The Eighth Tribe, 1981 (8. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1981-01-01 / 1. szám
special reward granted to them year after year by our government. 1. As a “friend”, the Rumanian government aided Iran against the United States by importing oil through the Soviet Union, and used its Washington embassy to promote Soviet espionage. 2. On the field of human rights the Rumanian government waged an increasingly brutal war against the very existence of the native Hungarian population of Transylvania and Moldavia by closing down schools, confiscating churches, libraries, archives, museums, persecuting clergymen, educators, workers, torturing and even murdering innocent people because of their nationality and religious beliefs. Punishing the use of the Hungarian language, forcibly removing Hungarians from their native towns and villages and replacing them with Rumanian settlers from across the mountains while the Hungarians are deported into distant swamplands. Horrified by this unprecedented genocide, more than one million American citizens of Hungarian descent are looking toward Washington these days with the hope that our new government will not be calloused to the plight of three million Hungarians under Rumanian oppression, but will make Ceausescu understand that no American dollars can sustain them until they learn to respect the rights of the minorities. These rights are clearly outlined in the peace treaties, the Charter of the United Nations, the Helsinki Act, as well as in the very constitution of the Socialist Republic of Rumania. A constitution never yet implemented, but used only to deceive gullible Western diplomats sitting in their plush embassies in Bucharest under the impression that due to an “enlightened” constitution everything must be well. It is indeed far from being “well”. And as long as people are persecuted, killed, tortured, deprived and imprisoned due to their nationality, religion or ethnic background: no free nation true to the principles of freedom can have any friendly dealings with the perpetrators of such crimes against humanity! ☆ ☆ HUNGARIAN CITIES CLOSED TO HUNGARIANS Into such ancient Hungarian cultural centers as Kolozsvár (Cluj), Marosvásárhely (Targu Mures), Nagyvárad (Oradea) and Szatmár (Satumare) only Rumanians are allowed to settle today, Hungarians not. Those native Hungarians on the other hand who are still living there, are being gradually evacuated street by street and moved across the Carpathians into old-Rumania. n EYEWITNESS REPORT FROM TRANSYLVANIA In August 1980 two American citizens of Hungarian descent visited their birth places and relatives in Transylvania. Their names can not be made public for the protection of those relatives living under the Rumanian terror-regime. However, in case of a serious investigation they will be willing to step forward and be heard. Here are parts of their report: “When we reached Kolozsvár, today called Cluj- Napoca, we could not believe our eyes. Entire sections of the city have disappeared since we were there for the last time, seven years ago. The beautiful old Kolozsmonostor no longer exists. It has been replaced by huge apartment houses. We could not find one single Hungarian family in those new buildings, only Rumanians who were brought there from old Rumania, across the mountains. We were told that all the Hungarian families who used to live in that section of the town, about six thousand people, among them our friends whom we planned to visit, were evacuated in May, and taken away, nobody knows where. The Rumanian new-comers were settled there to work in the new industrial plants. Not a single Hungarian who lived there was given a job in these plants. The ancient Calvary church is also taken over by Rumanians. Behind the church, the old cemetery has disappeared. Even the old marble monuments which were built into the outside walls of the church back in the seventeenth century were torn off...” “From the famous old Hóstát there is only a short street left with eight houses. Seven years ago, at our last visit, there were still hundreds of Hungarian families living there, descendants of the ancient hajdus who were settled there in the fifteenth century to raise food for the fort. They were famous gardeners, who supplied the city of Kolozsvár with vegetables for centuries, even up to our days. Now they are gone. We were told that many of them committed suicide when they were evacuated.” “All the other sections of this beautiful old Hungarian city face the same future. It is only a question of time and Kolozsvár will not exist. It will be completely replaced by a new city with new settlers in it. Many of the Hungarians we visited there seven years ago took their own lives, due to desperation. They were thrown out of their homes without compensation, without jobs, without pensions, without a place to go...” “Seven years ago Kolozsvár was still the largest Hungarian city in Transylvania. Today there are only a few thousand Hungarians left. In May of this year THE TRANSYLVANIAN QUARTERLY
