The Second Vienna Award was the second of two Vienna Awards. The two Vienna Awards or Vienna Arbitration Awards or Vienna Arbitral Awards or Vienna Diktats or Viennese Arbitrals is the name of two arbitral awards (1938 and 1940), by which arbiters of the National Socialist Germany and of Fascist Italy tried to enforce territorial claims of the Revisionist Hungary ruled...

It was rendered on August 30, 1940. Germany and Italy compelled Romania let a part of Transylvania (an area henceforth known as "Northern Transylvania") to Hungary. August 30 is the 242nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (243rd in leap years), with 123 days remaining. ... 1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1940 calendar). ... Map of Romania with Transylvania in yellow Transylvania (Romanian: or Transilvania; Hungarian: ; German: ; Serbian: or Erdelj / Ердељ) is a historical region in the center of Romania. ... Read carefully- a chauvinist bias included! Romania with Northern Transylvania highlighted in yellow Northern Transylvania is a part of Transylvania which, after separation from Hungary in 1920 by the Trianon (Versailles) Treaty, was awarded by Germany and Italy to Hungary in line with the Vienna Awards of 1940. ...

Prelude and reasons

The (re)gain of Slovakia and Subcarpathia (part of what was called Upper Hungary within the former Kingdom of Hungary) in 1938 (First Vienna Award/First Vienna Diktat) and the subsequent military conquest of the remaining Carpathian Ruthenia in 1939 did not satiate the Hungarian politics, as well as the Hungarian public opinion. These awards allocated only a little of the territories lost by the Treaty of Trianon. The main goal was retrieving Transylvania and the other territories inhabited with Hungarians. Image File history File links ViennaAwards. ... Image File history File links ViennaAwards. ... Carpathian Ruthenia (Ukrainian Карпатська Русь, Karpatska Rus ) or Carpatho-Ukraine or Carpathian Ukraine is a name for a small part of Central Europe that was part of the Kingdom of Hungary (since 1526 under Habsburg rule). ... Image:Firstviennaaward. ... The Grand Trianon at Versailles, site of the signing The Treaty of Trianon was the peace agreement imposed on Hungary after World War I by the victorious powers. ... Map of Romania with Transylvania in yellow Transylvania (Romanian: or Transilvania; Hungarian: ; German: ; Serbian: or Erdelj / Ердељ) is a historical region in the center of Romania. ...

Negotiations in Turnu Severin (Szörényvár)

In the end of June, 1940 the Soviet Union reclaimed Bessarabia and North-Bukovina, which were taken by Romania after World War I. The Government of Romania approved the Soviet pressure, because they despaired of resisting against three belligerent countries: Image File history File links Rohunegonation. ... Image File history File links Rohunegonation. ... Combatants Allied Powers: British Empire The Dominion of Canada France Italy Russian Empire United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary Bulgaria Germany Ottoman Empire Commanders Douglas Haig Sir Arthur Currie John Jellicoe Ferdinand Foch Nicholas II Woodrow Wilson John Pershing Wilhelm II Reinhard Scheer Franz Josef I Oskar Potiorek Ä°smail Enver...

• Bulgaria, which claimed southern Dobrudja
• Hungary, which claimed Transylvania
• The Soviet Union, which claimed Bessarabia and North-Bukovina

The success of Moscow inspired Budapest to escalate its efforts to solve the question of Transylvania with Romania. The Axis Powers suggested to the parties concerned that they solve their problems by direct negotiations. The interest of the Axis was keeping the peace in the Balkans, because they needed the exports for the war.

The award took place not so much to do justice, as to win Hungary for German war aims. Similarly to the Treaty of Trianon, it granted a multiethnic area to another country, caused massive migration of populations from both sides, and sundered old socioeconomic units. In August 1940, the Romanian government acceded to Italy's request for territorial cessions to Bulgaria. On September 7, under the Treaty of Craiova, the Cadrilater or "Quadrilateral" (southern Dobrudja) was ceded by Romania to Bulgaria. The Grand Trianon at Versailles, site of the signing The Treaty of Trianon was the peace agreement imposed on Hungary after World War I by the victorious powers. ... 1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1940 calendar). ... September 7 is the 250th day of the year (251st in leap years). ... The Treaty of Craiova was signed on September 7, 1940 between Romania and Bulgaria. ... Southern Dobruja (Dobrudzha in Bulgarian, Dobrogea de sud or Cadrilater in Bulgaria comprising the two former administrative districts named for its two principal cities of Dobrich and Silistra. ... Dobruja or sometimes Dobrudja (Dobrogea in Romanian, Dobrudzha in Bulgarian, Dobruca in Turkish) is the territory between the lower Danube river and the Black Sea, which includes the Danube Delta and the Romanian sea-shore. ...

