Elemér Illyés : National Minorities in Romania

2. Pál Binder, "Kulturbeziehungen auf dem Gebiet des Buchdruckes", in Archiv des Vereins für Siebenbürgische Landeskunde, no. 12, 1976.

3. For more detail, see Hans Meschendörfer, Das Verlagswesen der Siebenbürger Sachsen. Ein Überblick, (Munich: 1979), p. 21.

4. Published under the title Korrespondenzblatt des Vereins für siebenbürgische Landeskunde from 1878 to 1930, as Siebenbürgische Vierteljahresschrift from 1931 to 1941, from 1971 to 1978 as Korrespondenzblatt des Arbeitskreises für siebenbürgische Landeskunde in the Federal Republic of Germany, and after 1978 as Zeitschrift für Siebenbürgische Landeskunde.

5. Lajos György, Az erdélyi magyarság szellemi élete. Az erdélyi magyar irodalom bibliográfiája 1919-1924 [The Intellectual Life of the Hungarians in Transylvania. Bibliography of Hungarian Literature in Transylvania 1919-1924] (Cluj: 1925), pp. 8-9; see further Alfred Bohmann, Menschen und Grenzen, vol. 2: Bevölkerung und Nationalitäten in Südosteuropa, (Cologne: 1969), p. 203; see also H. Meschendorfer, op. cit. p. 70.

6. Meschendorfer, op. cit., pp. 58-70.

7. Lajos György, op. cit., 5-12.

8. For more detail, see Alfred Bohmann, op. cit., p. 203; Dokumentation der Vertreibung der Deutschen aus Ost-Mitteleuropa, vol. III, Das Schicksal der Deutschen in Rumänien, (Berlin: 1957), p. 105E.

9. See Stephen Fischer-Galati, ed., Romania, (New York: 1956), p. 172; Alexandre Cretzianu, Captive Rumania, (New York: 1956), p. 128; see also Anneli Ute Gabanyi, "Literatur," in Rumänien, Südosteuropa Handbuch, vol. II, ed., Klaus-Detlev Grothusen (Göttingen: 1977), p. 527.

10. Monitorul Oficial [Official Gazette], no. 11, January 14, 1949.

11. Data from Council for Socialist Culture and Education, in A magyar nemzetiség Romániában [The Hungarian Nationality in Romania], (Bucharest: 1976), Appendix no. 3.

12. Neuer Weg was the daily of the so-called German Anti-Fascist Committee in Romania in 1948. It appeared at a time when the first wave of discrimination against the Germans in Romania had abated and the support of the nationalities was important for the communist regime, then in the process of consolidating its authority. At the time of its founding, Neuer Weg bore the subtitle Organ des Antifaschistischen Komitees der deutschen Werktätigen in Rumänien; from 1953 onwards, it was designated Organ der Volksräte der Rumänischen Volksrepublik; at present, it is known as Organ des Landesrates der Front der Sozialistischen Einheit; and, as a political daily, like the Hungarian-language Elöre [Forward], it is the leading German-language newspaper of the RCP and the Romanian Socialist Republic.

13. The following is a list of other Hungarian-language publications in Romania:
Daily papers: Elöre [Forward], Bucharest; Fáklya [Torch], Oradea; Igazság [Truth], Cluj-Napoca; Vörös Zászló [Red Banner], Tirgu Mures; Szabad Szó [Free Word], Timisoara.
Weeklies: Vörös Lobogó [Red Flag], Arad; Brassói Lapok [Brassó Papers], Brasov; Megyei Tükör [County Mirror], Sfintu Gheorghe; Hargita, Miercurea Ciuc; Bányavidéki Fáklya [Bányavidék Torch], Maramures; Szatmári Hírlap [Szatmár Journal], Satu Mare.
Monthlies: Napsugár [Sunlight], Cluj-Napoca.
Irregularly published periodicals: Új Élet [New Life], Tirgu Mures and Nyelv- és Irodalomtudományi Közlemények [Publications in Linguistics and Literary Science], Cluj-Napoca. The Buletinul Oficial [Official Bulletin] is also published in the languages of the national minorities. The daily paper of the Swabians of the Banat, Neue Banater Zeitung, is published in Timisoara.

14. Until October 29, 1971, Die Woche appeared under the title Hermannstädter Zeitung; the name fell the victim to the measure officially banning the use of certain significant national-minority place names, the text of which has never been published. In accordance with a further secret directive, Hungarian or German place names may be used only if they resemble Romanian place names or if the national-minority population amounts to at least 30 percent of the inhabitants of the localities in question. Concerning the use of the place names in the language of the nationalities in Romania, see Radio Free Europe: Situation Report, Romania, no. 41, November 3, 1971, p. 16.

