"Why should we be afraid in our own country

"Why should we be afraid in our own country? "Why whisper in the street, fearing to speak Romanian?"

Those are the words ofa schoolteacher who, faced with accomplished facts, justly wonders which may be the cause ofthese situations that acted as a psychic trauma on the Romamans in counties Harghita and Covasna after the events of December 1989?¹

At the time when the dictator was overthrown, when the whole oppression system was falling apart, and all the citizens of the country became able to manifest themselves in full freedom, there were no differences of behaviour on the part of the Romanians, Szecklers and Magyars, alî rejoicing that they had finally got rid of suffering and tyranny.²

Yet shortly after the announcement on radio and tv about the dictator's having flight, the events took a nationalist, chauvinistic and irredentist ture, the so-called demonstrators, Szecklers and Magyars, chanting sloganslike: "Death to the Romanians", "Horthy, Horthy", "LongLive Hungary", Transylvania belongs to Hungary", "Now or never", and so on. In Cristuru Secuiesc, Gheorgheni, Târgu Secuiesc, Baraoltandother settlements, such slogans injurious to the Romanians' naîional feeling could be heard for hours on end-³ Gradually the events were interpreted as a "revolution", an exdusively Hungarian one⁴, the Szccklers and Magyars calling forviolent acrions ro avenge the "humiliations" they had suffered during the Ceauºescu dictatorship.⁵ Coming in support of the above is the testimony made by Aurel Vartolomei from Baraolt: "After the Revolution I noticed regretfully that the atmosphere changed radically, particularly due to the local influence of the UDMR. Right after the Revolution the atmosphere was good. But our leaders - Szeckîers and Magyars - kept going to Miercurea-Ciuc or Odorhei where they received all sorts of directions, about claiming a return to the old system of territorial organization, with tuition in the Hungarian language throughout Transylvania."⁶ The few Romanians who tried to get involved in the organizational actions that followed were given the cold shoulder and were sidelined, first tacitly and then openly. The testimony ofpriest lon Tobã of Cristuru Secuiesc is eloquent in this respect: "I went to the People's Council to meet with the honest people (...), but I noticed there was a rather distant attitude, a rather scornful attitude. This, while downtown people were singing Horthy Magyar and Szeckler hymns and were chanting "Out with the dirty Romanians", "This is little Hungary" or "There is no room here for Romanians."⁷ Beginning with those moments - and here we reproduce the words of two schoolgirls from Odorhei - many misfortunes and troubles befell the Romanians in Transylvania.⁸ At Târgu Secuiesc, the Romanian flags were torn to pieces and dumped as soon as the flight of the dictator had been announced.⁹ The situation was increasingly critical for the Romanians in that area, as teacher Valer Vodã from Odorhei showed: "The situation was very serious, more and more serious. The pupils experienced a real nightmare, being threatened in various ways: "You'll see what the night has in store for you, and such wamings were pinned to all trees. They demanded that Hungarian be the official language, and that the county be calle Odorhei."¹⁰ In those moments, the mere fact that two people were talking in Romanian could be a risk factor: "Because there were cases when, seeing that you could not speak Hungarian, they would beat you, they would simply bash you (the case of a pregnant woman who was beaten, ofan old woman whose teeth were knocked out).¹¹ The pressures against the Romanians were then reoriented from the streets to the economic units. Vasile Bãlaºa from Covasna said: "Pressures began at work, they started asking me why I was not living in my native Moldavia."¹² The relations between Romanians, on the one hand, and Magyars and Szecklers on the other became distant, the latter no tonger answering salutations, oflending and humiliating their colleagucs of a different nationality. Those who tried to be friendly with the Romanians were very scared, a Szcckler from Miercurea-Ciuc addressing his Romanian colleague with these words: "From now on you should no longer shake hands with me either, because you're leaving but I'm staying and these people will kill me."¹³ Those who went on speaking to the Romanians - there were few such cases - were considered "traitors of the kin" or "traitors of the Hungarian cause". The systematic actions of disparaging the Romanians in the area expanded after the completion of the Szecklers and Magyars' political organization. As the main structures were progressively Magyarized, there also occurred the separation ofthe Hungarian-language school from the Romanian one, and old Hungarian religious and cultural traditions were revived. The UDMR was the mastermind of the plan to chase the Romanians from counties Harghita and Covasna, to discredit them at work. Lucica Bãdrãgan from Zãbala mentioned, in this respect: "I worked at the Post Office of Zãbala, Covasna county, as postmaster. After the Revolution, the UDMR people came to me and told me to leave. Then the pressures started. I was told that I was a stinking Romanian and that I had to leave.^”14 Another Romanian from Baraolt, forced to leave the locality because of the Szecklers' attitude, confessed: "I, as well as other people, think the UDMR is to blame. They got instructions from the top. The intention is to drive all Romanians away from the zone. Books on this were published. There exists a clear opinion that this is, as they say, the "Hungarian Transylvania."¹⁵

Wide-scope actions were carried on to highlight the Hungarian specific character in the area, concurrently with the total elimination of the Romanian one, inciuding with respect to certain state institutions.¹⁶Trade union activity was diverted to claims evincing a political character, related to the Hungarian language as official language, segregated education and the chasing of the Romanian teachers and pupils, the removal of Romanians from executive positions, etc.

This intolerance towards the Romanians also affected the inter-personal relations within mixed families. A Romanian man, whose name will not be mentioned for objective reasons, said: "After the Revolution I haven't got on well with my wife (a Hungarian)."¹⁷ A Hungarian man said: "I have had problems with my family because I gave the children Romanian names and because I married a "Romanian woinan (...) and because the children go to a Romanian school."!¹⁸ This is what a priest said: "I met an unpleasant case when a Hungarian girl came to my home and cried because she was not allowed to marry a Romanian man."¹⁹ Threats to the Romanians were the favourite topic for Szecklers and Magyars wherever they formed the majority population. Priest loan Tobã from Cristur made the following remark: "In the steets of Cristur they would say: 'If I hear anymone speak Romanian I'll cut his throat.²⁰ And this is what he said about the terrible moments hc experienced in the night of December 22-23, 1989: "Around 1 a.m., hearing that the demonstrators at Pettofy's statue had started for the church, I ran through the garden to the building site, and I climbed to the 4th floor but the big gate opened, they entered and they shouted: 'We'll get you, stinking Romanian, and we'll cut your throat! We want you and your family's blood'! They knocked on the door, they threatened “We'll come forhim tomorow,” they got out into the church yard where they soiled the whole entryway."²¹Several momoranda were dispatched from Sfântu Gheorghe to the capital of the country as information. An example: "We are here among the Szeckîers. We knew and we know about the anti-Romanian propaganda but we were not worried because we knew this was our home, yet it was a mistake. My wife is a high school teacher and they simply annihilated the Romanian teachers."²² The Romanians would find in their mail boxes threatening notes like this: "You have three days to leave here (it's very easy to fall down from the 10th floor)", and then: "You have two days left."²³ Due to the permanent pressure exerted on them when ever they went out, many Romanians from Baraolt, Târgu Secuiesc, Odorhei, Sf. Gheorghe, Miercurea-Ciuc despaired and left their homes. Thus one can perceive a spontaneous stage as regards the departures from the zone, when fanatic elements dominated by powerful nationalist-chauvinistic and irredentist feelings and influenced by anti-Romanian circles from abroad, passed from the strategy of passive resistance to the offensive stage. The extremist Hungarian elements took the lead of the demonstrators, generating, by their activity, nationalistic and chauvinistic manifestation.²⁴ Rumour had it that the Hungarians wanted all the Romanians living in counties Harghita and Covasna to speak only Hungarian. On various public occasions, the speakers, addressing enthralled throngs, said: "We have democracy now, so what are the Romanians still doing here?”²⁵A Romanian individual from Odorhei said the following: "After December 22 we were asked what we were doing there. One came to be afraid of living there."²⁶ At that time, even some UDMR top siders considered that the best solution was for the Romanians to speak Hungarian. Thus Kozsokar Gabor, one ofthe leaders ofthe ethnic Hungarian party - the UDMR, whom we have already mentioned, contacted Varos Elod, former director at the County Department of Labour and Social Insurance, and said, in the presence of other witnesses: "Hence forward only Hungarians will work here and the Romanians who wish to stay on will have to speak only Hungarian."²⁷

