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Transylvania - The Roots of Ethnic Conflict |
Ideology and Political Culture in Rumania: The Daco-Roman Theory and the "Place" of Minorities
1. Zoltán I. Tóth, Magyarok és románok: Történelmi tanulmányok [Hungarians and Rumanians: Historical Studies] (Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1966), p. 61. Quote in text translated by author.
2. For some historians' challenges of the Daco-Roman theory see László Makkai, "Egy kis szakmai ördögûzés," [A Minor Professional Exorcism] Történelmi Szemle [Historical Review] 985 (1975): 751--54, and Gyula Kristó, "Rómaiak és vlachok Nyesztornál és Anonymusnál," [Romans and Vlachs in Nyestor and Anonymous] Századok [Centuries] 112, no. 4 (1978): 623--58.
3. Péter Szabó Szentmihályi, "Az irodalom negyedik dimenziója," [The Fourth Dimension of Literature"] Valóság [Reality] 19, no. 8 (1976): 94, contends: "Belief in myths and the creation of new myths appears to be a basic and ancient human trait, and while this need is probably in an inverse relationship to the growth of civilization, the scientific-technological revolution of our century, the nuclear threat, environmental pollution and the dependence on machines can be made manageable and understandable to the masses only in a simplified, even 'naive' way. Science has overcome myth, and in the place of 'naive' myths, it has established newer, not any less naive scientific myths." Quote in footnote translated by author.
4. The definition of "myth" used in the present study is based on a previous attempt to define the concept. See "Jugoszlávia válsága és Közép-Európa jövõje," [The Future of Central Europe and the Crisis in Yugoslavia] A XII. Magyar Találkozó Krónikája [The Chronicle of the 12th Hungarian Assembly] (Cleveland: Árpád Könyvkiadó, 1973), pp. 72--74.
5. Within the context of this study, "myth" refers to the general phenomenon while "myth-system" refers to the specific set of mythical categories and symbols that have been elaborated for the national self-definition of the present-day Rumanian state.
6. Elemér Illyés, "Román történetírás," [Rumanian Historiography] Transylvania 17, no. 3 (1976): 6.
7. Ibid., pp. 6--7.
8. Elemér Illyés, Erdély változása: Mitosz és valóság [Transylvanian Metamorphosis: Myth and Reality], 2nd ed. (Munich: Aurora, 1976), pp. 354--89. Illyés points out that the Transylvanian School (scoala Ardeleana) was preceded by certain humanists who also speculated about the Roman relationships. An outstanding example is Nicolaus Olahus (1493--1568).
9. Emil Niederhauser, Nemzetek születése Kelet-Európában [The Birth of Nations in Eastern Europe] (Budapest: Kossuth Kiadó, 1976), pp. 199--200. Quote in text translated by author.
10. D. Prodan, Supplex Libellus Valachorum: The Political Struggle of the Romanians in Transylvania During the 18th Century, Bibliotheca Historica Romaniae Monographs 8 (Bucharest: Academy of the Socialist Republic of Romania, 1971), pp. 10--12.
11. Constantin C. Giurescu and Dinu C. Giurescu, Istoria Românilor I: Din Cele Mai Vechi Timpuri Pina la Intemfierea Statelor Romanesti [History of Rumania I: From the Earliest Times to the Earliest Rumanian State Systems] (Bucharest: Editura stiintifica Enciclopedica, 1975), pp. 72--203.
12. For the shortcomings of the theory see Illyés, Erdély változása, pp. 360--64.
13. Ibid., 375--76.
14. An excellent example is the following selection from his portrayal of Hunedoara (Hunyad) county. It is, if anything, a fantastic reconstruction and a vision rather than an effort to present the past objectively. Consider the following excerpt: "Yet it is the Dacians who won, the onetime lords of this land who have prevailed in spite of the chains and the bloodletting imposed on them by their foes. Their invincible courage and patient perseverance triumphed in the end. Look around you now, here are the true Dacians, the new Dacians of 2,000 years past, who carry with them as a sign of their triumph the language of a Rome long consigned to dust. The peasants here are indeed
Dacians, with their tough and reserved features, their tight-lipped and ancient custom of paying everyone their due with a sense of justice and not the vengeful 'an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth'." This literary reconstruction of the past is characteristic of his other works as well. See Nicolai Iorga, Válogatott Írások [Selected Writings] (Bucharest: Kriterion, 1971), pp. 167--69. Quote in footnote translated by author.
