos Horthy who took over as "Regent" of Hungary and brought
some stability back to the country. The new government got to work on
trying to revise the unjst treaty. Sadly, the US with its growing isolationist
stance, pulled out of the League of Nations and Western Europe wanted
no part in re-opening the case. France was focused on making sure Germany
was punished. The Hungarians got a sympathetic ear from only Italy and
Germany. This tragic alliance initially gained Hungary part of her northern
territory from Czechoslovakia and Northern Transylvania from Rumania.
But this alliance would only to plunge her into another disaster and occupations
by first Nazis and later Soviet communists. Her land was again taken.
One part of northern Hungary was then transferred from Czechoslovakia
and became part of the Soviet Union and is today part of the Ukraine.
 The
maps here not only show graphically the extent to which the Treaty of
Trianon dismembered Hungary, it shows how much Hungarian-majority areas
were arbitrarily "reassigned." Hungarians today are the one
of the largest minorities in Europe and face oppression and violence.
Numbering in the millions, Hungarian minorities are second only to the
Russians who became "minorities" with the dissolution of the
Soviet Union. Hungarians live under harsh persecution in the new states
created by the treaty. The Helsinki Watch Committee called Romanian efforts
to "purify" Transylvania as "Cultural Genocide."
Read
the Treaty in full text
Additional AHF
Links on Trianon
External
Links on Trianon
Related
Downloads
You will need the free Adobe Reader to open the following
files. Click the image to download.
- Hungary's
Accession to NATO: An expanded report - 7/17/2007
- "NATO Enlargement" by Frank Koszorus
Jr. March 29, 2004 - Remarks on the Occasion of the
Enlargement of NATO, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. [download]
- AHF Memorandum
on Romanian President Iliescu Visit - 10/24/2003
- "Nato Enlargement And Minority Rights: Prerequisites To Security"
by Frank Koszorus, Jr., April 2003 - A
memorandum that was submitted to Robert A. Bradtke, Deputy Assistant
Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs, and Heather A. Conley,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs during
a roundtable discussion on "NATO Enlargement and the Current State
of the Trans-Atlantic Alliance." This submission follows several
other intiatives, including submissions to Lord Roberston, Secretary
General of NATO. [download]
- “Nato Enlargement: Promoting Western Values, Strengthening The
Alliance” by Frank Koszorus, Jr., April 29,
2003 - A Statement Before The United States Senate Committee
On Foreign Relations.
[download]
- "U.S. Senate Unanimously Ratifies Nato Treaty; Senators
Raise Rights Of Minorities: Federation Supports Efforts Aimed
At Encouraging Romania And Slovakia To Respect Rights Of Hungarian Minorities
And Restore Communal Properties" - Press
Release by Zoltan Bagdy, May 9, 2003 [download]
- An Essay on the foundations of Rumanian Identity, Nationalism and
Ethnic Cleansing - CONCEPTUAL CONFUSIONS CONCERNING THE ROMANIAN
IDENTITY: NEAM AND POPOR AS EXPRESSIONS OF ETHNO-NATIONALISM (PART 3)
- "...the motivation and the goal was common: racially determined
mass murder." (Appeared in RFE/RFL Newsline, 6/5/2005 By Victor
Neumann, professor of history at the West University of Timisoara, Romania.)
[download]
- Transylvanian
Monitor #14: Property Restitution.
Congressional
Resolutions & Records
- H.RES 191 - A RESOLUTION urging the "prompt and fair
restitution of church properties by Romania and Slovakia - TOM LANTOS
/ TOM TANCREDO (April 6th 2005) in the House of Representatives
[download]
- A RESOLUTION REGARDING THE ISSUE OF TRANSYLVANIAN HUNGARIANS
-- HON. DONALD E. `BUZ' LUKENS (Extension of Remarks - February
26, 1990) in the House of Representatives [download]
- VIOLENCE IN TRANSYLVANIA -- HON. DON RITTER (Extension
of Remarks - March 22, 1990) in the House of Representatives [download]
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