Fraternity-Testvériség, 1980 (58. évfolyam, 1-4. szám)

1980-10-01 / 4. szám

manded that in connection with the proposed dismemberment of Hungary plebiscites be held in Transylvania, Slovakia, Ruthenia, and Croatia-Slavonia, on the strength of the argument that Germany had been accorded the same right with regard to Schleswig-Holstein. Silesia, East Prussia, and the Saarland. At first a lone voice, later he was supported by the other British Dominions, as well as by Japan, Poland, and Italy. The fear of the plebiscite, however, prevailed against them, and the plebiscites were denied. An ominous denial, because some years later the Swiss historian and expert of minority affairs, Aldo-Dami pronounced a brilliant formulation of the truth by saying: “A plebiscite refused is a plebiscite taken in fact.”

The Treaty of Trianon was signed on June 4, 1920. One year later, on June 7, 1921, the Reverend Father Weterle (for many years the protesting voice of Alsace in the German Imperial Parliament) declared in the French National Assembly: “I am profoundly convinced that had plebiscites been held, neither the Serbs nor the rumanians would have received more than one-third of the votes cast . . . People have been pushed against their will. There can be no doubt about that.” Father Weterle spoke from experience; after all, the Alsatians, although of germanic race and language, desired to be French. The sentiment was similar to that of the Wends and Slovenes of Hungary’s Muraköz region. Despite of being Slavs by race and language, these two ethnic groups requested—without success—to be allowed to remain with Hungary in 1919. As events proved it later, it would have been advantageous also for the Croats and Slovaks to be consulted before they were made to merge in one state with the serbs and Czechs, respectively. That they were unhappy with the new arrangement became evident when in the course of World War II both nationalities were quick to declare independence from the artificially created “successor state” when the opportunity presented itself.

The Paris Peace Conference mixed up the peoples’ right to self-determination w'ith the principle of declining nationality on a linguistic basis. The two are by no means identical, because an ethnic group may well decide to prefer belonging to a national sovereignty linguistically different from its own. The Treaty of Trianon did in fact flout both by cutting off large blocs of purely Magyar-inhabited territories and awarding them to Hungary’s neighbors for economic or strategic considerations. “The borders drawn at Trianon,” asserts Aldo Dami, “excluded from Hungary a first zone of Hungarian territories, plus a second zone inhabited by non-Magyars whose interests were, however, so closely entwined with those of Hungary that there could have been no doubt of their decision, had they been consulted. Hence, the Peace of Trianon is based neither on ethnography nor on popular sentiment, nor even on the interests of the populations concerned—which the latter are sure to know best.”

Why? Why was it done in such a manner? Why did the Treaty of Trianon endorse and legalize the occupations by conquest, achieved after the cessation of hostilities by the armed forces of the “successor states”, in stark violation of the armistice agreements concluded with the Allied and Associated Powers? Why was all this injustice sanctioned for the benefit of three countries whose leaders, in order to better divide among themselves the prospective spoils of Austria- Hungary, had in 1917 formd a conspiracy of intrigues to achieve their goal?

What shortsightedness! And what a peace! Let it be recorded here that the United States Congress refused, pure and simple, to recognize and sign the Treaty of Trianon. In

fact, America, in order to signify its disapproval more markedly, concluded a separate peace with Hungary on August 9, 1920.

Yet, even now, 60 years late, justice has not yet been done to Hungary. Attempts to revise the borders drawn at Trianon and redraw them on a more equitable basis, have been in vain. The only frontier revisions, performed by the Axis powers during World War II when they were still in ascendance in Eastern Europe, were later annulled by the new peace treaties. And unlike those in 1919-1920, the Paris Peace Treaties of 1947 did not even stipulate the protection of national minorities. Hundreds of thousands of Hungarians have been expelled already from the land where they were born and where they lived. Millions of others are suffering the fate of oppressed minorities. Their case has been presented to the United Nations repeatedly. Documents, letters, memoranda smuggled out from Czechoslovakia, Rumania, and Yugoslavia tell of the wholesale violations of human rights of the national minorities.

Deeply moved by the plight of the oppressed East European national minorities, and in possession of overwhelming documentation to plead their case, the Hungarian Reformed Federation of America calls on the President and Congress of the United States to do all that is possible for the protection of human rights and the rights of national or ethnic minorities in Czechoslovakia, Rumania, Yugoslavia, as well as in the Soviet Union. Let the United States continue to be the champion of freedom and human dignity in the world, so as to maintain in high esteem the country and the ideals admired by the oppressed everywhere.

BISHOP ARP AD L. BERETZ

1914 - 1980

Cremation took place in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Private interment at the convenience of the family in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Memorial services were held October 26 in the Faith United Church of Christ, with the Rev. Donald G. Capp and other clergy from the Calvin Synod officiating.

Bishop Beretz had been a resident of Hammond for the past 20 years; was responsible for the building of the new church, educational building, and parsonage. He completed his seminary studies at Sárospatak, Hungary, and did graduate work at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut; he was active on a local, state, national, and international level as a delegate to General Synod’s World Council of Churches; he was elected the first bishop of the Calvin Synod. Before coming to Hammond he was pastor of the United Church of Christ in Wallingford, Connecticut for 14 years.

Bishop Árpád L. Beretz, age 65, Pastor of the Faith United Church of Christ, Hammond, Ind., passed away Sunday, October 19, 1980, at Bronson Hospital, Kalamazoo, Michigan. Survivors: wife, Helen (nee Kosa;) two daughters, the Rev. Margaret Beretz and husband, the Rev. Donald D. Kelley, co-Pastors of St. John’s United Church in Chesterton, Indiana, J ulianna Beretz and husband, Thomas J. Hathaway of Cranbury, N.J.; one granddaughter, Susanna Clare Hathaway of Cranbury, N.J.; mother, Mrs. Anna Berecz of Statford, Conn.; one brother, Louis (Ida) Berecz of Trumbull, Conn.

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