Many Romanians who, being scared because of the way the events had been interpreted, wanted to leave were stopped by barrages formed by so-called patriotic guards. Such was the case of judge Constantin Pop from Odorhei, who was stopped at Vlãhiþa and had to go back, as he was told he would be interrogated.²⁸ In many localities, the telephones of Romanians were bugged, as teacher Valer Vodã's testimony convincingly attests: "The phone calls of Romanians are taped. At midnight I got two calls threatening me not to go to Braºov or else I would be killed."²⁹ In these circumstances, there began a real psychological war against the Romanians, who were offended and humiliated in the streets and in public places, and were haunted with phone calls saying "Stinking Romanians, leave here." This is what a Romanian said about the situation at Odorhei and its environs: 'And then we are openly called such names as 'Gypsy Romanians' and we are threatened we will be thrown into the nearby Suta lake; also, one can no longer travel by train because if one does not speak Hungarian one is beaten ferociously."³⁰There are cases when the Hungarian neighbours ofthe Romanians, with whom the latter had got on well, reacted very violently. Here is a statement clearly proving it: "My neighbour came to my piace and he was angry and he told me: Ifyou don't leave by 1992 we’ll kiil all of you Romanians. I looked at him and told him he was crazy. But I also heard women saying “I'm looking forward to bathing in Romanian blood"³¹.

After the events of December, many Szecklers and Magyars came back for active service in the army and the police, some of them openly adopting an anti-Romanian attitude. Here is a teacher's statement in this connection: "At the military Centre I talked to an officer and I asked him why they were so mean towards us. He answered: 'We don't care about what you believe. We want Transylvania to be independent!"³²

Throughout this period, the local Hungarian-language press in Harghita and Covasna counties strove to maintain and exacerbate the atmosphere of tension and of terror directed against the Romanians.³³

The attacks against the Romanians occurred in various forms, for which we selected two examples. Thus, Marton Aladar signed an article in which he wrote: "We no longer want to see in this town the Romanian aliens (emphasis added) with obscure missions." The Romanians were challenged to leave the area: "You have poisoned our and our children's souls."³⁴ The threats and insults to the Romanians continued, the windows of their houses were broken³⁵, lists were made with the addresses of the Romanians - there existed organized groups who entered the blocks of flats and noted all the Romanian names³⁶ - so that the Hungarians would know were to find them in the event of a possible "St. Bartholomew's Night". A Romanian individual from Sfantu Gheorghe stressed, in relation to the existing atmosphere: "A cross was drawn on my door and I used to receive 20 phone calls a day, culminating with curses and the coffin. Often they told me: 'In two hours we'll be at your place; why are you still here?'."³⁷ Maria Oprea from Targu Secuiesc confessed: "A man from this town threatened to cut my throat."³⁸ The phone calls of the kind “1The time has come, your're dead. But there's no place in the cemetery for you' would come one after the other, terrifying those who refused to leave their homes.”³⁹ At some enterprises, the Szeckler and Magyar directors and foremen insulted the Romanian workers, as for instance, at FPL Covasna. The managers here addressed their Romanian underlings as follows: "Go to Moldavia. Go to hell! You are Moldavians and we don't need you."⁴⁰ At Targu Secuiesc, Cristuru Secuiesc, Sf. Gheorghe, Odorhei and in other, smaller localities the Romanians were treated worse than the lepers had been in the Middle Ages. A Romanian woman in Covasna testified: "After the Revolution, we could not go out as everyone pushed us and spat upon us, and even the children would throw stones at us."⁴¹ When the mistreated Romanians tried to reply, the same retort would come: "If you dont' like it here, go to your Moldavia! What are you doing here, among Hungarians?"⁴² Said Emilia Achim, a working woman of Sf. Gheorghe; "They used to tell me that was little Hungary that it was their country not ours."⁴³ The Szecklers and Magyars behaved in the same way towards pupils in the final years of school.

Veronica Ramon from Sf. Gheorghe said: "Wherever we went and they heard us speak Romanian, they started to call us names. It is not only I that left for that reason, but most graduates realized we will never get on well with them.”⁴⁴ These people had no one to go to for protection, because there was general chaos at the level of order-maintaining bodies, and those who had been kept on in the same jobs were scared and afraid to intervene. Some localities in the two counties had no police for weeks on end.⁴⁵ The bodies created after the events of December 1989 were mostly made up of Szecklers and Magyars who could not be made to show any sympathy for the Romanians’ plight. On December 31, 1989, Pataki Imre, one of the Hungarian leaders, informed: "In certain places there occur manifestations of persecution against the Romanian police personnel. In two communes - Danesti and Capalnita - police bodies do not operate (...) At the polyclinic there came a Hungarian student from Cluj and one named Horea Moldovan, who ordered that all Romanians be fired from the County Hospital."⁴⁶ In the meeting of January 2, 1990 the same character stressed that the people in Odorhei had decided that the Hungarian Republic should represent the Hungarian minority, and that at Cristur the road signs in Romanian had been removed, only the Hungarian ones being left in place. Everything ended with these statements, no measures being taken to protect the Romanians, who were subjected to unimaginable pressures. Seeing that everything was permitted, that no law was observed any longer, certain Hungarians passed to direct aggression against the Romanians. Thus lawyer Maria Pagu from Cristur was bullied and mugged by an unknown man who then fled to Hungary but returned later and threatenened her with a rifle.⁴⁷ Even the Orthodox believers were pressured. Said priest loan Toba: "On April 15, when we were making preparations for Easter, all Romanians were threatened that, if they went to church on Easter night, fire would be set to the church."⁴⁸ Many houses of the Romanians were marked with the German swastika or with the hammer and the sickle.⁴⁹Aggressions against Romanians continued so that on September 29, 1990 priest loan Toba from Cristur was again threatened. His report is eloquent: "On September 29, 1990 a Hungarian individual armed with a knife and a screwdriver, Maine Gyorgy, a lathe operator at IOSF, came to the rectory and threatened me he would make mince meat of me if he saw I received guests."⁵⁰

