Mezei István: Urban development in Slovakia (Pécs-Somorja, 2010)
2. Towns in Felvidék (Upper Hungary) before 1918
Ethnie Composition of towns in Felvidék (Upper Hungary) On the basis of the classification of the memorandum we can point out further peculiarities. In the towns of the counties considered as counties with mixed populations from an ethnic point of view, there were more Slovak inhabitants than in the towns of the purely Slav counties. The 1910 census registered a total of 56,396 Slovak inhabitants in the towns of the ’purest’ Slav counties, whereas in the towns of the counties with 'mixed' populations, i.e. counties with a Hungarian majority, there were 69,053 people registered. Still, this meant that there was a higher percentage of Slovak inhabitants in northern towns, at 46.7%, compared with 24.2% for the towns in the south. Mention must be made of the fact that there were five towns in the north where over 50% of the population was Slovak, adding up to 19,820 people, and there was only one town with a considerable majority at 73.7% (Breznóbánya [Brezno] with 3,081 people), whereas in the southern counties, which were considered ‘mixed’, there were eight towns with a percentage of Slovaks higher than 50%, in four of which the rate was over 80%. In these towns there were 36,907 people. In the north, due to the lower population of the towns, there was an actual Slovak majority. Compared to the 32.8% of Hungarian inhabitants, the percentage of the Slovaks was 46.7%, which meant an average of 3,133 people, i.e. a Slovak population of 47% in these small towns. This can be compared to the counties in the south, with a Hungarian majority, where the number of the Slovak inhabitants was 3,288 people on average, representing 37.3%. It is a fact that in the north, in every town, the percentage of Slovak inhabitants was over 25%, while in the more southern counties nine towns had a percentage of lower than 16%. For Hungarian people in the north this meant that there was only one town with over 50% of Hungarian ethnicity (Zólyom [Zvolen], 56.5%, 4,973 people), while in the south there were ten such towns (111,667 people). As for the German ethnicity, there were two towns in the northern counties with over 50% (Gölnicbánya [Gelnica] 54.7% and Késmárk [Kežmarok] 51.3%). In the southern counties their proportion was lower than 50%. However, in Pozsony [Bratislava], where they accounted for 41.9%, the Germans were the most populous ethnicity (32,970 people). Comparing the ethnicity composition of the counties named in the memorandum (Table 1) with the ethnicity composition of the towns (Table 4), we find that there was a much larger Slovak population in the countryside, however, in the towns the Hungarian population was higher (Table 5). 29
