Historically, Prekmurje had been considered an integral part of Hungary by the Hungarian occupiers who eventually annexed it in December 1941. From amongst the local Slovenian intelligentsia, who were mostly teachers and priests, the occupiers distinguished between settlers and natives. Teachers who had settled after 1918 were deported and replaced by those from the inland. The Protestant clergy were mostly of pro-Hungarian orientation and collaborated with the occupiers' administration The Catholic clergy, however, who were nationally aware, were transferred to the Hungarian area of the Szombathely diocese, and the most obdurate even imprisoned. Most of the remaining intelligentsia sought refuge in Budapest, Pecz and Ljubljana and did not take part in the otherwise weak Resistance Movement.