Participants in the discussion were: Attila Simon, Head of the History Department of the Faculty of Education at János Selye University (SJE) in Komárno (Komárom) Alfréd Somogyi, Dean of the Reformed Theological Faculty of SJE, and Balázs Tárnok, Research Director of the John Lukacs Institute of the National University of Public Service, Vice President of the Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN) and the Rákóczi Association, foreign policy expert of the Hungarian Alliance. The welcome speech was given by NEB President Réka Földváryné Kiss, and the moderator was historian Áron Máthé, NEB Vice President.
Attila Simon was the first to speak about the Beneš decrees. In his opinion, this term does not quite correspond to reality, as it was not only the President of the Republic but the entire elite of Czechoslovakia at the time who wanted these decrees. Beneš went into exile after the outbreak of World War II and founded a Czechoslovak government in exile, whose main goal was to nullify everything that had happened after Munich.
While in London, he issued a total of 144 presidential decrees, some of which were aimed at creating an ethnically homogeneous Czechoslovakia. After his return to the country, he created the Košice (Kassa) government program, which later became law through legislation passed by the Slovak National Council.
In Alfréd Somogyi’s view, the Hungarians were initially unaware of the significance of the Košice government program because they were rejoicing at the end of the war. Those who emerged from hiding after a long period of time did not yet know what to expect and were happy about the peace. What was the aim of the presidential decrees? First and foremost, a Czechoslovakia without ethnic minorities. In the case of the Germans, this was achieved, but the complete resettlement of the Hungarians was rejected by the Western powers, despite all efforts. Beneš and his supporters had ethnic cleansing in mind: they wanted to revoke the citizenship of all Hungarians because they had welcomed the invading Hungarian troops in 1938. The property of the Hungarians was to be confiscated and the Hungarian population expelled from southern Slovakia.
In Balázs Tárnok’s view, the laws that have retroactive effect still apply today. The Land Fund and the Supreme Court are applying them again. Land without an owner’s name is confiscated in the same way as privately owned land. The argument is that confiscation orders were issued at the time. However, due to procedural errors, they were not confiscated at the time and could not be transferred to the ownership of the Czechoslovak state. These properties are now being sought by the Slovak Land Fund, the procedural errors are being corrected, they are being confiscated retroactively and the old confiscation orders are being enforced.
This was also the case with the land below the D4 ring road. A corrupt deal that has now been made legally binding by an amendment to the Criminal Code so that no one dares to question it. Anyone who publicly rejects the Beneš peace order can be punished with six months in prison. This is a gross violation of freedom of expression, as it restricts a fundamental right. In many cases, however, the land is already in the possession of the Slovaks, and even the Austrians are affected. One would have to look for Slovaks who have now had their land taken away.
As Somogyi sees it, there have been about a thousand cases of land expropriation in the Bratislava (Pozsony) area since 2018, and in 2025, there were more confiscations than in previous years.
The amendment to the Criminal Code is a show of force to intimidate Hungarians in southern Slovakia. “Should thousands of signatories to the petition against the Beneš decrees now be imprisoned?” he asked. When asked by the moderator whether Slovakia was a winner or a loser after World War II, when the Hungarians were declared guilty, Attila Simon replied that Slovakia did not exist at that time, as it was part of Czechoslovakia. In the interests of population exchange, as many Hungarians as possible had to be charged so that they could be resettled. During the panel discussion, it was said that the amendment to the Criminal Code was primarily a political attack against the Progressive Slovakia (PS) party in order to find legal grounds to prosecute it. Hungarians in Slovakia have been caught up in the opposition party’s wake and are being punished along with it.
In Balázs Tárnok’s view, the principle of collective guilt unfortunately still applies in Slovakia today. Under this pretext, people are deprived of their land solely on the basis of their origin. All this is not a thing of the past, but common state practice. This is not just a minority issue, but a serious problem of the rule of law and freedom of expression. The legislation is unclear, just as in the case of the language law. In both cases, there is legal uncertainty, which is why fines and penalties are imposed. This is a trap. Civil disobedience is the only solution. We are at home when we do not feel intimidated,” said the foreign policy expert of the Hungarian Alliance.
Somogyi recalled that Hungarian politicians in southern Slovakia have always called for the repeal of the Beneš decrees during election campaigns over the past 35 years. “We would have been entitled to at least a symbolic apology. To date, this has not happened,” said the theologian. “However, if we take tough action now, a symbolic apology will no longer suffice; compensation must be demanded,” he added. In the the Reformed pastor’s view, his church’s assets cannot be fully reclaimed either, as it was declared a fascist institution. 40,000 Reformed Christians are missing due to the expulsion. Without the expulsion, the Hungarian party would still be represented in the Bratislava parliament today.
In Simon’s view, “our situation is not rosy; we did not receive a greeting from the President of the Republic on March 15, and Pellegrini did not award any honors to Hungarians at the end of the year, only to 22 Slovaks. This has never happened before.”
In conclusion, Tárnok said that this current unjust situation must be overcome. There are proposed solutions, but international pressure must also be exerted. Simon believes the amendment to the Criminal Code will be counterproductive for the government, and it could also be that the events will unite the Hungarian community, which could be positive.
