Expelled Hungarians on their way from Czechoslovakia to Hungary, 1947
The Slovak governing coalition would penalize the “denial” of the post–Second World War settlement and the “questioning” of the Beneš Decrees. The proposal has already been approved by the parliament’s constitutional committee, and the change would be decided in a fast-track procedure, ma7.sk reported.
In accordance with the proposal, anyone who publicly denies or questions the post–Second World War peace settlement established on the basis of the legislation of the Czechoslovak Republic’s or the Slovak National Council’s representative bodies would be punishable by up to six months’ imprisonment.
Michal Šimečka, chairman of Progressive Slovakia (PS), said that the government had deliberately twisted his party’s position regarding the Beneš Decrees. The topic of the Beneš Decrees was raised by the opposition Progressive Slovakia, arguing that the state is seizing land on the basis of them and that this should be reviewed.
The politician reacted to the matter on Facebook, writing that
the ‘denial of the post-World War II peace settlement’ is written purely for their own purposes so that they can criminalize distorted references to the Beneš Decrees […].”
“This is criminal-law madness. Changing criminal law like this, overnight, without any discussion — that may happen in Russia or North Korea, but not in the heart of the EU. We in PS are doing everything possible so that this does not pass. We are holding press conferences, protesting in Parliament and in the media, calling on the President to veto, and of course we will challenge it in the Constitutional Court,” he stressed.
Fact
After the Second World War, Czechoslovakia applied the principle of collective guilt to the Hungarian and German inhabitants living in its territory. Between April and October 1945, Czechoslovak President Beneš issued a total of 98 decrees, 13 of which concerned the German and Hungarian minorities.
These decrees laid down the collective guilt of minorities. Beneš’ Presidential decree No. 33 probably had the most serious consequences for the Hungarian community in Slovakia, as it automatically deprived them of their citizenship, which also entailed the withdrawal of pensions and other state benefits and dismissal from state employment. The use of the Hungarian language in public life was banned, Hungarian students were excluded from universities, Hungarian cultural associations were dissolved, and bank deposits of Hungarians were frozen. They allowed and regulated the confiscation of the lands of Germans and Hungarians, on which Czechs and Slovaks were settled.
Some of the decrees were later repealed, but others remained in force. No compensation has been paid to those deprived of their property.
Ma7.sk asked László Gubík, president of the minority party Hungarian Alliance (Magyar Szövetség), for his opinion on the matter. “It reminds me of that old Russian joke: the children are playing football on Red Square, and one of them tells at home how the ball rolled in front of a black Volga, from which Comrade Lenin got out, and how nice he was because he gave the ball back, even though he could have ordered them to be shot.”
How nice of them that they only threaten us with half a year in prison just because we dare, in certain cases, to point out legal uncertainty or retrospective property confiscations — not to mention historical reconciliation — even though they could have ordered us to be shot.
Obviously this is a disproportionate verbal reaction on my part, but it is still better than the disproportionate political and legal reaction from the government that we are witnessing,” Gubík emphasized.
The president of the Hungarian Alliance added that “it is extremely disappointing. One would think that, fine, the issue was brought up, politicians let off steam, each of them tried to outbid the others, everyone declared that in the future it will be possible to study in Hungarian, we are already pushing the boundaries — and then they added another layer to it by adopting the government resolution.”
“Just when we might think Christmas is coming and tensions will calm down, they come forward with criminalizing the mere mention of the decrees. I do not know… there are two weeks left until Christmas; I wonder what will come next,” he added.
Related article
Hungarian Minority Party Condemns Slovakia’s “Shameful” Reaffirmation of Post-War Decrees
The President of the Hungarian Alliance denounced Slovakia’s reaffirmation of the discriminatory Beneš Decrees, arguing that state agencies still rely on the decrees for expropriations and calling for urgent legal clarification.Continue reading
Via ma7.sk, Featured image: Fortepan/Fortepan
