Lajos Kazar: Facts against fiction

HOLLAND

Rumania (Roemanie) is one of the Balkan republics in SE Europe. Its size 238,000km², its population 16,090,000. It borders on Russia to the N, Hungary to the W, Yugoslavia and Bulgaria to the S and the Black Sea to the E. The Rumanians are descended from the Dacians of old, who were related to the Thracians. However, the Rumanians also carry the genes of members of the occupying Roman troops and the colonists representing various races. - In 1939 the population of Rumania was composed of 72% Rumanians (Wallachians), 8% Magyars/Hungarians, 4% Jews, 4% Germans and 11% Gypsies. Besides there were smaller numbers of Turks, Ruthenians, Bulgarians and Ukrainans.

N.B. The claim that the Rumanians are the descendants of the Dacians and Romans has been diligently disseminated throughout the world, as seen in the above source, too. The claim is based on the so-called Daco-roman theory according to which the birthplace of the Rumanian state was the area of what is now known as Transylvania. This has never been proven in a satisfactory way either by written documentation or by truthful archaeological evidence. It is astonishing that in 1953 Winkler Prins allowed itself to be the vehicle of Bucharest propaganda. Was it for the same reason that it gave no space to an article on Transylvania?

Transylvania (Zevenburgen; Latin Trans(s)ylvania; Rumanian Ardeal; Hungarian Erdély) is an historical region in Rumania. In the antiquity the area in question was inhabited by the Dacians; in the 2nd and 3rd centuries it was colonized by the Romans; later it was conquered by the Gepids and Goths; in the 7th century it formed a part of the Bulgarian Empire. Under Hungarian rule, since the 10th century, its voivodes had a certain amount of independence. The Wallachians established themselves there, and from them has descended the Rumanian part of Transylvania's population.

As frontier guards the Székelys were employed. At the beginning of the 13th century the order of the Teutonic Knights was given the task of colonizing the ,,Burzenland,,. Between 1526 and 1541 Transylvania enjoyed independence under Turkish protection. Later Transylvania's territory was considerably enlarged (under Zápolya, Báthori, Bethlen). In the 16th century the majority of the population became Calvinist. In the 19th century national consciousness arose in the ethnic entities of Transylvania, and this spread to Moldavia and Wallachia.

After WW I Transylvania was allotted to Rumania, and the properties of the Hungarians and Saxons became expropriated. In 1940 the northern half of Transylvania reverted to Hungary, but in 1947, as a result of WW II, Transylvania became the possession of Rumania again.

N.B. Here we see a significant change in the attitude of Winkler Prins encyclopedia regarding Transylvania, by allotting space to it again. However, some corrections have to be added. The Bulgars only came into the possession of later Transylvania around 800, after the collapse of the Avar Empire. The Hungarians defeated the Bulgars at the end of the 9th century and took possession of the Carpathian Basin, including the area of later Erdély/Transylvania. The voivodes (royal governors) of the latter area had at first no measure of independence by tradition, contrary to the oft repeated claim of Bucharest propagandists insinuating Daco-Roman continuity in the area in question.

The very first such royal governor was appointed by Stephen I, and each succeeding royal representative had to be appointed or confirmed by the kings of Hungary. - The article states correctly that the Teutonic Knights were given the task of colonizing and, of course, defending the area called in Hungarian Barcaság (in German Burzenland), in the SE corner of Transylvania. The order was called in, in 1211, but expelled in 1225 for breaking its oath of loyalty to András/Andrew II. The other German colonists remained loyal and were confirmed in their received possessions. - It is an error to put the establishment of the Wallachians before that of the Germans. From the text it is not clear at all in what manner ,,the Wallachians established themselves there" (,,er vestigden zich Walachen"). It would have been appropriate to point out that the Székelys, placed to guard the eastern border, were Hungarian-speaking. Otherwise the impression could be that Hungary colonized and conquered Transylvania with Germans, Wallachians and other non-Hungarians, thus Transylvania's possession by the Hungarians was in doubt from the beginning (the Székelys have been frequently declared by Bucharest as Hungarianized Rumanians). In the 16th century practically all the Saxons became Lutherans, while the larger part of the Hungarians, including the Székelys, turned Calvinists. The Wallachians remained adherents of the Orthodox Church of Slav Rites rits:.

Taxation lists show that prior to the Reformation the Hungarian speakers made up approx. 65% of Transylvania's population, while the Germans and Wallachians shared approx. equally the rest.

Transylvania (Transsylvanie or Zevenburgen) is an historical region in Rumania, with an area of approx. 48,000km². Its population consists of approx. 60% Rumanians, approx. 30% Hungarians, approx. 5% Germans, further of Gypsies, Jews, Slovaks. Its economically important towns are Cluj, Brasov and Tirgu Mures. - Transylvania was not really occupied by the Turks, but had to pay tribute to them. After the 1867 compromise between Austria and Hungary, Transylvania was reunited with the latter. In 1919 the area in question became a part of Rumania. Between 1940 and 1944 a part of Transylvania was Hungary's.

Rumanian history. - After Aurelian had abandoned the province of Dacia (270), which was the area of present-day Rumania, the Roman colonists and Romanized elements of the conquered population were transferred south of the Danube to what became known as Dacia Aureliana. There, too, they were threatened by invading tribes, such as the Visigoths (3rd cent.), the Huns (4th cent.), the Slavs (6th cent.) and others. Parts of present-day Rumania were conquered by the Bulgarian, later the Byzantine Empire (9th century and 11th century, respectively). All these events influenced the ethnic composition of the Rumanian people. Also, a genuine, own Rumanian language and, in time, a national consciousness could develop from a basically Latin heritage. - To what extent the Romanized population returned to the area of its origin has become a source of speculation with regard to which historiographies, always according to own preferences, argue for or against the Roman origin of today's Rumanians.

N.B. The size of the area in question must have been taken from an antiquated source. What Rumania received as Transylvania in 1920 had an area of 102,787km², and it did not become a part of Rumania in 1919. Northern Transylvania, reunited with Hungary in 1940, was not incorporated in Rumania again until 1947. - The above article wisely leaves it to the reader to guess where the Rumanian language developed from a basically Latin structure - with so many Greek and Albanian loan words in its vocabulary which could not have been absorbed in or in the vicinity of Transylvania.

Similarly it leaves the question open whether any of the descendants of the people evacuated from Dacia around 270 returned to the area of later Transylvania. As invasions, migrations and displacements were practically endless on the Balkan Peninsula during the 3rd to 13th centuries, practically every person born there could have claimed some degree of descent from the famous evacuees. Why should the Wallachians have been the chosen race? The Spaniards and Portuguese whose Visigoth ancestors, at least in part, supplanted the Roman colonists in Dacia, having acquired a Latin-based language, should have been far more entitled to later Transylvania. And why should claimants with non-Latin languages be excluded? Are we bound by some ruling like: Speakers of Latin-related languages are good, all others are bad?

~ See also Dutch-Finnish joint source under FINLAND ~

Lajos Kazar: Facts against fiction