15. Excellent examples of this impact are Richard Todd's review of Adolf Armbruster's La Romanité des Roumains: Histoire d'une Ideé in the Slavic Review 38, no. 1 (March, 1979): 150, and Paul MacKendrick, The Dacian Stones Speak (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1975).
16. Michael J. Rura, Reinterpretation of History as a Method of Furthering Communism in Rumania (Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 1961), pp. 1--2, 8--9, 17--22.
17. Lajos Jordáky, Szocializmus és történettudomány: Tanulmányok [Socialism and Historiography: Studies] (Bucharest: Politikai Kiadó, 1974), pp. 167--68, 178--79.
18. stefan Pascu, et al., Kolozsvár, trans. József Debreczeni (Cluj-Kolozsvár: Kolozsvár Nyomdaipari Vállalat, 1957).
19. For example, Giurescu and Giurescu, op. cit.: stefan Pascu, Voievodatul Transilvaniei [The Transylvanian Principality] (Cluj: Editura Dacia, 1972); stefan Pascu, ed., Istoria Clujului [The History of Cluj] (Cluj: Consiliul Popular al Municipiului, 1974); and in English, Constantin C. Giurescu, The Making of the Romanian People and Language (Bucharest: Meridiane, 1972).
20. Gheorghe stefan, Mozzanatok a román nép történetébõl [Events in the History of the Rumanian People] (Bucharest: Politikai Kiadó, 1967), p. 4.
21. Ilie Ceausescu, "Transylvania from the Dacians to 1918: Two Millenia of Struggle and Work to Maintain and Affirm National Being and Dignity" Anale de Istorie [Annals of History] 6 (Nov.--Dec., 1978) as translated in JPRS (Joint Publications Research Service) (Washington, D.C.) no. 073103, International Affairs, p. 3.
22. Makkai, op. cit., p. 752.
23. A concrete example of this is Andrei Otetea, ed., The History of the Romanian People (originally Istoria Poporului Român, 1970), trans. Eugenia Farca (New York: Twayne Publishers, 1972). It spends 159 pages on the formation (Daco-Roman phase) of the Rumanian people, c. 150 pages on the "medieval period" (c. 800 years) and c. 300 pages on the period from 1821 to the present. Also see Constantin C. Giurescu, ed., Chronological History of Romania (Bucharest: Editura Enciclopedica Româna, 1972), which devotes pp. 11--20 to the "Pre-Historic Age," pp. 21--46 (100 B.C.--A.D. 900) to the "Ancient Epoch," pp. 47--153 (A.D. 900--1821), 154--269 (1821--1918) to the "Modern Epoch," and pp. 270--406 (1919--71) to the "Contemporary Epoch."
24. For a popular archeological survey of all these ancient peoples see particularly Gyula László, Emlékezzünk régiekrõl: A Kárpát-Medence egykori népeinek története és a magyar honfoglalás [History of the Former Peoples of the Carpathian Basin and the Hungarian Conquest] (Budapest: Móra Ferenc könyvkiadó, 1979).
25. Good examples of this "Rumanianization" can be found in Razvan Theodorescu, "Old Romanian Art in European Museums," Rumanian Review, 30, no. 1 (1976): 87--90.
26. Ceausescu, op. cit., p. 4.
27. Ibid., p. 5.
28. Ibid., p. 6.
29. stefan, op. cit., pp. 10--13. Quote in text translated by author.
30. "A New Romanian Film: The Column," Documents, Articles and Information on Romania, 22--23 (Dec. 5, 1968): 19; Manuela Gheorghiu, "Birth and Evolution of a
Film Epic," Romanian Review 31, no. 2 (1977): 92--93.
