Dokumented Facts ...

Though everybody can join the Communist Youth Organization, on1y those can apply later for membership in the Communist Party who are recommended by the leaders of this Youth Organization. Since these leaders are Rumanians, Hungarians are recommended only if they reject their Hungarian origin thus becoming "good Rumanians" and are willing and eager to spy on their fellow Hungarians.

Hungarian recruits serve their time with the army mostly in old Rumania, and they are constant1y harassed by their Rumanian superiors. No Hungarian can be an officer in the armed forces, and I have never seen a corporal with Hungarian name.

The new apartment buildings which are built to house the working men, are available only to Rumanians.

I was born and raised Greek Catholic. When our church was abolished by government order, I tried to join the Roman Catholics, but during the middle of the night I was dragged out of my bed by the police, taken to the station, beaten up, and told that if I try again to join the church they would take care of me for good."

Testimony No. 5.

Given by Mr. Ernest Hodos, on October 9, 1976 in Tel Aviv, Israel:

"Until 1946 my name was Hirsch.I was a Hungarian speaking Jew, born and raised in Kolozsvar (Cluj). My father and my grandfather were Hungarian Jews, too, in the same city. In 1945 the minister of the Hungarian Lutheran Church in Kolozsvar, Reverend Andor Jaros, hid me and my father from the Germans. In October of the same year, when Kolozsvar was "liberated" by the Russians and Rumanian troops, our benefactor, Reverend Jaros, was dragged out of his church by Rumanian soldiers, and beaten to death on the street. When my father and I tried to help him, we were beaten up, too. My aged father died from the beatings. Within two weeks more than two-thousand Hungarian inhabitants of our city were ki11ed in the same manner, and about 40,000 deported in terrifying circumstances.

This gave me the impulse to change my name from Hirsch to Hodos, in order to emphasize my strong feelings of belonging to the suffering Hungarians. In 1946 my petition was granted. As I later found out, the new judge who was a Rumanian from across the mountains believed that I was changing my Jewish name to a Rumanian name. However, when I insisted on spelling the first "o" in my new name the Hungarian way, with an accent, because I am Hungarian, I was arrested under false pretenses and given the "treatment" for two months. I had my fingers broken, several ribs, and ended up with bleeding kidneys. What I have seen and heard during those two months in the ill-famed prison of Kolozsvar, can not be put into words. Screams of tortured Hungarian

-56-

women and men, that will haunt me through the rest of my life. Bloody wrecks of human being staggering along the dark hallway under the blows of gun-butts as they were led from the interrogation-rooms back to their cells by sadistic guards. Men, some of whom I knew before in person, who were judges, lawyers, city officials, bankers, teachers, clergymen or members of the high nobility.

That was when I decided to leave my native country for ever, that beautiful land which fell into the hands of savages ..."

Testimony No. 6.

On February 8, 1977, Mr. Jonel Margineanu gave the following testimony:

"During the summer months of 1966 I was assigned as supervisor to a census-unit in the Mures-district. Our written orders were as follows:

-1-. To register every household as Rumanian, unless otherwise demanded by the subject.

-2-. In case subject should desire to be listed as non-Rumanian, we were to try to convince him of the impracticality of such a desire. Should he further insist, we were to determine his true nationality by the use of scientifically approved government regulations. German-sounding names to be registered as Germans, Polish sounding names as Polish etc. Names ending in -an, -as, -u, -ea, -oa, -us, -in or -en had to be registered as Rumanian, no matter what the subject's preference or language was.

-3-. To contact managers and administrators of factories and other public employers ahead of our arrival into the area in order to give them time in which to prepare their employees, and explain to them the advantages of being listed as Rumanians.

-4-. To hand over the list of those who insisted on being registered as Hungarians to administrators and chiefs of police."

Testimony No. 7.

On May 15, 1975, Mr....gave the following testimony:

"In September 1974 my wife and I visited Transylvania, which is now part of the Socialist Republic of Rumania. We visited there Hungarian cities of great historical significance: Nagyvarad, Kolozsvar, Nagyenyed, Deva and Gyulafehervar. Our difficulty was, as it turned out, our lack of knowledge of the Rumanian language. It is to be noted that we both speak well four languages. Nevertheless, in hotels and in stores we had to ask for translators, because no one who worked there was willing to speak with us in Hungarian, in front of witnesses.