At Odorhei, on one of the days after the December 1989 events, a Hungarian priest said very self-assuredly: "We'll have no peace here until Hungary intervenes."⁵¹ In the Odorhei area the nationalist-chauvinistic actions were very rough - we have listed in another chapater also the beastly murder in this area- the testimony of a Romanian woman being quite convincing: "The people in Odorhei are different than those in Miercurea-Ciuc or Gheorghieni. The Szecklers in Odorhei are much more vainglorious, more aggressive. Even before, in Odorhei there had been such an atmosphere."⁵² At Sandominic, Baraolt, Odorhei, on the occasion of various manifestations, it was said: "Romania is free and the Romanians must leave Transylvania", "If you don't leave here, we'll kill you", "Szeckler brothers, our time has come".⁵³ They sang the Szeckler anthem and hoisted Hungarian flags,⁵⁴ while the Romanians remained hidden, expecting to be ill-treated any moment. The policemen in the area knew the situation well, but they could do nothing, as they feared the reaction of the local people. Tnus, a police officer from Harghita showed: "The people of Magyar nationality offend the Romanians, calling them names like 'stinking Romanians'. Also they put pressure on the Romanians to leave the enterprises or other jobs, because, as they say, Miercurea-Ciuc is Hungarian territory."⁵⁵ Armed groups went to some Romanian people's houses, as in the case of Marin Bivolaru from Odorhei, whom some 30-40 persons armed with clubs and crowbars wanted to beat. They looked for him at his neighbour's house, thinking he was there.⁵⁶ These violent actions are explained by a teacher from Harghita county: "They wanted to revenge themselves on the Romanians because we had come there, they considered it was their territory and we had no right to come and live among them."⁵⁷

The friendly relations between Romanians, Szecklers and Magyars which, in certain cases, had existed for many years turned overnight into inimical attitudes, as Dumitru Croitoru showed: "So a time had come when my friends - Szecklers and Magyars (emphasis added) - were no longer my friends. They wanted no longer to talk to me and they were distant. Even at work, where we had to collaborate, they were aloof."⁵⁸The Szecklers and Magyars at Odorhei said on several occasions: "Our orders are that not even Romanian bones be left in the Szecklers land."⁵⁹

In counties Harghita and Covasna, just like in the other counties of Romania, housing was very scarce. The solution found by the majority population there was to drive away the Romanians and move into their houses. Voices were often heard saying: "Let's oust all the stinking Romanians and then we'll have houses."⁶⁰ So that a Romanian was rightly wondering" "After the events - the changes of December 1989 (emphasis added) -, did they have the right to sing the Szecklers anthem? Did they have the right to sing At the foot of Harghita he the Romanians imprisoned⁶¹ Did they have the right to draw up lists of the Romanian families in each block of flats? They pushed things so far that a Hungarian daily in Odorhei wrote that no persons bearing Latin names must be seen in the town.⁶²

The Romanians were desperate for support but they were left to solve the problems by themselves: "There was no one to go to: at the Town Hall there were only representatives of the Hungarian ethnic party -UDMR (...) There was an authority vacuum there."⁶³

Now here is another suggestive testimony reflecting the tension and terror at that time: "Many of the Romanians had not gone out for a week, some had taken a vacation, others were on sick leave and still others simply did not go to work. All were scared because in the factories their Hungarian colleagues were nasty to them and cursed them."⁶⁴Discrimination was obvious even in shops where the shop assistants would not help the Romanians because they did not speak Hungarian. In this connection, Ion Lungu said "Discrimination began at shopping, because we were not addressing the shop assistants in Hungarian. In the street, they would scoff at me when they heard me speak Romanian. Because of the atmosphere and the stress, I could not go on living there."⁶⁵ In many cases, the Romanians were simply chased from the lines so they could not buy their oil and sugar ration.⁶⁶ Posters reading for instance, "We invite all Romanians to leave the town by January 5" multiplied, this psychological war being maintained permanently. Actually, the anti-Romanian actions in counties Harghita and Covasna had begun at least two weeks before December 22. The statement of a member of the police - who subsequently left the area (emphasis added) - is quite convincing: "At Odorhei, the revolution did not begin on December 22, it had been prepared two weeks before, when they had begun doing certain things: they set fire to the warehouse of the furniture factory behind the police station, cars were coming from abroad to incite them, and instances of sabotage and arson were recorded."⁶⁷ After the outbreak of the events, to make things clear for the Romanians, at a meeting, Istvan Ciuta told them flatly: "At Odorhei we have no tradition of the Romanians and Hungarians living side by side."⁶⁸ It was normal that, in such circumstances, the interpersonal relations deteriorate, as highlighted by a Romanian teacher from Harghita: "I can say that after December 22 a radical change occurred in these relations - between Romanians and Hungarians (emphasis added). If before they had talked to us in Romanian, after that they showed their true colours. They have this mood that makes them dislike the Romanians."⁶⁹

At this point we shall use several examples of the way the Romanians in the two counties were aggressed, to prove that chauvinism and nationalism were blatantly manifest in that zone. On January 9, a Romanian person travelling by train arrives at Tusnad and, as soon as he is on the platform he is stopped by a Hungarian who tells him that if he ever sees him again he will kill him.⁷⁰ After the interethnic conflicts in Targu Mures, the priest Ciprian Manea from Baraolt was warned: "Have you seen on tv how that man in Targu Mures was beaten? Stinking Romanian, tomorrow it's your turn! If you don't leave the town in 24 hours, we'll set fire to your house."⁷¹ Dumitru Visan from Sf. Gheorghe reported: "In the evening of December 17, 1990, around 7.30 p.m. (...) a man with a stocking on his head, with a pump or something, threw paint in my wife's eyes. The traces can still be seen inside and outside the flat.⁷² On March 21, 1990, on the occasion of a meeting organized at Baraolt, Remus Socea, a forestry engineer, Liviu Baidac, a teacher at the Basani school, Aurel Vartolomei, secretary at the Baraolt town hall, and Toma Tamasila, a teacher at the Baraolt high school,⁷³ were taken to the centre of the town and put on a platform. Several thousands of Hungarians, led by Benko losif, chairman of the UDMR branch, Kagy Alexandru and Nagy Rozalia, shouted frenzically: "Let's hang them!", "Let's drink Romanian blood!". The Romanians subjected to this treatment were accused of being members of Vatra Romaneasca (the Romanian Hearth, an apolitical, nongovernmental organization of the Romanians in Transylvania based on cultural principles, which was believed to pursue to oppose the UDMR - a.a.) and were forced to read a comunique announcing the dissolution of the local branch.⁷⁴ The Cristea family from Baraolt was subjected to all sorts of pressures, the man being threatened with death while his wife was put on an open truck and surrounded by 30-40 Szecklers and Maghyar who insulted her for minutes on end, after which they told her she had two days to leave the locality. The priest Aurel Suciu from the second Sf. Gheorghe parish was forced to leave his job and home: engineer Bradea from the Ghelnifa drilling rig was assaulted with a knife because he was speaking Romanian. The police personnel and their families were threatened and molested.

