„I intend to visit the German villages of Tolna county in three groups...”

Report by György Steuer, Government Commissioner on the German communities in the Völgység, 10th September 1923.

Abstract

The following report was written by György Steuer, Government Commissioner for Germans in Hungary (1922–1929) during his first year in office. His task at that time was to draw up proposals for the Prime Minister for the treatment of Germans in Hungary. The report on his tour in the German villages of the Völgység can be an important source on the local situation of the German village population in the early 1920s. Th e source provides us a kind of snapshot from below on the social and cultural conditions of the German villages of the district, furthermore, it give us insight on their mentality and local socio-political movements. We may see all of this, of course, through the lens worn by Steuer – honed to the focal points indicated in the introductory study. Seeing through Steuer’s eyes, it is also clear that, in addition to economic issues, the school question was at the centre of discussions during the visits of the government commissioners. Also, Steuer did not directly detect the presence of Reichsdeutsch (alldeutsch) in the municipalities, but only referred to it in general, unspecific remarks. Th is further shows how important it is to find sources and aspects of the study of Hungarian–German coexistence, that do not focus attention exclusively on the history of the confl icts, since these were not the fundamental determinants of the events of everyday life.