The Hungarian population of those cities is going through a process of forced and accelerated "Rumanization". The Government transfers

-57-

Rumanian workers into territories with a Hungarian majority, whi1e Hungarians are being transferred into old-Rumania. In zones where the population is exclusively Hungarian, the presence of two or three Rumanian families with children is sufficient reason to change the previously Hungarian-language school into a Rumanian-language school.

In the book stores, all state-operated of course, only Rumanian literature can be found in these Hungarian cities. The distribution of some existing Hungarian language periodicals is made, very much on purpose, only in territories with Rumanian population. The result is that there are no sales, which is exactly what the Government wants, because this way the official sales-statistics make further publications in the Hungarian language 'unwarranted'. Therefore, no matter how high the demand might be in the Hungarian regions for these publications, their numbers are constantly decreasing.

As visitors, we were not allowed to stay overnight at the homes of any one of our friends or relatives. We were forced to lodge in State-owned hotels where the personnel was most unfriendly toward us, and refused to speak either Hungarian, English, Spanish or French. We were told by a whispering cleaning woman, who turned out to be a Hungarian, that most of the personnel speaks the Hungarian language but they are forbidden to use it while at work "

Testimony No. 8.

On February 11, 1977, Reverend........ gave the following testimony: "As a retired minister I have visited my native Transylvania this year. Since my passport stated that I was a clergyman, the Rumanian of ficials where extremely courteous toward me. The Rumanian government seems to be trying very hard these days to make the West, especially the United States, believe that the minority churches in Rumania enjoy complete freedom.

Bishops of these churches are being sent out of ficially to tour America, under guard of course, to spread this hoax . Though most of these touring clergymen speak a good English, they are accompanied by "interpreters", who are in reality agents of the Rumanian political police. Any wrong statement uttered by these visiting clergymen would bring upon the head of their families at home the most brutal wrath of the Rumanian government.

During my visit in Transylvania I had the opportunity to see with my own eyes that the oppression of the Hungarian churches there is still very severe, though it is somewhat more disguised than before. Church archives, libraries have been confiscated and removed to unknown locations. Church records are under strict scrutiny. Church-goers are

-58-

discriminated against economically, by being transferred into lesser paying jobs or new locations where they have no possibility of attending Hungarian churches. Young people are constantly discouraged by leaders of their Youth Organizations from attending church or any church-related activities.

Any preacher who tries to do a good and faithful work especially with the young people is quietly told to 'slow down' or something unpleasant might happen to him or members of his family. It is indeed a miracle that in spite of all this hostility the churches I visited Sundays were still filled with people, however mostly with the old ..."

Testimony No. 9.

On December 8, 1976 Mr. Jeno Orosz gave the following testunony:

"In 1944 I was living in Kendilona, Transylvania, where I was born and raised as the son of a Hungarian peasant. In October of that year, I do not remember the exact date but it was in the second part of October, Rumanian soldiers came into our village, led by some Rumanian civilians. First they herded us Hungarians together in front of our church (Calvinist, called by Rumanians "the Hungarian church"), then they dragged out from the church our preacher, his wife and their two small children. They were naked and bleeding. First they tied our preacher to a tree in front of the church. Then they raped his wife right in front of him and the children.We had to stand there and watch, about fifty of us. Some of the Hungarians in the crowd started cursing, while others prayed aloud. The Rumanian soldiers fired into us, and yelled to be quiet and watch, because the same thing will happen to every damned Hungarian in the country. Every time one of us uttered a sound, one of the soldiers fired a shot into the crowd. Many of us were hit. Five died right there. I got a bullet in my leg, and had to sit down on the ground. But I could see everything.

While some of them were still torturing the preacher's wife, who kept on screaming so terrible that I could feel it in my bones, some Rumanian civilians drew knives, and kept throwing them into the naked body of the preacher who was tied to the tree, until they cut him to pieces.

Things like that happened everywhere, not just in our village ..."

Testimony No. 10.

On May 15, 1975, Mr gave the following testimony:

"I was in Transylvania in 1974 and visited the following cities: Arad, Nagyvarad, Nagybanya, Temesvar, Kolozsvar, Brasso, and Marosvasarhely.

