Szittyakürt, 1978 (17. évfolyam, 1-9. szám)
1978-09-01 / 9. szám
JUNE 1978 FIGHTER Page 3 LITERATURE KARD ÉS KASZA (Sword and Sickle). By Albert Wass. A Literary Guild Publication, 1976. Pp. 860. Albert Wass left Hungary after the Second World War. Although he is far removed from his native Transylvania, under the blue Florida skies he continues to write about that land as if he had left it only yesterday. Wass is not one of those trend-following writers who exploit sex in order to appease certain elements of the reading public. He never transgresses the bounds of good taste; yet he is popular among Hungarians and non-Hungarians alike in many parts of the world. His major works are: A tizenhárom almafa (Thirteen Apple Trees), Adjátok vissza hegyeimet (Give Me Back My Mountains), Valaki tévedett (Someone Has Made a Mistake) Magukrahagyottak (The Forsaken). These are not only entertaining novels; judging by the reviews in the non-Hungarian press, they have achieved world-wide recognition. Wass’s books have been translated into German, English, Dutch and Spanish; they have brought the attention of many nations to the peculiarities of the traditions, history and spirit of the Hungarian people. There are readers who, at first, note only his unique style, his rich vocabulary, and interesting sentence construction. But sooner or later everyone realizes that Wass has an important message. In one of his novels a mortally wounded man asks a girl to teach him to pray. The girl bends down her head and prays: “Our father who art in heaven...” “Our father... ” repeats the man submissively. Then he bursts out “why in heaven? why not here on earth? He is needed here, not in heaven...” Another of his novels, Elvdsik a veres csillag (The Red Star Wanes), reveals Wass’s peculiar characteristic, the ability to introduce warm and clean humour into a tragic story. This is not an attempt on his part to make his novels more colorful. It is a product of his inner joyfulness which is present even in his descriptions of the misfortunes of Hungarian Transylvanians during and after the Second World War. This talent enables Wass to depict the sufferings of his people in a manner palatable even to non-Hungarians. Wass’s new book, Sword and Sickle, is an historical novel. Part I is a chronicle, not only of a family, but also of the Hungarian nation through nine hundred years. The author’s breadth of knowledge is revealed by his description of a people’s evolution, spirit and traditions. The second part is a description of the modern age, the era of the Second World War. It is not a dull report on the politics and diplomacy of the day, but a lively, touching story of a people the Hungarians of Transylvania. It carries the reader with the story and makes him share the joys, grief and cares of the novel’s heroes. The author’s message is clear. It is wrong to place the burden of guilt for the Hungarians' misfortunes on scapegoats such as the “aristocracy” or the “clergy.” Hungarians were collectivelly responsible for the tragedy that overtook them, and they all must individually bear the burden of that responsibility. The sword and the sickle are symbols. The former is indispensable in the conquest of the homeland and its defence against external foes. But one can retain the homeland only with the sickle, the plow: through the cultivation of the soil, through backbreaking and honest toil. Wass has received many literary honours, but he has not stopped writing. He has now presented us with a unique book which combines joy and sadness, encouragement and warning. This is a work of eternal validity, for today’s man, who has conquered space but keeps stumbling on earth, needs moral guidance. After reading this book the despondent will raise his head, the sad will smile, and those who had lost hope will discover light in the seemingly dark future. What more can a writer offer to his readers? Erzsébet Kisjókai (Holland) * * * The Canadian-American Review of Hungarian Studies is a semiannual, interdisciplinary journal devoted to the publication of original articles and critical book reviews relating to Hungary and Hungarians. Since its launching in 1974, the Review has been committed to the policy of providing a non-partizan forum for the scholarly discussion and analysis of issues in Hungarian history, politics and cultural affairs. The Review is published by the Hungarian Readers’ Service, a non-profit organization incorporated by federal statue in Canada. Institutional subscriptions to the Review are $12.00 per annum. Individual subscription are $12.00 for one year and $ 20.00 for two years. University students and teachers may obtain personal subscriptions for $ 8.00 per annum. Please direct inquiries to Dr. Harcsar (for address see below). Sustaining memberships in the Hungarian Readers’ Service Inc. are $100.00 for organizations and $50.00 for individuals; supporting memberships are $50.00 for organizations and $ 12.00 for individuals. Donations in support of the HRS are income tax deductible in Canada. Statements or opinions expressed in the Review are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the HRS Inc. or the journal’s editors. Articles appearing in the Review are abstracted and indexed in Historical Abstracts and America: History and Life. Business address: Dr. Ferenc Harcsar Executive Manager P. O. Box 5493, Station F Ottawa, Canada K2C 3M1 Editorial address for 1978: Dr. Thomas Spira Department of History University of Prince Edward Island Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada THE CASE AGAINST RUMANIA (Continued from pg. 2) throne? And this to us is being the vanguard of civilization? Oh God, how many things we (Rumanians) have yet to do in this country to cleanse ourselves of this infamy?” (Kritika-Feb. 2, 1977, Budapest.) The Ceausescu government cannot cope with the true history of Transylvania so they took upon themselves to destroy, alter and lie about it. New reports from our European correspondents confirm it again. Romanization of Hungarian historical figures has been instituted in Transylvania. The Bucharest