Elemér Illyés : National Minorities in Romania

2. T. Gilberg, Modernization in Rumania since World War II, (New York: 1975), p. 213; see also A. Bohmann, Menschen und Grenzen, vol. 2, p. 180.

3. "Ethnic and Political Persecution in Rumania," The Congressional Record, (Washington, D.C.), August 8, 1964.

4. E. Crankshaw, "Hungarian Minority Fears Rumanian Age," in The New York Herald Tribune, April 15, 1963.

5. For an extensive discussion of Romanian nationalism, see Stephen Fischer-Galati, "Romanian Nationalism", in Peter F. Sugar and Ivo J. Lederer eds., Nationalism in Eastern Europe, (Seattle, London: 1969), pp. 373-395; Karl W. Deutsch, Nationalism and Social Communication, (Cambridge, Mass.: 1966), Chapters 5 and 6, pp. 107-153; John C. Campbell, French Influence and the Rise of Romanian Nationalism, (Harvard University: 1940).

6. Statement on the Stand of the Romanian Workers' Party Concerning the Problems of the International Communist and Working-Class Movement, (Bucharest: 1964). The text was also published in Lupta de Clasa [Class Struggle], the theoretical and political journal of the CC of the RCP, (Bucharest), 1964, no. 4, pp. 3-35.

7. R. Alison Remington, The Warsaw Pact. Case Studies in Communist Resolution, (Cambridge: 1971).

8. E.B. Valev, "Problemy économiceskogo razvitija pridunajskich rajonov Rumynii, Bolgarii i SSSR" [Problems of the Economic Development of the Romanian, Bulgarian and Soviet Danube Region], in Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta, Serija V-Geografija, no. 2/1964, pp. 56-64, with 2 maps.

9. The Romanian answer appeared in no. 24, June 12, 1964, of the economics weekly, Viata Economica [Economic Life], (Bucharest), pp. 5-12.

10. A detailed and comprehensive analysis by V. Socor, "The Limits of National Independence in the Soviet Bloc: Rumania's Foreign Policy Reconsidered," in Orbis, (Philadelphia periodical of the Foreign Policy Research Institute), vol. 20 (1976), no. 3, pp. 701-723.

11. Anuarul Statistic al R.S.R. 1979. [The Statistical Yearbook of the Romanian Socialist Republic 1979], p. 489.

12. Scinteia [The Spark], December 14, 1974.

13. Scinteia, April 3, 1975. The U.S. Congress accorded Romania "most favored nation" trading status on August 3, 1975.

14. Radio Free Europe Report, December 2, 1976; Romania owes approximately 3 billion dollars to the West, and it has a chronic balance of payments deficit. (The data come from the December 13, 1976 issue of the Christian Science Monitor, published in London. See also The Washington Post, October 11, 1976.)

15. E.R. Rafael, "Entwicklungsland" Rumänien, (Munich: 1977), p. 28.

16. V. Socor, "The Limits of National Independence in the Soviet Bloc," p. 731.

17. In August 1977, the workers in the coal mines of the Jiul Valley rebelled because of bad conditions and poor wages and went on strike; when this was put down, thousands of workers and their families were deported to other parts of the country. A very high proportion of the miners were Hungarian. On the damage caused by the strike, see Scinteia, December 23, 1977.

18. Decree No. 12/65, Article 2.

19. Radio Free Europe, Romanian Situation Report, no. 3, February 9, 1978, p. 11; Scinteia, April 4, 1973; Romania Libera, April 5, 1973.

20. See N. Ceausescu, Raport cu privire la proiectul de Constitutie a Republicii Socialiste Romania [Report Concerning the Constitution's Project of the Socialist Republic of Romania], (Bucharest: 1965); S. Fischer- Galati, The New Romania: From People's Democracy to Socialist Republic, (Cambridge, Mass.: 1967); Dionisie Ghermani, "Nationalistischer 'lnternationalismus' am Beispiel Rumäniens", in Canadian Review of Studies in Nationalism, 2/1975, pp. 279-296.

21. Reports of the Ninth Congress in Scinteia, no. 20, 24, July 1965.

22. Ceausescu's principal speech at the Congress may be found in Scinteia, July 20, l965. See also The Ninth Congress of the Romanian Communist Party, (Bucharest: 1966).