It is public opinion among Hungarians in Transylvania that the fate of all Hungarians in that region is sealed. Those who do not give up their

-59-

ethnic background will never be able to get a good education and a good job.

The official policy of the Government (Rumanian) in relation to the minorities proclaims on paper the equality of rights and possibilities for all ethnic groups. However, in the practice Hungarians are treated as second class citizens.

Young Hungarians can receive higher education only if they give up their language, their cultural heritage, and declare themselves Rumanians. Public employments are given only to those who spy on their fellow-Hungarians, and reject their Hungarian origin.

The housing policy is discriminatory, also. Better housing is exclusively for Rumanians only.

The Government makes visits of Hungarians from Transylvania to Hungary impossible. Hungarians who visit relatives in Transylvania are forbidden to stay in the house of their relatives.

The use of the Hungarian language in public brings ugly repercussions and reprisals ..."

Testimony No. 11.

On February 17, 1977 Dr. Bela Gyulai gave the following testimony:

"Not only documents and books found in church archives are confiscated in Rumania, but those in private hands, also. When I traveled through Transylvania last year, Rumanian officials confiscated my old Hymnal I inherited from my father, and I was able to get it back only after I proved to them that I was an American citizen, and threatened to contact the United States Embassy in Bucharest.

The Transylvanian Hungarian churches are forbidden to accept donations from foreigners or foreign institutions, though they are in great need of donations for the Hungarian congregations can not support their churches from the meager earnings of their members. Hungarians can have only the 1owest paid jobs today in Transylvania. I myself tried to give some financial aid to four of the Hungarian churches there, but they had to refuse it. They were so intimidated by the Rumanian authorities that they even refused to accept the money I put into the collection box.

The persecution of Hungarians is not restricted to only those who live there. Hungarians who come from other countries to visit relatives are also exposed to harassment. Customs examinations which last for three to five hours are not unusual if the traveler is a United States citizen of Hungarian origin.

-60-

I myself was the victim of such harassment last year at the Rumanian border. After looking at my American passport, the customs-official asked:

,Are you Hungarian?, I answered in the affirmative. He gave me an ugly look and said ,So you are one of those, ha?,

The examination took four hours. They practic; lly took my car apart. They took offthe hood, took out the seats, let the a r out of the spare tire, they even opened up the upholstery inside my car as well as the insulation of the ceiling. Every letter I had in my pocket or in my briefcase was opened and photographed. So was my address-book and every page of my note-book.

At the end he asked me ,You don,t like this?, I said ,no, . ,Then don,t ever come into my country again, he said ,stay outl,

While in Transylvania I was not allowed to be a guest at any one of my friends or relathes homes. I was forced to stay in primitive, dirty and expensive hotels, where the room was bugged, and my luggage searched during my absence."

****************

Laszlo Kecskemethy, S.T.M.

1012 Allison Ave.,

St. Helena, Cal.

A DEPOSITION

I, the undersigned Laszlo Kecskemethy declare under oath that on the first working day of the Fall Semester of 1941, at the Yale Divinity School, Prospect Street, New Haven, Conneticut - after the lecture on Contemporary Theology, Professor D. MacIntosh asked me: from what country did I come? I told him: from Hungary. Then he asked "how are the conditions in Hungary?" I told him: quite pitiful. Then he said that he was a member of a special committee appointed by President Wilson to supervise the fulfillment of the conditions laid down in the Versailles Agreements concerning the Middle and Eastern European borders. He said word-by-word the following:"I felt that there was something wrong with the population statistics and the border dispute represented by the Rumanian delegation but we could not do anything about it."

It is obvious, therefore that through the report of the special committee, President Wilson and, through him, the people of the United States of America were misled and thereby "coerced" to give consent to the establishment of a borderline between Hungary and Rumania, annexing a historically Hungarian and/or Independent Transylvania to Rumania.

-61-

As an American citizen, I hereby express my regrets, resentments and objection to a deplorable diplomacy that forced our great leaders: President Wilson and Dr.MacIntosh, a Professor of Christian Theology whose integrity, honesty and good will cannot be questioned to give consent to an absolutely false and dishonest decision.

