I start to feel depressed when studying the early 20th century demographic statistics for cities, towns, and villages in the lost lands beyond Hungary’s borders. Those statistics make me realize how much ethnic diversity has been lost. The frontiers of Historic Hungary were home to a wide array of people, languages, and religions. Those same places today are for the most part ethnically homogenous. While multiculturalism has been all the rage in the European Union for several decades, this is nothing compared to pre-World War I eastern and Central Europe. The early 20th century was the peak of diversity in Eastern Europe. Villages often had two, three or four sizable ethnic groups. That is no longer the norm. As part of my itinerary for visiting the lost lands, I plan on visiting villages which were once highly diverse. In a few of these, such as Rusovce and Jarovce in Slovakia, and Rajka in Hungary, a semblance of that diversity still exists today. In others, such as Deutsch Jahrndorf in the easternmost tip of Austria, the villages are even more German than they were over a century ago. Before I go there, a lesson in class hierarchy and ethnicity is in order.
In the good old days – At a guesthouse in Deutsch Jahrndorf 1908
Class Consciousness – Together & Unequal
The Austro-Hungarian Empire was called the prison of nations because of all the different ethnic groups subsumed within the empire. These groups lived in close proximity to one another in both urban and rural areas. Each had their own way of life with unique customs and traditions. They had also developed ways of interacting with each other. Coexistence was based upon hierarchy. Aristocracy played a role in the class system, but the defining factors were ethnicity and language. The two were synonymous with one another. They separated the haves and have nots. As might be expected in the Hungarian administered portion of the empire (Transleithania – east of the Leitha River) Hungarians were on top. This was followed by ethnic Germans (Swabians and Saxons), Croats, Slovaks, Serbs, Romanians, and Rusyns. Of course, these are generalizations. A more nuanced view does show some of the complexities. For instance, many Hungarians were still at the level of serfdom. Aristocrats thought they were better than non-nobles though many of them were living on the edge of poverty.
Ethnic Germans in Transleithania were usually more prosperous than other ethnic groups, including Hungarians. Jews, who had been given equal rights in 1867, were the most upwardly mobile. They were skyrocketing into the professional classes. This left the previously all-powerful nobility angry. This would later lead to catastrophic consequences for Jews. Differences in equality caused tensions that threatened to explode and upset the ruling order. Nationalism aligned with ethnicity was incendiary. Hungarians were able to push policies that furthered their status. Every other ethnic group was left seething and striving – often both – for their own nations. This would prove to be an existential threat to the empire. Keeping a lid of nationalism meant the Hungarian ruling class imposed their preferences with a heavy hand. The backlash to this was kept under tight control because Hungarian leaders realized this could lead to the empire’s destruction and the end of their leading role across a large swath of Eastern Europe. They were right to worry because that is exactly what happened at the end of World War I. The ultimate outcome was Hungary losing all but its core lands in the Treaty of Trianon.
A not-so-distant memory – Austro-Hungarian era building in Rajka (Credit: Attila Terbocs)
Escape Valve – The Distant Shore
Another element that threatened to upend Austria-Hungary was technological change. It was becoming harder and harder to keep the peasants down on the farm. Technology was leading to rapid changes in the economy, transport and living standards. Those who could not get ahead due to the strictures of class and ethnicity, could try their luck by moving to the cities for jobs in factories. If this option did not work out, advances in transport allowed them to emigrate across the Atlantic. Emigration abroad was an escape valve that saved the empire from having hundreds of thousands of malcontents. The critical masses needed for a revolt dispersed to distant shores. Those who stayed behind enjoyed less competition and in some cases, greater opportunities. Others sat and stewed, eventually turning to radical ideologies that held out hope for the world to be remade for the benefit of working classes.
Industrialization added to the tinder box as the downtrodden came together to toil in undesirable conditions with few labor protections. This led to the push for worker’s rights and the pushback from conservative forces. If all this sounds like a recipe for revolution, the powers that be could see it coming. That is why they were more than happy to see the lower classes fleeing the empire. The ethnic balance was delicate. Anything that might upset it could lead to a death spiral. There simply were not enough Hungarians in the empire to establish complete dominance over all the other ethnic groups. Furthermore, great masses of Hungarians also emigrated in search of the prosperity that had for so long eluded them at home. A potential solution to all these troubles would be to share political power among all the ethnic groups. Easier said than done in societies that were marked by centuries of inequality. The Hungarians had ruled over Slovaks, Romanians, Rusyns, and to a lesser extent Croats and Serbs for so long that this seemed like the normal course of affairs to them.
Parting ways – Border crossing between Hungary and Austria at Jarovce in 1936
(Credit: Fortepan)
Magyarization – A Negligible Result
The less equal ethnic groups were finding their voice, but the Hungarian government was determined they would only have a minimal say at best. Instead, they tried Magyarization by encouraging, imposing, or trying to force all the other ethnic groups to speak, act, and think like Hungarians, This did not work very well because learning the Hungarian language was too difficult. Many a peasant would say impossible. Plus, all the non-Hungarians already had languages of their own that defined their identity. Trying to force the other ethnic groups to become Hungarians, more often led to the opposite. This goes a long way in explaining how the lost lands of Hungary were lost long before Trianon. The upshot was bitterness, vindictiveness and/or indifference. The latter sums up the experience of Deutsch Jahrndorf where Magyarization. The result was negligible.
Click here for: One Side of the Equation – Blurring The Lines In Deutsch Jahrndorf (The Lost Lands #38)
Europe Between East And West 