Transylvania in the Kindom of Hungary until 1920

Transylvania had been the integral part of the Kingdom of Hungary since 1000 a.d. until 1920 a.d. At the end of World War I, as part of the Treaty of Trianon, 1920, the Allies annexed Transylvania from Hungary to Rumania, however, the region remains a treasury of the one-thousand-year old Hungarian culture and modern Rumanian. Transylvania was first referred to in a Medieval Latin document in 1075 as ultra silvam, meaning "beyond the forest" (ultra (+accusative) meaning "beyond" or "on the far side of" and the accusative accusative case of sylva (sylvam) meaning "wood or forest"). Transylvania, with an alternative Latin prepositional prefix, means "on the other side of the woods".

Introduction - the early history
In its early history, the territory of Transylvania belonged to a variety of empires and states, including the Roman Empire, the Hun Empire and the Gepid Kingdom. There were also periods when autonomus political entities arose under the control of the Byzantine and the Bulgarian Empire. After 106 AD the Roman Empire conquered the territory and its wealth was systematically exploited. After the Romans' withdrawal in 271 AD, it was subject to various temporary influences and migrations, and areas of it were under the control of peoples such as the Visigoths, Gepids and Avars. The area was again repopulated by Huns led by Attila in 400 AD and with them even Szekély-hungarians settled who even nowdays still live on their ancient territories. The Huns, built up a powerful empire under Attila but their Kingdom didn't last for long. After Hunnish rule faded, the Germanic Ostrogoths then the Lombards came to Pannonia, and the Gepids had a presence in the eastern part of the Carpathian Basin for about 100 years. In the 560s the Avars founded the Avar Khaganate, a state which maintained supremacy in the region for more than two centuries and had the military power to launch attacks against all its neighbours. The Avar Khagnate was weakened by constant wars and outside pressure and the Franks under Charlemagne managed to defeat the Avars ending their 250-year rule. Neither the Franks nor others were able to create a lasting state in the region until the freshly unified Hungarians led by Árpád settled in the Carpathian Basin starting in 896.

About 197,000 Transylvanian Hungarians fled to Hungary between 1918 and 1922,[5] and a further group of 169,000 emigrated over the remainder of the interwar period. Among those who departed were destitute agricultural laborers, disheartened aristocrats, disillusioned intellectuals, workers and their families searching for better opportunities in Hungary or in some cases, overseas. In 1921, the Popular Hungarian Party and the National Hungarian Party were founded. In 1922 these political parties fused to form the Hungarian Party of Romania.

The new regime's objective became to effectively Romanianize Transylvania in a social-political fashion, after centuries of Hungarian rule. The regime's goal was to create a Romanian middle and upper class that would assume power in all fields. The Hungarian language was expunged from official life, and all place-names were Romanianized. In the land reform undertaken in 1921, Transylvanian aristocrats (most of them ethnic Hungarians or assimilated as Hungarians from other ethnic groups) were dispossessed of large landed properties, with the land being then given (in smaller plots) to peasants (the majority of whom were ethnic Romanians). This move, approved by Romania's King Ferdinand I, changed the ethnic distribution of land ownership.


Map of Romanian counties with Hungarian presence.

The Magyar population complained about the insufficiency of schools in their language and the pressure to send their children to Romanian-language schools. In the private economy, the dominant social position of Hungarian, Jewish and Saxon business people was somewhat eroded, as the Romanian government tried to improve the relative position of businesses owned by ethnic Romanians by adopting preferential, protective measures. Higher education was completely Romanianized, except for a chair of Hungarian Literature at the University of Cluj. On the other hand, the minority's cultural activities were barely obstructed by Romanian official policies.

World War II - atrocities committed by Romanians against hungarians in Transsylvania

In 1940, the joint German-Italian sponsored Second Vienna Award gave back Northern Transylvania to Hungary, which held it until 1944. The award was intended to partly compensate Hungary for the territories lost with the Trianon Treaty, and ensure its continued loyalty towards Germany and Italy. However, it was again simply a re-drawing of national borders in a multi-ethnic region, without providing a real solution. Historian Keith Hitchins summarizes the situation created by the award:

Far from settling matters, the Vienna Award had exacerbated relations between Romania and Hungary. It did not solve the nationality problem by separating all Magyars from all Romanians. Some 1,150,000 to 1,300,000 Romanians, or 48 per cent to over 50 per cent of the population of the ceded territory, depending upon whose statistics are used, remained north of the new frontier, while about 500,000 Magyars (other Hungarian estimates go as high as 800,000, Romanian as low as 363,000) continued to reside in the south.

During this period there were atrocities committed by Romanians in 1944 against the székely hungarians. Here under we are presenting testimonies from two chapters from the "White Book on Atrocities against Hungarians.

Part from THE WHITE BOOK
ATROCITIES AGAINST
HUNGARIANS
IN THE AUTUMN OF 1944
IN TRANSYLVANIA, ROMANIA = The complete book is available here.

Counties Csík and Háromszék in September-October 1944

"As it stood defenseless before the advancing Romanian and Soviet troops, Háromszék became the most endangered area after the turn in Bucharest on August 23, 1944. Hungarian and German military leaders decided to give up the “sack-shaped” area of the Székelyland, and to organize their defense along River Maros (Mures), similarly to the situation of the Romanian invasion in 1916. Consequently, the military authorities ordered the evacuation of the region in the first days of September 1944. Although the order referred to the entire civilian population, mainly intellectuals and the employees of public administration, education, justice and healthcare left the region. Besides city dwellers, the village intelligentsia (priests, teachers, notaries, etc.) left their homes as well. Those who stayed on had to bear serious consequences. Only in County Háromszék 6,000 families, approximately 30,000 persons were forced to leave their homes.1 (In most places the majority of farmers hid in the surrounding mountains, woods, sheep-pens or remote hamlets.) According to a report by Béla Demeter, only 60,000 of the 170,000 inhabitants of County Csík remained in their homes by the end of December 1944. Demeter stated that people in Csík did not flee; they were simply driven away by Hungarian and German soldiers. (Instead of 8,200, the entire population of Csíkszereda and Zsögöd was 2,100 at the time.)2 Romanian-Soviet troops entered Sepsiszentgyörgy, the heart of County Háromszék, on September 9, 1944. (Csíkszereda fell to their hands two days later, on the 11th.) Except for a minor skirmish between retreating German and advancing Romanian soldiers in the neighborhood of Sepsiszentgyörgy, there were no serious fights in the valley of River Olt during the first days of September. Returning Romanian administration followed the advancing Romanian troops. The confidential report of November 7, 19443, forwarded to the Presidium of the Council of Ministers gave account on the state of public administration. Prefect Victor Cerghi Pop and five of his magistrates set up their office at Háromszék. Only 45 of the 65 notaries reported to work. The police and gendarme also returned.