Therefore: to protect and c1ear the good name of all those Americans who were involved in this shameful border dispute between the Rumanians and the Hungarians, I respectfu1ly request that all facts pertaining to this false diplomacy be exposed by an independent interanational tribunal and apologies to be made to the American citizens and restitution be made to all the people of Transylvania and Hungary.

Sworn before me on the 28th day of February, 1977.

in St. Helena Laszlo Keckemethy

County of Napa Minister, United Church of Christ

State of California Past President of Hungarian

Federation, Los Angeles Chapter

Past President of Captive

Notary Public: Nations Organization, Los Angeles

Kay L. Rutherford

California

-62-

The following leaflet, printed in the Rumanian language was sent out in thousands of copies from Munich, Germany during the summer of 1976 to Rumanians living in different parts of the world. This is a certified translation of the original:

Rumanians in the West!

Be ready with gun in your hands! The day is approaching when the Russian monster will have to fight for his life against the Chinese giant who will overthrow the rule of those barbarians in Moscow!

Rumanians in the West, be ready with gun in your hands to return home where your brothers are waiting for you! Be ready, not only to take back Besarabia from the Russians, but to save TRANSYLVANIA, also!

You must never forget that you have two mortal enemies: the Russians and the Hungarians, these two barbarians. Their traditions unite them against us. The Hungarians were always loyal to their Russian brothers. The so-called "Hungarian uprising" of 1956 was nothing but a farce. It was a revolt of common criminals and hoodlums, directed from the outside. The entire population of Hungary was relieved when the Russian tanks freed them from those trouble makers. This fact is proof enough that the Hungarians insist on the Russian presence in Central and Eastern Europe. Today, the Hungarians are only waiting for the opportunity to take Transylvania back from us with the support of their Russian brothers!

Therefore you, Rumanians in the West, must rush to Transylvania when the time is ripe, because without your guns Transylvania will be lost! Kill, without mercy! Not one Hungarian must be left alive! The only way to keep Transylvania is to eliminate, exterminate and annihilate every Hungarian who lives there!

Rumanians in the West; the solution to the Transylvanian problem is in your guns. But be cautious. Never take chances. Never try to encounter your enemies face to face, for the Hungarians are fierce fighters. Attack them always unexpectedly, from behind, by surprise. Do your patriotic duty calmly, keeping in mind that you have only one mission: to put a bullet into the head of your old enemy, the Hungarian!

This appeal expresses the unified will of all Rumanians! Copy it, and spread it among your brothers! Our success depends on you!

**********

The following declaration was sent in 1976 to numerous governmental agencies in North and South America, Europe, and Australia, as well as to a substantial number of Members of the United States Congress:

-63-

Declaration

Upon studying the situation of the 2.8 million Hungarians and other national minorities in the Socialist Republic of Rumania, who live mostly in the historical province of Transylvania, the Banat and Koros regions, the Transylvanian World Federation concludes the following:

-1-./ The Transylvanian World Federation condemns the continued denial of fundamental human and cultural rights to the Hungarians by the Rumanian Government. According to available source materia1 and countless testimonies received, this abuse and mistreatment constitute a permanent pattern by the successive Rumanian governments regardless of their ideology and the personalities exercising power.

-2-./ The Transylvanian World Federation reminds the world of the innumerable complaints of the Hungarians in the 19201939 period of the League of Nations; of the periodical documentation and denunciations of oppressive Rumanian governmental measures by House and Senate members of the United States Congress between 1965 and 1975 and of the reported memorandum of the leaders of the National Counci1 of Hungarian and German workers in Rumania enumerating their grievances to the Rumanian Government in October 1975. In view of these past events, the Transy1vanian World Federation states that the Hungarian minority is entitled to an active quest of its national right of self-determination .

-3-./ The Transylvanian World Federation takes notice that the historical Transylvanian and Banat regions have constituted for over one-thousand years parts of Hungary or were under Hungarian rule. Only since 1919 did they form in toto or in part a constituent unit of the Rumanian state, and more than one-third of the population of these areas is still Hungarian despite Rumanian attempts to under-report their census figure. It should also be remembered that the percentage of Rumanians in pre1919 Hungary was only 14%, nevertheless they were still awarded almost 33% of Hungary's territory.