The negotiations started on August 16, 1940 in Turnu Severin (Hungarian: Szörényvár). The Hungarian delegation submitted notable territorial claims while the Romanians were disposed for only an inconspicuous territorial allowance conflated significant changing of the population. Eventually the negotiation fell through. August 16 is the 228th day of the year (229th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1940 calendar). ...

Finally, both countries had come round an arbitration award about the border-question to avoid the war.

The award

The signing of the Second Vienna Award August 30, 1940

The ministers of foreign affairs of the Axis (Joachim von Ribbentrop of Germany and Galeazzo Ciano of Italy) announced the award August 30, 1940 at the Belvedere Palace, Vienna. As a result of Second Vienna Award, Hungary regained 43,492 km². Image File history File links Secondviennaaward. ... Image File history File links Secondviennaaward. ... Ulrich Friedrich Wilhelm Joachim von Ribbentrop Ulrich Friedrich Wilhelm Joachim von Ribbentrop (born Ulrich Friedrich Wilhelm Joachim Ribbentrop) (April 30, 1893 – October 16, 1946) was Foreign Minister of Germany from 1938 until 1945. ... Galeazzo Ciano. ... August 30 is the 242nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (243rd in leap years), with 123 days remaining. ... 1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1940 calendar). ...

The evolution of population statistics and the changes following the award are presented in detail in the next section. The rest of (Southern) Transylvania remained Romanian with approximately 400,000 Hungarians, and Romania got guarantee of the borders.

Statistics

The territory in question covered an area of 43,491 km².

The 1930 Romanian census registered for this region a population of 2,393,300. In 1941 the Hungarian authorities conducted a new census which registered a total population of 2,578,100. Both censuses asked separately about language and nationality. The results of the two censuses are summarized in the following table.

As Árpád E. Varga writes, "the census conducted in 1930 met international statistical requirements in every respect. In order to establish nationality, the compilers devised a complex criterion system, unique at the time, which covered citizenship, nationality, native language (i.e. the language spoken in the family) and religion."

Apart from the natural population growth, the differences between the two censuses are due to some other complex reasons, like migration and assimilation of Jews or bilingual speakers. According to Hungarian registrations, 100 thousand Hungarian refugees had arrived in Hungary from South Transylvania by January 1941. Most of them sought refuge in the north, and almost as many persons arrived from Hungary in the reannexed territory as moved to the Trianon Hungary territory from South Transylvania. As a result of these migrations, North Transylvanian Hungarians increased by almost 100 thousand. In order to "compensate" for this, a great number of Romanians were obliged to leave North Transylvania. Some 100 thousand had left by February 1941 according to the incomplete registration of North Transylvanian refugees carried out by the Romanian government. Besides this, a fall in the total population suggests that a further 40 to 50 thousand Romanians moved from North to South Transylvania (including refugees who were omitted from the official registration for various reasons). The Hungarian assimilation gain is made up of losses on the part of other groups of native speakers, such as the Jewish people. The changing of language was most typical among bilingual Romanians and Hungarians. On the other hand, in Máramaros/Maramureş and Szatmár/Satu Mare counties, in dozens of settlements many of those who had declared themselves as Romanian now identified themselves as Hungarian, even though they did not speak Hungarian at all (nor did they in 1910). Just as many Hungarian declared themselves as Romanian even though they didn't speak the language on the 1930 census.

Afterwards

Historian Keith Hitchins summarizes the situation created by the award in his book "Rumania : 1866-1947 (Oxford History of Modern Europe). Oxford University Press. 1994":

Far from settling matters, the Vienna Award had exacerbated relations between Rumania and Hungary. It did not solve the nationality problem by separating all Magyars from all Rumanians. Some 1,150,000 to 1,300,000 Rumanians, or 48 per cent to over 50 per cent of the population of the ceded territory, depending upon whose statistics are used, remained north of the new frontier, while about 500,000 Magyars (other Hungarian estimates go as high as 800,000, Rumanian as low as 363,000) continued to reside in the south.

