Századok – 1998

Tanulmányok - Tófalvi Zoltán: Az 1956-os magyar forradalom visszhangja Romániában; Erdélyben V/989

1018 TÓFALVI ZOLTÁN a special period in the history of Rumanian-Hungarian connections as well, since many Rumanian university students and intellectuals of Timioara (Temesvár), Bucureti (Bukarest), and Braov (Brassó) sympathized with the armed uprising in Hungary. 2.500 university students were arrested in Timioara alone, of whom thirty-one were sentenced to prison. The defeat of the Hungarian revolution gave a handle to the Communist dictatorship of Rumania for settling the bill with the Hungarian intellectual elite of the country. Several thousand people were sent to prison and tens of thousands were harrassed and defamed. Fifteen persons were sentenced to death and fourteen of them were executed. While in Hungary the martyrs of the revolution have been rehabilitated since then, the burial places of those executed in Transylvania are still unknown to their family members and the public. Those in power are extremely cynical. The old files of the secret police are still inacessible and the Rumanian Parliament keeps postponing the decision about them. The significance of the Transylvanian reaction to the events of 1956 lies in the fact that the whole Hungarian nation, i. е., also those on the other side of the border, were there in spirit. Students tried to cross the border illegally to help the revolutionaries. Those who managed to do it were arrested by Kádár's police and passed to Rumania where they were sentenced to long years in prison. Reprisal fell heavier on the Hungarians of Transylvania than it could have been expected on the basis of their proportion in the Transylvanian population. In connection with the movement Erdélyi Magyar Ifjak Szövetsége [Association of Hungarian Youth in Transylvania] centering around Braov alone one thousand people were harrassed in many ways and seventy-seven were sentenced to prison. At Oradea [Nagyvárad] there was an organization called Szabadságra Vágyó Ifjak Szövetsége [Association of Young People Demanding Freedom], of which 504 members were arrested. Nearly seven hundred people were condemned by the court of Trgu Mures [Marosvásárhely] alone. Calculations show that the Hungarians of Transylvania were sentenced to nearly 6.000 years in prison altogether. Research is very difficult, since the official documents are still not available and the survivors, the participants of the events are still afraid of reprisal. Even school-children of twelve to fourteen were sentenced to two to four years in prison for expressing their sympathy towards the Hungarian revolution. This year is the fortieth anniversary of three major trials in Transylvania. The execution of ten defendants in the Szoboszlay trial and that of two members of the group at Valea lui Mihai [Érmihályfalva] will be remembered together with those who were beaten to death while in prison. The trial, hall-marked with the name of dr. Dobai István, expert of international law, is significant because this was the first time that the grievances of Hungarians in Transylvania were meant to reach the United Nations' Organization. Similar plans were considered also by the Erdélyi Magyar Ifjak Szövetsége [Association of Hungarian Youth in Transylvania]. The preparation of a comprehensive chronicle of the history of 1956 in Transylvania is a matter of future research.