Thus, major Gheorghe Mucenic's wife was threatened by a Hungarian with death; the son of Lt-Col. Constantin Dorobantu was beaten twice for the mere fact of being a Romanian; captain Vasile Tilvescu was aggressed and chased from the shop where he was trying to buy food with his ration book.⁷⁵ Gheorghe Tofan, although a cripple, was aggressed at his home; priest loan Bercu from Targu Secuiesc was called "a dirty Romanian, this one who has hair on his tongue must be skinned alive"; and there was even an attempt by a car to run him down. The Orthodox priest from Baraolt, driven away from the parish, confessed: "That's how I came to wander, to be some sort of exile in my own country, to leave forcefully a parish (...) and look now for a vacant position in Maramures, in northern Romania."⁷⁶ In many cases, the aggressions were perpetrated by organized groups, as the case was at Cristuru Secuiesc. Said an eye-witness: "They went uptown and arrived at the home of Miss Maria Pizgu who had been a lawyer with the IOSF for seven years. They broke her door and soiled the house with blood."⁷⁷In the railway stations and bus terminals in counties Harghita and Covasna, many Romanians were molested by extremists. This is what engineer Ion Gradinaru stated in this respect: "On January 4, 1990 we went to Miercurea-Ciuc and they didn't even want to sell us bus tickets to Vlahita. At the railway station there were some young men who molested us, and my wife was pregnant."⁷⁸

Both in 1990 and in the first months of 1991, there were frequent cases of aggression perpetrated on trains; on April 9, 1990, in the train 4014 two young Hungarian men aggressed several Romanians when the train was at the Izvoru Olt station. In the night of June 20, 1990, at the same railway station a group of seven unidentified Hungarians aggressed several Romanians; on October 23, 1990, while waiting for the bus at the Izvoru Olt stop, several Romanian workers from the Balan Mining Enterprise were beaten by four young Hungarians from Sandominic and Carta, the reason being their speaking Romanian; in the evening of February 16, 1991, on train 4014, a group of 20-30 young Szecklers and Magyars, all travelling without tickets, aggresscd the conductor and the police patrol when they arrived at the station, throwing stones and bricks at them.⁷⁹ At Sf. Gheorghe, seven Hungarians insulted and molested the police patrol made up of Romanians.⁸⁰ At Odornei, Aurel Bors - chief of the municipal Police, was violently molested on April 25, 1990 by unknown persons near his home; on November 23, 1990 the non-commissioned officer Petru Cosarca was beaten by Hing Tibor from Zetea.

The atmosphere of terror against the Romanians was permanently marked by such acts, the political party of the Szecklers and Magyars, the UDMR, failing to take any stand. More than that, it is considered that such chauvinistic acts were mere fiction and that the interpersonal relations in the two counties were normal. And, in order to be even more convincing, we shall cite still more examples. Thus, loan Donose, an auto mechanic at Dacia Service in Targu Secuiesc, was molested by Mike Sandor because he was a Romanian; Mugurel Grigorescu, a forest guard living in the same locality, was threatened with death and was insulted in order to be made to leave the town; because he was speaking Romanian, loan Calin, an oilman working at the Ghelnita drilling rig, was threatened with a knife by a Szeckler who told him he would be killed unless he spoke Hungarian.⁸¹ In the commune Praid, the Roman-Catholic priest was aggressed and the windows of his house were broken.⁸² On Christmas Day, several Szecklers and Magyars surrounded the church in Targu Secuiesc, alleging that there was a terrorist there, and they took the believer Constantin Miricioiu to the town hall, under escort. He was released only when the priest intervened.⁸³ On March 27, 1990, around 1.30 p.m. the wife of priest loan Toba from Cristur was aggressed by farming engineer Mateffy Joseph and by a Hungarian railway worker; the latter said: "Where is the priest? Our gang wants your blood. We'll kill you and hang you by the three crosses on the domes of the church."⁸⁴At Sandominic, they assaulted veterinary Gheorghe Radulescu, who was cuffed and asked to kiss their feet.⁸⁵ In all towns of the two counties, it was a real adventure for Romanians to walk in the streets after dark. Thus, Mihaela Balaci from Covasna county stated: "In January when I was returning from the movies I was stopped in the street by three young Hungarians who, asking for a match, wanted to see if we were Romanians or Hungarians. Realizing we were Romanians, they aggressed us, cuffing and cursing us."⁸⁶ Valentin Cancel, a worker at the Oltui Textile Enterprise of Sf. Gheorghe, described his terrible experience: "I was aggressed and hit at the cinema, because I was speaking Romanian. At night unknown people would come and knock at the door, threatening to kill us. After such an incident, my wife, who was pregnant, gave birth to the baby prematurely, and was in hospital for five weeks, as long as it took to save the baby (...). At work, if I said anything that didn't agree with them, they would say: 'Stay home if you don't like it here."⁸⁷

Ioan Vasiliu, an engineer working for Industria Laptelui of Sf. Gheorghe, was ousted from the enterprise by his Szeckler and Magyar colleagues; Viorel Botea, a teacher at Bradut, was chased from the school; Mircea Vladut from IAS Campu Frumos, was fired and threatened to leave the locality; after December 22, 1989 in many enterprises it was said there was no room any more for Romanians.⁸⁸ For instance, when layoffs were being operated, the Romanians were the first to go, thus an official and legal way being found for determining them to move to other zones. Sometimes, an intransigent attitude was shown even to Romanian women married to Szecklers or Magyars, who were fired and were not hired at other enterprises.⁸⁹ This is what the Szeckler husband of a Romanian woman stated in connection with the fact that his wife was not given a job anywhere: "This was the reason, her being Romanian."⁹⁰

Extreme measures were taken, particularly against those who were members in cultural or political organizations such as Vatra Romaneasca, Liga Democratica Romana, Concordia, etc.⁹¹ Here is what a Romanian said about the situation, from this point of view, in a locality in Covasna county: "The Catholic priest came with someone from the UDMR and they chased the mayor and the secretary. The only instigator is the priest Bartalos Zoltan. There is no other political grouping except the UDMR having its quarters at the town hall, for several months everything has been written only in Hungarian (...) We tried to set up the FSN branch but we found no understanding in Sf. Gheorghe. We tried with a liberal organization (...). With several Romanians we tried to set up an organization there, but they all rejected it, saying they were afraid."⁹² In many cases when the Romanians were driven away, it was notably the Szeckler and Magyar intelligentsia that was involved.

