Mihaly Karolyi and the settlement of Czechoslovak-Hungarian relations in the period 1945-1948.

The study deals with those activities of Mihaly Karolyi for the sake of Hungarians living, in Czechoslovakia between 1945 and 1948. From Hungary's neighbours the worst relationship was that with Czechoslovakia in 1945 that stems from the minority policy of the Czechoslovak government: persecution of Highland Hungarians. According to the government program announced by President Benes on 5th April 1945 in Kosice Hungarians were not allowed to be members of political or mass organizations and could not work as civil servants. He could not forgive the Czechoslovak leaders that after the Second World War they did not support the peaceful settlement of the East-European situation and the process leading to democratization, but on the contrary, they used such methods against the Hungarian minority that were unknown in Europe before fascism. He was rightfully offended when he was not appointed to be a member of the delegation to the Peace Conference in Paris and that later he could participate on it as an advisor and not as the leader of the delegation. Karolyi tried to influnce the fate of Hungarians in Czechoslovakia during the peace treaty negotiations in Paris sending personal letters to President E. Benes and minister of foreign affairs Jan Masaryk even in February 1948 but his effort to improve the situation of the Hungarian minority failed. Karolyi realized that instead of a bad automatic response full of prejudice, Hungary needed economic and political cooperation which is shown by the fact that he always spoke against the deportation of Germans living in Czechoslovakia, and in all of his writings and acts he tried to prevent these acts.