Calvin Synod Herald, 1980 (80. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1980-01-01 / 1-2. szám
4 CALVIN SYNOD HERALD 13:30), but firmly believe with Calvin that “all things are now subject to Christ, although this subjection will not complete until the day of resurrection.” Leaving the role of the spectator, the speculator, the idle critic and the irresponsible analyst, we are called to participate in this struggle with the vulnerability and victory of the crucified and risen Lord. Such is the nature of Christ’s reign (regnum Christi) in this present evil world: such are the glorious prospect of the new decade! One final word! Past, present and future are not separated in God’s time. What we have done in the past is with us now in the present, and what we do now will shape the future. Yet our future is not something that flows from the data of the past, but with the God of Resurrection our future is opening of new possibilities, yes even the impossible. Ours is a future in which all barriers, even the ultimate barrier of death, had been overcome! A new era has dawned in Jesus Christ, a different world exists because Christ has risen, He reigns, and we are His people. But be what you are! Even you,- Christians in Hungarian America. There is absolutely no excuse for idle waiting and naive unpreparedness in such faith (Mt. 25: 10-13). Work, for the night is coming, the night which is the prelude for a new day! Dr. John Butosi GENOCIDE IN ROMANIA Bom in Székelyudvarhely and serving through the end of 1944 as a pastor in the Hungarian Reformed Church in Transylvania (Erdély), it was impossible for me today not to think of what would have happened to me if I would have stayed in Transylvania. I have just finished reading the 209-page book, “Witnesses To Cultural Genocide — First-Hand Reports on Romania’s Minority Policies Today.” As I read the book, again I felt that due to my keen sense of justice and outspokenness, the Romanians would have long ago and mercilessly done away with me, just as they killed many thousands of other Hungarians since 1945. But they could not massacre more than two million Hungarians and more than one million other minority nationals, Germans, Turks, Bulgarians, Gypsies, Jews, Serbs, Slovaks and Ruthenians. For this reason they launched a forced Romanization of the minorities, in a thoroughly contrived and stubbornly executed plan. They have been committing cultural genocide against them. In the quoted book, first-hand reports and data are published about the genocide committed against the Hungarians in Romania. The Romanian government gradually decreased the number and quality of Hungarian language schools. They have excluded the Hungarians from leadership in the economy, even to their own detrement. They allow no Hungarian political activity. They force Hungarian intellectuals to accept jobs in the Romanian speaking areas, while they have been settling only Romanian speaking intellectuals, administrators and workers in the Hungarian speaking territories. They allow Hungarian newspapers to publish only translations from the Romanian press. They almost annihilated the activity of the Hungarian theatres. For more than two million Hungarians there is no permanent radio and television. ‘‘In Romania you may not be able to purchase a ticket at the railroad station unless you ask for it in Romanian ... You may not be served in a store if you speak in Hungarian, German, or in a Slavic language ... If someone answers the telephone in Hungarian (“Halló”) and not in Romanian (“Alo!”), he may be insulted as being called a fascist at the other end of the line... I saw a Romanian woman on the Székely Circular Railway attack a young minority mother because she spoke to her children in their native language... If a member of a minority breaks into song in a public place, he will soon be rebuked with: ‘Sing in the language of the State, not the language of tramps.’" These few quotations cite only the “smaller” manifestations of the continually practiced cultural genocide in Romania. During my ministry in Bucharest in 1937-40, when with my wife we walked the streets of the Romanian capital and talked in our native Hungarian, we repeatedly had to suffer such snarls coming from behind our back: “Vorbiti Romaneste” (“Speak in Romanian”). Yet, the situation of the Hungarians at that time and now in Romania cannot be compared, it is so much worse now. I do not want to discuss this subject lengthily here. I only wanted to call the attention of the readers to the recently published book and to ask them to buy it, read it and spread its contents. By disclosing the tragic lot of fellowmen in Romania, perhaps they can help. Donate the book to your schools or libraries or give it to influential persons. “The Witnesses To Cultural Genocide ” can be ordered for $14 from 1. The American Transylvanian Federation, P.O. Box 1671, Grand Central Station, New York, N.Y. 10017, or, 2. Committee For Human Rights In Romania, P.O. Box “J,” Grade Station, New York, N.Y. 10028. Béla Szigethy
