The attachment of Drava Triangle (and Bácska) in the view of the Hungarian and Serbian census

Abstract

In this study, we analyze data from the Hungarian state census of 1910. and the so-called Serbian census conducted by the Serbian occupation authorities in 1919. At the Paris Peace Conference, the Belgrade delegation did not recognize the Hungarian census of 1910, so as an occupying power it conducted its own census in southern Hungary. The purpose of the census was to increase the number of the South Slavic population living in the Pécs-Baja-Szabadka area, and to reduce the proportion of Hungarians, and then to win over the German population to its side. Since at the Peace Conference the nationality relations of certain areas were considered decisive with regard to the belonging of the areas, the Belgrade delegation demanded from Hungary the annexation of the southern region and some of its parts based on the „Serbian census”. This goal was achieved in some areas of Bácska and Baranya, so the Trianon Peace Treaty provided for the annexation of these areas to the South Slavic state.