✚11299✚ Hungarian Kingdom WW2 Commemorative Medal Liberation Upper Hungary 1938

Original Hungarian Kingdom WW2 Commemorative Medal for the Liberation of Upper Hungary (Felvidéki Emlékérem) - 1938, IN GOOD CONDITION - SOME STRACHES ON THE REVERSE, ON NEW TRIFOLD RIBBON, A GREAT EXAMPLE - THE AWARD IS NOT OFTEN SEEN

HISTORY OF THE AWARD:

Commemorative Medal for the Liberation of Upper Hungary (Felvidéki Emlékérem), 1938 Circular bronze medal with laterally-pierced loop for ribbon suspension; the face with the head and shoulders portrait of Francis II Rákóczi in armour facing right, circumscribed ‘PRO PATRIA ET LIBERTATE RÁKÓCZI’ (For Fatherland and Liberty Rákóczi); the reverse inscribed ‘A MAGYAR FELVIDÉK FELSZABADULÁSÁNAK EMLÉKÉRE’ (Medal for the Liberation of Upper Hungary). The medal was instituted on 4 November 1938. At the end of World War I, Hungary lost almost three-quarters of its territory, amongst them many areas with large Hungarian populations, including areas of southern Slovakia and southern Carpathian Rus. The Munich Agreement between Germany, Britain, France and Italy dealt not only with the question of the Sudeten Germans but also called for a settlement of Hungarian claims on this Czechoslovak territory. German and Italian arbitration in Vienna led to an imposed settlement on 2 November 1938 by which almost 12,000 square kilometres of territory and over a million people were transferred to Hungary. The award was annulled after World War II and the territory divided between Slovakia and the Ukraine. Francis II Rákóczi (1676-1735) was born at Borša in present-day Slovakia and led the Hungarian Uprising of 1703 to 1711 against Hapsburg rule. He is revered in Hungary as a national hero.