31. St. stefanescu, "Michael the Brave --- The First Ruler of All Romanians," Romanian Bulletin, June, 1975, p. 4.
32. Illyés, Erdély változása, pp. 374--77, 388--93. Some Rumanian examples are Ceausescu, op. cit., pp. 11--23; Constantin Daicoviciu, et al., Romania: Geography, History, Economy, Culture (Bucharest: Meridiane Publishing House, 1966), pp. 15--35; L. Bányai, Pe Fagasul Traditiilor Fratesti [Continuity of Traditional Fraternal Struggles] (Bucharest: Institutul de Studii Istorice se Social-Politice, 1971), pp. 22--117; Vasile Netea, The Union of Transylvania with Romania (Bucharest: Meridiane Publishing House, 1968), pp. 4--13.
33. Donald Catchlove, Romania's Ceausescu (London: Abacus Press, 1972), pp. 23--37.
34. See for example the new (1976) equestrian statue of Decebalus by Ion Jalea at Deva, "Ion Jalea: Sculptor," Romanian Review, 31, no. 4 (1977): 56.
35. George Cioranescu, "The Political Significance of the Thracians," Radio Free Europe Research RAD Background Report no. 218 (Oct. 22, 1976), p. 6.
36. Ibid., p. 1.
37. Ibid., pp. 1--2.
38. Ibid., p. 2.
39. Ibid., pp. 1, 7.
40. Ion Ionescu, "Alba Iulia: A Two Millenium Old Town," Romanian Bulletin June, 1975, p. 3. Even more recently, Nicolae Ceausescu visited Arad to celebrate the 2000th anniversary of the establishment of the Dacian city of "Zirdava." See "Lelkesítõ találkozások," [Inspirational Meetings] A Hét [The Week] (Bucharest), Mar. 30, 1979, pp. 1,3.
41. Stan Newens, ed., Nicolae Ceausescu (Nottingham: Spokesman Books, 1972), p. 94.
42. Ecaterina Deliman, A román dolgozók és az együttlakó nemzetiségekhez tartozó dolgozók testvéri barátsága [The Fraternal Friendship of the Rumanian Workers and the Workers of the Coinhabiting Nationalities] (Bucharest: Politikai Kiadó, 1973), p. 21. Quote in text translated by author.
Education and National Minorities in Contemporary Rumania
1. For more detail on this, see Ernst Wagner, Historisch-statistisches Ortsnamenbuch für Siebenbürgen [Historical-Statistical Place-Name Directory of Transylvania] Studia Transylvanica, (Cologne-Vienna, 1976), pp. 84--88; see further T. Gilberg, Modernization in Rumania Since World War II (New York, 1975), p. 210. In the so-called Obere Vorstadt of Brasov [Scheii Brasovului] a Rumanian school of the Orthodox church was founded during the fifteenth century.
2. Among others Gilberg, op. cit., p. 209.
3. For more detail see T. Gilberg, "Ethnic Minorities in Romania Under Socialism," East European Quarterly 7 (Jan. 1974): 439.
4. Decree-Law No. 86/1945, Monitorul Oficial [Official Gazette] (Bucharest), pt. 1, no. 30/1945, Feb. 7, 1945, p. 819 ff.
5. Monitorul Oficial, pt. 1, no. 177, Aug. 3, 1948, p. 6322 ff.
6. Alfred Bohmann, Menschen und Grenzen [Men and Frontiers] (Cologne, 1969), p. 200.
7. Anuarul Statistic al R.P.R. 1959. [The Statistical Yearbook of the Rumanian People's Republic 1959] (Bucharest, 1959), pp. 288--93.
8. Constantin Sporea, "Probleme des Hochschulwesens in Rumänien" [The Problems of Higher Education in Rumania], Special Number of Wissenschaftlicher Dienst Südosteuropa, no. 3 (1959): 7.
9. Randolf L. Braham, Education in the Rumanian People's Republic, U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare. (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1963), p. 75.
10. For additional details see Stephen Fischer-Galati, "Rumania," in East Central Europe and the World, ed. Stephen D. Kertesz (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1962), pp. 158--66. The history of the present-day Babes-Bolyai University began in the sixteenth century with the foundation of the Hungarian Jesuit-Academy in Kolozsvár by the Transylvanian Prince Stephen Báthori in 1581. This institution obtained university status in 1872 with the name Ferenc József University; in 1919 this university was expropriated by the Rumanian state and renamed Ferdinand I. University. Between 1940 and 1958 it again became a Hungarian institution.