15. Joseph S. Roucek, Contemporary Roumania and her Problems, (Stanford: 1932), pp. 208-209.

16. Some German and Hungarian writers and poets in Romania stopped writing during the years of rigid literary formalism, but in addition to those writers who committed themselves to "proletcult" propaganda, a few well-known minority writers were also published. One frequently encounters the names of the Germans Erwin Wittstock and Oskar Walter Cissek, or the Hungarians Ferenc Szemlér, László Szabédi, Jenö Kiss, Imre Horváth and -- from the younger generation -- András Sütö on the pages of the literary journals of the 1950s. For more detail, see Lajos Kántor and Gusztáv Láng, Romániai magyar irodalom 1944-1970 [Hungarian Literature in Romania 1944- 1970], (Bucharest: 1973).

17. It was at this time that novels were published by: Paul Goma, Ostinato; Marin Preda, Intrusul [The Intruder]; and Fanus Neagu, Ingerul a strigat [The Angel has Called].

18. Romanian Statistical Pocket Book 1964, published by the Romanian People's Republic, Central Statistical Board, 1964, pp. 266-268.

19. From among Hungarian prose writers: András Sütö, Anyám könnyü álmot ígér [My Mother Promises a Light Sleep], 1970; Tibor Bálint, Zokogó majom [Sobbing Monkey], 1969. From among the poets: Sándor Kányádi, Fától fáig [From Tree to Tree], 1970; Árpád Farkas, Jegenyekör [Poplar Circle], 1971; Domokos Szilágyi, Búcsú a trópusoktól [Farewell to the Tropics], 1969. From among the German writers: the posthumous work of Erwin Wittstock, Das Jüngste Gericht in Altbirk, 1971; and Arnold Hauser, Der fragwürdige Bericht Jakob Bühlmanns, 1968, the first work to depict the fate of Germans of Transylvania since the war.

20. Cf., the statement of Hungarian writers in Romania, made according with the official instructions: "We do not intend to slice up Romanian education and, within it, our own Hungarian nationality literature and culture into regional units because - in the words of Ceausescu - the unity of Romanians, Hungarians, Germans and other nationalities around the party and government is indivisible." Igaz Szó [True Word] Tirgu Mures monthly, no. 12, 1970, p. 795. For a discussion of national assimilation, see Karl W. Deutsch, Nationalism and Social Communication, (Cambridge, Mass.: 1966); Chapters 5 and 6, pp. 107-153.

21. One of the pre-war novels of the Hungarian writer György Kovács and a work by the Romanian author Lucia Demetrius, on a Transylvanian theme, could only be published after being revised by the office of censorship.

22. The Hungarian-language daily published in Bucharest, Elöre [Forward], published a long article in its February 15, 1975 issue on the "liberation" of Budapest by Romanian and Soviet troops; the August 1975 issue of Vörös Zászló [Red Banner], Tirgu Mures, published photographs taken 35 years earlier of mass demonstrations against the Second Vienna Award.

23. Scinteia [The Spark], the central organ of the RCP, published an article in its May 18, 1976 issue on the "2,050-year-old independent, centralized state of the Dacians," thereby emphasizing the historic primacy of the Romanian people in Transylvania. The article had to be published by the nationality papers as well.

24. Cf., László Hegedüs, "Szocialista kultúránk -- a testvériség szolgálatában" [Our Socialist Culture - in the Service of Fraternity], in A Hét [The Week], March 17, 1978, p. 2; also Franz Storch, "A szocialista építés szerves része," Ibid., p. 3.

25. "Grundfragen der rumänischen Kulturpolitik," in Wissenschaftlicher Dienst Südosteuropa, Munich, 1974, no. 4, p. 74.

26. "From the Report submitted by Comrade Nicolae Ceausescu on behalf of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party at the 11th Congress," in Korunk [Our Age], a Cluj-Napoca Hungarian-language monthly, vol. 12, 1974, p. 1208.

27. For more detail, see A.U. Gabanyi, "Die rumänische Literaturpolitik seit 1972," in: Wissenschaftlicher Dienst Südosteuropa, no. 9, 1975, pp. 180- 184. See also T. Gilberg, "Ceausescu's kleine Kulturrevolution in Rumänien", in Osteuropa, no. 22, 1972.

