History of Maramureş - November 1918 - March 1919

March 1919

At the end of World War I, the Austria-Hungary empire dissolved. The nations comprising it elected national and/or regional assemblies to determine future political configurations. At this time, Maramureş County was divided into North and South. The National Assembly of the Romanians of (inner) Transylvania, Crişana, Banat and Maramureş, composed of 1228 elected members, has decided on December 1, 1918 in Alba Iulia upon their union with Romania.

On December 15, 1918, in Mediaş, the Council of the Transylvanian Saxons and Danubian Swabians (ethnic Germans that had moved to Transylvania in the 12th-13th, respectively in the 18th centuries) decided to support the Romanians, mainly because of their adversity to the prospect of otherwise living in a Hungarian national state, which was due to the Magyarization policy practiced in the Transleitanian part of Austria-Hungary after 1870 and until World War I. The remaining Hungarians (24%-26% of population of Transylvania) as a whole were opposed to this move, claiming to be represented by the Transleitanian Government in Budapest.

Southern Maramureş, as well as Romanian villages from the north of the river Tisza, around the town of Ocna Slatina, elected deputies to the Romanian Assembly.

In November and December 1918, various "Councils" were established in different cities of Carpathian Ruthenia, the region inhabited by Ruthenians, spanning over most parts of the former counties of Ung, Bereg, Ugocea and the northern part of Maramureş, in order for inhabitants to decide which state they wished to join.

Uzhhorod, Mukachevo, Berehovo and other cities voted to join the new Hungarian Republic. On January 21, 1919, Khust and Svaljava voted to join Ukraine-Russia. A Hutsul Republic was declared in Yasinia on January 8, 1919. A vote was taken by the National Council of American Ruthenians, in which Czechoslovakia won as the most popular home for the region. This vote served as a basis point for Entante's proposals about the future fate of Carpathian Ruthenia.

The Czechoslovak delegation at Versailles insisted that the northern half of Maramureş be combined with Carpathian Ruthenia, based on the fact that the August 17, 1916 Treaty (article 4) between Romania and the powers of the Entante (Britain, France, Russia and Italy) precluding the entrance of Romania in World War I, stipulated Romania's right to Austria-Hungarian territory inhabited by Romanians up to the river Tisza. The Romanian delegation was opposed to this because the river Tisza divided Maramureş County roughly into half and the Romanians from the right bank of Tisza also took part in the election of representatives to the Assembly of Alba Iulia. These MPs voiced concern during the Assembly upon the incorrect usage of the phrase "up to Tisza" by some speakers as a figure of speech and were assured that de jure the Assembly was representing the population of the administrative units of Austria-Hungary from whom they were elected.

After tough negotiations at the Conference of the Treaty of Versailles, the Romanian delegation obtained that the Entente powers accept the decision of the Assembly. The Romanian Army moved into Transylvania during the spring and summer of 1919. They were welcomed by the local population, except by the ethnic Hungarians and to the deception of many of the politicians at the Conference of Versailles, trying to prevent the emergence of a regional power in Eastern Europe. Four independent field Commissions, one each from Britain, France, USA and Italy, submitted proposals for the border of Romania in Transylvania. The consolidated proposal suggested that the westernmost one row of Counties (parts of Crişana/Partium) be retained by Hungary and one County in the southwest (part of Banat) to be attributed to the newly formed Yugoslavia.