Romania had 14 days to evacuate concerned territories and assign them to Hungary. The Hungarian troops stepped across the Trianon borders on 5th September. The Regent of Hungary, Miklós Horthy, also attended in the entry. Miklós Horthy de Nagybánya, Duke of Szeged and Otranto (Hungarian: Vitéz* nagybányai Horthy Miklós, Szeged és Otranto hercege; Kenderes, June 18, 1868 – Estoril, February 9, 1957) was a Hungarian Admiral and statesman and served as the Regent of Hungary from March 1, 1920 until October...

Generally, the ethnic Hungarian population welcomed the troops and regarded separation from Romania as liberation. The large ethnic Romanian community that found themselves under Hungarian Horthyist occupation had nothing to celebrate though, as for them the Second Vienna Award represented the return to the times of the long Hungarian rule. Unfortunately, some massacres also took place. Among them:

• On 9 September in the village of Treznea (Hungarian: Ördögkút), some Hungarian troops made a 4 km detour from the Zalău - Cluj-Napoca route of the Hungarian Army and started firing at will on locals of all ages, killing many of them and partially destroying the Orthodox church. The official Hungarian sources of the time recorded that 87 Romanians and 6 Jews were killed, including the local Orthodox priest and the Romanian local teacher with his wife, while some Romanian sources give as as many as 263 locals that were killed. Some Hungarian historians claim that the killings came in retaliation after the Hungarian troops were fired upon by inhabitants, allegedly incited by the local Romanian orthodox priest, but this claims are not supported by the accounts of several witnesses. The motivation of the 4 km detour of the Hungarian troops from the rest of the Hungarian Army is still a point of contention, but most evidence points towards the local noble Ferenc Bay, who lost a large part of his estates to peasants in the 1920s, as most of the violence was directed towards the peasants living on his former estate.
• Similarly, 159 local villagers were killed on 13-14 September 1940 by the Hungarian troops in the village of Ip (Hungarian: Szilágyipp). Again, some Hungarian historians suggests that this was the result of a retaliation to the killing of 4 Hungarian soldiers by a grenade.

The exact number of casualties is disputed between some historians, but the existence of such events cannot be disputed. The Treznea massacre was an incident that occurred in the village of Ördögkút (now Treznea, Sălaj) in north-western Transylvania on 9 September 1940, during the handing over of Northern Transylvania from Romania to Hungary after the Second Vienna Award. ... County Sălaj County Status County capital Mayor Radu Capilnasiu, Democratic Party, since 2004 Area 90,09 km² Population (2002) 70,015 Density 777 inh/km² Geographical coordinates , Web site http://www. ... Map of Romania showing Cluj_Napoca Cluj_Napoca (Hungarian: Kolozsvár, German: Klausenburg, Latin: Claudiopolis), the seat of Cluj county, is one of the most important academic, cultural and industrial centers in Romania. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ...

See also

• First Vienna Award
• Vienna Awards

Image:Firstviennaaward. ... Vienna Awards or Vienna Arbitration Awards or Vienna Arbitral Awards or Vienna Diktats or Viennese Arbitrals are various names for two arbitral awards (1938 and 1940) by which arbiters of National Socialist Germany and Fascist Italy sought to enforce peacefully the territorial claims of Revisionist Hungary, ruled by Regent Admiral...

References

• Árpád E. Varga. Erdély magyar népessége 1870-1995 között. Magyar Kisebbség 3-4, 1998, pp. 331-407.
• P. Ţurlea. Ip si Trãznea: Atrocitãti maghiare si actiune diplomaticã, Ed. Enciclopedică, Bucureşti 1996.
• Gh.I. Bodea, V.T. Suciu, I Puşcaş. Administratia militara horthysta in nord-vestul Romaniei, Ed. Dacia, 1988.
• M. Bucur. Treznea. Trauma, nationalism and the memory of World War II in Romania, Rethinking History, Volume 6, Number 1, 1 April 2002, pp. 35-55.

External links

• Árpád E. Varga, Essays on Transylvania's Demographic History. (Mainly in Hungarian, but also in English and Romanian.)