Mezei István: Urban development in Slovakia (Pécs-Somorja, 2010)
2. Towns in Felvidék (Upper Hungary) before 1918
Towns in Felvidék (Upper Hungary) before 1918 Table 5. The ethnicity proportions in the counties and towns named in the 1861 memorandum in 1910 Ethnicity The proportions of ethnicities in towns The proportions of ethnicities in counties The northern part of Felvidék Hungarian 32.8 7.7 Slovak 46.7 76.3 German 17.2 7.5 The southern part of Felvidék Hungarian 56.8 49.1 Slovak 24.4 41.8 German 17.1 5.9 Source: ibid The internal division of ethnicity proportions shows that, apart from the comparatively homogeneous areas inhabited by Slovak people (Trencsén [Trenčín], Árva [Orava] and certain parts of Liptó), contemporary Felvidék was an area with rather mixed ethnicities (Bajmóczy 200A). After long decades of continuous increase in the Slovak population, the 1910 census was the first to indicate an increase in the Hungarian population. The reason for this was the considerable development of the economy, culture, health care, etc. in the Hungarian bourgeois era (1867-1914), which resulted partly in an increase in the population and partly in a change in the direction of the assimilation processes. Apart from natural assimilation, the Magyarization’ enforced by the Hungarian government was not really effective (Kocsis 1998). This historical situation would have made it possible for a new state, one breaking away from Hungary, to accept the fact that many languages are spoken and to not set the goal of homogeneity when organizing the * * In the second half of the 19th century it was the main ambition of the successive governments in Hungary to Magyarize the ethnicities living in the country. The 1868 act on public education ordained that education should be available for all the children in their own mother tongues. In 1875 it was ordained by law that the Hungarian language should be taught in every school. This was explained by stating that it was useful for every citizen to be able to speak the official language of the state. In 1907 a new act was passed (lex Apponyi), which provided that, after completing the fourth form, children with mother tongues other than Hungarian should be able to express their thoughts in Hungarian both orally and in writing in an understandable way. In the same year, the act on railway service made Hungarian language proficiency for railway employees compulsory. Similarly, the governments tried to make the Hungarian language first widely used then compulsory in all walks of public life (first of all in administration). As opposed to the Magyarization ambitions, ethnicities wanted to achieve independence and the status of a politically equal nation. 30