11. George Bailey, "Trouble Over Transylvania," The Reporter 31 (Nov. 19, 1964): 27.
12. Quoted from the Memorandum of Lajos Takács, former Deputy-Rector of the Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj (Kolozsvár) [Manuscript].
13. Bohmann, op. cit., p. 180.
14. Bailey, op. cit., pp. 26--27; see also David Binder, "Rumania's Minorities Pressed by Nationalist Drive," The New York Times, July 14, 1964, p. 4; J. F. Brown, "The Age-Old Question of Transylvania," The World Today 19 (Nov., 1963): 503--04.
15. George Lázár, "Jelentés Erdélybõl" [Report from Transylvania] in Irodalmi Újság [Literary Gazette] (Paris), Mar.--Apr., 1977.
16. Information based on Gilberg, Modernization in Rumania, p. 227, Table 8. 10.
17. Imre Mikó, "Az együttélõ nemzetiségek jogegyenlõsége" [Equality Before the Law of the Coinhabiting Nationalities], A Hét [The Week] (Bucharest), 1972, vol. 3, no. 16.
18. Report by János Demeter. Deputy Rector of the Babes-Bolyai University of Cluj, Korunk [Our Age] 1970, no. 11; Buletinul Oficial, July 9, 1973.
19. Decretul nr. 278 din 11 mai 1973 privind stabilirea normelor unitare de structura pentru institutiile de inv\ata\mînt [Decree no. 278 of May 11, 1973 Concerning the Regularization of Standard Structural Units of Educational Institutions] in Buletinul Oficial, no. 67, May 13, 1973, p. 818. See further the June 18--19, 1973, Resolution of the Central Committee of the RCP in Buletinul Oficial, pt. 1, no. 100, July 9, 1973.
20. Decree no. 278, art. 3, pars. 2, 3.
21. Ibid.
22. Bohmann, op. cit., p. 202.
23. Nicolae Ceausescu, România pe drumul desavîrsirii constructiei socialiste [Rumania on the Road of Completion of Socialist Construction], (Bucharest, 1976), vol 3, p. 700.
24. János Demeter, Korunk [Our Age], 1970, no. 11, p. 1627.
25. Tanügyi Újság [Educational Journal], 1971, no. 31; A Hét, 1971, no. 37.
26. Eduard Eisenburger, Wegzeichen der Heimat [Signposts of the Homeland] (Cluj, 1974), p. 163. See further information provided by the Rumanian Ministry of Education, March, 1977.
27. Walter König, Die gegenwärtigen Schulverhältnisse der Deutschen in Rumänien [The Present-day Educational System of the Germans in Rumania] (Cologne, Vienna, 1977), pp. 124--25.
28. Sächsisch-schwäbische Chronik [Saxon-Swabian Chronicle], ed. E. Eisenburger and M. Kroner (Bucharest, 1976), p. 194; see also data issued by the Rumanian Ministry of Education, vols. 1947--76.
29. König, op. cit., pp. 124--25.
30. From data issued by the Ministry of Education, March, 1977.
31. Ibid.
32. Ibid.; Árpád Debreczi, Elõre [Forward] (Hungarian-language daily, Bucharest), Mar. 31, 1972.
33. Inv\aTa\mîntul liceal si tehnic profesional [Education in Lycees and Technical- Occupational Schools], (Bucharest), Apr., 1978.
34. Ibid.
35. Data from speech given by N. Ceausescu at the March 14, 1971, session of the Council of Workers of Hungarian Nationality, Elõre, Mar. 14, 1971.
36. Information from Mihnea Berindei, "Les minorites nationales en Roumanie," vol. 2, in L'Alternative, (Paris) May--Aug., 1980, p. 41.
37. Ibid.
38. Anuarul Statistic al R.S.R. 1979, p. 568.
39. Wissenschaftlicher Dienst Südosteuropa, no. 10, 1975, pp. 207--08; see also Anuarul Statistic al R.S.R. 1979, p. 557 ff.
40. From speech given by N. Ceausescu at the March 12, 1971, session of the Council of Workers of Hungarian Nationality, Elõre, Mar. 14, 1971.
