On August 2, 1945, Czechoslovak President Edvard Benes issued his 33rd decree against Hungarians and Germans, which deprived the non-Slavic population living in the country of their citizenship.
First of all, the assets of Hungarians and Germans were investigated, during June they decided to confiscate their agricultural properties, and after July 20, the government in Prague decided to resettle Slovaks and Czechs on Hungarian territory. In the meantime, the Czechoslovak authorities dismissed Hungarian civil servants, expelled Hungarian students from universities, and closed Hungarian educational institutions.
"Hungarian trials" were launched all over the country, which convicted thousands based on the principle of collective guilt. In Kassa, for example, 600 people were found guilty during a procedure.
The culmination of the disenfranchisement program was Decree 33, enacted on August 2, 1945, which deprived all Hungarians and Germans of their citizenship, that is, excluded them from society and made their lives impossible.
This year, in January, Ádám Kósa from Fidesz also spoke in Brussels on behalf of Hungarians in the highlands, against the violations of the Benes decrees that have plagued them for seventy years. According to the Fidesz MEP, this situation is unacceptable in the 21st century. Any legislation that is based on the principle of collective guilt must be opposed in the most decisive way.
Therefore, the representatives ask the European Commission to take a firm stand against the deprivation of rights in the Benes decrees and call on the European Parliament to send a fact-finding committee to Slovakia as soon as possible.
Today in the Parliament, the representatives remember the approximately one hundred thousand Hungarians who were excluded from the former Czechoslovak Republic as a result of the Benes decrees.
Based on Rubicon.hu
