Attila Simon: The Hungarian Political Elite in Czechoslovakia between Two World Wars – Theme Outline
This study is the first attempt to outline the specific characteristics of the Hungarian national minority´s political elite, the congressmen and senators of the National Assembly, in the first Czechoslovak Republic. The first part of the article focuses on the basic features of the contemporary Hungarian political elite in Slovakia; the place of origin, profession, place of residence, age, political affinities etc. of the Hungarian MPs. The author deconstructs several stereotypical and oversimplified claims about Hungarian minority politics and politicians during the interwar period in Slovakia that are still prevalent not only in general public discourse but also in academic literature. In the second part of the study, the author examines the level of personnel continuity between pre-1918 Hungarian local political elite and the Hungarian minority political representatives in (Czecho-)Slovakia between 1918 – 1938, and then the discontinuity between the latter group and the Hungarian minority political representatives in (Czecho-)Slovakia after 1945.

elites, Hungarian minority, Czechoslovakia 1918-1938, social history