Teacher Daniel Radu testified: "The Magyar intelligentsia played the most important role in these events (...). At the beginning, in January, immediately, there was a frenetical attempt to get rid of the Romanians."⁹³The officials said, even on tv, that the Romanians left willingly, and by no means that they were driven away. These statements were made, especially by UDMR representatives, to the end of concealing the truth about this exodus; most of those who left specified that they were actually chased away from the places where they had lived for a long time. Many families left their homes of 25 years due to the tensions created by the majority population after December 22, 1989.⁹⁴ And, in order not to be accused of falseness, we shall reproduce further the statements of some people directly involved in the events: "We had to leave almost overnight, although we had two children going to school. We could not live with the axe threatening us, it was not a solution. At school, the children were just monitored by an older pupil. So that we decided to leave and go no matter where."⁹⁵ "We left Odorheiu Secuiesc because we wanted to live in a better climate enabling us to study undisturbed, we felt the need for warmth and kindness not for jeers, fear and an uncertain future."⁹⁶ "I consider myself driven away by terror."⁹⁷ "I may say we were forced by the circumstances to leave our homes. I think the reason is first that we are Romanians and, second, that we adhered to Vatra Romaneasca.”⁹⁸"Right after me meeting - the one at Baraolt (a.a.) - we packed our bags, taking whatever could be taken in a hurry, and we went to the plant to ask for help. Now we have a room rented from on old woman who has two very small rooms deprived of any comfort (...). We had some very difficult moments (...). My father, seeing the situation, the way we were turned into exiles in our own country (...), he had a heart attack and died."⁹⁹ "There's no telling what a shock it is to me that, suddenly, from a comfortable 3-room flat, I have had to move to a house where there's no hot water."¹⁰⁰ "I can say that at Baraolt there is no Romanian family left. All were forced to go." These statements mirror an unimaginably dramatic situation, an intolerance which a Romanian teacher explains as follows: "I think there will never be peace in Transylvania (...). It's very difficult to understand why one can't live alongside the Hungarians (...) You can understand it only if you live there."¹⁰¹ The priest loan Toba described the circumstances in which he left: "I could not resist any longer (...) I had to run away one night, my daughter was threatened in Cluj, at boarding school."¹⁰² At Cristur, out of 110 Romanian families only21 - mostly mixed families stayed on.¹⁰³ Among those who left were the families of: Mihai Calagaritoiu, Costel Botosan, Grigorc Popa, Valeriu Costca, Dan Dragomir, Ion Haiduc, Constantin Lazar. Hie Pop, Costel Popescu, loan Balaban, Purvulescu, teacher Mihaela lonescu, eng. Zaharia Cicerone, eng. Mihai Barsan, teacher Diana Neamtu.¹⁰⁴ To ensure a legal justification, in many cases the company management forced those driven away to sign statements showing that they did not leave forcedly or for political reasons. Economist Rodica Cerevcov from Miercurea-Ciuc showed: "The fact was very humiliating to me, as to all Romanians who left Harghita county, that, seeing us forced to ask for transfer to a job elsewhere, approval of this transfer was made subject to our writing a statement showing explicitly that we were not leaving for political reasons. We, I mean my family, did not want to leave Miercurea-Ciuc. We had our honest 14-years' work. We invested 60,000 lei only in fitting the flat we had rented."¹⁰⁵ Great pressure was put on this woman after March 15, 1990 when, being on sick leave, she was accused she was a member of Vatra Romaneasca.¹⁰⁶ So that she had every reason to say: "When we went there, we did so considering them friends, but it is an injustice to be driven away after 14 years of honest work as if you were scum. Why should my child be beaten at school for being Romanian?"¹⁰⁷ Another Romanian forced to leave specified: "I feel I am denied my right, as a human and a citizen, to live where I am entitled tolive."¹⁰⁸

Construction workers were subjected to the same pressures to make them leave the two counties. Some of them stated: "...we had been working there for 20 years and they said - the Szecklcrs and the Magyars - (emphasis added) - that now, after we had built all the blocks of flats in town and the schools, we could not live there anymore, and our children were chased from schools."¹⁰⁹ By May 5, 1990, 167 Romanians had left Odorhei, plus over 200 students from the high schools in this municipality.¹¹⁰ In localities like Targu Secuiesc, Ozun or Baraolt, gangs of young Szecklers and Magyars were organized, which disturbed the public order, threatening the Romanians and committing acts of vandalism - an eloquent example being the gang of rockers from Targu Secuiesc.¹¹¹ In Sfantu Gheorghe was set up the organization called "The Orchestra", aimed at driving all Romanians away from the town and the environs.¹¹² At the Woodworking Plant of Sfantu Gheorghe, hundreds of Romanians were forced to move to other counties, since they were told there was no work to be done by them. Of course, like in other cases, they were made to sign papers attesting that they were leaving of their own accord. At some point, 543 persons had left Harghita, of whom 444 had done so because of the pressures they had been subjected to. Among them there were 156 teachers, 5 lawyers, 4 priests, 20 engineers, 8 economists, 54 members of the staff of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, 10 belonging to the personnel of the Ministry of National Defense, 53 workers. By the same time, Covasna had ben left by 911 persons, 760 of whom did so because of the pressures. They included 258 teachers, 17 actors, 8 lawyers, 89 engineers, 10 economists, 68 persons on the payroll of the MIA, and 49 persons working for the MND.¹¹³ Because population records in several localities - Miercurea Ciuc, Odorhei, Gheorgheni, Targu Secuiesc, etc - were destroyed and the main positions in the bodies of the local administration were held by Szecklers and Magyars interested in concealing the truth, it was impossible to establish very accurately the number of people who left the two counties. The number was estimated at 3000-4000 persons, but on March 18, 1991 there existed concrete data for 1758 people - approximately 651 families, including 475 teachrs, 149 engineers, subengineers, 130 personnel of the MIA.¹¹⁴ Several people asserted that the action of driving away the Romanians was coordinated in both counties¹¹⁵ and, on the other hand, that this action became more intense as the Szecklers and Magyars travelled to Hungary - in 1990 alone, 95,483 applications were lodged and all were favourably solved.¹¹⁶ The plight of the Romanians led to the organization of the National Comittee of the Romanians having fled certain localities in Transylvania^”.¹¹⁷

Unfortunately, some of the Romanians who fled Transylvania did not always find understanding in the new towns where they moved. This is what a family stated: "The local authorities disregarded the circumstances in which we had been forced to leave; moreover, we were offended, and we had our belongings in two places, at my parents, and at my in-laws and we are living in two rooms with two old people. As for the Hungarians, I know some whom the UDMR helped to obtain a flat. We did not leave willingly, before the revolution we would have never thought of leaving. In Gheorgheni we abandoned a flat we had fitted with all the comforts (...) but no one wants to understand this or may be they cannot understand, so we felt as strangers among the Szecklers but we feel the same now among the Romanians, whom we expected to behave differently."¹¹⁸

The departures of the Romanians from the two counties took place in a climate of general insecurity - in one of the counties 15 murders, 15 attempted homicides, 8 indecent assaults, 2 rapes and 18 robberies being recorded. ¹¹⁹

As a conclusion to the above, we could use the words of a priest who had to leave Harghita county: "The revolutionaries" - lie refers to the Szecklers and Magyars - "rose not against communism, the dictatorship and the totalitarian regime, but against the Romanian population, wishing to make there a purely Hungarian zone, by cleansing it of all that was Romanian. Churches, graves, crosses, the memorials of Romanian heroes, such as the memorial of Romanian hero Vasile Moromete, were desecrated. The mausoleum of Odorheiu Secuiesc was broken and the bones were scattered in the field."¹²⁰