The personnel of the appointed district education inspectorate appeared in full number but teachers reported to work only in a small number. Courts did not returned yet. Beside the Romanian currency (lei) the Hungarian (pengo½) one was still in circulation. (Rate of exchange: 1:30.) Prefect Aurel Tetu also returned to Csík with only four of his 5 magistrates, and 21 of 59 notaries presented themselves. Neither education nor Court personnel returned. Most of the Hungarian inhabitants of cities fled. For the time being, Romanian administration could only partially fulfill its tasks. Yet the report stated that as a result of the energetic work of Prefect V. Cerghi Pop things are settling down at a quick pace.4 What did it mean in practice? The Prefects tried to settle occurring problems in the spirit of restitutio in integrum, dictated by the instructions of government commissioner Ionel Pop.5 Hungarian signs were taken off everywhere. According to the government commissioner’s decree, officials who held offices before August 30 1940 were restored to their position and were obliged to return to their posts. Hungarian schools established after August 1940, many of them were opened in the same building which were taken away from the Hungarians between 1920-1940, were closed down or they were forcibly taken over by the returning Romanian staff again. Instead of providing them protection against the Maniu-guards, the returning gendarme often terrorized local inhabitants. The arrival of Orthodox priests, who fled in September 1940 from Háromszék, in September 1944 caused serious problems. They also continued in the spirit of restitutio in integrum their forced conversion activity pursued between the two world wars.

The letter7 written by the inhabitants of Bölön (Belin) of May 31, 1945 (already under Groza's government) give us an insight view of the activity of the Romanian public administration. According to the letter, Romanian troops entered the village on September 2. Hungarian officials (who did not flee!) were dismissed. The army brought a notary from the neighboring village, Lüget, and János Kölcse (Ion Calcea?),who fled in 1940, was appointed magistrate. The Romanian gendarme and the Romanian villagers (Maniu-guard members, according to the letter) terrorized Hungarian inhabitants. They were beaten, hand grenades were thrown at two houses and the mother of the Calvinist minister was badly beaten. Romanian gendarme arrested the members of the Székely Frontier Guard Forces, but they were released by the Soviets. Along with young factory workers, they were taken to internment camps at Földvár, Tövis (Teius), Nagyenyed (Aiud) and Gyulafehérvár. Many prisoners died because of food shortage during the winter. The measures were aimed at the physical destruction of the Hungarian people. 8 These grievances could have been written in many other villages as well. Local survey on the activity of the Romanian public administration in September-November 1944 could provide further important details. We have to answer the question: What was the reason for the bloody terror in Székelyland? The causes for atrocities were quite varied. Almost anything from an old military bugle to an empty grenade box and unloaded arms found in the attics without ammo, was enough for the Maniu guardsmen to produce resistance fighters and hiding Hungarian partisans under the pretext of hunting for partisans. There would have been lesser reprisals if they had really been hunting for partisans or for those who kept arms at home illegally.

Another pretext was the revenge for the demolition or damaging of Orthodox churches in Székelyland after the Second Vienna Verdict, or the re-orthodoxization of believers who in meantime returned to their original (Calvinist, Catholic) religions. Many sources say that the volunteers in the autumn 1944, and later the authorities of the Groza government after March 6,1945, considered the Székely Frontier Guard Forces, operating under the command of the 2nd Transylvanian army, as an irregular and volunteer units.10 Therefore Guardsmen looked first of all for their members both at Szárazajta and at Csíkszentdomokos (Sîndominic). (Though the search provided a good opportunity for robbery and murder as well.) The third reason was personal revenge. There are several examples for it at Szárazajta, Csíkszentdomokos and Csíkdánfalva (Danesti).

Anti-Hungarian Atrocities in Háromszék

According to eyewitnesses’ testimonies11, the volunteers, under the command of Captain Gavril Olteanu, marched in Sepsiszentgyörgy with ceremony on September 19, ten days after the Romanian troops.12 The guardsmen, arriving from the direction of Szotyor, quartered on the building of Mikó College. They thrown the valuable books and furniture to the street. Their initial action consisted of search for hidden arms, but it was a mere pretext for robbery and looting. An appeal was published on September 20 in Desrobirea under the title of “Our Present and Prevailing Way”, inviting their Transylvanian brothers to join. The article mentions Iuliu Maniu as the founder of volunteer commandos: “The Transylvanian volunteers of the Iuliu Maniu regiments have joined the army to bring the hour of final victory closer. Some of them have started for the final battle. (...) The others maintain law and order in cooperation with the military authorities. (...) Transylvanian Romanians! Let us regain our freedom by fire and blood. We will destroy Hungarian prisons and we will chase Hungarian-German hangmen out of towns and villages. We will take our cruel revenge for the four-year occupation. Let Romanian firearms and bayonets declare final sentence over the murderers of the Puszta [Hungarian steppe]. (...) Transylvanian brothers! Gather under the banner hoisted by Iuliu Maniu…”

The September 12th issue of the Desrobirea gave report on the actions of the volunteers, stating that they continued to round up terrorists from villages. Let us see some examples to show the real nature of these actions. We, however, have to state it that these facts are nothing but the tip of the iceberg...

It is written in the records of January 13, 1945 13 that guardsmen raped István Kovács ' pregnant wife in Árkos (Arcus) on September 22. According to the testimony made by Vilmos Kisgyörgy14 Magistrate István Váncsa compiled a list of those who had been members of the Székely National Defense Force. Most of the 70 persons were finally released in exchange for cash or food, but seven people condemned for anti-state activity were taken to the prison in Sepsiszentgyörgy and then to the death camp of Földvár. Árkos citizens say that those who called the guardsmen into the village were driven by personal revenge. Although they have no memory of István Kovacs, otherwise a Sepsiszentgyörgy-resident, they still have vivid memories of the robberies and abuses committed by Olteanu' s people: They took away everything they could move, animals, cattle, poultry, everything. (V. K.) According to a Desrobirea article, on September 23, a group of 120 volunteers, led by M. Florea, went to the villages of Gidófalva and Zoltán and in cooperation with local authorities, they made adequate measures required by the situation.15 (my italics) We have to read this report under certain reserves, as there were 100-150 volunteers stationing in Sepsiszentgyörgy at the time. It is highly improbable that the whole company moved to the two villages. The Gidófalva people remember no guardsmen to visit their village.16 The only thing they remember is the brutality and ravages of the entering Soviet troops.

