History/Political Science paper by Hevő, Péter
Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest

Liberation or Occupation? Interactions between the Hungarian Minority in Czechoslovakia and the Occupying Forces of the Hungarian People’s Army (Accepted)

Type of Abstract (select): Paper presentation

Abstract (max. 250 words):
In August 1968, almost exactly thirty years after the First Vienna Award, Hungarian troops marched into the southern part of Czechoslovakia. The country was in the middle of a democratization process called the Prague Spring, which seemed to be a chance for the Hungarian minority to settle the legal status of the national minorities based on collective rights or even self-administration. The Hungarian minority was shocked by the military intervention and protested against it in different forms. The aim of this presentation is to explore the demands of the nationalities regarding the regulation of minority rights, and the reaction of the party organs, the Czechoslovak press, and cultural organizations. I will discuss this process, based on the existing literature, as well as on primary sources available in the Archives of Forum Minority Research Institute in ©amorín (Slovakia), and how these relations were affected by the Hungarian People's Army’s invasion. I also conduct some examples of people-to-people contact between locals living in the region and soldiers of the occupying forces to demonstrate typical forms of reactions. Lastly, I illustrate how successful the nationalities’ initiative was, and which long-term results can be observed.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Péter Hevő is assistant professor at the Department of International Relations and European Studies, Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest. He received his Ph.D. in History from the same university in 2019. His research interests include diplomacy, German foreign policy, and contemporary political history with a focus on East-Central Europe. He has held fellowships in Berlin, München, Potsdam, Heidelberg, Washington, D.C. and Prague. He is also an editor of the online history journal, Újkor.hu, and author of the monograph Vissza a fegyverekhez? A hadsereg és külpolitika kapcsolata az újraegyesített Németországban.