Magyar News, 1998. szeptember-1999. augusztus (9. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1999-06-01 / 10. szám
The Problem of Autonomy by György Beke In connection with the war against Yugoslavia, the great Hungarian writer of our time, György Beke, gave a very informative background description of Central European developements for the “Carpathian Observer”, which we hereby summerize. It gives us a better understanding of the unfolding events in Kosovo. Clear-headed historians have discovered that the tragedies of our century can be traced back in most instances to the peace accords of Versailles and Trianon. Without the humiliation of Germany, Hitler would never have received societal backing; and without Hitler's war, Stalin could never have extended his empire upon such East-European countries, like Hungary and Czechoslovakia, which had never belonged to the sphere of influence of Russia. Strangely enough, the principle of self-determination, as the fundamental doctrine for the reconstruction of Middle- Europe, was declared by then President Wilson in his address to Congress on January 8, 1918. The most important part of this memorable address was the number 10 point: “10./ Opportunity of autonomous development for the peoples of Austria- Hungary. ” Wilson was aware of the fact that Austria-Hungary was a pacifying force in Central Europe, yet in spite of his better knowledge, he consented to its dissolution in the end. We suffer from his fateful decission. Wilson's fourteen points made a decisive impact upon the warring factions, and hastened without a doubt tire collapse of tire Central Powers. The East European nations saw in these principles the guarantee of their free national life, development and identity. Was the Wilsonian principle ever put into practice? Unfortunately not! The Western powers applied a particular version of the principle of self-determination when they united the Czechs and the Slovaks into one country, and the Southern -Slavs, the Serbians, Croatians and Slovenians, the so called "brother nations," into another. But this solution, besides making a large number of Hungarian and German populations a dispossessed minority, not only contradicted the principle of self-determination but also proved it simply unworkable. Also in the newly constituted Czechoslovakia the sharp contradiction came to the surface, since die Czechs, considering themselves the only victors, behaved like conquerors, making the Slovaks feel once again as secondary citizens. The South-Slav "brotherhood" was even less peaceful and downright riotous in the newly formed country of Yugoslavia. Between the two World Wars the quarrels among the Serbs and the Croatians intensified continuously. One dramatic episode of this situation was the murder of the Serbian King, Peter, together with the French Secretary of State in Marseilles, in the year 1934. The regicide was merely a symptom of the internal national strained relations of Yugoslavia. The Serbs and Croats were exchanging bullets not only in the French port city but also in their Parliament of Belgrade. President Wilson realizing before the signing of the peace treaties that the noble principles of self-determination became distorted by the power grabbing West- European allies, turned away from die peace conference and returned home offended. The United States did not sign the peace treaty of Trianon but in spite of this fact, it took effect immediately, and determined the fate of the Hungarian nation and die entire Carpathian basin in the twentieth century. As a consequence, 3.5 million Hungarians were forced to live outside the Hungarian Motherland. The colonial status of Central Europe under the Soviet Union tragically blocked the process of self determination even further, although it remained alive. The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 was fought for this principle, so was the Polish freedom movement, and the German unification. "South-Slav time," is the symbol by which we can characterize the collapse of Yugoslavia, leading to the independence of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Macedonia. Slovenia succeeded rather quickly, within (CONTINUED ON PAGE 2) This map shows the dismemberment of Hungary after WW I. The Trianon Treaty, June 5, 1920, with this dismemberment upset the stability of Central Europe Page 1
