The Eighth Hungarian Tribe, 1983 (10. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1983-04-01 / 4. szám

Greek landlords in the middle of the 4th century A.D. and settled next to Albania on lands devattated by the first Slav migration. This explains the Latin foundation of their language, the Albanian way of forming their numbers above ten, as well as the many Greek and Bulgarian words in their vocabulary. The truth is, that the Vlachs moved slowly from Albania up through the Balkan to the lower Danube valley, where they appeared first, according to the documents, in the 10th and 11th centuries, while in Transylvania they were mentioned for the first time toward the end of the 12th century as “a small tribe of the Vlachs” herding sheep on the high pastures of the Southern Carpathians, South-West from the fort of Fogaras. By that time, according to Byzantine chronicles, Transylvania was already a well established and prosperous part of the Hungarian homeland, inhabited by Hungarians.

In the shadow of this falsified history, the Rumanian government, as soon as Nicolae Ceausescu - a former junior member of the nazi Iron Guard - took over the helm, began to systematically destroy all the historical and cultural landmarks of the Hungarian past. Cemeteries were bulldozed over, old gravestones carted away and dumped into rivers. Museums, libraries and archives, including all the church archives, were confiscated and burned. All books, pictures, printed matters as well as private letters in the possession of Hungarian families more than 20 years of age had to be reported to the police and were taken away “for safe keeping”. Frequent raids into private homes saw to it that the law was enforced and those caught hiding anything older than twenty years were arrested, beaten, and in many cases sent to forced labor camps.

Under the hate-campaign of Dictator Ceausescu, the situation of the Hungarians in Transylvania has turned worse, year after year. The discrimination, humiliation, deprivation suffered by Hungarians of all ages from the hands of Rumanian authorities knows no limits today. Even the American press is beginning to notice the tragic fate of the Hungarian minority in Rumania, though in many cases the commentators seem to miss the point. They talk about the Rumanian government abusing its own people. For an example: several newspapers printed the U.P. headline “Szots, Rumanian poet, arrested!” Géza Szöts is not a Rumanian poet. He is a Hungarian poet in Transylvania, under Rumanian rule. He was charged with being one

THE TRANSYLVANIAN QUARTERLY

of the editors of the Transylvanian Hungarian underground publications “Ellenpontok”, meaning Counterpoints. Thus, an illusion is being created by the Press, though unwillingly, by confusing the European meaning of the word “nation” with that of its American use.

In this geographical and political unit called America we are all “one nation under God” whether we came from the British Isles, from France, Germany, Italy, Hungary, or any other part of the world. We have the freedom to cherish our cultural heritage as long as we want to, or assimilate into the Anglo-Saxon culture, but whatever we choose to do, we are Americans.

In Europe, and in this case in Transylvania, it is entirely different. If you are Hungarian, you are part of the original cultural history of that land and your name alone is a landmark of that history. Should you try to forget your national and cultural origin, the officials of the Rumanian administration remind you of it day by day in the way of discrimination. Assimilation is made impossible by the very fact that you are humiliated daily for being a Hungarian, persecuted and beaten if you dare to use your mother tongue. As a Hungarian, you are a life-long member of the Hungarian nation, whether you live in Hungary proper or in one of those parts which were cut off from the motherland and put under foreign domination. You became a minority in your own homeland, without moving anywhere.

Should Cuba take over the State of Florida one day by some unfortunate political tragedy on the basis that so many Spanish speaking people live there - who entered the very same way the Rumanians entered Transylvania centuries ago - would this turn Senator Chiles, Senator Paula Hawkins, Congressman McCollum or Congressman Chappell into Cubans? By no means, of course. They would become the leaders of the American minority in the Cuban province called Florida. Just the same way the Hungarians of Transylvania, though forced to live in the Socialist Republic of Rumania, can not be regarded as Rumanians but as Hungarians, members of the oppressed Hungarian minority in that country.

It should be clear to any thinking person that a land with mixed population can survive only if a peaceful coexistence between the different nationality groups can be successfully worked out. Like in Switzerland, where French, Geman and Italian population have lived side by side for centuries in peace and prosperity, with neither one trying to suppress the others.

Ill