Under the title “Voluntarii ardeleni stârpesc ultimele resturi de banditi. Crimele din comuna Pachia” (Volunteers annihilate the last remains of the bandits. The crime of Páké.), the September 24 issue of Desrobirea writes about the revenge campaign of captain Olteanu at Páké a couple of days after the volunteers arrived in Sepsiszentgyörgy. Two Romanians were murdered that village, Olteanu, accompanied by 50-60 volunteers went to Páké to revenge it. According to the villagers, retiring German soldiers had probably killed the two shepherds. Their hanged bodies were found on the banks of River Feketeügy two days after the front had moved away.17 The procedure at Páké was the same as in Szárazajta and other villages: one inhabitant called the volunteers for reasons of personal revenge. As a reprisal for the death of the two Romanians, Olteanu arrested 100 Székely villagers to execute them without any legal sentence. The innocent victims were lucky to have two Soviet soldiers incidentally patrolling the village. Albert Illyés, one of the accused, who had learnt Russian in a First World War prisoner's camp, reported to the soldiers that they were to be illegally executed. The Soviets ordered the Olteanu guardsmen at gunpoint to set the Hungarian free. Not forgetting to pillage it first, Olteanu' s men had left the village in the end.

There were no murders committed at Sepsiszentgyörgy, but pillage and abuse was customary. According to the records of the HPA, merchant Béla Lapikás was arrested and beaten, and his warehouse was looted.18 Volunteers, wearing all kinds of uniforms, Romanian, captured Hungarian and German ones or even civilian clothes, had no official supplies. Consequently they lived on pillage and robbery during all the way they were raving in Székelyland. As the guardsmen was marching on northward along River Olt, their appearance at Szárazajta, the remote Erdõvidék village is rather queer. To entirely conceive the matter, we have to go back to the history of the settlement between the two world wars.

Szárazajta: Local Vengeance or Fight Against Partisans

Romanians have been living in the small village since the 18th century. Alike the farmer Székelys, the Romanians were shepherds. As their trade was prosperous, they managed to buy great amount of lands from impoverished Székely villagers from the end of 19th century on. As a result of two centuries of co-existence – except for their religion that remained Orthodox – a gradual change in language had started (without forced assimilation) (As a 1930 Romanian census revealed, 1,649 Hungarian and only 16 Romanian inhabitants19 lived in Páké. The 1920 Transylvanian census, using the method of name etymology, recorded 217 Romanians in the village.20 (301 villagers were Orthodox or Greek Catholic in 1910.)

Re-romanising Hungarianised Romanians was one of the main tasks of Romanian governments between the two world wars. As one of its results was that during the 1921 land reform all persons of Romanian names or of Orthodox or of Greek Catholic denominations – who might not even speak Romanian at all – received land, while many Székelys just as entitled to it did not. Beside the unfair discrimination in land distribution, grazing was another serious reason of conflicting interest. Between the two world wars the Székelys often quarrels with Romanians shepherds as they used to graze their sheep on the cultivated lands of the former. In most cases the authorities supported the cause of the majority Romanians.

After the two-decade Romanian rule, Northern Transylvanian Hungarians/Székelys welcomed the entering Hungarian troops. The Székely inhabitants of the village celebrated the news of the Vienna Verdict with frantic joy – but not only joy got into some of their heads. A few lads threw stones at the houses of Romanians, but beside minor damages, nothing serious happen. (In his declaration published by the end of the 80s, János Berszán (Ioan Birsan), said to be the instigator of the Szárazajta events, mentioned only shatters but not crimes nor torture en mass.21) But after Hungarian gendarme showed up law and order was reestablished. No atrocities occurred. The Orthodox priest of Baráthely was the only one to leave the village with the retiring Romanian administration after the Vienna Verdict. Those who were forcibly converted to Orthodox religion between the two world wars, returned to their ancestors’ churches, like in many other Székely villages.22 In 1941, the Romanians were also called up [in the Hungarian army]. They submitted themselves to military service together with the Székelys. Although, the village was located close to the Vienna border no Romanians fled for Southern (Romanian) Transylvania.

After the breakaway on August 23, 1944, the frontline quickly reached the village. Unfortunately local intellectuals, including Calvinist minister Géza Kolumbán, teacher and parish choir-master Viktor Incze, left the village when the evacuation order came. The village was left without leaders. On September 2, a minor skirmish between the advancing Romanian troops and the German rear-guards took place on the confines of the village. As a result of an unexpected German tank counterattack from the direction of Nagybacon (Ba¢t¸ani), the Romanians suffered considerable losses. “Well, looking out of the cellar window, we saw the retreating Romanian soldiers running into the village. Some were wounded, or something else, in this or that statement, some were undressed and other lost their caps. They were running away.”23 Villagers gathered almost twenty corpses in the streets. In meantime both the Romanians and the Germans retired. However, the unexpected Romanian defeat had to be explained: The villagers helped the Germans in one or another way, and for sure, they murdered wounded Romanian soldiers. Szárazajta consequently was a village of partisans and had to be severely punished.24 Eyewitnesses we have interviewed state – and the same was reported by Albert Incze – that Tódor Bardoc (Teodor Barduti) was the one who called the guardsmen into the village, when he heard that they were stationing in Sepsiszentgyörgy. It is supposed that Bardoc presented Olteanu a complete list.25 The guardsmen appeared at Középajta on September 25, Monday morning. No one was injured there, as Magistrate György M. Váncsa (Gheorghe Vancea) told Olteanu: There is nobody guilty here. Anyone who committed any crime has already taken to the citadel in Brassó. 26 The decent local magistrate of Romanian origin rescued the Székely population of Középajta from the revenge of Olteanu and his commando. (Although he himself had quite a good reason for revenge as he was persecuted by Fascist bandits in the first days of 1940!27) Pretending to go for searching German soldiers, and traveling on wagons confiscated in Középajta, the 30-35-strong group of volunteers arrived in Szárazajta on the afternoon of the 25th. When we left the house – Tódor Bardoc lived in the next one – I saw a group of men arriving They were dressed half civilian, half military, and half Hungarian, half Romanian. A group, a platoon. (B. N.) The guardsmen were quartered in the houses of Tódor Bardoc, Simon Bogdán and other Romanian villagers. One of the local lads, Gábor Domokos was also ordered to transport the guardsmen from Középajta on his cart. According to his recorded testimony, he saw the list in Olteanu’s hand. He even warned Gyula Németh and his family, that their names were on the list, but they did not believe him.28

Béla Gecse was the first victim. With the help of local Romanian guides, volunteers started to collect the people on the list at the dawn of the 26th. Around half past four, a group of guardsmen appeared at Gecse's house. When they “knocked” at the door with the rifle butt,. Béla Gecse tried to escape, but one of the guardsmen shot him dead. His name was recorded in the official death register on October 16, 1944, with the note accidentat de ra¢zboi (war accident!).29 But the death register of the Calvinist Church has always recorded the real reason and it recorded this case as execution by the Maniu-guard.

