Itt-Ott, 1977 (10. évfolyam, 1-6. szám)
1977 / 1. szám
Covers Dixie Like the Dew JANUARY 12, 1977 18-Á **★★★ THERE IS something ironic in the United States position that we will not accord most-favored-nation trading status to the Soviet Union but do bestow it upon Romania. The reason we hold it back from the Soviet Union is that we do not approve of the mistreatment of Soviet Jews. And the irony is that Romania follows an equally vicious policy toward the Hungarian minority in Transyiva'nia. This, of course, is no argument to go ahead and award this favored trading condition to the Soviet Union. Rather, it is a solid justification for rescinding most favored nation trading terms from the Romanian dicatorship until it accords basic minority rights to the Hungarians. Last Sunday representatives of Hungarian-Americans in Defense of Human Rights journeyed to Plains to present to President-elect Jimmy Carter's representatives an appeal for concern over the human rights violations against 2.5 million Hungarians in Romania. One of those present was Joseph Ertavy of Decatur. Mr. Ertavy is originally from Transylvania. He knows the harsh treatment that is accorded the Hungarian minority by the Romanian dictatorship. Transylvania had been an integral part of Hungary for almost 1,000 years when the triumphant Allies at the end of World War l awarded it to Romania as the spoils of victory. It was a loss which Hungary did not accept. And in 1940 the Axis powers sought to resolve the problem by returning to Hungary two-fifths of Transylvania. With the Soviet Union’s domination of Southeast Europe, Josef Stalin did what came naturally to him. He seized Bessarabia and other lands from Romania, incorporating them into the Soviet Union. And he compensated Romania for this loss by giving that Soviet vassal the portion *ot Hungarian Transylvania which had been * returned to Hungary in 1940. The appeal which Mr. Ertavy and his associates carried to Presidentelect Carter said in part: “Our purpose now is to call your attention to a concrete and specific opportunity for implementing the ideals you have espoused. Romania is one country which, by any definition of the phrase, ‘denies minorities fair treatment.’ The dictator of that country, Nicolai Ceausescu, is currently waging a systematic and increasingly aggressive campaign of forceful assimilation against the 2.5 million native Hungarian inhabitants of Romania. “The principal elements of this brazen assault consist of falsification of population statistics; gross discrimination in the field of education; dissolution of compact minority communities and dispersion of ethnic professionals; curtailment of cultural ' opportunities for minorities; refusal to permit bilingualism; falsification of history, confiscation of ethnic church archives; obstruction of contacts with relatives abroad, and persecution of minority religious institutions. . . In the introduction to a volume, “Transylvania, Citadel of the West.” by Zathureczky—published by Danubian Press. Inc., Astor Park, Fla.— there is a description of the agony endured by the Hungarian minority ra Transylvania: “Today, according to reports reaching us from behind the Iron Curtain, if you are a Hungarian (in Transylvania) you would be carrying a double load of suffering compared to those of other nationalities. "For in addition to the over all Communist terror and domination, you would have against you the organized efforts of the Romanian government to eliminate the so-calied 'Transylvanian Problem.’ through the total extermination of the Hungarian ethnic group, which, according to Romanian doctrine, is the cause of this problem... That we should withhold favorable trade terms from the Soviet Union because of mistreatment of Jews—and Christians and other minorities—is right and proper. By the same token we should rescind the favorable terms we have gratuitously bestowed upon the Communist dictatorship of Romania until it stays its extermination campaign against the Hungarian minority —and other Christian groups. SI Romanian Terror