A very interesting element demonstrating the chauvinistic extremism of the actions that took place after December 22, 1989 in counties Harghita and Covasna, was the action of changing the names of certain streets in all localities. And, although the Government of Romania indicated the way this had to be done - only the names having to do with the communist period were to be changed - the action was radical in both counties. Almost all Romanian names were replaced with the names of Magyar or Szeckler personalities. Thus, on February 3, 1990, when the street names had been altered, from 24 streets having received new names, only two bore the names of Romanian personalities - M. Eminescu and N. Cioflec - all the other being Hungarian.¹²¹ In Covasna county several resolutions were issued in this connection - resolution 31 of Feb. 2, 1990 relative to the changing of the names of certain schools, resolution 39 of July 7, 1990, resolution 128 of June 13, 1990 relative to the new names to be given to the park and to certain streets¹²² - which had no legal foundation but which, once applied, were no longer rescinded. In December 1990, the secretary of the Covasna Prefect's Office stressed that there was no legal foundation for the new names. Nevertheless, nothing was done, certain leading members of the Prefect's Office warning that the reaction of public opinion - the Szecklers and the Magyars (a.a.) - would be very harsh should changes be operated. The Government of Romania repeatedly warned the leadership of the prefect's offices in the two counties, the only result until now being the arguments of this kind: "The names were changed following the proposal of the town halls in the case of streets the names of which were related to the communist system and of streets for which a return to the traditional names was desired."¹²³ Thus, in Gheroghcni, of 23 new street names only one is a Romanian name, i.e. Mihai Eminescu; "¹²⁴ likewise, at Cristuru Secuiesc only one street received a Romanian name, and in Odorhei, of the 18 streets the names of which were changed, no street received a Romanian name, at least in the first stage of the action (here are some of the names of Magyar personalities: Kossuth Lajos, Banyai Janos, Inecslaszlo, HaaszRezso, losifBem, Petofi Sandor, KosKaroiy). The Government's address no.2 of March 1, 1991 and March 4, which showed that the provisions of Decree 100/1990 were violated through the new names adopted¹²⁵, indirectly received the following answer from the Prefect of Covasna county, Fodor Francisc: "The decisions made at the top and at the county seat should not be altered in the ensuing period."¹²⁶ And "We must take into account the atmosphere in the county. The change of the names at this moment - March 15, 1991 - will have an inciting effect. The timing is not good and can trigger off various manifestations."¹²⁷ In the same line of thought, in most localities in the two counties, the Hungarian name was written in large letters (30-40 cm) and the Romanian one in small letters (5-15 cm). The same holds true for commercial or economic units.¹²⁸

In the two counties there took place actions aimed at misleading the central institutions, the reports saying that in that zone the peace was total and things were normal. In Harghita county, at the meeting of the Executive Bureau of the National Salvation Front, held in January-April 1990, the problem was not even mentioned of discussing the anti-Romanian phenomena occurring at that time, these being ignored. The Prefect's Office sent a list of the members of the former County Bureau of the Romanian Communist Party and part of the former members of the political police, presenting them as the only people to have left Miercurea-Ciuc.¹²⁹

The Chairman of the municipal Provisional Council formed immediately after the Revolution, Benco Alexandru, stated unhesitantly: "The idea of the Romanian inhabitants having been driven away from the municipality is a well engineered hoax launched for public opinion in the country and even in this municipality by the Securitate people, former activists and informers of the political police.¹³⁰ The very clear attempt of creating an atmosphere in the country about the difficult life of the Romanians in Transylvania, in Harghita in particular, was also meant to distract attention from the real culprits of what happened previously in this country."¹³¹ The examples cited above, as well as the statements made by those directly involved in the events categorically refute the allegation of the former Provisional Council chairman who, by his position, could have favourably influenced the course of the developments. Another argument used by the Hungarians was that the two counties were fled also by Hungarians not only by Romanians. But they forgot to specify that most of the approximately 1600 Szecklcrs and Magyars who left-984 in 1990 and 548 in 1991 -¹³² settled in Hungary of their own accord, without being pressured or chased by anyone. A Romanian woman who lived through the ordeal of being forced to leave the zone rightly wondered: "How could one consider as objective the assertion made by the prefects of counties Covasna and Harghita on tv, according to which nothing happens in these counties and the Romanians and Hungarians get on well? (...). They had the courage to tell lies everywhere whereas the Romanians don't have the courage to tell the truth for fear they and their families might be hurt. Few people will tell all they know about the situation in Harghita, because they trust neither the police nor any other body to defend them. The Romanian policemen in the area very much fear a possible uprising of the Szecklers."¹³³

Szecklers and Magyars moved immediately into the houses where the Romanians who left Harghita and Covasna had been tenants. In many cases it was known beforehand who would leave and who would move into the dwellings, which made many of those driven away consider-normally - that there had been an organized action at the level of the two counties, ¹³⁴ Because, also in the case of certain economic units, the argument used by the managers to explain why certain Romanians were no longer allowed to work there was this: "It has been unanimously voted that they should not get a job in this county."¹³⁵

The chairmen and the members of the committees of certain organizations that were joined by Romanians were threatened immediately after the setting up of those organizations. Thus, the chairman of the non political organization called the "League of Reserve Officers from Sfantu Gheorghe" was warned over the phone: "Why on earth are you rallying the officers? In Hungary there is no such league! Mind it, or you'll be hanged!"¹³⁶

After the events of December, in counties Harghita and Covasna the bookstores had very few books in Romanian to sell.¹³⁷ The same holds true about Romanian-language newspapers and reviews: only a small number of these was on sale and besides, some were bought to be burnt in order to prevent Romanians from reading them.¹³⁸ Daily Adevarul Harghitei of April 18, 1991 carried a protest reading, among others: "Through the press sales section of the former County Post Department, our daily, like other Romanian central publications, is sold in Miercurea-Ciuc only at four stalls."¹³⁹

An important role in enhancing the interethnic conflictual situation in the two counties was played by street manifestations that began to be organized immediately after the events of December 1989. Mention should be made that in most cases these manifestations degenerated into nationalist and irredentist anti-Romanian actions.

In Odorhei, Sfantu Gheorghe, Miercurea-Ciuc, Baraolt, Cristuru Secuiesc, the extremists shouted slogans in favour of autonomy of Transylvania and the annexation of this territory to Hungary, the Szeckler anthem was sung, Hungarian flags were hoisted.¹⁴⁰ All these manifestations hurt the national feelings of the Romanians in the area; those holding speeches reiterated the idea that the minorities' rights had been overlooked in the past and no compromise should be hence accepted.¹⁴¹ The Hungarian symbols were hoisted everywhere. This is what a teacher from Odorhei declared: "On March 19, 1990, I was in Odorhei were I lived; on March 15th, the demonstrations were accompanied by the festive "Adornment" of the schools, medical units, of the parks, of the shops with the colours of the Hungarian state¹⁴², and cockades, sashes and pennons in red, white and green were to be seen all over the place. Many of the slogans shouted then had an anti-Romanian character: "Horthy, Horthy!", "Long live Hungary", "Transylvania is Hungarian land".¹⁴³ In Praid, the Romanian flags were torn, the school windows were smashed, and Hungarian flags were hoisted all over the place-¹⁴⁴ During the various manifestations, assertions were made that the Magyars in Romania are not a nationality, an ethnic minority, but a Transylvanian nation and, at the same time, part of the unitary Magyar nation.¹⁴⁵ In Balvanyos and Zagon, large people's meetings were held, wherefrom the Romanians were driven away. Celebrating the 157th of March, the Magyars in Gheorghieni hoisted the Hungarian flag on every institution, and the participants in the manifestations were wearingcockades with the colours of the Hungarian state. In Baraolt, all the cars hoisted Hungarian flags. One Romanian was surprised that the Romanians did not have flags with their national colours. A Szeckler did not hesitate to answer: "People should know we speak Magyar here!"¹⁴⁶ The tension grew, the Romanian citizens were accosted, provoked, forced to leave the public place. In some of the hospitals, where large part of the staff were Magyars, the Romanians were isolated and given a differentiated treatment. This is what a Romanian woman said about the treatment she got in the hospital: "On March 13, 1990, I strained my leg and on April 15th I underwent an operation. In the meantime, the events in Tg. Mures came up, and I was not taken care of for five days (...). When they opened my old dressing, they told me I had already had necrosis (...). During my commitment in the County Hospital, I only met Magyar staff. The nurses would only bring foreign medicines to the Magyar patients (...). Dr. Sandor Joszefwas the section head and the man\who was responsible with the dressing was named Joncy. He would take care of the dressing of the other patients I shared the room with, because they were Magyars, but he would pay no attention to me"¹⁴⁷ Fleran Delia from Baraolt said": "On March 15th a large demonstration was organized in Baraolt, and Magyar flags were hoisted on the buildings, the townhall included. Eventually, they started open actions against the Romanians, whom they shouted and spat at."¹⁴⁸