József Málnási was the second victim of the massacre. During the 1945 trial of the guardsmen in Brassó, his widow confessed the following: On September 26, Bogdan Alexandru and a volunteer broke into their house. The volunteer30, defendant Romoceanu – as she recognized him at the trial – fired at her husband. He was taken to the schoolyard, where he died of his wound. József Málnási also tried to escape. He was shot with an explosive bullet in his thigh. The most horrible was that then this man who was shot and who was wounded, was taken to the schoolyard and exposed on a blanket in front of the other Hungarians there. The poor man was begging right to the end for somebody to give him a slip of water or shoot him dead! (S. I.) At early dawn, the guardsmen and their Romanian guides collected the unaware Székelys who were just preparing for work. János Berszán and one of the volunteers picked up Izsák Németh. He had a personal conflict with him, dating back to before the war (when Németh once beaten Berszán for grazing his sheep on his second crop). Simon Berszán took the guardsmen to Lajos Elekes. Elekes was accused by Olteanu of firing at Romanian soldiers from the bell tower of the Szárazajta Calvinist church.31 Viktor Bogdán and Ferdinánd Bardoc made Gyula Nagy and his son, Gyula Nagy Jr. taken to the school hall, the “arrest room” for the accused. (They were accused with firing at Romanian soldiers from a German tank…) Dániel Nagy was lucky of being informed on the arrival of the shady visitors by József Benko½, a coachman from Középajta, he managed to hide and escape. In the morning hours, Simon Berszán made it announced by the village drummer that all Hungarians aged between 16 and 60, had to gather at the schoolyard. Those who would hide and not appear, were to be shot dead.32 Hearing of the order, Albert Szép started off for the schoolyard. But his wife, Regina Málnási, was taken there by force, and accused her of cutting off the finger of a wounded Romanian officer in order to take his ring. The Nagy brothers, Sándor and András were dragged in the building of the kindergarten behind the school. (One of the sources states that 26 accused were gathered in the schoolyard.)33

5-600 Hungarians were surrounded by gunmen at the schoolyard, with a machine-gun pointed at the frightened mass from the roof of the building on the opposite side. The wounded József Málnási and the body of Béla Gecse were taken there too. Captain Olteanu read the accusation according to which the accused had committed various crimes against the Romanian army. Then he announced their death sentence. (No mercy for Hungarians!)34 Then the guardsmen started a show of force to intimidate the Hungarians. Ferenc Kálnoki, chairman of landowners' community of the village, who due to his positions had many enemies among the Romanians anyway, was laid on a stump and beaten half death with a wet rope. He was followed by his son-in-law, Zoltán Incze, then Viktor Nagy and [Ms.] Sára Németh. Gábor Domokos, who warned the Németh family, shared their fate and was mercilessly beaten up.

Unimaginable cruelties followed this “warming up”. Sándor Nagy and András Nagy were brought in. They were accused of hacking wounded Romanian soldiers to pieces by spades and hoes.35 Other sources nevertheless explain the murder rather differently: Some local Hungarians captured one of our wounded officers and killed him with an axe, then they cut his finger to steal his ring. The battalion command decided to sentence them to death and to be beheaded.36 Albert Vaszi claims that the guardsmen returning to Sepsiszentgyörgy from Szárazajta said that …they executed that man, they beheaded him because that man... An officer, a Romanian one, got wounded, and he had an engagement ring on his finger, they wanted to take it off but they could not, so they cut his finger off. That was why they [the volunteers] beheaded them. I have heard the lads were brothers, that' s what they said. The problem is that at that time they did not accuse Sándor Nagy and András Nagy of cutting the soldier’s finger off and stealing his ring. In fact it was the personal revenge of Sandi and Guszti Bogdan, who had a tussle with the Nagy brothers once when they took part in compulsory paramilitary ["Levente" youth org.] training.37 The hatchet hit Sándor Nagy first. (He put his head on the stump thinking he was going to be beaten.) Then András, his elder brother, was dragged to the stump who was begging for his life on his knees. Because of his wry-neck, three times did the hatchet hit, and could not cut his head off. The second bullet fired at him finally put an end to his suffering. The most horrifying thing was that his mother and his father had to watch all this. His mother fainted. (S. I.) According to the quoted death register, the two persons died in war accident – accident de ra¢zboi – as well. The death register of the Calvinist Church records beheading by the Maniu guard for the cause of death. In connection with the decapitation of the brothers, we have to speak about the headsman. The statement that the executioner was a man from Sepsibükszád occurs frequently in the study of Levente Benko½. (Gergely Nagy , the brother of the beheaded victims, who was doing his military service at that time, still believes that Albert Vaszi, living in one of the neighboring villages, was the murderer.) Many people stated the same. Eyewitnesses nevertheless recognized Traian Stana, the headsman of the axe, at the 1945 Brassó trial. What are the reasons for this misbelief? Without going into the details, we can state the following.38 The Romanians captured Albert Vaszi from Sepsibükszád and three of his companions at Illyefalva in September 1944. As his name was originally Romanian, they had taken him for a Romanian and released him from the Brassó barracks three days later. As he heard there were call-ups for partisan hunting guards or something at the city’s tourist office, he joined them thinking that he would be able get to Sepsibükszád with the volunteers. (Villages had already been full of Russians, there was no other possibility of avoiding them.) By the time he realized what he had got into, it was too late. (They promised land or juridical positions to those who joined in...) As he did not even speak Romanian well, they didn't entirely trust him, thus he wasn't given firearms. He had to go with them as far as Csíkszereda, where he could finally escape. Several Szárazajta coachmen stopped by his brother-in-law in Sepsibükszád in November 1944, and betraying, he stated that Albert Vaszi was one of the guardsmen and he for sure was in Szárazajta, too. (He told it because he wanted them to kill so he would inherit my properties…). A couple of weeks later the people’s militia took Albert Vaszi to Sepsiszentgyörgy. He was questioned for several days. When eyewitnesses faced him, they did not recognize the Szárazajta executioner of axe in him. (Neither of them said he saw me. Everyone said he didn't look like me, he was not me...) He was released next day, but he could never get rid of the suspicion. He is still said to be the Bükszád executioner even these days...39 But let us return to the accused. After the brothers, the guardsmen executed the Szép couple. Regina Málnási, the wife, was accused by Olteanu of cutting the finger of a wounded Romanian soldier in order to steal his ring during the fights in early September. (The same accusation was leveled against the Nagy brothers!) Actually the cause was totally different. She was taking care for the wounded officer and he gave her the ring for gratitude till the time he would come back for it. By the time the officer’s letter thanks arrived, it was too late. The truth we prove by the handwriting of that very officer, is that Mrs. Albert Szép née Regina Málnási was given(more precisely: got) the ring as a sign of his gratitude. The letter of this officer about the ring is deposited in the police headquarters of Sepsiszentgyörgy.40 (my italics) Presumably, the letter has disappeared forever. Although it was mentioned at the Brassó trial, but it was not seen even at that time.41

