The Eighth Tribe, 1977 (4. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1977-11-01 / 11. szám

November, 1977

THE EIGHTH TRIBE

Page 7

Book Review:

Ceausescu’s Roumania and the

Hungarian Minority G. B. McGregor

Documented Facts and Figures on Transylvania. Compiled by The Danubian Research Center and The Transylvanian World Federation under the supervision of Albert Wass de Czege. Astor, Florida: The Danubian Press, Inc., 1977. 80 pp. Paperbound $4.00; hardbound $5.00.

In this last quarter of the twentieth century — which may also be referred to as the “Age of Human Rights” — the protection of the national, religious, racial and other minorities has become one of the most important goals of human society. In point of fact, President Jimmy Carter seems to have made human rights one of the cornerstones of his foreign policy. This is evident from his attitude toward the Soviet Union, as well as toward a number of states in Africa and the Near East.

Interestingly and sadly enough, while the attention of President Carter and of the U.S. Government has been captivated by the plight of the Soviet dissidents, the problems of the Rhodesian and the South African Blacks, as well as by the misery of the displaced Palestinians, as of today, he has given very little of his attention to the plight of the largest and most oppressed national minority of Europe: The Hungarians of Transylvania. In a sense — from the point of view of American Realpolitik — this lack of attention is understandable, for in her foreign policy Roumania appears to act as a daring maverick among the states of East Central Europe. This show of alleged independence naturally appeals to the American policy-makers, even though Roumania houses the most oppressive Stalinist dictatorship in the area. Led by Nicolae Ceausescu — who can only be compared in shrewdness, oppressiveness and personal self-veneration to some of his “Byzantine” predecessors, including the infamous Vlad II the Impaler,

THE MAGYARS IN HISTORY

by S. B. Vardy, Ph.D. Professor of History

— continued —

CHAPTER XI

ENCOUNTER AND CONFLICT WITH CHRISTIAN EUROPE

(The Magyars in the Tenth Century)

When in the final years of the ninth century the Magyars took possession of the Carpathian Basin, neither the area’s inhabitants, nor any of the European powers were able or willing to prevent their settlement there. The Basin itself was only sparcely inhabited. Its population was perhaps less than half the number of the conquerers, who were estimated to have been close to half a million strong. (Kovacsics: Demográfia, p. 47.) The indigenous population consisted of various Slavic and Germanic peoples, as well as of the remnants of the once mighty Avars. Most of the latter — as we have seen — probably belonged into the category of “Late Avars” or “Avar-Magyars,” who therefore were related to the conquerors, both ethnically and linguistically. (There are also those who claim that Transylvania also contained some Romanized Dacians, who were allegedly the ancestors of the present day Roumanians. But this view can hardly be substantiated by historical, archeological and linguistic evidence. As a matter of fact, “the more probable view is... that the origin of the Rumanian people is to be found south of the Danube in the Romanized population of the Balkan peninsula.” (Cambridge Med. Hist., Vol. I, Pt. I, p. 560.)

Although much of the Carpathian Basin was under the political influence of three separate political entities, there was no single wellestablished state in the area that could have put up an effective opposition against the Magyar conquerors. The Slavic principality of Great Moravia which — according to the traditional view of its history — centered on the town of Nyitra (Nitra) in the northeastern section of the Basin, was already on the verge of disintegration, and by 902 it was completely destroyed by the conquerors. The rest of the country was under the loose control of the East Frankish (Carolingian) and Bulgarian Empires; the former controlling Pannonia (Trans-Danubia) to the west of the Danube, and the latter exercising some overlordship over the Hungarian Lowlands (Alföld) and Transylvania (Erdély).

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