23. Buletinul Oficial [Official Bulletin], no. 1, part I, August 21, 1965. For the text of the Constitution, see Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Romania, (Bucharest: 1965), p. 34. The Constitution was reprinted in Buletinul Oficial, 1, no. 31, 1969. The Constitution of 1965 reintroduced the spelling "Romania" in place of "Rominia," which had been introduced by the orthographical Law of 1952 as part of the Slavonicization (Russification) campaign.

24. Scinteia, August 22, 1968.

25. Theses of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party Concerning the Tenth Congress of the Party, (Bucharest: 1969).

26. Elöre [Forward -- a Hungarian-language daily published in Bucharest], March 14, 1971.

27. See the text of the article "The Shaping of History," published in the Hungarian-language press: "There has hardly been a party document published in recent years which did not call attention to the fact of the legal equality of the citizens of our country and that the leading force in our society, the party, is consistent in the nationality question. . . Those few people who have been unable as yet to alter their psychological conditioning, their national prejudices, must also take this to heart. . ." (Korunk [Our Age - Hungarian-language monthly],) (Cluj), August, 1970, p. 1, 141.

28. See "The Source of Lessons to be Learned," published in the Hungarian-language press: ". . . the development of culture in the vernacular, the cultivation of socialist Hungarian nationality consciousness, taking cognizance of its values, particular features, and possibilities, at the same time assumes a more thorough acquaintance with the Romanian language, Romanian literature, and Romanian national traditions, their popularization and study. . ."; quoted in Igaz Szó [True Word], (Tirgu Mures), September 1969, p. 446.

29. In Romania a law, the highest legal authority, is generally enacted by the Grand National Assembly. A Decree-Law, a decree of legal force issued by the State Council, the highest organ of state power, is a secondary legal source, as is a resolution issued by the Council of Ministers (Hotarirea Consiliului de Ministri). Resolutions issued jointly by the RCP Central Committee and the Council of Ministers count as a special source of law. Laws are generally published in Romanian, but Buletinul Oficial, which publishes the laws, also appeared in the languages of the various national minorities. (Decree-Law No. 716/1965).

30. Until 1975 place-names were bilingual in the almost entirely Hungarian-inhabited Székler region, but this practice has ceased.

31. For example: Dej (Romanian) - Dés (Hungarian), Satu Mare (Romanian) - Szatmár (Hungarian), etc. For the use of place names in Romania, see Radio Free Europe, Situation Report no. 41, November 3, 1971, p. 16.

32. Act No. 1/1968, Scinteia, February 1968.

33. See F. Mayer, G.H. Tontsch, I. Iovanas (Cluj-Napoca), "Staat -- Verfassung -- Recht -- Verwaltung", in Rumänien. Südosteuropa-Handbuch, vol. II, ed. by K.D. Grothusen, (Göttingen: 1977). p. 56.

34. More detail on this in Chapter II.

35. Scinteia, July 20, 1972. See also Die sozialistische Nation. Dokumente der Rumänischen Kommunistischen Partei, (Bucharest: 1973); "Raport prezentat la Conferinta Nationala a Partidului Comunist Roman -- 19 iulie 1972," [Report on the National Conference of the Romanian Communist Party -- July 19, 1972], in Nicolae Ceausescu, Reden und Artikel, vol. 7, (Bucharest: 1973), p. 464 et seq.

36. S. Fischer-Galati, "The Socialist Republic of Rumania," in Peter A. Toma, ed., The Changing Face of Communism in Eastern Europe, (The University of Arizona: 1970), pp. 28-32.

37. "L'écrivain roumain Paul Goma est à Paris pour amplifier les cris de révolte et de désespoir de ses concitoyens," Le Monde, (Paris), November 26, 1977; see also Virgil Tanase, Le Dossier Paul Goma: L'écrivain face au socialisme du silence, (Paris: 1977).

38. Andrei Sida, "Die Nation und die sozialistische Demokratie," in Era Socialista, (Bucharest), no. 20/1973; see also Dumitru Mazilu, "Die sozialistische Nation, ein Faktor des Fortschritts innerhalb der zeitgenössischen Welt," in Revista de Filozofie, (Bucharest), no. 9, 1973.

