A
BRIEF HISTORY OF TRANSYLVANIA
THE TWENTIETH CENTURY- After Austria-Hungary lost World
War I, The 1920 Treaty of Trianon awarded Transylvania to Romania.
Transylvania's 2 million Hungarians were placed under Romanian rule.
The history of this era has been characterized by the Romanian state
carrying out a policy of cultural genocide, and ethnic cleansing
against the Hungarians of Transylvania.
Article II of The United Nations Convention on Genocide
states:
"In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following
acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a
national, ethic, racial or religious group, as such:
a) Killing members of the group;
b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of
the group;
c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of
life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or
in part;
d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within
the group;
e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another
group.
Genocide also constitutes:
The systematic destruction of historical or religious
monuments or their diversion to alien uses. Destruction or dispersion
of
historical, artistic, or religious values and objects." (U.N.
Ad Hoc Committee on Genocide, 1948.)
Despite the repeated promises for the protection of minority
rights given by the Romanians in the Alba lulia
(Gyulafehérvár) Declaration of 191824 , Law
No. 86 of the Romanian Nationality Statute25 , as well as
laws designed to guarantee the free use of ones native language,
including guarantees found in Ceausescu era Romanian
Constitution26 , the rights of Hungarians living in
Transylvania have been consistently violated.
Transylvania's population at the time of the Romanian
annexation included 2,800, 000 Romanians and 2,465,000 persons of
other nationalities, including about 2 million Hungarians. Almost
immediately after the transfer, the Romanians attempted to deny
Hungarians local autonomy, as well as their financial resources.
Confiscation of property owned by Hungarians not only included
houses, fields, forests, and meadows, but even churches.27
Censorship of Hungarian newspapers was enacted28 , and a
general harassment of the Hungarian population was the order of the
day. Cultural treasures were destroyed, and persons found displaying
the Hungarian national colors, even in folk art, were
imprisoned.29 The Hungarian National Anthem was banned,
even sung during church services.30 In an effort to
consolidate their recent territorial gains, the Romanian government,
under the guise of agrarian reform and land distribution, began a
policy of resettling thousands of ethnic Romanians in the western
part of Transylvania along the border of Hungary.31 In an
attempt to falsify the history of the region, the Romanians changed
historic Hungarian place names, and removed almost all historic
statues of Hungarians.
In 1940, The Second Vienna Award returned Northern
Transylvania, as well as the Szekely region to Hungary. The Vienna
Award returned 2.5 million people to Hungary, including about 1
million Romanians.32 In Romanian held areas of
Transylvania, the persecution of Hungarians continued. After the
conclusion of World War II, Stalin ordered Northern Transylvania and
the Székely region returned to Romania, believing that
communism could be more easily imposed on Romania than on
Hungary.
After the communist takeover, the Hungarians found
themselves living under the double yoke of communism and a repressive
nationalistic regime. Nothing less than a reign of terror was
inflicted upon the Hungarians of Transylvania. Immediately after the
war, the communist authorities began a land redistribution scheme in
which 80% of the land owned by Hungarians was redistributed to
Romanians.33
In the area of education, which is one of the main tools used
in assimilation, Hungarian schools were closed, and the Bolyai
University was forcibly merged with the state run Romanian Babes
University in 1959. Textbooks, all written by Romanians, had an
anti-Hungarian bias, books arriving from Hungary or the west were
forbidden.34 Hungarian school children were not allowed to
use their native language on school grounds, and were beaten when
they did so. Hungarian teachers were arrested, tortured and sometimes
beaten to death.35
Restrictions on language use have manifested themselves
in the following ways: bilingual signs, as well as the use of the
Hungarian language in public were forbidden.36 Hungarian
language newspapers, scholarly journals, and other types of
publications were heavily censored and periodically shut
down.37 Hungarians found themselves harassed by government
officials, teachers, the police, and military personnel into to
changing their names to Romanian ones.38
As far as the regions cultural artifacts were concerned,
a concerted effort was made to destroy or degrade anything of
Hungarian origin. This included the confiscation of Museums,
libraries, archives, and churches.39 In the 1980's, the
Ceausescu regime started bulldozing Hungarian villages, and forcibly
resettling Hungarians to other parts of the country.
In 1989, The Hungarians of Transylvania triggered the
revolt that overthrew Ceausescu, and communism, by forming a human
shield around the home of Reverend László Tokes in
Temesvár (Timisoara), to prevent the securitát from
arresting him. Although the worst excesses of the Ceausescu regime
have ended, the events of 1989 did not bring to an end anti-Hungarian
policies that have existed since Romania annexed Transylvania in
1920. Harassment by Romanian extremists still continues. The 2.5
million Hungarians in Transylvania, now free to organize politically,
have formed The Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (DAHR).
Romanian politics are currently dominated by President Ion Illiescu, a
"former" communist, and extreme Romanian nationalists, Gheorghe
Funar, and Corneliu Vadim Tudor.
Regardless of which political party holds power, the policy of
the Romanian state towards ethnic Hungarians has remained unchanged.
That policy is designed to increase the number of Romanian settlers
in Hungarian areas of Transylvania in order to change the ethnic
composition of the region. Romanians have been induced to relocate
to Transylvania from poorer regions of the country, as well as the
Romanian General Staff having recently increased the presence of the
Romanian army along with their families (despite the protests of the
DAHR), in Hargita and Kovászna counties. The Romanian Orthodox
Church, sponsored with funds from the Romanian government, has also
embarked on a massive church building project, in which thousands of
churches have been built throughout Transylvania, including Hungarian
majority areas. The deliberately design in this is to dilute the
Hungarian presence, and change the ethnic balance of the region in
favor of Romanians. Romania, for the past several years has expressed
interest in joining N.A.T.O., as well as other western institutions,
and has been mindful of it's international image, thus it has been
trying to provide what amounts to a "window dressing" of human rights
for the world to see. This however directly contradicts the true
situation in Transylvania.
Part of Hungary for 1000 years, Transylvania was annexed by
Romania after the first world war, and the Hungarian population
living there has been subjected to both institutionalized
discrimination, as well as state sponsored terror. This situation has
been aptly described as ethnic cleansing, and cultural genocide.
Plans calling for limited autonomy, or local control for the
Hungarians of Transylvania are fraught with dangers, especially in
light of Romania's human rights record. Unfortunately, the fall of
communism has not improved the Human Rights condition for the
Hungarians of Transylvania. Romania has time and again failed to
fulfill it's obligations to respect Human Rights, and has thus
forfeited it's claim to lands inhabited by ethnic Hungarians.
The only way to ensure the safety of the Hungarian population
living in Transylvania is to have a territorial adjustment in
Hungary's favor. Romania's consistent lack of respect for Human
Rights necessitates the return of Transylvania to Hungary, and until
Romania fulfills it's Human Rights obligations, Romania should be
barred from membership in the N.A.T.O. military alliance, as well as
other western institutions.