Czechoslovak–Hungarian population exchange instance of deportation
The Czechoslovak–Hungarian population exchange was the exchange of inhabitants between Czechoslovakia and Hungary after World War II. Between 45,000 and 120,000 Hungarians were forcibly transferred from Czechoslovakia to Hungary, and their properties confiscated, while around 72,000 Slovaks voluntarily transferred from Hungary to Czechoslovakia.Deportation of Hungarians
The resettlement of about 700,000 Hungarians was envisaged at Kosice and subsequently reaffirmed by the National Front, however, the success of the deportation plan depended on the acquiescence of the victors in World War II. In 1943, before the end of the war, Beneš already received the necessary approval of the United States, Great Britain and the Soviet Union to transfer the German and Hungarian population out of Czechoslovakia, but at the end of the war, when the American and British leaders saw the specifics of Beneš's plan, they did not support it. The plan, however, fit well with Joseph Stalin's Central European policy, and on March 21, 1945, Vyacheslav Molotov informed Beneš that the Soviet Union would support him. Zdeněk Fierlinger informed the Czechoslovak government that "Stalin has an utterly positive standpoint on our demands in the matter of the transfer. He will allow us to carry out the transfer to Germany and Hungary, and, to a certain extent, also to Austria"The Potsdam Agreement subsequently approved the deportation of Germans from Czechoslovakia, but the removal of the complete Hungarian population proved to be more difficult, and finally failed to be approved. The Czechoslovak government attempted to apply the Potsdam Agreement on the Hungarian population as well, but the Western powers rejected this conception, and also refused to put the Czechoslovak demands into the peace treaty with Hungary. The Hungarian government protested the planned expulsion of the Hungarian population from Czechoslovakia and requested intervention from the Allies. When the Czechoslovak government realized that they had lost the support of the Western powers, who advised and supported negotiations with Hungary, they turned to an internal solution, and decided to eliminate the Hungarian minority through Slovakization and Slovak colonization.Hungarian–Slovak population exchanges
"The minorities in Central Europe must be liquidated, as they have been a source of trouble and a fifth column"
The Czechoslovak leadership pressed for the deportation of all Hungarians; however, the Allies prevented a unilateral expulsion, and instead advised them to solve the minority problem through negotiations. As a result, the Czechoslovak government resettled more than 40,000 Hungarians to the Czech borderlands, provoking a protest from the United States, and a warning from Hungary about the potential reannexation of the solidly Hungarian areas, something it had achieved in 1938 in the First Vienna Award, but which was annulled on February 10, 1947 by the Treaty of Paris. After this, Czechoslovakia pressed for a bilateral population exchange to remove Hungarians and increase its Slovak population, changing the ethnic makeup of the country. This plan was initially rejected by Hungary, however, one of the unconcealed purposes of the deportation of the Hungarians to the Czech lands was to pressure Hungary to agree. Soon, Hungary realized that the Allies are not actually much interested in the fate of the Hungarian minority, and that they would not halt the deportations; the peace treaty signed on 1947 did not include any provision concerning the protection of minorities. In these circumstances, Hungary finally signed the bilateral agreement with Czechoslovakia in Budapest, on February 27, 1946. The signatories were Vladimír Clementis, Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Czechoslovakia and János Gyöngyösi, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary.
The Hungarian government considered the agreement to be a major fiasco. The Czechoslovak government planned the removal of 250,000 Hungarians from South Slovakia to Hungary, but according to different estimations 45,000 or 120,000 – generally well-to-do businessmen, tradesmen, farmers and intellectuals – had been transferred under the bilateral exchange, while 71,787 or 73,200 Slovaks from Hungary – the exact number depends on source consulted – were resettled in South Slovakia. Slovaks leaving Hungary moved voluntarily, but Hungarians leaving Czechoslovakia were forcibly deported and their properties taken away. Thirty thousand Hungarians, who arrived to the country in 1938, hence were not Czechoslovak citizens before, left the territories that were re-annexed by Hungary in 1938 and then re-attached to Czechoslovakia after World War II. This was due to their being dropped from the pension, social, and healthcare system. In all, 89,660 Hungarians arrived in Hungary from Czechoslovakia between 1945 and 1948. Half of the Slovaks who registered for the exchange ultimately chose not to relocate to Czechoslovakia.
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