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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Resurrecting the Nation: Felvidék and the Hungarian Territorial Revisionist Project, 1938-1945 A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History by Leslie Marie Waters 2012 © Copyright by Leslie Marie Waters 2012 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Resurrecting the Nation: Felvidék and the Hungarian Territorial Revisionist Project, 1938-1945 by Leslie Marie Waters Doctor of Philosophy in History University of California, Los Angeles, 2012 Professor Ivan T. Berend, Chair This dissertation investigates the link between contested territories, border changes, and nationalizing practices in twentieth century East-Central Europe through the case study of southern Slovakia (Felvidék) as it shifted between Czechoslovak and Hungarian sovereignty from the years 1938 to 1945. The region, claimed by Czechoslovak, Slovak, and Hungarian nationalists, had belonged to Hungary prior to the First World War, was awarded to Czechoslovakia by the Treaty of Trianon in 1920, returned to Hungary by the First Vienna Arbitration in 1938, and restored to Czechoslovakia after World War II. This project integrates political and social history, focusing on both state and local actors in order to ascertain the everyday effects of nationalizing policy on the residents of Felvidék. Utilizing a variety of first-hand accounts from Hungary, Slovakia, and abroad, it chronicles the transfer of Felvidék to Hungary in November 1938 amid grandiose nationalist celebrations. ii Through Hungarian foreign ministry documents and local reports, it also examines the burgeoning propaganda rivalry between Hungarian and Slovak irredentists for physical and ideological control of the territory. Hungarian educational policy in the region is explored with the help of textbooks and yearbooks. Court cases and interior ministry documents speak to the issues of loyalty and suspicion that became central to Felvidék’s return to Hungarian sovereignty. The dissertation probes the difficulties of reintegrating Felvidék back into the Hungarian state, focusing on questions of education, minority policy, and identity politics, revealing a multiplicity of complex national identities and loyalties in the region that confounded state officials. iii The dissertation of Leslie Marie Waters is approved. John A. Agnew Francis R. Anderson Ivan T. Berend, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2012 iv Table of Contents List of Figures vi Note on Place Names vii Acknowledgements viii Vita x Introduction 1 Chapter 1: Hungarian Nationalism and Territorial Revisionism, 1867-1941 13 Chapter 2: Restoring St. Stephen’s Realm 44 Chapter 3: Revisionism and Reciprocity: Slovak-Hungarian Relations After the Vienna Award 102 Chapter 4: The Learning and Unlearning of Nationality: Hungarian Education in Felvidék 147 Chapter 5: Loyalty and Suspicion 178 Conclusion 219 Bibliography 224 v List of Figures Figure 1: Hungary’s pre-1918 borders. (Source: Zeidler, Ideas on Territorial Revision) 18 Figure 2: Hungary’s territorial gains, 1938-1941. (Source: Zeidler, Ideas on Territorial Revision) 43 Figure 3: Girls in folk costume greet Hungarian soldiers in a Felvidék village, November 1938. (Source: Felvidékünk-Honvédségünk) 64 Figure 4: Horthy enters Kassa at the head of the Hungarian army. (Source: Felvidékünk- Honvédségünk 69 Figure 5: Residents in Bodrogszerdahely [SK: Streda nad Bodrogom] celebrate their return to Hungary with commemorative posters of their “leader,” Regent Horthy. (Source: Holocaust Memorial Center, Budapest, Hungary) 72 Figure 6: Rally for the return of Felvidék in front of the “North” statue in Szabadság Square, 1938. (Source: Holocaust Memorial Center, Budapest, Hungary) 85 Figure 7: Statue of Hungarian Resurrection in Szabadság Square. (Source: Budapest köztéri szobrai) 85 Figure 8: Church of the Homecoming, Szabadság Square. (Source: Author’s Collection) 88 Figure 9: “We are with you” advertisement for Orion Radio’s broadcast of the entry of Hungarian troops into Felvidék. (Source: Függetlenség Nov. 6, 1938) 90 Figure 10: Hungarians for Hungarians Movement commemorative stamp. (Source: Author’s Collection) 93 Figure 11: Ashtray commemorating the return of Fülek. (Source: Jaj, hol a múltunk?) 98 Figure 12: Slovak irredentist map showing territories ceded to Hungary in 1938 as well as areas in Trianon Hungary. (Source: Hungarian National Archives) 121 Figure 13: Slovak anti-Hungarian propaganda depicting a Hungarian count forcing a Slovak Hlinka Guardsman to kiss his riding boot. (Source: Hungarian National Archives) 123 Figure 14: Hungarian textbooks depict “Past,” “Present,” and “Future,” reinforcing integral revisionist demands, 1940. (Source: A legújabb kor története a francia forradalomtól napjanikig a gimnázium és leánygimnázium VI. osztálya számára) 157 Figure 15: Language Knowledge Among Hungarian Students at János Hunfalvy Gymnasium. 