The Hungarians of Transy1vania and the Banat 1ive in two compact areas and along a corridor between the two, which possess a mixed Rumanian-Hungarian population. The two compact areas are formed by a strip along the present Hungarian-Rumanian border and by the Szekely counties of Southeastern Transylvania. The connecting area contains most of the urban population in Transylvania, which is more than 70% Hungarian.

-4-./ The Transy1vanian World Federation requests that the mistreatment and repression of Hungarians and other national minorities in Transylvania be stopped forthwith. Many of these practices occur in contravention of the Constitution of the Socia1ist Republic of Rumania. The Transylvania World Federation calls upon the Great Powers, and the Hungarian Government to do whatever is diplomatically possible to persuade the Rumanian Government to stop such measures immedialely.

-64-

-5-./ The Transylvanian World Federation asserts that the Hungarian grievances in Rumania are of such magnitude as to entitle the Transylvanian Hungarians to an active pursuit of their national self-determination regardless of the provisions of the Paris Peace Treaty of 1947. This assertion is based on documentation of the constant violations of the Paris Peace Treaty and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights by the Rumanian Government, as well as violations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Therefore, the Transylvanian World Federation will continue to work incessantly for the exposure of the continued violations of the fundamental human rights by the Rumanian Government and for the promotion of the exercise of the right to national self-determination by the 2.8 million Hungarians in Rumania.

It calls upon the major powers, particularly upon the United States, Great Britain, France and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, to aid its campaign for the abolition of these abuses of human rights by the Rumanian Government toward its national minorities, and to abet the exercise of the national self-determination rights of the Hungarians in Rumania .

Prof. Albert Wass
President
Dr. Janos Nadas
Secretary
Rt. Rev. Dr. Zoltan Beky
Member, Executive Committee
Istvan Zolcsak
Member, Executive Committee
Ferenc Adorjan
Member, Executive Committee

-65-

January 29, 1976

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD - HOUSE
DISCRIMINATION AGAINST HUNGARIANS IN ROMANIA

Mr. ADDABBO. Mr. Speaker, today I join my collegues in a discussion of the discrimination against the 2.5 million Hungarians in Romania. While the Romanian Constitution guarantees a number of civil rights to the citizens without discrimination as to national origin or religion, these promises are kept more in their breach and are breached more than they are kept hy the present government.

In the summer of 1975, 39 members of Congress, including myself wrote to President Ford asking him to raise six areas of our concern during his Bucharest visit.

In the meantime, it is no longer only informed Members of the U.S. Congress and the American Hungarian Federation which protest the prevailing situation, but the handpicked leaders of the Hungarian and German communities in Romania who are for the most part members of the Romanian Communist Party have done so. In an appeal to President Ceaucescu they pointed to the same areas as we did; that is:

First. Freedom of the use of the mother tongue, especially in schools and public agencies;

Second. School autonomy on the elementary, secondary, and college levels;

Third. Equal rights in political, cultural, and scientific life;

Fourth. Constitutional recognition of a Federation of Nationalities as the freely elected representation of the national minorities; and finally

Fifth. The return of confiscated national cultural treasures - museums, archives - where they have been Romanized. They have also asked for the establishment of a Transylvanian commission at the U.N. Human Rights Commission to insure implementation of their human rights.

This took a great deal of courage on their part as they could have been prosecuted for "chauvinist-nationalist agitation" under Romanian laws. However, they reflected the overwhelming sentiment of the 2.5 million Hungarians and -600-,000 Germans and even President Ceausescu was forced to deal with their complaints by attending their annual conference and speaking to them in an emotional appeal for Marxist-Leninist unity and stressing that only communist ideology and increased production could solve the problem. He did acknowledge some of the deficiencies

-66-

and promised that the coming Cultural Congress in the spring of 1977 would discuss improvements particularly in regard to radio and TV programs and literature.

We believe that now is the time for the Congress and our administration to utilize Romania's signature to the Helsinki Declaration of August 1, 1975 and the provisions of our agreement with Romania in 1973 about the discussion of humanitarian issues of interest to either parties and remind them that their performance in the fields of human rights and family reunification will have a decisive bearing on the outcome of the congressional vote on continuing the most-favoured-nation status for Romania once the present probationary period expires in the summer of 1976.

