The Eighth Hungarian Tribe, 1983 (10. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1983-01-01 / 1. szám
New Victims of Anti-Hungarian Terror (TWR reports from Transylvania:) On November 6. 1982, Géza Szőcs, Hungarian poet, was arrested by the SECURITATE in Targu Mures — Marosvásárhely, for sending a “complaint” to the United Nations. He was so severely beaten that a hospital statement dated November 30 still listed him as “critical”. On November 7, 1982, the well known actor, Attila Kertész, was arrested in Oradea — Nagyvárad. He was accused of holding secret meetings in his appartment and taking part in the publication of the underground paper ELLENPONTOK (Counterpoints). On the same day Attila Ara-Kovács was also arrested under the same pretext. Both men were seen for the last time on the day of their arrest. On November 8, 1982, Professor Károly Tóth and his wife were arreested in Cluj — Kolozsvár and accused of taking part in the publication of the ELLENPONTOK, and being responsible for an article dealing with the situation in Poland. They were both beaten and tortured and released into “bouse arrest” on November 15. Since then nobody is permitted to talk to them or enter their home, which is under constant surveillance. ELLENPONTOK (Counterpoints) is the name of the underground newspaper published “somewhere in Transylvania” by the Young Hungarian Socialist Workers’ Coalition. The first issue appeared in December 1981 and the ninth issue in December 1982. The two last issues contained a memorandum addressed to the Madrid Conference on Human Rights and also a draft dealing with suggested solutions of of the minority problems in Rumania. Civil engineer Géza Kosa Szántó of Sepsiszentgyörgy, Puskás Str. 32 A II. 11, was arrested together with his wife on May 28, 1982 and accused of organizing a dance group among the Csángó Hungarians of the Moldova province. They were both hung by their wrists and beaten for hours. Next day they were released with the threat that if they ever get involved again in any Hungarian cultural action, they will get more beatings. On December 2, 1982 the young couple was arrested again and since that day no one has seen them. In April 1982 metal worker Dezső Demeter, age 22, Vasile Alexandri Street 17 in Székelyudvarhely was arrested by the SECURITATE and beaten until be was willing to sign a “confession” implicating several of his Hungarian co-workers with anti-government activities. On May 13 the young Hungarian worker hung himself. The Reverend István Hegyi of the Hungarian Reformed Church was ordered “not to make any speeches at the funeral”. Nevertheless, on November 6, 1982, Rev. Hegyi was arrested and accused of “speaking to a group of demonstrators at Demeter’s grave on memorial day, November 1. His whereabout is still not known. On September 15, 1982 Dr. János Vincze, age 41, professor on the medical and pharmaceutical faculty of the University of Cluj/Kolozsvár was arrested and accused of “bribery in University admissions.” He was convicted on November 14, 1982, to four years of forced labor. His real “crime” was that he insisted on registering deserving Hungarian students into the medical school against government polisy. Dr. Vincze’s name is well known in American medical circles by his many English language publications in the field of medical science. Reverend Father János Ecsy, Father superior of the Franciscan Monks in Transylvania was for several years the organizer of the famous Csiksomlyó pilgrimage. Under his authority the yearly event became a unique Hungarian folk festival. His popularity became a thorn in the eyes of the Rumanian authorities, and he was warned several times to keep the pilgrimage on a strictly religious level with no Hungarian cultural overtones whatsoever. On April 17, 1982, Father Ecsy became the victim of a hit-and-run accident. More than 3,000 people and about 400 priests attended his funeral. On November 11, 1982, Trajan Puscas, truckdriver for the government operated lumber mill was crushed by a rock slide and confessed on his death bed that he was the one who ran down Father Ecsy with his truck at the order of Lt. Andrei Tarnaveanu from the district office of the SECURITATE. Father Ecsy’s predecessor. Father Benedek, died in 1978 from the tortures he suffered during his fourteen years of imprisonment. The last inhabitants of Hóstát were evacuated on November 23, 1982. Twenty-six Hungarian families, remnants of the famous vegetable growers, who settled there in 1411 to supply the fort of Kolozsvár (today called Cluj) with food, were removed by the Rumanian outhorities from their homes. They were loaded into trucks and dumped outside the city, on the Felek ridge, without food, without shelter, in freezing weather. When they asked where should they go, they were told to “go to hell, that’s where II THE TRANSYLVANIAN QUARTERLY
