The Eighth Hungarian Tribe, 1982 (9. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1982-04-01 / 4. szám

On June 1, 1965 (see Congressional Record - House) Congressman DERWINSKI spoke up in behalf of the Hungarians in Transylvania:

“Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join my colleagues in commemorating the 408th anniversary of the first religious tolerance act in Transylvania. It was the first legislation in Europe of its kind and formed a vanguard of such legislation in Europe, which, however, was implemented in most countries only after long and bloody religious wars.

“By pioneering in this important field of human rights of freedom of conscience and free choice of religion, the peoples of Transylvania proved their political maturity, ethical judgment, and political devotion to the cause of individual freedoms as early as 1557.

“It is ironic, that the peoples of Transylvania who produced an early example of religious and political toleration now find their rights denied by the Communist regime of Rumania. These freedomloving peoples are deprived of their religious freedom.

“Remembering the rich cultural contribution of the Transylvanian Hungarians and Germans and their devotion to individual and religious freedom already at a very early date today, I conclude with the ardent hope that some day in the not too distant future these peoples may regain their political and religious freedom.”

On June 10, 1965 Congressman PHILBIN spoke up on the same subject:

“Mr. Speaker, on March 24 and 25 nine of my colleagues, led by my distinguished friends, Conres8men Michael Feighan and Seymour Halpern, introduced resolutions calling for the condemnation by this House of the discriminatory practices of the Rumanian Government against its Hungarian minority in Transylvania ... I must say that this Nation cannot move too speedily or to vigorously to repudiate and act to check the outrages and abuses against the basic rights, freedoms, and privileges of an ancient and honored people like the T ransylvanians.

“I am dismayed to think that this great Nation of ours, by silently acquiescing throughout the years to the many instances of persecution like those to which Transylvanians today are being subjected, by inertia and inaction is appearing to condone and tolerate the perpetration of these unspeakable outrages that shock the conscience of just men the world over and cry to heaven itself for redemption.

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“For our own sake, as well as for the sake of these oppressed gallant peoples, in the name of our own heritage, yes in the name of the living God who binds us together in human brotherhood, let us move to come to the defense, the relief, and t!he liberation of those worthy human beings, whose only offense is that they worship God and love freedom so much that they are willing to suffer, sacrifice, and die for it.”

Seventeen years later, on March 16, 1982 Congressman GUS YARTON of Pennsylvania summed up the Transylvanian situation in the House of Representatives :

“Today I am introducing a resolution requesting the President and the Secretary of State to discuss the issues of the human and national self-determination rights of the Hungarians in Transylvania with the Government of the Socialist Republic of Rumania and with other appropriate governments.

“The resolution has a long and eventful background in the House. As early as March 1965 nine members introduced a similar bill and dozens of speeches were held on the floor between 1965-68 and 1975-82 on this issue. In 1966, 52 Members wrote then Secretary of State Dean Rusk outlining the human righth grievances of the Hungarians in Rumania, and in March 1976, 68 of my colleagues, including myself wrote to the then President Ford asking for American diplomatic intervention in favor of the persecuted Hungarian minority.

“Among outside organizations, the American Hungarian Federation bore the burden of the fight. Between 1965 and 1973 it presented countless wellbalanced and documented memorandums on specific cases of human rights violations and continous descrimination against the 2.5 million Hungarians of Transylvania. The Committee for Hunman Rights in Rumania and The Transylvanian World Federation joined the fight after 1976 and carried it on by providing valuable data information on the ongoing discrimination and persecution against those insisting on human, educational and cultural rights of this ethnic group which has ruled Transylvania from the 10th century to 1920.

“Recent events in Rumania, including the temporary default of CCC loan repayment by the Goverment of the Socialist Republic of Rumania and the President’s decision not to grant an additional 65 million of CCC credit to Rumania, as well as the improved text on the “Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1981” on the Hungarians in Rumania give us hope that the administration is becoming increasingly aware of that government’s THE TRANSYLVANIAN QUARTERLY