In any society, the acid test of civilization is the respect for minority rights. The Great Powers attempted to guarantee these rights by making the successor states sign minority treaties, which outlined the language, religious, cultural and property rights of the minorities. For example, the minority treaty signed with Romania on the 9th of December, 1919 in Paris, a treaty guaranteed by the United States, Britain, France, Italy and Japan, stated the following:

Article 8: No restriction shall be imposed on the free use of any language. Article 9: Equal rights to establish, manage and control religious institutions, schools and other educational establishments.

In Article 11: Roumania agrees to accord to the communities of the Szecklers (Hungarian Székelys) and Saxons in Transylvania local autonomy in regard to scholastic and religious matters.

Article 12: Roumania agrees that the stipulations in the foregoing Articles, constitute obligations of international concern.

Similar treaties were signed with the other successor states, but none were ever enforced. In fact, the Great Powers looked the other way while the successor states attempted to solve their minority problems, first through denationalization, then by ethnic cleansing through deportations, expulsions, transfers, dispersions and other forms of uprooting. Hungarians had to choose between their nationality and their property. Because of the savage oppression, intimidation and coercion, 350,000 Hungarians decided to leave all their possessions behind and flee to rump Hungary.

The institutions and possessions of Hungarian communities were also targeted. In Transylvania alone, the Hungarian community lost 1,665 of her schools, including the world famous János Bolyai University, named after Einstein's predecessor, the inventor of the new (non-Euclidean) geometry.