Cross-Border Connections on Three Hungarian Borderlands (In Austrian
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id176496343 pdfMachine by Broadgun Software - a great PDF writer! - a great PDF creator! - http://www.pdfmachine.com http://www.broadgun.com Cross-border connections on three Hungarian borderlands (in Austrian-Hungarian, Slovakian-Hungarian and Ukrainian-Hungarian reference areas) ÁR JUDIT MOLN School of Geography, Queen’s University, Belfast BT7 1NN, UK INTRODUCTION EU enlargement caused worries among former EU members and sometimes also for Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs), as we learn from some recent academic papers É (ANDERSON, J. 1998; BCHIR, H, FONTAGN , L. AND ZANGHIERI, P. 2003; TUPY, M. L. 2003. etc.) and as we could hear from some EU politicians. Certainly Europe has more problems after enlargement, at least in the short-term. Apparently it is advantageous for the new European Union as a whole, but we have to be wary of giving conclusions now and we have to think about the future watchfully if we would like to predict it. In the European Union, in spite of globalization, the Single European Market (SEM) and a proliferation of transnational ’Dowd, bodies, there are still national, economic and other conflicts here. Liam O concluded “As the meaning of national borders change that s, existing borders are challenged, old borders re-emerge and new ones are established often in the midst of bloody conflict. The whole process reminds us that we should never see boundaries as natural, fixed or immutable, rather ‘temporary’ constructions dependent on they should be understood as the balance of forces at ” ’D specific times in history. (O OWD, L. 1994). “dependent on It is very important that borders are the balance of forces at specific times in ”, because we could be misled history into analysing situations without enough of a grasp of “subject positions”( their history. We can approach conflicts from the point of view of DIEZ, T, STETTER, S, ALBERT, M. 2004). Certainly it will help us to understand the actual situation ’ because finally the result will depend always on the actors in the conflicts positions, and who has more power, resources and a bigger hinterland. The example of the former Yugoslavia also shows us that conflicts were latent during the Communist era, but afterwards turned into a manifest ones (DIEZ, T, STETTER, S, ALBERT, M. 2004). ’ In such processes, old borders disappear and new ones are born. This can change peoples lives dramatically on the borderlands. This paper tries to show contacts through and across the ’ lives borders of Hungary and the some of the impact of those redrawn borders on peoples . Method The study is based on survey by questionnaire, which is a common procedure in borderland studies. An empirical study was made, at the household level, of the: existence of relatives beyond the border level of relations maintained with the relatives from the other side frequency of border crossings purpose of the border crossings municipal attraction centers in these areas - places visited for the use of retail and services. We used a non-probability sample in the villages and a probability sample in Sopron town. Research areas The study is based on three border regions: 98 settlements running of the full length of the Hungarian-Ukrainian border, called the “Szatmár árpátalja borderland” (Figure 1) -Bereg-K ó and Hernád rivers of the 105 settlements along the border section between the Saj “Sajó ád borderland” (Figure 2) Hungarian-Slovakian border, called the -Hern the Sopron region of the Austrian-Hungarian border with 35 settlements including the õ “Kékfrankos borderland” (Figure city of Sopron and the Fert -lake region, called the 3). á Ungv r N Slovakia Ukraine W E á Munk cs S á Beregsz sz õ õ Nagysz l s á á é V s rosnam ny b o r d e r R e s e a r c h a r e a : é Feh rgyarmat Hungary H u n g a r i a n s i d e á é M t szalka í á U k r a i n i a n s i d e Ny regyh za Romania ár árpátalja borderland research area Figure 1 The Szatm -Bereg-K Kassa N W E S main roads roads railways Miskolc Hungarian part of the research area Slovakian part of the research area ó ád borderland research area Figure 2 The Saj -Hern e N e d S õ t r r e l e d F Eisenstadt e f i o s u e W E e k N a L S Mattersburg m a i n r o a d s o t h e r r o a d s r a i l w a y s Sopron u r b a n a r e a s õ r e s e a r c h a r e a : Fert d H u n g a r i a n s i d e A u s t r i a n s i d e 2 0 0 2 0 4 0 K i l o m e t e r s ékfrankos borderland research area Figure 3 The K After the two world wars, the new borders of Hungary were not created to take notice of the ethnic compositions of the areas they bisected. As a result of these treaties, many Hungarian people found themselves left out of their original home country. After the Treaty of Trianon, Hungary lost 67% of its territory; its population decreased dramatically from 18,264,533 to 7,990,202; and its territory decreased even more dramatically from 282,870 km2 to 93,073 km2. 