Commemorations of the anniversary of deportations were held both in Slovakia, as in Hungary.Continue reading
In today’s world, Europe, and perhaps the entire developed West, is pervaded by an idea that seeks to destroy and surpass nations, said Árpád János Potápi, State Secretary for National Policy, on Wednesday in Mágocs, south-western Hungary.
Speaking at a commemoration of the Day of Remembrance of the Hungarians expelled from the southern part of present-day Slovakia (Upper Hungary/Felvidék), he said that the idea of a unified nation-state, which was completely alien to the history of the Carpathian Basin, and the misinterpreted nationalism of the time, led to the expulsion of Hungarians from the region.
The state secretary recalled that on April 12, 1947, the wagons that transported the families condemned to be deported to Hungary left Czechoslovakia. Hungary had no choice in the so-called population exchange agreement, he added. The expulsions and resettlements, approved by the great powers, forced 15-20 million people in Central Europe to move, as they decided to “create smaller nation-states out of the former great empires,” Potápi said.
These new nation-states could not be created, he explained, because each country had a significant minority population, and the displacement of part of the population began as early as the Second World War, followed by the human tragedies of expulsions, deportations, and population exchanges. Between 1947 and 1949, he said, hundreds of thousands of Hungarians were resettled from Czechoslovakia, and many of them found themselves in much more difficult circumstances.
Featured photo via Facebook/Potápi Árpád János