The Eighth Tribe, 1979 (6. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1979-10-01 / 10. szám

THE LATEST ON THE KIRÁLY-CASE

On September 10, 1977, Károly Király, a native Hungarian of Transylvania and member of the Central Committee of the Rumanian Communist Party, wrote an historic letter to Ilie Verde, chairman of that Central Committee. He accused the Ceausescu government of breach of the Constitution, and acts committed against the basic principles of the Marxist doctrine in their treatment of the Hungarian minority. Király also charged the Rumanian government with cultural genocide, intimidation, brutality, as well as political, economical and social discrimination against the native Hungarian population of Transylvania.

Within 24 hours after the public release of that letter in one of the Hungarian party publications in Bucharest, Mr. Király, his wife and children, were arrested, disciplined and deported into another part of the country. The editor responsible for the publication of the letter was also arrested. On January 24, 1978, The Times, The Guardian, The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and on J anuary 25 the Le Monde, February 1 The New York Times carried the story, focusing world-wide attention on the Király case. A short time later the complete English, French and German translations of the Király letter was published here and abroad also.

Those familiar with the situation in Rumania agree that the publicity might have saved Király’s life. Ceausescu, in an attempt to show his tolerance to the Western World, from where substantial aid is flowing these days into Rumania, did not retaliate. Király was not beaten to death like the high school teachers Szikszai and Kuthy or thrown into prison like hundreds of other less outstanding dissenters. After all, Király was one of the “founding fathers” of the Rumanian Communist Party. He was simply “banished from public life”, as a disciplinary measure, and “relocated for his own safety” into a distant place where “he could freely move about but was not allowed to leave the city limits, temporarily.” The location had to be kept secret, inquirers were told.

For quite a long time nobody knew for certain what had really happened to the courageous Hungarian who dared to raise his voice against the brutal and oppressive Nazi-like minority policies of “Führer” Ceausescu. Nevertheless, the Király-letter became an important cornerstone in the evaluation of Rumania's internal affairs. Not only throughout the Western Hemisphere, hut within the Socialist camp as well. The complaint concerning the total disregard of minority rights came this time from a leading Communist, thus furnishing concrete proof that protests,

appeals and demonstrations carried out during recent years in Washington, and elsewhere, by Transylvanian exile organizations in America, were not motivated by bigoted propaganda but were truly deploring an intolerable situation, a genocide in progress, and rightfully pleading with the government of the United States to intervene on behalf of the three-million Hungarians of Transylvania before it would be too late.

After more than a year of complete silence, a message has reached the Free World again concerning the fate of Mr. Király and his family. The message came directly from Transylvania, in March 1979, through a visiting tourist whose name cannot be released for well known reasons. This tourist, a highly reliable person living in the West and visiting relatives in Transylvania, had the opportunity to meet face-to-face with Károly Király and his best friend, Sándor Zolcsák. He was told that the house in which Mr. Király and his family are forced to live is being exposed night after night to nuclear radiation.

Two months later, after complaining of strange spells, a visiting Hungarian doctor by the name of Hadnagy, an expert in radiation, examined the entire Király family and detected distinct symptoms of radiation. Four unexposed films inside the house also showed signs of radiation.

Knowing well that in Rumania he cannot officially obtain a fair diagnosis, Mr. Király petitioned the Rumanian authorities in May to be allowed to visit another Socialist country, preferably Hungary or Czechoslovakia, for treatment. Permission was denied. According to Hungarian medical opinions, the Rumanian government was trying to drag out the time until radiation as such cannot be indisputably proven, though the damage caused by radiation is fatal.

It was observed by leliable witnesses, among them medical experts with hidden instruments in their pockets, that night after night some kind of armored truck pulled up across from the building where Király and his family were kept, and parked there five to six hours. Driving along the lonely street, between the Király house and the parked vehicle, the instruments showed strong radiation.

The newest reports indicate that from July on, the Zolcsák family is also being exposed to the same radiation. The two men, Király and Zolcsák, see no other hope for themselves and their families than to he subjected as soon as possible to an unbiased investigation by some sort of international committee of medical experts. Last week in July they sent again a message to Hungary, and an international commit-THE TRANSYLVANIAN QUARTERLY

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