41. Statement by János Demeter, A Hét, 1971, no. 28.
42. Decree No. 207/1977 "Concerning the Organization and Function of the Lycees," Buletinul Oficial, no. 67, July 12, 1977, and Decree No. 208/1977 "Concerning the Organization and Function of the Vocational Schools."
43. The Hungarian Nationality in Rumania. Institute of Political Science and the Study of Nationality Question, (Bucharest, 1976), p. 17.
44. Data issued by the Ministry of Education.
45. König, op. cit., p. 110.
46. Data provided by the Rumanian Ministry of Education, 1974--77.
47. George Lázár, "Jelentés Erdélybõl" [Report from Transylvania], Irodalmi Újság [Literary Gazette] (Paris), Mar.--Apr., 1977.
48. Tanügyi Újság, 1971, no. 11.
49. Ibid.
50. Elemér Illyés, Erdély változása: Mitosz és valóság [Transylvanian Metamorphosis: Myth and Reality] (Munich: Aurora, 1976), p. 203.
51. Istoria României, Manual pentru clasa a XII-a, partea a II-a [The History of Rumania, Textbook for the 12th class, pt. 2], ed. Florea Dagne. (Bucharest, 1968).
52. Ifjúmunkás [Young Worker] (Hungarian-language organ, Bucharest), 1972, no. 15.
53. The territory beyond the Carpathians ("Old Kingdom") has a Hungarian population of about 150,000 Csángó Hungarians in Moldavia and about 200,000 Hungarians in Bucharest and the other urban centers of the Regat. Already at the end of the 1920s the Hungarian population of the Regat was estimated at 200,000. Erdélyi Magyar Évkönyv 1918--1929 [Transylvanian Hungarian Yearbook 1918--1929], vol. 1. (Kolozsvár, 1930), p. 3. For data on the one Hungarian school in Bucharest see the data issued by the Rumanian Ministry of Education for Bucharest during 1974--77.
54. Istvan Bántó, "Együttélés, testvériség" [Coexistence, Fraternity], Tanügyi Újság, 1971, no. 11.
55. Hans Bergel, "Die Entwicklung der Siebenbürger Sachsen seit 1945 als Problem der Volksgruppen im Donauraum" [The Development of the Transylvanian Saxons since 1945, as a Problem of the Ethnic Groups in the Danube Region], Der Donauraum (Vienna), 1976, pp. 151-60; see further Wolfgang Oberleitner, "Exodus 78: Rumäniens Volksdeutsche geben auf: Assimilierungspolitik und ethnische Isolation signalisieren den Aufbruch" [Exodus 78: The Ethnic Germans of Rumania Give Up: The Migration is Signalled by the Policy of Assimilation and Ethnic Isolation], Die Presse (Vienna), Jan. 14--15, 1978, p. 5.
1. Quoted in Georgina Ashworth, ed., World Minorities (Sunbury: Quartermaine House, 1977), vol. 1, p. xix.
2. See for instance Myres S. McDougal, Harold D. Lasswell, Lung-Chu Chen, "Freedom from Discrimination in Choice of Language and International Human Rights," Southern Illinois University Law Journal, no. 1 (1976):164; also John Carey, "Editorial Comment: Progress on Human Rights at the United Nations," American Journal of International Law 66, no. 4 (Sept., 1972) p. 107.
3. For example, The Hungarian Nationality in Romania (Bucharest: Meridiane Publishing House, 1976); also A Living Reality in Romania Today; Full Harmony and Equality between the Romanian People and the Coinhabiting Nationalities (n.p., n.d.) distributed by Rumanian diplomatic missions in 1977--78.
4. Robert R. King, Minorities Under Communism: Nationalities as a Source of Tension Among Balkan Communist States (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1973); George Schöpflin, The Hungarians of Rumania (London: Minority Rights Group, 1978).
5. Three letters of Károly Király, former alternate member of the politbureau of Rumania and one of the most prominent leaders of the Hungarian minority; a list of demands by Lajos Takács, professor of international law, former university rector, party official; and the anonymous study signed by the nom-de-plume György Lázár were published in Witnesses to Cultural Genocide: First-Hand Reports on Rumania's Minority Policies Today (New York: American Transylvanian Federation and the Committee for Human Rights in Rumania, 1979).