journal called EDITURA MILITARE is rapidly disseminating a series of articles to the Romanian military personel which portrays the biography of such famous Hungarian historical figures as György Rákóczi II. as Romanians. The title of this new “educational” series is called: “DOMNITORI SI VOIEVOZI AL TARILOR ROMANE.” The case against Romania has been stated. The evidences are there and their crimes cannot be defended or justified. This matter will be brought to an international court of justice! The Hungarian people of Transylvania are in their homeland and the Romanians are the intruders. Let us reiterate the United Nation’s resolution: the Hungarian people of Transylvania have the right to “struggle for independence, territorial integrity, national unity and liberation from colonial and foreign domination and alien subjugation by all available means including armed struggle.” (UN Monthly Chronicle, Vol. XIV. No. 11. Dec., 1977.) REFERENCES: Csobánczi. Elemér, Nagymagyarország vagy Nemzethalál, Túrán Printing Co., Garfield, N.J. 1966. Hámos. László. An Ethnic-Hungarian Communist in Romania Complains to His party About Bias (by Károly Király), New York Times, Feb. 1, 1978. Fehér. E. Pál, Notes on a Soviet Petru Groza Monograph, Kritika. Feb. 2, 1977, Budapest. Conference on Security and Co-Operation in Europe, Final Act. (Helsinki 1975), Department of State Publication 8826, General Foreign Policy Series 298, August, 1975. Sozan. Michael, Ethnocide in Rumania, Current Anthropology, Vol. 18. No. 4. December, 1977. SZITTYAKÜRT, Vol. XVII and XVIII, 1977-78. BOOK REVIEW THE ETHNIC HISTORY OF TRANSYLVANIA. By Endre Haraszti. (Astor Park, Florida, 1971. Pp. 218, 15BNO-87934-004-5.) This volume traces the ethno-linguistic history, geography, and political situation of Transylvania. Mr. Haraszti’s book is well integrated work describing the history of the area beginning with the Bronze Age and continuing up until the present day. The author’s basic theme is that the indigenous population of Transylvania from the time of the first Hun Conquest, has been Turanian and consequently Hungarian in character. However, he does not dwell enough on the extremely early appearance of the Hun and Magyars in that region as most recent historical, anthropological and linguistic evidence now indicates. Special emphasis is placed on the present day Rumanian claim to Transylvanian territory and the subjugation of its Hungarian or as the natives call themselves, Székelys. Members of the Hungarian population of three million are forbidden to use their native language in public places and treated as an inferior person with no rights, only duties to the “Rumanian People’s Republic.” The author states that the discrimination against the Hungarians in Transylvania has reached the level of intellectual and economic genocide. As a result of the Treaty of Trianon of 1920 in Paris, the participating Western powers saw to it that the territory of Hungary which had been maintained for the last millenium of its several thousand year history was dismembered and lost almost three-quarters of its holdings and one-half of its population. Rumania received among other territories, Transylvania. At the peace conference in Paris, the Rumanians based their claim to Transylvania on the so-called “Dako-Roman continuity” theory, that is: the Rumanians in Transylvania are the actual descendants of the “Dako-Romans,” a population, which was born as a new ethno-linguistic unit— through the intermarriages of Roman soldiers with the subjected Daks dating from the time of the Emperor Trajanus. The attempts of Rumanian historians to justify the incorporation of Transylvania are especially interesting to students of this area. They maintain their origins from the “Dako- Romans.” Denying this theory, the author attempts to trace the real origin of the Rumanians or Wallachians. On the linguistic side, the Rumanian language reproduces Latin forms of great purity with the bulk of its words originating from Slavic and Latin origins and the rest from Turkish, Greek, Magyar and Albanian sources. Rumanian national customs are strongly reminiscent of Latin Italy. For example, it is still customary in some Rumanian villages to attach a coin to the finger of a dead person after the ancient Roman custom of providing the dead with its fare across the River Styx! The Rumanian national dance still commemorates the rape of the Sabines. The author states that the actual ancestors of the Rumanians were a neo-Latin tribe which developed during the second to seventh centuries A.D. on the Balkan Penninsula around Albanian territory, by the “Latinization” of the former Illyrian-Thracian population. The early Wallachians were nomadic mountain herdsmen leaving extremely scanty historical evidence. The racial mixing began in the first and second centuries when wealthy Roman landowners settled Italian mountain hersmen in the area. After the ninth and tenth centuries, the already mixed Wallachians fragmented into four main groups and began to migrate. The fourth group turned north-east and crossed the lower Danube into the Bánát and are mentioned as subjects of King Stephen, of the Hungarian Árpád-House. Rumanian historians do not mention any other Wallachian groups described by other historians for fear that it would lead the reader to the logical conclusion that the Wallachian migration originated on the Balkan Penninsula and moved north into the lower Danube Valley and then later into Transylvania rather than the “official” Rumanian desire to prove that the actual migration began in Dacia and moved south. The book contains twenty-one chapters altogether dealing with various historical, political, and cultural aspects of Transylvania. The scholar or student of history will find this work extremely valuable, however, the every day reader might find it a bit too scholarly. Even though the book was written only seven years ago, some of its facts and statistics need to be up-dated concerning Transylvania’s Turanian- Magyar heritage in the light of most recent evidence. Clarion, Pa. Suzanne Crozier (P—J)