After they executed Albert Szép couple, the crowd roared and Olteanu made fired at them. A gypsy man, László Tamás was seriously wounded and he died later on that day. He was the seventh victim of the massacre.42 The accused were then shot one after the other: Uncle Lajos Elekes who, according to my mother, was shot several times and he was shouting all along: ‘who did I hurt? what's my crime? I do not ask much, I have two daughters, I have two little daughters, please let me live’, died only after the seventh shot. Then he was followed by the others... (S. I.) (Elekes Lajos was not even in the village at the time of the fights in early September.) József D. Nagy was the luckiest. Although they fired at him several times, only one hit him and had blown his upper row of teeth out. When Olteanu heard about him surviving the execution, he only said: Well, if he survived, he must be innocent.43 The man who miraculously survived the events, outlived the tribulations by ten years and died at the age of 50... Three men fired at Béla Szép, yet he was only wounded. With no medicines and proper medical aid, he died ten days later. (Like Lajos Elekes, he was not at home at the time of the September battle either.) The oldest victims, Benjámin Szabó and Gyula Németh, were 63 and 61, respectively. Gyula Németh and his two sons, Ákos and Bertalan were accused of hacking wounded Romanian soldiers by spades and hoes. The two brothers were not even at home at that time. Viktor Bogdán and Tódor Bardoc testified before Olteanu that they served together with the two Némeths in the army. Their father could not escape. He was shot to dead together with Benjámin Szabó by several shots. Tódor Bardoc, who had just testified the innocence of Bertalan Németh, spoke again, this time in the defense of Gyula Nagy and Gyula Nagy Jr., saying that this men [Gyula Nagy Sr.] could not be at home because he served together with me in the Székely Frontier Guard in the valley of River Úz.44 János Berszán and Domokos Berszán cleared Nagy Gyula Jr. Imre Máthé escaped by telling Olteanu: Ask the soldier behind the machine-gun, on the roof of the building! Ask him whether he was he with me at Sepsiszentgyörgy in the army, or not?45 By the testimony of Vasile Surdu, the soldier in question, Imre Máthé got away.46 Then the volunteers killed Izsák Németh was executed then. He was the eleventh victim.

At this moment something happened that has not been clarified to the present. Shots were heard from the cemetery. (According to Viktor Szép, son of Albert Szép, magistrate Viktor Berszán managed elude the guardsmen vigilance and alerted the Soviet soldiers stationing in the neighboring area (in Nagybacon perhaps). According to another hypothesis the son of the Protestant minister, Géza Kolumbán Jr. was the one to informed the Soviets on the massacre.)47 Whoever was firing at the village confines, he managed to make Olteanu to stop the massacre. He ordered the villagers to bury the corpses immediately. We were forced to bury them on the spot. (B. N.) Lajos Elekes, Béla Gecse, József Málnási, András Nagy, Sándor Nagy, Gyula Németh, Izsák Németh, Benjámin Szabó , Mrs. Albert Szép née Regina Málnási and Albert Szép were buried without priest and tolls – as well as Béla Szép, who died of his wounds on October 7,. (Orthodox László Tamás was presumably buried on the 26th as well.)48 Olteanu and his men pillaged Szárazajta after the massacre. The wagons were soon full with stolen goods. The carts escorted by a couple of volunteers left for Középajta, while Olteanu was having a feast of the pillages cattle in Viktor Berszán's yard. However, there were Romanians in the village who were terrified by what had happened: Then Rudi Berszán's parents came. They were wailing: Oh, what have you done? Oh, you have not stopped them!49 Finally, Olteanu and his guardsmen departed, but there was no peace left for the villagers. Some of the Romanian lads, intoxicated with the victory, continued to molest Hungarian inhabitants. They were shooting into our homes in the nights We didn't dare to sleep at home. (B. N.) Peace was finally restored by the entering Soviet troops. There would have been serious consequences had the Soviets not arrived in these villages. (S. I.) Inhabitants still keep speaking about the Soviet misses who maintained peace and order. But some of the villagers had to face bad luck even after this sad event was over. Sándor Groza was their (the Soviets) interpreter. He gave me a sheet of paper with five names on it. The names of András Incze, Károly Szép, Pisti Nagy, Lajos Koncza were written on it... As the gendarme didn't speak Hungarian, he told me to ask them to check in at the station with two days' provisions. At that time altogether some 72 lads, who had just returned from the war, were taken away from here to Földvár. Three or four of them came back, the rest died there. (B. N.)"

Summing up the Szárazajta horrible events, we can state the following:

1) The Maniu-guardsmen were invited by several local Romanians who had personal scores to settle with Hungarians.
2) The appearance of the volunteers took the inhabitants by surprise.
3) As local intelligentsia had fled, there was no leader to advise and unite the villagers. (I would say the better and braver people were the ones they executed...) (S. I.)
4) Victims had no possibility to prove their cause. There was no actual trial implied.
5) Like in other places, the returned Romanian gendarme assisted the illegal murders.
6) Magistrate Viktor Berszán bears the severe responsibility for not trying to stop the massacre, unlike the Magistrate, György M. Váncsa of Középajta did.


Situation after World War II

Since the end of World War II, the Hungarian minority living in Transylvania: has suffered discrimination under Romanian rule. During the Communist Era, Marxist-Leninist internationalism gave way to nationalism in Romania, and the Hungarian minority suffered under the policies of leaders Georghiu-Dej and Ceausescu. Unfortunately, the fall of Communism has not provided relief. Rampant nationalism exhibited in the violence in Tirgu-Mures and the rise of right-wing nationalist parties show that discrimination continues.

Violence against the Transylvanian Hungarians began as soon as the Armistice Agreement between Romania and the Soviet Union was signed in 1944. The agreement, in which Romania abandoned Hitler and joined the Allied powers, promised at least part of the region to Romania. Pogroms in the name of anti-fascism were launched against the Hungarians, whose nation of origin was still allied to Germany. Soviet troops were able to move quickly enough to stop the infamous Maniu Guard pogrom of October 1944, and on November 11, the U.S.S.R. ordered the Romanian administration out of Transylvania.

