The Eighth Tribe, 1980 (7. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1980-01-01 / 1. szám
HUNGARIANS IN TRANSYLVANIA — A NATIVE HISTORIC MINORITY by Prof. H. Fabritius Former Curator of the Bruckenthal Museum in Kronstadt, (Brassó, Brasov, Transylvania) In our days, when minority problems are becoming more and more sensitive all over the world, it seems important that the term “minority” be carefully examined, and divided up into different classifications, based on the special characteristics of the minorities in question. The accepted definition of the word “minority” concerns a group of people, which, in some way, differ from the surrounding population thereby forming a clearly recognizable island. The differences separating minorities from the majorities can be manifold, and are the determining factors of the category into which a certain minority group can be classified. The most usual type of minority is based on nothing more than mere political views, marking a certain group of people within an otherwise homogenous population, whose political views do not agree with those of the majority. Another similar type of minority status is based on religious affiliation. For example a small group of Protestants in the midst of a solidly Roman Catholic population or vice versa. These two prototypes of minorities in most civilized countries enjoy the full protection of the law, based upon governing constitutions. The next type of minority, defined as ethnic or racial minority, are groups of immigrants who entered a certain country due to economic or political reasons, and failed to assimilate. The treatment of these minorities by the native majority of the country in question depends on the tolerance of the host nation as well as on certain constitutional provisions created by the ruling majority for just such cases. Facing the gravest and most difficult situations are those minority groups which were originally the native population of a certain land or territory, where for many centuries they established themselves as part of a ruling majority, and suddenly, usually as a result of war, find themselves annexed by a neighboring country, and thus thrown into a minority status. In cases like this, the greatest difficulty arises from the fact that these people have already created for themselves a very particular national culture, which was known and recognized for centuries as the culture of the land. The very moment an occupying force begins to enforce its own culture upon the native population, conflicts arise which lead to extremely grave situations. Since the natural drive of the con-II queror is always to force assimilation upon the newly acquired population in order to secure its future position in the occupied territory, the fate of these native national minorities can be tragic. In the case of Transylvania, the Germans and the Rumanians are the descendants of immigrants who were allowed to enter the Hungarian Kingdom, and failed to assimilate. The constitution of the Kingdom, as well as the tolerance of the Hungarian nation not only protected these immigrants in the use of their own language, but aided them in developing their ethnic culture throughout the centuries. After World War I, the Eastern part of Hungary, called Transylvania, was handed over to Rumania as the “spoils of war”. The Hungarian population of this territory, for nine centuries part of a strong Hungarian majority inhabiting the Carpathian Basin in East-Central Europe, suddenly became a “native national minority” within a Balkan country inhabited by a strong Rumanian majortiy. The gravity of the problems thus created is even more emphasized by the fact that the Transylvanian- Hungarian culture identified this part of the Carpathian Basin for many centuries as the cultural stronghold of the entire Hungarian nation. Through its geographical location, this part of Hungary was the least affected by the Habsburg influence ruling Central Europe during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. All the revolutionary wars fought for Hungarian independence and religious freedom started out from Transylvania, creating historically a strong and lasting psychological relation between the Hungarian people of Transylvania and man's right to freedom and independence. It is understandable therefore, that the minority status forced upon the Hungarians in this Easternmost corner of the Carpathian Basin by a culturally inferior Rumanian state, created an immensely difficult and sensitive situation. Though after both wars the peace treaties included very specific guide-lines concerning the rights of the Transylvanian Hungarians under Rumanian rule, these provisions were only partly observed by the Rumanian Kingdom, and not at all by the strongly Stalin-oriented Socialist Republic if Rumania, which seems to be in its nature an extremely nationalistic dictatorship, bent upon assimilating by force all ethnic minorities as fast as possible by the use of the most brutal means if necessary. In a civilized world it is imperative that the rights of minorities, and especially the rights of those native national minorities whicli were forced into minority (Continued on page 8) THE TRANSYLVANIAN QUARTERLY
