Witnesses to Cultural Genocide

[2] Appeared under the title GENOCIDE FOR THE WHOLE WORLD TO SEE in the book ERDELYBOL JELENTIK, (Report From Transylvania) a publication of the American Transylvanian Federation, New York. 1977; pp 77-108.

[3] The term "Old Rumania" refers to that part of the Rumanian kingdom as it existed east of the Carpathian Mountains before1918, when Transylvania was taken away from Hungary and made part of Rumania.

[4] Published in ELORE, 15 June 1977.

[5] A library founded by Samuel Teleki in 1802.

[6] The performance of Kodaly's "Psalmus Hungaricus" was banned in December 1956.

[7] Shortly after the liquidation of the Social Democratic Party, the authors of this memorandum were arrested and sentenced to a punishment of imprisonment for several years.

[8] See: "Istoria Romaniei", manul unic pentru scolile, generale, Bucharest, 1949

[9] "Of the Rumanian Land" was Gabor Gaal's well-known thesis regarding the country to which the Transylvanian Hungarians belong.

[10] Laszlo Szabedi spoke about this in his lectures.

[11] See the relevant chapters in the books entitled ISTORIA ROMANILOR by Constantin Giurescu (Bucharest, 1971) and ISTORIA ROMANIEI by Stefan Pascu (Cluj, 1968); see also the relevant issues of the periodicals STUDII DE ISTORIE and ACTAE STUDIAE NAPOCENSIS.

[12] The relevant press material can be found in its entirety in the University Library in Kolozsvar. The monograph by Sandor Toth cites the exact volume numbers and dates of the particular publications .

[13] Before Ceausescu's trip to the Vatican, this particular measure was repeated.

[14] Especially since, in the field of Rumanian nationalistic tendencies, the state and the Orthodox Church, finding that their interests coincide, had struck a common note.

[15] Szekler (Hung: Szekely) people. Magyar ethnic group in southeast Transylvania. Their origin is still much debated among ethnographers and historians. They speak a Magyar dia]ect. According to the late English historian C.A. Macartney "they differ in their own eyes, from the other Magyars only in being more Magyar than they" (HUNGARY AND HER SUCCESSORS, Oxford University Press, 1968, p. 255)

[16] Groza, Petru (1774-1958). Prime Minister (1945-1952) and President (1952-1958) of Rumania. Head of a leftist but non-communist political party, served as a cooperative front man for the Communist Party and Moscow. His nationality policy was much more tolerant than that ot his successors and he was relatively popular among the minorities.

[17] Rajk Laszlo (1909-1949). Hungarlan Communist of Szekler origin, Minister of the Interior (l946-l948) Foreign Minister (1948-]949) ol Hungary. Victim of the Moscow-instigated show trials. Convicted as "Titoist spy" and executed in 1949

[18] Moldavia. One of the two principalities from which Rumania was constituted in the 19th Century. The easternmost part of Rumania, home of the "Csangos", a Magyar ethnic group, numbering about 100,000. They are the only major group of Magyars who lived under Rumanian sovereignty even before the annexation of Transylvania in 1918. The Csangos, living outside the Carpathian basin, comprised a minority amidst Rumanians for centuries.

[19] As in all Communist countries, cultural institutions are owned by the state in Rumania. Cultural activity is subsidized, and ticket prices, entrance fees are kept artifically low. The requirement of breaking even under these circumstances therefore places a very unfair burden on the minority theaters.

[20] Decree-Law 278 (May 11, 1973)

[21] Oltenia. Part of Wallachia. Administrative and economic region around the lower Olt and Jiu rivers in southwest Rumania. Its center is the city of Craiova.

[22] Old Kingdom. The original territory of Rumania before the 1918 annexation of Transylnvania. It consisted of Moldavia Wallachia and Dobruja.

Witnesses to Cultural Genocide