The Past, the Present and the Achieved Results of the Hungarian–Slovak Joint Committee
The protection of and dealing with national minorities in general can be carried out on three different levels: on multilateral, bilateral, and domestic level. The multilateral scope includes activities of international bodies urged by states devoted to the issue. At domestic level, countries have the possibility to secure different rights for national minorities living on their territories, based on their minority-related approach. The present paper, however, examines the bilateral scope of cooperation in support of national minorities, which cooperation can be achieved through bilateral treaties and agreements. The paper also focuses on the work of the Joint Slovak–Hungarian Committee on Minority Affairs established in 1995 by the Basic Treaty signed between the two countries.
„It is Not Possible to Attract Young People with Mediocrity.” The Life Path of Papal Prelate and Grand Provost of Košice Miklós Pfeiffer (1887–1979)
Canon of Košice Miklós Pfeiffer was a well-known and recognized public figure of Hungarians in Upper Hungary who after World War I found themselves in a minority position. The stages of his life were divided among three countries. He grew up in the Austro–Hungarian Monarchy and was ordained as mass-priest in 1909. He devoted the acme of his career to pastoral care of Hungarian inhabitants in the interwar Czechoslovakia, he first of all dedicated his efforts to education of university students. At the age of nearly sixty he had no choice but to immigrate to Switzerland. However, it maybe was a mitigation for him that he returned back to the scene of his university studies. This bibliographic summary outlines the stations of Miklós Pfeiffer´s life and career, endeavouring to be as complete as possible.
Gemer in the Light of the 1919 Political Changes
Several concepts emerged in the years between 1918 and 1920 about the proportion of the division between Czechoslovakia and Hungary of one of the oldest medieval counties, the Gömör County. Czechoslovakia as an independent state recognized by the victorious powers, claimed sovereignty of the territories occupied by the Czecho-Slovak military units, whereas the Hungarian government took the view that the territory of Upper Hungary remains part of Hungary until the official “announcement of results” by the Paris Peace Conference. While Gömör did not become an active battleground during the world war, it did so for several months in the period of the Hungarian Soviet Republic. The 1919 state border changes simultaneously resulted in territorial and administrational re-arrangement of the county, a decision which cut off district centres, routes to markets, transport paths, industrial areas, and caused that Gömör fell into the position of a peripheral county with disadvantaged economic situation, the aftereffects of which are felt up to now.