February 2, 1976

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD - HOUSE
DISCRIMINATION AGAINST HUNGARIANS IN ROMANIA

Mr. GOLDWATER. Mr. Speaker, people living under Communist rule still yearn for the restoration of their human and civil rights despite the propaganda put out by detente politicians that they are now satisfied with their lot and that detente is helping to improve their situation.

Besides the celebrated Russian dissidents who are awakening the world's conscience, we have a new case in point in the leaders of the National Councils of Hungarian and German Workers in Romania.

According to the very authoritative West German daily, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of November 11, 1975, these leaders, mostly nominal party members and handpicked candidates of President Ceaucescu and the Romanian Communist Party to lead the 2.5 million Hungarian and 600,000 German origin citizens in Romania have accused the government of discrimination against their communities and asked for remedial action by the government and also the establishment of a "Transylvanian Commission" at the U.N. Human Rights Commission.

In view of the Provisions of the Romanian Constitution making "chauvinist-nationalist agitation" a crime and the past practices of the police, the memorandum took great personal courage. It is notable that the demands of the memorandum were substantially identical with the areas of concern outlined in our letter to President Ford which I and 38 colleagues signed on July 22, 1975, before the President's departure to Bucharest.

-67-

It is an eloquent testimony to the solid popular support these leaders enjoy in their respective communities that even President Ceaucescu, plagued by economic inefficiency, floods and low productivity rates while ambitiously trying to expand industry failed to proceed with secret police means. Rather, he appeared at their annual convention, appealed to their committment as Marxist-Leninists, emphasized that only higher production rates and devotion to ideology can solve the national question and admitted shortcomings. He even promised some remedies at the coming Cultural Congress in 1977.

At the same time, however, he also warned against "chauvinistnationalist manifestations" which cannot be tolerated. He even referred indirectly to the activities of my collegues in the House and the Senate who had denounced last year the oppression of Romanian citizens, particularly those of non-Rumanian mother tongues and the actions of the American Hungarian Federation and the American Hungarian Reformed Church who have submitted the case to the Human Rights Commission of the U.N. President Ceaucescu called them "chauvinistnationalist manifestations on the international plane which reflect on our country in one form or another."

At this juncture we have the duty to press for the improvement of the human and civil rights situation of the 2.5 million Hungarians and the 00,000 Germans in Romania, for that matter demands the full implementation of the human and civil rights guarantees to all Romanian citizens under the Romanian Constitution which so often have been trampled by the present government.

We have two legal precedents to fall back upon: First Romania's signature of the Helsinki declaration, particu1arly articles 7 and 8 to which the National Councils also referred in their October memorandum. Second, the United States-Romanian Declaration of 1973 in which both parties agreed to consult each other on humanitarian issues of interest to either parties.

In the past, our State Department has been reluctant to proceed along the lines of the 1973 Declaration referring to a lack of concrete data on the subject. Now, the October memorandum provides hard evidence within Romania by Romanian-appointed public bodies of the discrimination against the national minorities. It is high time that we speak out firmly in favour of the fundamental human freedoms of these people who are our allies instead of remaining guilty of conspiracy of silence in the name of detente.

-68-

May 7, 1976 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD - HOUSE

SHOULD ROMANIA CONTINUE TO
RECEIVE MOST FAVOURED NATION STATUS?

(Mr. KOCH asked and was given permission to extend his remarks at this point in the RECORD and to include extraneous matter.)

Mr. KOCH. Mr. Speaker, I am troubled by a letter that I have received from a constituent and a statement which appeared as an advertisement in the New York Times today, concerning the treatment of Romanians of Hungarian, German and other minority extractions by the Romanian Government. It is my understanding that as a result of our having provided on a temporary basis most-favoured-nation status to Romania that Romania had undertaken to allow its citizens to freely emigrate. And I believe there has been a substantial improvement in the area of emigration as it applied to Romanian jews seeking to leave. I would be distressed if the allegations stated in the report which I am appending are accurate, and I am writing to the Ambassador of Romania, the Honorable Corneliu Bogdan, asking for his comments on the statement.

If the Allegations are true then indeed they must be considered by the Congress in determining whether to continue the most favoured nation status that Romania was granted.

-69-

Dokumented Facts ...