166 vi Note on Place Names This dissertation utilizes English place names where they exist (i.e. Vienna) or their official state designation, which changes based on the date being discussed. Thus, the present-day city of Košice is referred to as such when referencing the years when the city was in Czechoslovakia or its successor state the Slovak Republic (1918-1938; 1945-present). It is called by its Hungarian name, Kassa, when discussing periods when the city was under Hungarian sovereignty (pre- 1918; 1938-1945). When quoting a source, the name utilized in the original has been preserved. The first reference to a particular location is followed by alternate designations in other languages, along with the abbreviation SK for Slovak, UA for Ukrainian, RO for Romanian, or HU for Hungarian. vii Acknowledgements I wish to thank a number of advisors, colleagues, friends, and family members that helped me complete this project. My dissertation advisor, Ivan Berend, has been the ideal mentor, generous with both his time and his incredible knowledge as a historian. This dissertation would not have been possible without his guidance and encouragement. I also benefited from the feedback of my exceptional dissertation committee, John Agnew, Perry Anderson, and Russell Jacoby. Miklós Zeidler at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest and Attila Pók at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences offered much-appreciated assistance with the archives and invaluable advice on my project. Miroslav Michela at the Slovak Academy of Sciences provided me with important insights on Slovak historiography and Robert Evans at Oxford University guided my exploration of the Macartney Papers there. Tuška Benes at the College of William and Mary quickly became an invaluable mentor, helping me grasp the dissertation as a genre. Archivists Szilveszter Dékány at the Hungarian National Archives, Ladislav Balogh at the Košice City Archive, and Zuzana Kleščinská at the Slovak State Archive in Košice have my deepest gratitude for helping me navigate confounding document collections. The research and writing of this dissertation was supported by a Fulbright IIE grant to Hungary and several research fellowships from the UCLA Center for European and Eurasian Studies and the Department of History. The Hungarian-American Fulbright Commission and the Institute for History of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences served as my host institutions while I conducted research in Budapest. The College of William and Mary in Virginia generously allowed me to utilize its resources as I wrote my dissertation. I must also thank the many language tutors who enabled me to develop the skills necessary to conduct my research, especially Nóra Fülöpp, who once paid me the ironic complement that my Hungarian had viii progressed to such a stage that I would have been considered Hungarian by a nineteenth-century Hungarian census official. My work benefitted tremendously from conversations with László Muntean, Martin Mevius, and Eric Weaver. I must also thank members of my dissertation reading group – Deborah Bauer, Susan Cribbs, and Xochitl Flores – for reading sections of my project. Nadine Zimmerli kindly read chapters on a moment’s notice and chatted with me on many occasions about all manner of European history. My dear friends Aaron Olivas and Luis Muñoz have seen me through all the ups and downs of graduate school and given their help whenever I needed it. A special thanks goes to Kristina Poznan for reading every word of my dissertation and aiding me on research trips everywhere from Slovakia to her own garage. Her contribution is immeasurable. Finally, I would like to thank my mother, Teresa, my sister, Laura, and my nephews Mauricio and Jeremiah for providing me with love and encouragement at home. ix VITA 2003 B.A., History Summa Cum Laude University of San Francisco San Francisco, CA 2008 M.A., European History, with distinction University of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA 2007-2009 Teaching Assistant University of California, Los Angeles 2009-2010 Fulbright IIE Fellowship Budapest, Hungary 2011-2012 Adjunct Instructor The College of William and Mary Williamsburg, VA PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS Waters, Leslie. “Returning Home: The Political and Historical Symbolism of the First Vienna Award in Hungary, November 1938.” Paper presented at the Association for the Study of Nationalities Conference at Columbia University in New York, N.Y., April 2012. _____. “Erasing Borders: The Reacquaintance of Trianon and Felvidék Hungarians.” Paper presented at the American Hungarian Educators’ Association Conference