6. A list of seventy-nine such articles is provided in "Continuing the President's Authority to Waive the Trade Act Freedom of Emigration Provisions," hearing before the subcommittee on International Trade of the Committee on Finance, U.S. Senate (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1978), pp. 85--88.
7. Ilie Ceausescu, "Transylvania From the Dacians to 1918: Two Millenia of Struggle and Work to Maintain and Affirm National Being and Dignity" Anale de Istorie no. 6 (Nov.--Dec., 1978), pp. 69--84, as translated in JPRS (Joint Publications Research Service) (Washington, D.C.) no. 073103, International Affairs.
8. The Hungarian Nationality in Romania p. 8; A Living Reality in Romania Today pp. 3--4.
9. "The Hungarian Minority Problem in Rumania," Bulletin of the International Commission of Jurists no. 17 (Dec., 1963). p. 41.
10. Private communication from Dr. András Zsigmond of Toronto, Ont., former census taker in Rumania.
11. See the suggestive title of the second publication in note 3.
12. Scînteia (Bucharest), Nov. 16, 1968.
13. Witnesses to Cultural Genocide p. 171.
14. Ibid., p. 167.
15. Ibid., p. 175.
16. Private communication from several noted Hungarian authors living in Rumania. The communications were obtained while they were visiting the West. For obvious reasons they had to remain anonymous.
17. A Living Reality in Romania Today p. 12.
18. "Continuing the President's Authority," p. 63.
19. Witnesses to Cultural Genocide p. 174.
20. King, op. cit., p. 153.
21. For a description of the circumstances of Szabédi's death, see Witnesses to Cultural Genocide pp. 66--69.
22. King, op. cit., p. 154.
23. Witnesses to Cultural Genocide, p. 119.
24. Ibid., p. 120.
25. The Official Associated Press Almanac. (New York: Hammond Almanac, 1977).
26. Witnesses to Cultural Genocide p. 174.
27. General Assembly Resolution 217, United Nations Document A/810 at 71--77 (1948).
28. See for example Andrei Otetea, ed., The History of the Romanian People (New York: Twayne Publishers, 1970), pp. 23--159.
29. Witnesses to Cultural Genocide, pp. 184--209, contains an informative document on this hate-mongering campaign.
30. Ibid., p. 175.
31. Private communications from members of the Hungarian minority visiting the West; also, Witnesses to Cultural Genocide pp. 32--35.
32. Witnesses to Cultural Genocide, p. 99.
33. "After 20 years of Silent Protests, Transylvanians in Romania Are Calling Loudly for Their Rights," The Christian Science Monitor, May 25, 1978, p. 15.
34. Private communications from members of the Hungarian minority.
35. F. Kunszabo, "En Moldavie," Espirit (Paris) Mar., 1978, p. 83.
36. Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, Final Act, Helsinki, 1975.
37. "Continuing the President's Authority," pp. 45--50.
38. Neue Züricher Zeitung, February 1/2, 1975, p. 6.
39. "Romania. Forced Labor. Psychiatric Repression of Dissent. Persecution of Religious Believers. Ethnic Discrimination and Persecution. Law and the Suppression of Human Rights in Romania." Amnesty International USA, 1978.
40. Witnesses to Cultural Genocide, pp. 110--34.
41. Schöpflin, op. cit., p. 14.
42. All Hungarian minority intellectuals interviewed stressed this point, namely, that to their knowledge section 247 is the only section of the Penal Code of Rumania that has never been enforced even as far as the indictment stage.
43. Witnesses to Cultural Genocide, p. 170.
44. Ibid., p. 171.
45. "Vara protestar tigs ihjal" [Our Protests are Killed by Persistent Silence]. Dagens Nyheter (Stockholm), Mar. 2, 1978.
Sources: János Ritoók, Kettõs tükör: A magyar-szász együttélés múltjából és a két világháború közötti irodalmi kapcsolatok történetébõl [Double Mirror: From the Past of Hungarian-Saxon Relations and the History of Their Literary Contacts Between the Two World Wars] (Bucharest: Kriterion, 1979), pp. 239--44; Károly Kós, Tájak, falvak, hagyományok [Regions, Settlements, Traditions] (Bucharest: Kriterion, 1976), pp. 382--386; Vilmos Mátyás, Utazások Erdélyben [Travels in Transylvania] (Budapest: Panoráma, 1977); László Ádám, György Belia, et al., Románia (Budapest: Panoráma, 1973); and the Central and South East European map collection of the Geography Department at Kent State University.