1,7 million Hungarian people were left in Romania, 0.5 million Hungarian people in the Serb-Croatian-Slovenian Kingdom, 1.1 million Hungarian people in Czechoslovakia, and 26,000 Hungarian people in Austria (ZEIDLER, M. 2001) (Figure 4). Two of our research areas contain ethnic Hungarian majorities on the non-Hungarian side of ár árpátalja borderland and the Sajó ád borderland. Within the border: the Szatm -Bereg-K -Hern these areas there are settlements with Hungarian minorities and settlements with Hungarian majorities. Figure 4 Ethnic Hungarians (outside Hungary) in Central Europe (Pink colour shows Hungarian majorities, orange colour shows Hungarian minorities, green circles show approximately the research areas) (in: http://www.htmh.hu/terkep/hatterk.jpg) COMPARATIVE STUDY OF INTERRELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE TWO SIDES OF THE BORDERS The existence of relatives across the border In all of three research borderlands connections were found with relatives from the other side of the border (Figure 5) and social interweaving across borders is often strongly felt. Hungarian people living in the Ukrainian and Slovakian research areas, have the most relatives across the border in Hungary. More than 70% of the people asked in each of these areas have relatives. It is interesting that those living in the same borderlands on the other side apparently have many fewer relatives on the other side of the border (20% in Hungarian side ár árpátalja borderland and around 40% in Hungarian side of the Sajó of the Szatm -Bereg-K - ád borderland Hern ). ’s In these areas lives the Hungarian diaspora, people living abroad (from Hungary point of view), and these people would like to keep contact strongly with their native country so they keep tally on more distant cousins than people who live in Hungary do. In the Austrian- Hungarian research area, there are very few Hungarians on the Austrian side and also just a few Austrians on the Hungarian side, so they have few relatives across the border. But the Hungarians on the Hungarian side would like to keep the contact with their families who live west, so they also keep count of distant cousins on the Austrian side. % 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 d d d d d d n n n n n n a a a a a a l l l l l l r r r r r r e e e e e e d d d d d d r r r r r r o o o o o o b b b b b b s s a a d d j j l l o o á á a a k k n n t t r r n n á á e e a a p p r r r r f f H H - - k k á á ó ó é é j j K K - - a a K K g g f f S S e e o o f f r r o o e e e e B B d d e e i i - - d d r r s s i i á á s s n n m m a a n n t t i i r r a a a a i t i a r z z s k g a u a S S n g v f f A u n o o o l u H S e e H d d i i s s n n a a i i r n i a a g r n k u U H Figure 5 The Proportion of relatives living across the border The level of relations maintained with relatives across the border We can see that, in all research areas, most people meet their relatives rarely - more rarely than monthly, or only for an important family occasion (Figures 6-8). % % 50 Hungarian side 70 45 Ukrainian side 60 40 Hungarian side 35 50 Slovakian side 30 40 25 20 30 15 20 10 10 5 0 0 t k k y y y k k y n n l l l l c e e e e o o h h h h i a i t t t t e e t e e s s n n n n n w w w w a a o o o o o c c a d a d c c c m m m m n n o o e y e o o r n r n n y y c c o a o a l l a i i e e h h m t m t s s p m m r r y e y a a y y l l f f o o r r e e e t t e e k r r e e n n v v t a a c c ' r a r a e e n t n t n r r o e o e e e o r o r o c c d o p o p n n o o m m m m i i n n a a r r o o f f y y l l n n o ár árpátalja and Sajóo Figures 6-7 The intensity of visits to relatives in the Szatm -Bereg-K - ád borderlands Hern % 60 Hungarian side Austrian side 50 40 30 20 10 0 k k y y n l l e e o h h i t t e e s n n w w a o o c a d c m m n o e o r n y c o a l i e h t m s m r y a y l f o r e t e r e n v a c r a e n t r e o e r o c p o n o m m i n a r o f y l n o ékfrankos borderland Figure 8 The intensity of visits to relatives in the K The frequency of border crossings “ ” Despite the Schengen border the frequency of travelling across the border is highest in the ékfrankos borderland.