39. A regulation concerning "nationality composition" (componenta nationala) was issued on April 12, 1974, stipulating that members of the national minorities were not to occupy positions of leadership in public or economic life. The regulation was not made public.

40. Valuable data are provided in Robert R. King, Minorities under Communism. Nationalities as a Source of Tension among Balkan Communist States, (Cambridge, Mass.: 1973), p. 13.

41. Statement by Pál Bodor, Editor-in-Chief of the Hungarian-language service of Romanian Television. For the text see Korunk no. 3, 1978, p. 195.

42. T. Gilberg, Modernization in Rumania, op. cit., p. 214.

43. Excerpts from Ceausescu's speech at a joint session of the Councils of Working People of Hungarian and German Nationality. Cf., Neuer Weg [New Path -- German language daily], (Bucharest), March 17, 1978. See also Radio Free Europe, Romanian Situation Report No. 7, March 19, 1978.

44. BBC Research, EE/5766/ B/3, March 17, 1978.

45. E. Bondor-Deliman, "Nationalitatile conlocuitoare in istoria si viata social-politica a Romaniei socialiste" [The Coinhabiting Nationalities in the History and Sociopolitical Life of Socialist Romania], in Lupta de Clasa, [Class Struggle], no. 7, 1971. The name Lupta de Clasa was later changed to Era Socialista.

46. "Raport prezentat la Conferinta Nationala a Partidului Comunist Roman -- 19 iulie 1972" [Report to the July 19, 1972 National Conference of the Romanian Communist Party], in Nicolae Ceausescu, Speeches and Articles, vol. 7, (Bucharest: 1973), p. 464 et seq.

47. The RCP Program for the Creation of a Multilaterally Developed Socialist Society and Romania's Advance Toward Communism, (Bucharest: 1974), pp. 158-162.

48. Quoted by H. Bergel, Die Sachsen in Siebenbürgen nach dreissig Jahren Kommunismus, p. 16.

49. Decree No. 278, May 11, 1973. These decrees will be discussed in more detail in the chapter dealing with national-minority education in Romania.

50. "Legea ocrotirii patrimoniului cultural national al Republicii Socialiste Romania," in Buletinul Oficial, Part 1, no. 137. November 2, 1974. The text of the law was published in the November 3, 1974 issue of Elöre. Part of the German text in E. Wagner, Quellen zur Geschichte der Siebenbürger Sachsen, op. cit., pp. 386-396.

51. Buletinul Oficial, Part I, no. 131, October 31, 1974.

52. Buletinul Oficial, Part I, no. 155, December 10, 1974 (a new version).

53. "Bürokratische Schikanen gegen die Kirche Rumäniens," Neue Zürcher Zeitung, February 6, 1975; H. Bergel, "Die Entwicklung der Siebenbürger Sachsen seit 1945 als Problem der Volksgruppen im Donauraum," in Donauraum (Vienna), 1976, p. 156.

54. Tribuna Romaniei [The Romanian Tribune], (Bucharest) February 15, 1975.

55. R. Staar, Die kommunistischen Regierungssysteme in Osteuropa, (Stuttgart-Degerloch: 1977), p. 207.

56. Buletinul Oficial, no. 156, December 16, 1974.

57. Buletinul Oficial, Part 1, no. 152, December 6, 1974.

58. Decre-Law No. 255/1974.

59. Decree No. 372/1976.

60. More detail on this in Chapter II. Decrees Nos. 24 and 25 of November 5, 1976 enable the authorities to allocate manpower forcibly for "useful" construction projects in Romania. These two decrees replaced two other administrative laws and regulations enacted between 1953 and 1972 regarding administrative banishment and confinement to places of forced labor. (See Romania [an Amnesty International USA Publication], p. 4).

61. Neue Zürcher Zeitung, August 3, 1978. N. Ceausescu promised to remedy the grievances of the national minorities regarding dispersal at the joint national session of the Councils of Working People of Hungarian and German Nationality. The text of Ceausescu's speech was published on March 17, 1978 in the German-language Neuer Weg (Bucharest) and the Hungarian-language Elöre (Bucharest).