28. On the resistance and the realization of the policy of the party see Osteuropa, Stuttgart, 10/1972, pp. 717-728.

29. The statutes passed at the May conference of the Writers' Association contain a supplementary clause regarding young writers: "while, in accordance with the 1968 regulations, admission to the Writers' Association was possible after the publication of a single book, from 1972 onwards this shall require the publication of two books." (Cf. A.U. Gabanyi, "Die rumänische Literaturpolitik seit 1972," op. cit., pp. 180-184.)

30. Decree No. 53/1975, Buletinul Oficial, no. 51, May 30, 1975.

31. Law No. 3, published in Buletinul Oficial, no. 48, I, April 1, 1975.

32. Resolution of the Secretary of the CC of the RCP, published in Neuer Weg, May 8, 1974.

33. Congresul al XI-lea al Partidului Comunist Roman [The 11th Congress of the RCP], (Bucharest: 1974).

34. Resolution of the Secretary of the CC of the RCP, published in Neuer Weg, May 8, 1974.

35. Malcolm W. Brown, "Repression Rise Seen in Rumania," in The New York Times, May 30, 1976.

36. Report commissioned by the party office of Bolyai University of Cluj, December 1954-March 1955, p. 64 (Manuscript).

37. Decree No. 422 in Buletinul Oficial, no. 127, November 28, 1977.

38. Characteristic of the Romanian government's view of the merging of cultures is the statement of RCP Chief N. Ceausescu: "It does not matter in which language the nationalities sing, recite, or play-act, or in which language they write: the important thing is what they say and what they write." "From Nicolae Ceausescu's 1976 New Year's Speech", in Igaz Szó, Tirgu Mures, no. 1, l976. A valuable source of information on cultural assimilation - specially among the Hungarians - is Trond Gilberg, "Ethnic Minorities in Romania under Socialism," in East European Quarterly, vol. VII, no. 4, January 1974, p. 439; see also Karl W. Deutsch, Nationalism and Social Communication, (Cambridge, Mass.: 1966), Chapters 5 and 6, pp. 107-153; see further Stephen Fischer-Galati, "The Socialist Republic of Rumania", in Peter A. Toma, ed., The Changing Face of Communism in Eastern Europe, (University of Arizona: 1970), pp. 28-32.

39. Cf., A magyar nemzetiség Romániában [The Hungarian Nationality in Romania], Appendix 3.

40. Resolution of the Council of Ministers No. 2,215, Buletinul Oficial, December 9, 1969.

41. Among others the Dacia Publishing House in Cluj-Napoca, the Ion Creanga, Ceres, Eminescu, and Albatros Publishing Houses in Bucharest, and the Facla Publishing House in Timisoara. See also note 39, p. 17.

42. Cf., Sächsisch-schwäbische Chronik, eds., E. Eisenburger and M. Kroner (Bucharest: 1976), p. 198.

43. Cf., Anuarul Statistic al RPR 1965 [Statistical Yearbook of the Romanian People's Republic, 1965], Bucharest, Central Statistical Directorate, 1965, Table 256, p. 532; Anuarul Statistic al RPR 1957 [Statistical Yearbook of the Romanian People's Republic, 1957], Central Directorate, Bucharest, 1957, Table 138, p. 222.

44. S. Fischer-Galati, ed., Romania, pp. 164-165; L. Deáky and N. Radulescu, "Fighters of the Socialist Struggle", in Scinteia, March 6, 1964.

45. Anuarul Statistic al RPR 1965, Table 256; and op. cit., 1957, Table 138, p. 222.

46. See Igaz Szó, Tirgu Mures., no. 5, 1972, p. 640.

47. Cf., László Hegedüs, "Szocialista kultúránk -- a testvériség szolgálatában" [Our Socialist Culture - in the Service of Fraternity] in A Hét, Bucharest, March 17, 1978; see also A magyar nemzetiség Romániában [The Hungarian Nationality in Romania], p. 18.

48. See, Neuer Weg Kalender 1977, (Bucharest: 1976), p. 22.

49. The joint session of the Councils of Working People of Hungarian and German Nationality, December 3, 1975, Scinteia, December 4, 1975.

50. See, Project de plan editorial [Editorial Project], 1971-1977.

51. Ibid., 1971.

52. The text of the contributions is published in the March 14, 1971 issue of the Hungarian-language daily Elöre.

53. Korunk [Our Age], Cluj-Napoca, no. 9., 1981, pp. 710-711.

54. Sándor Pezderka, "Magyar könyvek -- a számok tükrében" [Hungarian Books - a Quantitative Study], in A Hét, Bucharest, February, 17, 1978.

Elemér Illyés : National Minorities in Romania