(Pal Teleki, Hungarian prime minister in 1920)
The Hungarian society had great difficulty to cope with the WWI defeat, the revolutions, and the Treaty of Trianon. Further trauma was caused by the trying experiences of everyday life - numerous refugees, mostly civil officers of the Monarchy, arrived from the disannexed territories. All these factors created a perfect breeding ground for extreme ideologies and agitation.
The first extreme right movements, the Magyar Országos Véderő Egylet, the Ébredő Magyarok Egyesülete, and the Etelközi Szövetség, formed in 1918 and had considerable influence already in 1920. Their members acted together within the scope of the so-called “Szeged ideas.” All these movements harbored anti-Semitic views.
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The nation had to face the previously little known problem of graduate unemployment as well. The solution seemed evident: the academic freedom and the number of university students have to be limited. Numerous proposals occurred on how to realize that aim, and two of them were seriously debated. However, it was unmistakable that the state aimed the limitation towards a well-confinable and recognizable minority.
According to one of the proposals, the rate of women students should be limited, while another one opted for the limitation of non-Hungarians. After a small debate, the latter proposition was accepted-owing partly to the contemporary belief that the war defeat and the Trianon treaty was the responsibility of those non loyal to the nation, namely the nationalities. Many people thought that the Soviet Republic and the Treaty of Trianon attributed to it was the fault of the communists and/or the Jews.
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Accordingly, the introduction of Numerus Clausus in 1920 was aimed to cure a real social problem; the solving, however, slipped entirely sideways. The Jewry was included among the races and nationalities listed in the act, which stood in contrast to the liberal progress of assimilation since 1867. According to contemporary statistics, the rate of Israelite students reached, sometimes even exceeded, 25-30% in certain faculties, meaning that the act affected them the most.
The Numerus Clausus contrasted the Treaty of Trianon as well; it enabled serious criticism against Hungary. The act was modified in 1928, owing to, among others, the international pressure.
Tamás Kovács, historian
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