1. Transylvania includes in the present context not only historical Transylvania, but also the other areas acquired by Rumania from Hungary in 1918--20. These areas are the Banat, Crisana|Partium and the Maramures.
2. The alphabetical listing follows the present Rumanian place names. The editors have assumed that this would be the most practical and useful way to list the designations since most current maps use the Rumanian appellations rather than the historical Hungarian or German names. This listing also includes more than just the place names
mentioned in the individual studies within the volume. It provides a useful reference to the more important names in Transylvania, past and present. (Note: In recent years, the Rumanian government has undertaken the official celebration of the Dacian origin of some of its cities. In most cases this has meant paying tribute to the past in order to stress the present state's "Dacian roots." In some cases, however, it has led to the readopting of the Dacian name of the city or town. Cluj [Kolozsvár, Klausenburg] is an outstanding example; it is now officially called Cluj-Napoca. Other Transylvanian cities or towns that may face similar prospects are Rosia Montana [Alburnus Maior], Zlatna [Ampelum], Varadia [Argedava], Rîsnov [Cumidava], Orsova [Dierna], and Turda [Potaissa].)
3. German place names do not exist for all locations in Transylvania. Unlike the Hungarian and Rumanian populations, which are located throughout Transylvania, the German population is located overwhelmingly in southern Transylvania. Aside from the small pocket of German-Saxons in the area around Bistrita [Bistritz, Beszterce] most German-Saxons are located in the regions surrounding Sibiu [Hermannstadt, Nagyszeben] and Brasov [Kronstadt, Brassó], while the German Swabians are located primarily in the Banat [Bánság] in and near the cities of Arad and Timisoara [Temeschwar, Temesvár]. In other parts of Transylvania the Germans have simply followed the place names provided by the official state language (i.e., Hungarian prior to 1918 and Rumanian since then). In the present listing, in certain instances two German designations for the same place have been provided, with the less used designation in parentheses following the more popular name.
4. Including both current county designations and former regional and historical designations.
5. Transylvania (Latin).
6. Crisana also covers the general area of the historic Partium (Latin), which "parts" were attached to Transylvania as a consequence of struggles against the Ottoman Turks, later as a consequence of Habsburg administrative expediency, and most recently, in 1918--20, due to Rumanian acquisition of it together with Transylvania proper.
Sources: Allgemeine Statistik des Auslandes. Landerkurzbericht Rumänien 1978, Statistisches Bundesamt (Wiesbaden, 1978), pp. 57--58; Anuarul statistic al R.P.R. 1963 [Annual Statistical Yearbook of the Rumanian People's Republic 1963] Tables 16 and 17, pp. 88--89; Robert R. King, Minorities Under Communism: Nationalities as a Source of Tension Among Balkan Communist States (Cambridge, Mass., 1973), Table VI, p. 267; Dezsõ Kopreda, Mit kell tudni Romániáról? [What One Must Know About Rumania] (Budapest, 1979), pp. 5--6; Recensamîntul Populatiei din februarie 1956; Rezultate Generale [Population Census of February 1956: General Results] Tables 10, 11, and 12, pp. XIX--XX; Recensamîntul populatiei si al locuintelor din 5 ianuari 1977 [Population and Settlement Census of January 5, 1977] (Bucharest, 1980), Vol. I--II, Table 17, pp. 614--15; András Rónai, "Románia néprajzi viszonyai," [Rumania's Ethnographic Profile] Földrajzi közlemények,
[Geographic Proceedings] LXVIII (1940), pp. 86--109; G. D. Satmarescu, "The Changing Demographic Structure of the Population of Transylvania," East European Quarterly, vol. 8, no. 4 (Jan., 1975): 425--49; The Mid-European Research Institute (ed.) "Statistical Studies on the Last Hundred Years in Central Europe: 1867--1967," (unpublished manuscript).
