Czechoslovak–Hungarian population exchange

In 1945, at the end of World War II, Czechoslovakia was recreated and Czechoslovak politicians aimed to completely remove the German and Hungarian minorities from their territory through ethnic cleansing.

[note 1] Both minorities were considered collectively as "war criminals", based on the actions of some individuals, such as Konrad Henlein, and the participation of their countries in the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia through the Munich Agreement and the First and Second Vienna Awards.

At this time, all political groups in Czechoslovakia, including the previous government-in-exile and the new government, agreed that the country should be formed into a nation state.

From chapters VIII and IX, adopted by the cabinet council on April 5, 1945: "As to the Czechoslovak citizens of German and Hungarian nationality, who were Czechoslovak citizens prior to the Munich Pact in 1938, their citizenship will be confirmed and their eventual return to the Republic may be permitted only in the following categories: for anti-Nazis and anti-Fascists who fought against Henlein and Hungarian irredentism, who fought for Czechoslovakia, and who after the Munich Pact and after March 15 were persecuted for their loyalty to Czechoslovakia....

(Article II/1 )[15]The key parts of this policy were written by high-ranking members of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, such as Klement Gottwald, Bohumír Šmeral, Jan Šverma and Vaclav Kopecky.

"[11]"When President Beneš was in Moscow, I learned from him that the Soviet government agreed to his proposals to deport approximately two-thirds of the German and Hungarian minorities from Czechoslovakia" The resettlement of about 700,000 Hungarians was envisaged at Kosice and subsequently reaffirmed by the National Front,[19] however, the success of the deportation plan depended on the acquiescence of the victors in World War II.

[12] The plan, however, fit well with Joseph Stalin's Central European policy, and on March 21, 1945, Vyacheslav Molotov informed Beneš that the Soviet Union would support him.

[20] Zdeněk Fierlinger informed the Czechoslovak government that "Stalin has an utterly positive standpoint on our demands in the matter of the transfer.

[25] The Czechoslovak government planned the removal of 250,000[2][26] Hungarians from South Slovakia to Hungary,[2] but according to different estimations 45,000[2][3] or 120,000[4][5] – generally well-to-do businessmen, tradesmen, farmers and intellectuals[27] – had been transferred under the bilateral exchange, while 71,787 or 73,200 Slovaks from Hungary[28][29][30] – the exact number depends on source consulted – were resettled in South Slovakia.

Thirty thousand Hungarians, who arrived to the country in 1938, hence were not Czechoslovak citizens before, left the territories that were re-annexed by Hungary in 1938 and then re-attached to Czechoslovakia after World War II.

Nonetheless, the most significant exclusionary factor in Hungarians’ social situation under the communist regime was most likely their own refusal to integrate into the Czechoslovak system and to learn the language.