On May 29, 1919, Tkálecz declared Prekmurje a republic. On June 6, the Hungarian Red Army was sent to Murska Sobota and overthrew the state. Tkálecz went into exile to Austria sometime during 1920, and later found work as a teacher in Nagykarácsony, Hungary, where he remained for many years. He died in Budapest in 1950. After 1929 he changed his name to Vilmos Tarcsay. In 1939 wrote a Prekmurje Slovene textbook called Vend-szlovenszka kniga cstenya.