1. In this table, "nationality" means either the declared nationality or the mother tongue of the respondent. The two have not been separated, since some of the censuses were based solely on declared nationality, others have been based solely on mother tongue, and still others on both. The census data for 1910, 1930, 1948, and 1956 used in this table are based on mother tongue. The 1920, 1966 and 1977 data are based on declared nationality.
2. Data for the 1966 census in this table is based on "Communique on the Preliminary Results of the Population and Housing Census of March 5, 1966," Documents, Articles and Information on Romania, No. 18 (Oct. 15, 1966), pp. 15--16 and Table 6 in Satmarescu, p. 443.
3. The Rumanian data for 1977 is not yet available in Western libraries and depositories. Only the overall population and the percentage share of the minorities are available on the basis of secondary sources. This condition is itself a reflection on the present Rumanian policy relative to national minorities. The refusal to share such information with the scholarly community seems to have become the practice since the 1966 census. The 1977 Rumanian census results were obtained from the Központi Statisztikai Hivatal [Central Statistical Office] in Budapest in January, 1983. A review of the Rumanian statistical yearbooks since 1966 supports the conclusion that the Rumanian policy is to hide the minorities from the outside world. For example, these annual volumes have ceased to publish specific data relative to the minorities either according to declared nationality or mother tongue. While the Anuarul statistic al R.P.R. 1964 [Annual Statistical Yearbook of the Rumanian People's Republic 1964] (Directia Centrala de Statistica, 1964) still contains sections related to nationality and mother tongue (See Contents on p. 5 and also Sections 16 and 17 on p. 88), the post-1966 yearbooks do not have such listings at all. For more recent examples of this gap in data, see Anuarul statistic al Republicii Socialiste România 1977 [Annual Statistical Yearbook of the Rumanian Socialist Republic 1977] (Directia Centrala de Statistica, 1977) concerning the overall population of Rumania in Chapter II (pp. 45--78). The analogous sections in the 1978 and 1979 editions of this yearbook also remain silent on the minorities (See respectively pp. 45--80 and pp. 45--84). This refusal to share information on the minorities is also demonstrated by the crude attempt to censor the summary of statistical results of the 1966 census, which was published in 1969. In Recensamîntul populatiei si locuintelor din 15 Martie 1966 [Population and Settlement Census of March 15, 1966] (Directia Centrala de Statistica, 1969), pp. XLIV--XLV, the original text referring to minorities had been removed and replaced by an edited summary before the volume was made available for general distribution. Because gaps, silence, and distortion are characteristic of Rumanian census results, it is important to go beyond the "official" Rumanian demographic and statistical analyses. While the Rumanian data shows a stagnant Hungarian population growth, which represents a decreasing percentage relative to the overall population of Rumania (i.e., 10 percent in 1930, 9.1 percent in 1956, 8.5 percent in 1966 and 7.9 percent in 1977), the actuality is probably not as dismal. According to G. D. Satmarescu, in his study on the demographic structure of Transylvania (see Sources above), the probable Hungarian population of Transylvania is about 400,000--800,000 more than admitted by the official census, which in 1966 would have meant 2 to 2.4 million Hungarians instead of 1.6 million.
4. Including Maramures (Máramaros), Crisana (Körösvidék), and the eastern half of the Banat (Bánság).
5. The statistics for 1910 and 1920 refer to the area of Rumania in the interwar years. The statistics of 1930, 1948, 1956, 1966 and 1977 refer to the reduced area of present-day Rumania.
6. For the 1930, 1948, and 1956 censuses, this table enumerates the Tatars and Turks together.
7. The Gypsies have been placed under the category "Others" for the 1910 and 1920 censuses.
8. The data provided for 1977 by the official census is at variance with the data in Monica Barcan and Adalbert Millitz (eds.) The German Nationality in Romania, trans. Anda Teodorescu-Bantas (Bucharest: Meridiane Publishing House, 1978), p. 7. The latter source listed 205,000 less Rumanians, 35,000 more Hungarians, and 27,000 more Germans than what appeared in the official census results published two years later. The discrepancy is due to the Barcan-Millitz use of data based on "mother tongue" while the published official figures are based on "declared nationality."
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Transylvania - The Roots of Ethnic Conflict |