Fraternity-Testvériség, 1988 (66. évfolyam, 1-4. szám)
1988-10-01 / 4. szám
Page 2 TESTVÉRISÉG AS ROMANIA RAZES VILLAGES, IT'S TIES TO HUNGARY FRAY Abuse of minorities by Bucharest alleged. Abridged and reprinted by permission — Antero Pietila — The Baltimore Sun The Rev. Imre Bertalan remembers the days when a sign in front of the headquarters of the Hungarian Reformed Federation of America demanded the withdrawal of Soviet troops from his homeland. With next month's anniversary of Soviet troops' bloody suppression of the 1956 Hungarian uprising just weeks away, a sign again stands on his Dupont Circle organization's front lawn. But this time it declares, "Stop Oppression of Hungarian Minorities in Romania!" It is part of a mounting worldwide outcry against the Romanian government's intention to raze more than 7,000 historic villages—many of them ethnically Hungarian or German—and turn them into vaguely defined "agro-industrial centers" by 2000. In the process, hundreds of thousands of families will be uprooted and their centuries-old traditions ended. "I saw with my own eyes the destruction of peasant villages. It is a tragic violation of human rights." John Whitehead, U.S. deputy secretary of state, said after watching bulldozers in action during a visit to Romania last week. As bulldozers keep leveling landmark churches, old graveyards, schools and picturesque farmhouses in mountainous Transylvania, relations between Hungary and Romania have come close to a breaking point. In recent months, mass demonstrations on a scale not seen since 1956 have been held throughout Hungary. (One-third of the country's population is estimated to have relatives among the nearly 2 million Hungarians living in Romania.) In retaliation, Romania closed Hungary's consulate in Transylvania and ordered its staff out of the country within 48 hours, a deadline úsually used only in expulsions. More than 15,000 Romanians of various ethnic backgrounds have fled to Hungary. An average of 150 refugees crossed the border last month, Hungarian officials report. Meanwhile, hundreds of Romanians —in what diplomats describe as an unprecedented development—have sought refuge in the Soviet Union. Thousands of others have risked their lives to flee to Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia. "It's shocking that 40 years after Hitler, Central Europe again has these kinds of problems," said Frank Koszorús Jr., a lawyer for the International Human Rights Law Group. Romanian diplomats in Washington declined to discuss their government's "systematization" of rural villages or the overall situation. "It is our policy not to grant interviews," a senior diplomat said. Agricultural experts say that the village-consolidation program is likely to increase Romania's food- production problems rather than alleviate them. They point to countries such as the Soviet Union and Tanzania, where similar programs lowered productivity because farmers were concentrated in settlements too far from their fields. And those countries were able to pour money into their agriculture: today's Romania is virtually bankrupt. But agricultural goals may be only one of the purposes of the consolidation. Critics point to Romanian Nicolae Ceausescu's record of suppressing his country's Hungarian minority, which accounts for about 8 percent of the total population of 23 million. In 1959, he closed down the Hungarian university in Cluj; in 1968 he did away with the Hungarian Autonomous Region. (continued on Page 16) FRATERNITY—TESTVÉRISÉG ISSN-0744-592X Official Organ of the Hungarian Reformed Federation of America Published Quarterly Office of Publication: 2001 Massachusetts Ave., N.W., Washington, DC 20036 Telephone: (202) 328-2630 Second Class Postage paid at Washington, DC Postmaster: Send Address Changes to: Fraternity-Testvériség 2001 Massachusetts Ave., N.W , Washington, DC 20036-101 1 Editorial Committee: Editor-in-Chief, Managing Director: Rev. Imre Bertalan Associate Editors: Joseph F. Tegze, Vice President-Secretary Or William B Puskas, Treasurer