With this action the Soviets gained the support of the Hungarian minority. Many joined the left-wing MADOSZ, which was the Hungarian National Workers' Party. Elemer Illyes remarks that "the internationalist character of communism appealed to the dissatisfaction felt by oppressed national minorities," and points out that most communists in Romania were Hungarians and Jews. G.M.Tamas notes that:

It is easy to forget that what appears today as a fossil of asocietal and cultural monster was originally mapped out asa utopia designed to liberate mankind. The Soviet Union. . . successfully separated ethnicity and politics.

Stalin used the support of the Hungarian minority to defeat anti-communism in Romania, and promised them full equal rights if Romania annexed Transylvania.

Stalin ordered Romania's King Michael to support Petru Groza as Prime Minister to preside over the "transition to the dictatorship of the proletariat." Under Groza, minority representatives were sent to the Romanian Council of State and Council of Ministers. Hungarian broadcasts were played on Radio Bucharest, and the Hungarian Bolyai University in Cluj was established. Groza also supported the 1945 Nationality Statute which guaranteed rights and freedoms for national minorities.

There were, however, some sinister developments under the Groza government. The agrarian reform law was designed to confiscate the land of Hungarians or Germans who had left their homes in order to escape from Antonescu or had retreated with the German Army. The C.A.S.B.I. decree sequestered the property of all "presumedly" hostile persons. The 1945 Citizenship Law denied any social benefits to anyone not in Romania during the "Antonescu Terror." <12> During this time the Communist doctrine of land redistribution was enacted; 80% of the redistributed land formally owned by Hungarians, however, became Romanian, and the citizenship of 300,000 to 400,000 Hungarians and Germans was put into question. The Hungarian minority in Transylvania: received little protection at the Paris Peace Conference in 1946. As Hungary had allied itself with the Axis Powers, Hungarians everywhere became "the object of condemnation and collective punishment." Stalin decided that Transylvania: would go to Romania instead of Hungary because he felt that communism was more likely to be established in Romania, and although Britain and the US. suggested some territorial modifications in Hungary's favor, Stalin had his way. A significant fault in the Conference was the failure to recognize collective rights, as the World War I treaties had. These treaties recognized only individual rights, and that, says Illyes, meant that minority rights were reduced to an internal matter instead of an international right.

In 1947 King Michael was forced to abdicate and Georghiu-Dej of the Romanian Workers Party took over. Georghiu-Dej consolidated his power through a series of purges in which he expelled "foreigners" and "agents of Moscow," such as Ana Pauker and Lazlo Luca in favor of home-based Romanian communists. He reduced the Bolyai University to a secondary school and restricted travel so that Hungarians in Transylvania could not see their families in Hungary. He also began a campaign against the Hungarian Peoples Party, which started with the arrest of its leaders on false charges of espionage, and ended with the party's abolition in 1953. By 1949, the West was complaining of human rights violations in Romania.

This virulent nationalism worsened after the death of Stalin in 1953. Georghiu-Dej declared that the problem of national minorities and discrimination was solved. One could be punished for even speaking of the issue. A process of "Romanianization" began. Bilinguality of advertisements, announcements, conferences, and public discussions was abolished. All institutions were declared "national," and no minority could obtain a position of importance in them. The RCP (Romanian Communist Party) was referred to as a national party, and all other political organizations were outlawed. There was much discrimination in industry, where it was very difficult for a member of a minority to obtain a managerial position. Two events in 1956 affected Romanian policy towards its Hungarian minority: the XX Party Congress, in which Khruschev denounced Stalin and acknowledged separate paths to communism, and the revolutionary ferment throughout the Eastern bloc, which reached a particularly high level in Hungary. The nationalist goals of Romania fit in with the concept of de-Stalinization and the Eastern bloc countries asserting their individuality, but the Hungarian Revolution of Imre Nagy caused problems. Hungarian students in Transylvania organized anti-Soviet and anti-Romanian demonstrations. Georghiu-Dej declared that all of the Hungarians in Transylvania were collectively guilty of "revisionism" and "counter-revolutionary attitudes." In a series of waves, he had 40,000 people arrested.

During the 1960's, three major events shaped Romanian policy toward the Hungarians in Transylvania: The Valev debate centered around a Soviet plan to combine southeast Romania, northeast Bulgaria, and southern Bessarabia into a unit. This frightened Romania, which had been attempting to gain a degree of political and economic independence since 1955. They saw it as an attempt by the Soviet Union to destroy their national unity. This could only intensify the already manic nationalism in Romania.

The 1965 Ninth RCP Congress confirmed the election of Nicolae Ceausescu as General Secretary of the RCP. His policies would prove to be very destructive to the Transylvanian Hungarians. Also confirmed in 1965 was a new constitution which emphasized a "unified, indivisible Romania." Any outsiders who tried to defend the national minorities were declared to be "infringing on national sovereignty." Romanian nationalism forbade the Hungarians any international help.

The third influence of the 1960's was the Czechoslovakian uprising in 1968. The intervention of the Warsaw Pact in that country terrified the Romanians into making some surface-level concessions to minority rights. A Council of Working People on Nationalities was created. A Nationality Directorate was installed in the Ministry of Education, and a Hungarian Council was permitted to raise issues such as Hungarian textbooks and bilingual signs. Illyes points out, however, that these concessions were largely "window-dressing," and nothing was done about the problems raised by the Hungarian Council.

An example of the true motives of the Ceausescu regime is displayed in the fate of the Magyar Autonomous Region. It was established in the 1952 Constitution in response to Soviet pressure. It was in line with Marxist-Leninist ideology regarding national minorities, and it served a role in propaganda. It never really had self-government, and scarcely one-third of the Hungarians in Transylvania lived there. In 1968, however, the Ceausescu regime abolished it when they re-established the "judet" county system. Illyes claims that the new counties were "distributed in such a way so as to ensure a Romanian majority everywhere."

Michael Sozan defines ethnocide (for which he holds Romania responsible) as "any action by representatives of a dominant culture which aims at obliterating another sociocultural tradition through a coercive policy of assimilation." The code phrase for these assimilationist policies during the 1960's and 1970's was "irrespective of nationality." This seemingly benign classification of human rights, claims Illyes, served as a sinister cover for "a policy of assimilation into a state which insists on the exclusiveness of its national character." Opposition to these policies came from within the Communist Party. Karoly Kiraly, vice-president of the Hungarian Nationality Workers' Council, alternate member of the Politburo in Romania, and former Central Committee member, wrote a letter to the Central Committee in 1978, deploring the treatment of minority nationalities in Romania. After describing numerous violations of the constitution (such as removing Hungarian officials from towns and cities, forbidding minority language use, and various school policies), he wrote:

It is clear from only this much that a multitude of factual realities violate the constitution . . . I am one of those Communists who is convinced of the truth of our ideals . . . What is occurring . . . has nothing in common with Marxist Leninism, fundamental human rights, humanism, or ethical behavior and human dignity.

