" Felvidék 1938 "
Felvidék, meaning "Upper Hungary" or "the Upper Territories," is the traditional Hungarian name for the region that today forms much of Slovakia. Following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the signing of the 1920 Treaty of Trianon, Hungary lost this territory along with large areas of its former kingdom.
In the autumn of 1938, Hungary regained portions of southern Felvidék with substantial Hungarian populations as a result of the First Vienna Award. Signed on November 2, 1938, following the First Vienna Arbitration held at Vienna's Belvedere Palace, the agreement was a direct consequence of the Munich Agreement and formed part of the wider process that led to the partition of Czechoslovakia.
The entry of Hungarian troops into the reclaimed territories was widely celebrated by many members of the local Hungarian population, and the events were extensively documented by both official and private photographers. The photographs presented here, including the image above, were taken by an unknown soldier who recorded these historic days as the Royal Hungarian Army advanced into the returned territories of former Czechoslovakia.
Following the Second World War, the 1947 Treaty of Paris declared the First Vienna Award null and void. The territories regained by Hungary in 1938 were returned to the re-established Czechoslovakia, restoring the pre-war frontier.
These photographs provide a valuable firsthand record of a significant and emotional chapter in Central European history, capturing the experiences of the soldiers who witnessed the return of the disputed territories and the complex political changes that shaped the region in the twentieth century.