In Sumuleu, the Hungarian flag had been hoisted for two weeks on top of a fir-tree the branches of which had been cut off so that nobody could get the flag down. Those very days, the square in front of the Pedagogic High School in Odorhei was invaded by Hungarian flags.¹⁴⁹The same happened in Miercurea-Ciuc, where Magyar flags were hoisted in several public place.¹⁵⁰ Some of the Romanians were directly insulted by the Szecklers and the Magyars, as the case was with one Romanian woman from Miercurea-Ciuc; when she got to the office, she was met by one her colleagues with the words: "What, there's something wrong with your eyes? Can't you see what we have on our chests? The Magyar colours". ¹⁵¹ The Magyar colours were hoisted and the Szekler anthem was sung even on the occasion of some religious actions, coordinated by the Magyar ethnical party UDMR in cooperation with circles from Hungary - some of these meetings were attended by over 20,000 people: these were the manifestations that took place at Sumuleu and Siculeni,¹⁵²the parish fair of St. Ana Chapel, "The Gathering of the Transylvanian Youth", the parish fair of the Roman-Catholic church of Imeni-Zabala. In the Lutheran Catholic and Unitarian churches the Hungarian anthem would be sung before and after the service and the Hungarian flag would be hoisted.¹⁵³ In such a climate, the Romanians were eventually threatened to leave the two counties, and more that once they heard that "no Romanian had lived there before Ceausescu came to power"; those uttering such statements ignored, of course, the fact that the history of the Romanians did not begin with the dictator.

Several demonstrations took place in Odorhei, on March 15th, occasioned by the celebration of the Magyar bourgeois-democratic revolution. In the "Tamasi Aron" square, a monument carved in wood was placed, featuring two flags: the Romanian and the Hungarian one. The next day, the Romanian flag was gone, but the Hungarian one was hoisted there for almost a week.¹⁵⁴ And then, taking into account the significance of March 15 to the Romanians, a voice raised, asking: "Are we, the ones in Transylvania, supposed to celebrate those who killed our forefathers in 1848?"¹⁵⁵ (In 1948, after the defeat of the Romanians' revolution for social and national emancipation, over 40,000 Romanians were killed by the Magyar army; among those killed, were women, children and old people). In schools the Magyar teachers and pupils were wearing the three colours of Hungary,¹⁵⁶ whereas the Romanias would spend days on end locked in the houses, afraid of the reprisals. The Magyar flags were hoisted on almost every public institution - townhalls, schools, medical units, commercial units - even on private houses¹⁵⁷; many of those flags had been made at the textile enterprise "Oltul" in St. Gheorghe.¹⁵⁸ At those events a great number of citizens from Hungary took part. They crossed in large numbers the border with Romania and hoisted, along their way, the Hungarian state symbols, removing the Romanian inscriptions, as if the Hungarian borders had spread over night. On March 14th, a large demonstration was organized by the Catholic priests, and the next day, carts, riders, buses, all of them led by the Hungarian flag, went to the tomb of Gabor Aron,¹⁵⁹ to lay down wreaths of flowers. The same day, March 15, at the interesction of the road leading to Augustin-Racos-Capreni, ¹⁶⁰hundreds of Szecklers and Magyars laid down flowers where the old border between Romania and the Austro-Hungarian state had been. More than once assertions were made that the counties of Harghita and Covasna would be called, in 1992,"The Szeklcrs' Country". Rumours were spread about the existence of some commando units training in the forests around the town of Tg. Mures, for mission to be accomplished in the near future.¹⁶¹