62. T. Gilberg, Modernization in Rumania since World War II, (New York: 1975), p. 224.

63. "Gemeinsame Sitzung der Räte der Werktätigen ungarischer und deutscher Nationalität. Rede des N. Ceausescu," in Neuer Weg, March 17, 1978, pp. 1 and 3.; on the Romanian cultural revolution see T. Gilberg, "Ceausescu's kleine Kulturrevolution", in Osteuropa, no. 22, 1972.

64. Ibid. (Gemeinsame Sitzung. . . )

65. Gordon Brook-Shepherd's interview with N. Ceausescu in Sunday Telegraph (London), May 9, 1978; see also Mihnea Berindei, "Les minorités nationales en Roumanie," (II), L'Alternative, (Paris), no. 4-5, 1980, p. 36.

66. Ervin Mikó, "The Force of Our Brotherhood," in Romania Libera [Free Romania], (Bucharest), May 10, 1978.; Agerpress (Romanian News Agency), May 10, 1978. (English 0948 gmt., London)

67. Romania Libera [Free Romania], February 21, 1978.

68. Contemporanul [Contemporary], (Bucharest), no. 7, February 17, 1978.

69. Romanian News, (Bucharest), May 11, 1978.

70. Radio Bucharest, February 22, 1978.

71. Dacia Publishing House, (Cluj-Napoca: 1974).

72. Dacia Publishing House, (Cluj-Napoca: 1975).

73. Miklós Horthy was Regent of Hungary from 1920 to 1945; the 1940- 1944 "Horthy-period" refers to the period of Hungarian rule in Northern Transylvania. On the anti-Hungarian campaign by Romanian historians, see Manuel Lucbert, "La minorité hongroise de Transylvanie est méconté de son sort," in Le Monde, (Paris), May 5, 1978.

74. See the novel Delirul [Delirium] by the Romanian author, Marin Preda, which in essence rehabilitates the head of the Romanian fascist government between 1940 and 1944, Ion Antonescu. On the rehabilitation and its political implications, see "Bukarest rehabilitiert die 'Gestrigen'," Wissenschaftlicher Dienst Südosteuropa, (Munich), vol. 1965, no. 6/7, pp. 89-92; "Nationale Geschichte -- neu gesehen. Bukarest rehabilitiert die rumänische Vergangenheit," Ibid., vol. 1965, no. 8/9, pp. 123-126. Dionisie Ghermani, "Neue 'grossrumänische' Bekenntnisse", Ibid., vol. 1978, no. 819, p. 218.

75. Scinteia, November 16, 1977: Party Resolution on 2,050th Anniversary of Dacian State (EE/5653/CI/I); see also "Istoria si terminologia istorica" [History and Historical Terminology], Scinteia, May 18, 1976.

76. In this connection I quote the RCP resolution: "Bei der Behandlung der nationalen Frage ging die Rumänische Kommunistische Partei von der Tatsache aus, dass sich im Laufe der Geschichte auf dem Gebiet des Vaterlandes auch andere Nationalitäten -- Ungarn, Deutsche, Serben und andere -- niedergelassen haben" (In dealing with the nationality question, the Romanian Communist Party begins from the fact that in the course of history other nationalities -- Hungarians, Germans, Serbs, and others -- also settled in the territory of our country.) "Resolution der Landeskonferenz der RKP von Juli 1972", (Excerpts), quoted by E. Eisenburger, in Heimatbilder, (Cluj-Napoca: 1976), p. 314.

77. Europa Ethnica, vol. 35, 2/1978, pp. 75-80.; Paul Lendvai, "Achilles Heel of Romanian Nationalism," Financial Times (London), January 31, 1978.; "Tales from Transylvania,', The Economist (London), February 4, 1978.; Dessa Trevisan, "Minority Leader Taken to Task," The Times (London), February 8, 1978; Pol Mathil, "La Transylvanie: une marmite rouge," Le Soir (Brussels), February 1978; Dusko Doder, "Minority Issue Splits Bloc States," The Washington Post, February 23, 1978.

