In Hungary, Slovakia’s ‘First Colony’ Thrives

Large numbers of Hungarians live beyond the country's borders in neighbouring states, a result of the political carve-up of empires after World War I. 

But national minorities are less common inside Hungary; the Slovak community is a relatively new phenomenon. Its emergence has little to do with politics, but everything to do with economics.

Mikulas Ruso was among the first to settle in Rajka in the mid-2000s. A student at the time, he was looking for a cheap home to buy not too far from Bratislava city centre. Rajka, though in another country, is just 18 kilometres from the Slovak capital.

In Bratislava, he recalled, "the cheapest flat cost some 40,000 euros. For my first house in Rajka I paid half that."

"It took me 15 minutes to get to work, three times faster than from Bratislava's outer districts," Ruso said. "Nothing has changed since."

Bratislava ranks among the most expensive cities in Central Europe, and its unique position on Slovakia's border with Austria and Hungary has led to many Slovaks to set up home in cheaper areas of rural northern Hungary. They commute to work by car or the No. 801 bus.

That Rajka is flourishing as a multinational town speaks to a rapid turnaround in relations between Hungary and Slovakia since a spike in nationalist tensions in the 2000s, an improvement perhaps all the more ironic given it has coincided with the right-wing, anti-immigrant rule of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

The Raijka train station. Photo: Dariusz Kalan

History comes full circle

Ruso remembers darker days.

Slovakia and Hungary, both once parts of the Austro-Hungarian Empire before its demise with World War I, were rivals from the first days of Slovak independence with the break-up of...