The one responsible for these policies, Ceausescu, was elected President of the Republic in 1974. According to Illyes, Ceausescu tried to divert attention from the fact that living conditions were significantly better in Hungary by becoming "even more stridently nationalistic." As a result, the Hungarian minority became a scapegoat in Romania. <33> He established laws in 1974 which made all historical documents, archives, libraries, and anything else of cultural or scientific value property of the state and then barred Hungarian scholars and researchers from access to them. During the process of urbanization he dispersed the population so that Hungarians were forced into the Regat (Romania proper) and Romanians were placed in Transylvania. He also discouraged tolerance of minority language use, stating that "the task of the minorities is to acquire the Romanian language . . . and to fulfill the plans of the Party, not to deal with such problems as education and language maintenance." He later remarked that "[w]ithout speaking Romanian one cannot expect equal rights." Rather more serious was the 1977 arrest and torture of Hungarian intellectuals, one of whom was found dead in his home shortly after his release. According to the Committee for Human Rights in Romania, it was "part of a sweeping effort to silence all possible signs of independent-minded expression within the Hungarian minority."

1989 saw the end of Ceausescu and a hopeful beginning to an interim regime. Romanians and Hungarians alike took part in the coup d'etat which ousted Ceausescu after police threatened Hungarian human rights activist Lazlo Tokes. A new party of former communists called the National Salvation Front (NSF) took control. Its Declaration of Rights of National Minorities in 1990 established individual and collective rights. It promised proportional representation of the minorities in parliament and the reopening of the Bolyai University.

Unfortunately this trend was not to continue. The end of Communism "unleashed destructive national passions." Once the "socialist utopia" was finished, the ruling powers attempted to replace it with "national independence" and "ethnic or racial purity." The nationalist backlash took the form of the Vatra Romaneasca (Romanian Cradle) Party.

This nationalist group was responsible for an anti-Hungarian rally in Tirgu-Mures in 1990 in which eight people were killed and 800 injured in a dispute over schools and bilingual signs. The people of Tirgu-Mures "battled with clubs and pipes and bottles." The 1991 report on the incident said that "some agents of the former political police" (Securitate) were involved in the ethnic violence.

With the rise of the ultra-nationalist PRNU (the political wing of Vatra Romaneasca), things have gone badly for the Transylvanian Hungarians. This party won many local elections in 1992. Most distressing is the election of Georghe Funar, the chairman of the PRNU, as mayor of Cluj. He has removed all Hungarian signs, opposed Hungarian schools, and banned international symposia which he claimed were based on Hungarian irredentism. The resulting tension forced the government to send in troops. Although some have called his actions unconstitutional, the government is reluctant to confront him. The growing nationalism in Romania has forced the DNSF (the successor party to the NSF) to cooperate with PRNU. This is demonstrated in the fact that in the new constitution, the PRNU was able to insert measures forbidding the use of Hungarian in judicial procedures and council meetings, and dictating central appointment of prefects to prevent local autonomy by the minorities. President Ion Iliescu of the DNSF has even appointed a PRNU member as Minister of Education.

The Hungarian Democratic Federation of Romania (HDFR), the party which represents the Hungarian minority, has had little success in fighting nationalism. In March 1993, after they had requested more decentralization, two Hungarian prefects were replaced in the mostly Hungarian counties of Harghita and Covasna, one of them by a member of Vatra Romaneasca. Although the government also set up a Council of National Minorities which was intended to facilitate Romania's entrance into the Council of Europe (CE), the HDFR found that it was as useless a body as those under Ceasescu, and walked out in September 1993, after filing a complaint with the CE. Romania still refuses to sign a guarantee of minority rights, claiming that it is an internal matter. Kovrig asserts that Romania is "seemingly intent upon fostering a national unity that is inimical to multiculturalism." Hungary has taken an interest in its minority in Romania, although it confirms that it has no irredentist ambitions. It seeks an agreement with Romania similar to the one it has with Ukraine regarding Hungarian minorities in Transcarpathia: one which grants extensive collective rights. Romania, however, objects to Hungary's interest in its minorities and will not sanction collective rights.

The problem of Romanian nationalism has not disappeared with the fall of communism; it has steadily continued. Since nationalism is at the root of the persecution of the Hungarian minority in Transylvania: the West should search for ways to curtail it. (Sara E. Popham - The Hungarians in Transylvania: Victims of Romanian Nationalism)


The minority situation after 1990

In the aftermath of the Romanian Revolution of 1989, the inter-ethnic relations of Transylvania worsened. Ethnic-based political parties were constituted by both the Hungarians, who founded the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania, and by the Romanian Transylvanians, who founded the Romanian National Unity Party. Ethnic conflicts, however, never occurred on a significant scale, even though some violent clashes, such as the Târgu Mures, events of March 1990, did take place shortly after the fall of Ceaus,escu regime.

In 1995, a basic treaty on the relations between Hungary and Romania was signed. In the treaty, Hungary renounced all territorial claims to Transylvania, and Romania reiterated its respect for the rights of its minorities. Relations between the two countries improved as Romania moved to join Hungary as a full EU member. A number of Hungarian-speaking border towns which for decades were cut off from Hungary now have virtually free movement via new border-crossings.

The situation of the Hungarian minority has improved since the November 1996 election of a governing coalition including the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) as a junior partner. Since 1996, the UDMR has been a member or supporter of every governmental coalition, including the Justice and Truth Alliance (2004-07). Political agreements have brought the gradual implementation of major advances in the official status of the Hungarian language in all localities where it is spoken by more than 20% of the population.

While numerous Hungarian newspapers, books, other publications and even broadcasting hours on public television have existed in Romania even during the Ceaus,escu regime, their number and diversity started decreasing after the 1989 revolution. The same is true for the number of elementary schools, high-schools, colleges and universities teaching in Hungarian, as well as for cultural institutions such as Hungarian theaters and opera houses funded by the Romanian state.

Even though Romania adhered to all the European laws for protecting minorities' rights, this as not proved satisfactory to all members of this community. There is a movement by Hungarians both for an increase in autonomy and distinct cultural development. Initiatives proposed by various Hungarian political organizations include the creation of an "autonomous region" in the counties that form the Szekler region (Székelyföld), roughly corresponding to the territory of the former Hungarian Autonomous Province as well as the historical Szekler land that had been abolished by the Hungarian government in the second half of the 19th century, and the re-establishment of an independent state-funded Hungarian-language university.