78. The Washington Post, February 23, 1978.

79. Michael Dobbs, "Romania Suppresses Hungarian Minority's Protest," The Guardian (London), March 2, 1978; Dessa Trevisan, "Letter Telling Plight of Hungarian Minority Answered by Repression," The Times, (London) March 2, 1978.

80. A Hét [The Week -- Hungarian-language weekly published in Bucharest], no. 25 June 2, 1978; Radio Bucharest and Agerpress (Romanian News Agency), June 24, 1978.

81. See Pál Bodor's article in Romania Libera, March 3, 1978, and the poem by the Hungarian poet, László Miklós, in Scinteia, March 12, 1978.

82. The March 14, 16, and 17, 1978 issues of Neuer Weg and Elöre.

83. "Charter 77" is a movement for the protection of human and civic rights which began in Czechoslovakia; several European writers have joined it.

84. Deutsche Presse Agentur, December 14, l977; Rudolf Krämer-Badoni, "Der Schriftsteller Goma klagt Ceausescu an," Die Welt, (Hamburg), December 15, 1977; "Druck auf die Minderheiten," Frankfurter Rundschau, December 15, 1977; "Schwere Vorwürfe gegen rumänische Regierung," Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, December 16, 1977.

85. Report on the "Seminar on the Multi-National Society", Ljubljana, Yugoslavia, 8 to 21 June 1965, Doc. ST/TAO/HR 23.

86. United Nation Seminar on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights of National, Ethnic and Other Minorities, Ohrid, Yugoslavia, 25 June-8 July 1974.

87. Francesco Capotorti, Study on the Rights of Persons Belonging to Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, UNO-Doc ECOSOC E/CN. 4/Sub. 2/L. 564, June 27, 1972 and E/CN 4/Sub. 2/384, June 20, 1977. See also Th. Veiter, Nationalitätenkonflikt und Volksgruppenrecht im 20. Jahrhundert, vol. 1, p. 138.

88. KSZE-Dokumentation (Helsinki Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe), edited by Presse und Informationsamt der Bundesregierung, Bonn 1975, pp. 38, 101, 133.

89. Népszabadság, (Budapest), January 28, 1958.

90. Radio Bucharest, February 27, 1958.

91. Népszabadság, October 6, 1968.

92. Népszabadság, June 25, 1971.

93. Scinteia, July 9, l 97 1.

94. Népszabadság, August 1, 1975.

95. See the reply of János Szász, a Hungarian writer in Romania, to the articles in the May 15 and June 15, 1968 issues of Élet és Irodalom [Life and Literature], (Budapest), in the July 25, 1968 issue of Gazeta Literara [Literary Gazette], (Bucharest).

96. Magyar Nemzet [Hungarian Nation], (Budapest), December 25, 1977, and January 1, 1978.

97. Luceafarul [Hesperus], monthly review published in Bucharest, May 6, 1978.

98. Élet és Irodalom, July 8, 1978.

99. According to Romanian and certain other historiographers, the Romanian people grow out of the intermingling of Dacians with Romans.

100. C. Giurescu, "Probleme der zeitgenössischen Historiographie -- Die Geschichte der Rumänen vor dem Hintergrund einiger neuer auslandischer Arbeiten," in Revista de Istorie [Historical Review] (Bucharest), no. 6, 1975.

101. László Makkai, "Egy kis szakmai ördögüzés" [A Little Professional Exorcism], in Történelmi Szemle [Historical Review], (Budapest), no. 4, 1975, p. 725.

102. Magyar Tudomány [Hungarian Scholarship -- publication of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences], (Budapest), vol. XXII, no. 2, February 1977, p. 151.

103. Magyar Hírlap [Hungarian News -- Budapest daily], no. 303, December 25, 1977 and April 3, 1978.

104. D. Berciu and C. Preda, "In the Spirit of Historical Truth," in Contemporanul, February 10, 1978.

105. Radio Free Europe Research, Romania, November 2, 1979, pp. 4-7.

106. Those asking to emigrate lose their jobs. (Cf., Bergel, Die Entwicklung. . ., op. cit., p. 159.) See also Europa Ethnica, vol. 33, 1976, p. 181.

Elemér Illyés : National Minorities in Romania