History paper by Rajec, Elizabeth Molnár
Deportation of the Hungarian Minority from Czechoslovakia to Hungary
Type of Abstract (select):Abstract (max. 250 words):
Under the leadership of President Eduard Beneš of Czechoslovakia on February 27, 1946 a “Czechoslovak-Hungarian Population Exchange Agreement” was proposed and was reluctantly signed by the Hungarian Government whereby Slovaks from Hungary would voluntarily relocate to Slovakia but Hungarians from Slovakia would forcefully be deported to Hungary. The agreement demanded to cleanse Slovakia from Hungarian minorities. Slovakia was striving to become a monolingual national state. About 200,000 Hungarians from Slovakia, aka Felvidék were targeted to be deported. The civil rights of law-abiding Hungarians citizens were severely abused. Atrocities and crimes were committed under the pressure of nationalistic political decisions. The forced deportation committed against Hungarians was a tribulation that defines the suffering of human dignity. 71,787 Slovaks voluntarily left Hungary while 86,616 Hungarians were forcefully taken away in army trucks or freight wagons to be relocated from Slovakia to Hungary. The deportation came to a final halt on June 1, 1949.
Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Elizabeth Molnár Rajec retired from City College of the City University of New York as Professor Emerita in 1996, after a long career of Academic Librarian and professor. The latest among her many publications is "Climbing Out From Under the Shadow", New York, 2010.