The Czechoslovak–Hungarian population exchange was the exchange of inhabitants between Czechoslovakia and Hungary after World War II. Between 45,000 and 120,000 Hungarians were forcibly transferred from Czechoslovakia to Hungary, and their properties confiscated, while around 72,000 Slovaks voluntarily transferred from Hungary to Czechoslovakia.
Post-war Czechoslovakia
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. 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.
During the last years of the war, Edvard Beneš, the leader of the Czechoslovak government-in-exile, worked toward resolving the minority problem of Czechoslovakia through the transfer or assimilation of these minorities, as he considered them the biggest obstacle in the way of re-shaping postwar Czechoslovakia into a nation-state. The idea that the Hungarian minority in Slovakia must be removed dominated Czechoslovak national policy for an extended period.
Klement Gottwald, leader of the Czechoslovakian communists had set up a rival Czechoslovak government in Moscow. In April 1945 Gottwald and Beneš met in Košice and together they created the new Czechoslovak government, the National Front – a mixture of Soviet-supported Communists and non-Communists – and announced the "Košický vládny program" ("Košice Government Program"). 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. It was in this atmosphere that the Košice Government Program – under the supervision of the Central Committee of the All-Soviet Communist Party – was created.
The Hungarian question is mainly dealt with in Chapters VIII, XI and XV out of the 16 chapters of the program. Chapter VIII deprived the Hungarian and German inhabitants of their citizenship. Chapter XI declared the confiscation of Hungarian landed property while chapter XV ordered to close nationality schools. 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.... The Czechoslovak citizenship of the other Czechoslovak German and Hungarian citizens will be cancelled. Although they may again express a choice for Czechoslovakia, public authorities will retain the right of individual decision."
According to the Constitution promulgated on May 9, 1948:
"We have decided now that our liberated State shall be a national state, rid of all hostile elements, living in brotherly harmony with the family of Slav States and in friendship with all peace-loving nations of the world. (§ 9) [...] The Czechoslovak Republic is a unitary State of two Slav nations possessing equal rights, the Czechs and the Slovaks." (Article II/1 )
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. Gustáv Husák commented:
"The past seven tormenting years have changed our opinion and the opinion of the majority of the world on the minority politics. This is the fourth lesson we are drawing from the fall of 1938, a lesson pointing to the historic crime of the Hungarian and German minorities in the destruction of the Republic of Czechoslovakia, a lesson showing the sufferings of the population of Czechoslovakia, a lesson on the inevitability of expelling and exchanging the minority populations in the interest of the European peace and the peaceful coexistence of the nations."
Because the German and Hungarian minorities were pre-war Czechoslovak citizens, Beneš had to adopt decrees that deprived them of their citizenship. In 1945, he revoked the citizenship of Germans and Hungarians by decree #33, except those with an active anti-fascist past (see Beneš decrees), and Czechoslovakia maintained that the peace agreement must include a provision stating that