Politics

The Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) is the major representative of Hungarians in Romania, and is a member of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization. The aim of the UDMR is to achieve local government, cultural and territorial autonomy and the right to self-determination for Hungarians. UDMR is a member of the European Democrat Union (EDU) and the European People's Party (EPP).

In the 2004 legislative elections, UDMR gained 10 seats in the Romanian Senate, or 6.23% of the total vote, and 22 seats in the Chamber of Deputies (6.17% of the total vote). In 1996, UDMR became part of the National Democratic Convention coalition government, holding two ministerial portfolios in the cabinet. The party is also part of the current coalition government (2004-2008), where it holds four ministerial portfolios. Romania's vice-premier, Béla Markó, is also a member of the party.

Culture

Owing to its multicultural roots, Transylvania has a very diverse culture, in which Hungarians left probably the most distinctive mark. There is a vast network of Hungarian theaters, more than 200 years old and still functioning, and some of them, like those from Cluj-Napoca, Târgu-Mures, and Timis,oara have international reputation. The number of Hungarian social and cultural organizations in Romania has greatly increased after the fall of communism, with more than 300 being documented a few years ago. There are also several puppet theatres. Professional Hungarian dancing in Romania is represented by the Maros Folk Ensemble (formerly State Szekler Ensemble) in Târgu-Mures, (Marosvásárhely), the Hargita Ensemble, and the Pipacsok Dance Ensemble. Other amateur popular theaters are also very important in preserving the cultural traditions.

While in the past the import of books was hindered, now there are many bookstores selling books written in Hungarian. The two public wide-coverage TV stations broadcast several Hungarian programs with good audiences also from Romanians. This relative scarcity is partially compensated by private Hungarian-language television and radio stations, like DUNA-TV which is targeted for the Hungarian minorities outside Hungary, particularly Transylvania. A new TV station entitled "Transylvania" is scheduled to start soon, the project is funded mostly by Hungary but also by Romania and EU and other private associations. There are currently around 60 Hungarian-language press publications receiving state support from the Romanian Government. While their numbers dropped as a consequence of economic liberalisation and competition, there are many others private funded by different Hungarian organizations. The Székely Region has many touristic facilities that attract Hungarian and other foreign tourists.

Education

According to Romania's minority rights law, Hungarians have the right to education in their native language, including as a medium of instruction. In localities where they make up more than 20% of the population they have the right to use their native language with local authorities.

According to the official data of the 1992 Romanian census, 98% of the total ethnic Hungarian population over the age of 12 has had some schooling (primary, secondary or tertiary), ranking them fourth among ethnic groups in Romania and higher than the national average of 95.3%. On the other hand, the ratio of Hungarians graduating from higher education is lower than the national average. The reasons are diverse, including a lack of enough native-language lecturers, particularly in areas without a significant proportion of Hungarians.

At Babes,-Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca, the largest state-funded tertiary education institution in Romania, more than 30% of courses are held in the Hungarian language. There is currently a proposal by local Hungarians, supported by the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania, to separate the Hungarian-language department from the institution, and form a new, Hungarian-only Bolyai University. The former Bolyai University was disbanded in 1959 by Romanian Communist authorities and united with the Romanian Babes, University to form the multilingual Babes,-Bolyai University that continues to exist today.



Books:

Ungarn, das reich der Stephanskrone, im zeitalter der reformation und konfessionalisierung
av Marta Fata
Munster: Aschendorff Verlag. 2000. Pp. ix
http://www.britannica.com/magazine/article?content_id=294588&query=transylvania

History of Hungary
av Dominicus Kosáry
professor i Historia vid Eötvös-Collegium i Budapest
med förord av professor Sven Tunberg,
trycktes och utgavs i Stockholm 1944
i samarbete av Johannes Lotz och Dominicus Kosáry

The Ottomans in Europe
av Geoffrey Woodward
http://www.britannica.com/magazine/article?content_id=278614&query=transylvania


References:

White Book on Atrocities against Hungarians in Transylvania of 1944

Hungarian History

Lajos Kossuth

Trianon 1920 jun 4

Hungarian and Transylvanian Maps, Images & Resources

Nobel Prize Winners and Famous Hungarians


Resources on Transylvania

Human Rights Developments in Romania: The Romanian Helsinki Committee (APADOR-CH)
ROMANIA APADOR REPORT: 1993 - 2003

Gabriel Andreescu, STRASBOURG OMBUDSPERSONS FOR NATIONAL MINORITIES:
ROMANIA SHADOW REPORT: OCTOBER 1999

IHF - International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights:
   » 2005 REPORT on situation of Human Rights in Romania

Balogh, Sándor:
Separating Myths and Facts in the History of Transylvania
Available as a PDF file.

Bandholtz, Harry Hill:
An Undiplomatic Diary
by the American Member of the Inter-Allied Millitary Mission to Hungary 1919-20
Available as a PDF file.

Biro, Sandor:
The Nationalities Problem in Transylvania

Nándor Bárdi, László Diószegi, András Gyertyánfy:
Hungarians in Transylvania between 1870 and 1995

Illyés, Elemér:
National Minorities in Romania

Carp, Matatias:
Holocaust in Rumania
Available as a PDF file

Council of Europe preliminary draft report:
The Csángó Minority Culture in Moldavia
Available as a PDF file.

Du Nay, Alain and Du Nay, André
The Transylvania - Fiction and Reality

Du Nay, Alain
Hungarians and Rumanians in the Torrents of History

Du Nay, André
The Origins of the Rumanians

Genocide in Transylvania - Nation on the Death Row

Kazar, Lajos:
Facts Against Fiction: Transylvania

Kazar, Lajos - Makai, János:
Transylvania in Search of Facts
Available as a PDF file.

Kincses, Elöd:
Black Spring

Kosztin, A.:
The Daco-Roman Legend

Kosztin, A.:
Daco-Roman Legend. Christian Cultic Places in Transylvania
Available as a PDF file.

Kosztin, A.:
Cronicle of Cruelties - Romanian Mistreatment of the Hungarian Minority in Transylvania
Available as a PDF file.

Lázár, István:
Transylvania - A Short History
Available as a PDF file.

Lote, Louis L. (Ed.):
Transylvania and the Theory of Daco-Roman Continuity

Magyarody, S. J. (ed.):
The Tsangos of Romania: The Hungarian minorities in Romanian Moldavia
Available as a PDF.

Vékony, Gábor:
Dacians-Romans-Romanians

Witnesses to Cultural Genocide
- First-Hand Reports on Rumania's Minority Policies Today