On the backround of the forementioned events, inter-ethnical conflicts appeared in Targu Mures, taking the shape of a violent outbreak of the conflicting state existing, previously, in a latent shape. Some of the causes generating those conflicts are: the issuing of the Programme-platform of the UDMR as early as December, and the launching of notion of self-determination for the Magyar minority in Romania; the actions initiated by the UDMR leaders concerning education and centering on the idea of total separation of the Magyar and Romanian education system; the organization, by the UDMR on February 10th, 1990, of a "silence" demonstration in Tg. Mures, where the participants held candels and books edited in Hungary, most of which featuring the title "Transylvania is Hungarian Land"; the intensification of political confusion along with the ever more frequent contacts between the UDMR leaders and the political circles in Hungary. Political programmes of some political parties in Hungary were brought to Romania; those programmes included claims pertaining to the solving of the national problem and territorial rights. On an international level, the situation of the Magyar minority in Romania was purposefully distorted, and the reports referred, among other things, to the fact that Romanian language had always represented a means of oppression to the Magyars. Before the open conflicts that took place in Targu Mures, there had been a period of psychological training of the Magyar population, by means of various demonstrations; the UDMR was directly involved in this action. On March 15th, 1990 the participants in the demonstrations held at Targu Mures, Sovata, Albesti were wearing cockades featuring the effigies of Kossuth and Petofi, framed by the Magyar colours, the Hungarian flag was hoisted in public places, institutions or blocks of flats. On March 16th, 1990, at the Chemist's Shop no. 28 in Tg. Mures , the Romanians were not attended by the shop-assistant Kormoczi, as she claimed that the shop was only destined to Magyar customers. After this incident, a demonstration of the Romanians took place in Tg. Mures, near the polyclinic; a Trabant driven by Nagy Samuel deliberately ran into the participants at a maximum speed hitting 12 persons, 3 of which were seriously injured. On March 19th, 1990, in front of the headquarters of the Magyar ethnic party - UDMR - in Tg. Mures , a meeting of the Magyars took place; Suto Andras addressed the participants. As a reaction to this manifestation, the Romanians gathered in the central area of the town, asking for the resignation of Kineses Elod, Kiroly Karoly, Tokes Andras and Suto Andras, known as nationalist extremists. The Romanians approached the UDMR headquarters, where they were attacked by the Magyars with bottles, stones and other hard objects. The headquarters of several parties were devastated and the writer Slito Andras was badly injured. On March 20th, 1990, the centre ofTg. Mures was occupied by the Magyars, who, led by the UDMR, asked for tlie recognition of some of their claims; in case those claims were not granted, they threatened with a general strike. The strike had been, nevertheless, declared, and all the Romanians were stopped from going to work. In front of the "Grand" Hotel, 10-15,000 Magyars were shouting: "It's now or never", "Now and here", "Away with Vatra Romaneasca"; leaders of this manifestation were Kineses Elod, Jacob Attila, Jlyes Kinga. All kinds of appeals were addressed to the Magyars: "Be careful, if the army won't stand by us, disarm them!", "Get them for we are more!" "Don't throw anything you might need later. The Magyars attacked the Romanians with crowbars, chains with balls, slings with metal balls, incendiary bottles, many of them being made at the enterprises in town: IMATEX, IRUNCO, "Metalotehnica", "Electromures", "AJIRAM". Both the Romanians and the Magyars sent several messages throughout the county; as a result, groups of Romanians from Hodac and Ibanesti came to Tg. Mures, as well as Magyars from Miercurea Nirajului, Vargata, Sovata and Eromitu. In some localities around Tg. Mures, such as Dumbravioara, Ernei, Sangeorzu de Mures, the Magyars blocked the roads, controlling the traffic and illtreating the Romanians they met on the way. Some of the Romanians from Hodac and Ibanesti did not even get to" Tg.Mures, as they were surrounded by the Magyars who injured them and destroyed their vehicles. 300 citizens were injured, 67 per cent of which were of Romanian nationality. Damages of over one million worth of lei were registered at the "Grand" hotel; groups of Magyars checked every room to look for the Romanians and illtreat them. When the conflict in Tg. Mures burst out, the Magyars attacked the policemen - 6 of them were hurt - and the authorities could no longer keep the situation under control; it was only on March 21st that the order was re-established. In the night of March 20-21 1990, groups of armed Magyars attacked the Romanians they met on their way, creating a state of insecurity and terror for the citizens of Romanian nationality. The violent confrontations taking place in Tg. Mures and the neighbouring localities, resulted in a tragic end: 278 wounded people - 190 Romanians and 88 Magyars - 5 dead - 3 Magyars in traffic accidents and 2 Romanians, 46 damaged vehicles, burglaries and thefts from commercial units, and several headquarters of political parties and organizations were devastated, the Orthodox Church in Valea was set on fire. After all those inter-ethnic conflicts, a state of tension continued to exist in the county, as generated by the Magyar extremists' violent acts against the Romanians. In the months to come, several acts of aggression against the Romanians were registered, most of the victimsbeing hospitalized. On May 16th, 1990 Galaczi Jozef, age 32, and Hanzi Valentin, age 42, hurt Moidovan Petru, mayor of commune Sangergiu de Mures. On August 5th, 1990, Gyori Sander from Tg. Mures and his friend went to Ludus. After drinking heavily - they were dressed in black and they were armed with swords - they aroused a scandal in front of the "Transilvania" hotel, threatening the passcrs-by. On August 8th, 1990, Korodi Bella attacked and hurt four Romanians, bringing about serious injuries; he was helped by other 2 Magyars and his 2 dogs. After the Romanians had run, the Magyars attacked other 2 Romanians, hitting them brutally and shouting at them: "You are with Vatra Romaneasca too". Then they insulted the police patrol arriving at the place of the incident. On August 29th, 1990, Tamas Csaba made use of his knife and axe tothreaten the passers-by in Tg. Mures. On October 7th, 1990, Nagy Csaba, Ughym Miklos, Balint Gyula and Bondi Csaba profaned the statue ofAvram lancu in Tg. Mures, trying to take the Romanian flag from it. On the night of October 17 th, 1990, the police officer Pop Marin was insulted and threatened by Bako losif, teacher at the Industrial High School No.2 in Tg. Mures. On October 31st, 1990, at the Polyvalent Hall in Tg. Mures, a music band from Hungary held its show; after the show, 2,000 Magyar youths crossed the town hoisting the Hungarian flag and shouting: "Transylvania is Hungarian land". "Transylvania is autonomous", "Now or never". On November 25th, 1990 Nagy Lajos entered the Orthodox cathedral in Tg. Mures, approached the shrine, took a knife out of his pocket, making obscene gestures and arousing the indignation of the 1,000 parishioners attending the service. On December 6th, 1990 FeketeLaszlo Elod, Kuszka Ferencz and Minor Zsolt, all from Tg. Mures, got on the train at Reghin, insulted the Romanian passengers and made obscene gestures. On December 9th, 1990, Nagy Arpad from Panet commune, pulled out the townhall plate written in Romanian. The "21 December" association, made up of Magyars 95 per cent and Magyar gypsies, worked out a plan, in December 1990, meant to enable them occupy some public institutions and block the main access ways. Owing to the measures adopted by the authorities, the violent actions planned could not be turned into practice.

We made a detailed presentation of the events in Tg.Mures, between 15 and 21 of March, 1990, because the following events in Harghita and Covasna were closely connected to the forementioned ones. Moreaver, in 1991 a book entitled "Black March in Tg.Mures" was released at Sfantu Gheorghe. Its author, Kineses Elod, one of the leaders of the nationalist and secessionist Hungarian movement, responsible for the genocide in Tg. Mures, was trialed and charged with murder. He was subsequently amnestied for political reasons. He was directly involved in the events in Tg. Mures and considered that the Romanians were the only ones responsible. This is an excerpt from the preface signed by Slito Andras (a Magyar writer living in Romania; his novels, short stories and plays are considered to be some exceptional works of the socialist realistic genre. He is one of the communist writers whose work is even mentioned in school handbooks): "This book is a genuine confession - (which we doubt) - over one of the most terrible dramas experienced by the Magyars in Romania in late 20th century. Kineses Elod took a risk by evoking the sanguinary days of March 1990 lived by the town of Tg. Mures; he describes the pogrom against the citizens. Those responsible for this pogrom, whom we can accuse of cunning and a talent for genocide, took advantage of their situation and then blamed everything on the Transylvanian Magyars"¹⁶². As early as the frontpages extremely strong terms are used-"pogrom", "genocide", the authors ignoring the fact that the number of Romanian victims was far larger than that of Magyar ones, and that the tatter's aggresions went on for a long period of time. Towards the end of the book, a cross-examination of the Romanians who were caught is presented-just think about the state they were in-; a group of Magyars forced them to "admit" the fact that the ones to blame were only the Romanians. Had the Romanians threatened the Magyars the same' way, all the international bodies, the UNO included, would have been notified in short time for the unobservance of the people's rights in Romania. We are certain that the book mentioned above will be soon translated in a widespread language. And again the Romanians will be seen as nationalist, chauvinistic, anti-Magyar etc. This, together with the interviews of the Magyar representatives in the USA, Canada, France-where they miss no chance to point to the idea that the Magyars are persecuted in Romania-would stand for an ideal propaganda instrument, meant to distort Romania's image abroad.

Going back to the events in Tg. Mures, we must point to the fact that during those days, preparations were made in some localities in Harghita and Covasna to help the Magyars. At Capeni, the Szeklers and the Magyars took clubs, axes, shovel handles, chains¹⁶³, and the pressure exerted over the Romanians became unbearable. This is what Pop M. Elena stated: "The former director from the IPL Sf. Gheorghe came and told me the Romanians employees had warned him that the Magyars had only made clubs that moming (...) I saw the demonstration from the window, standing behind the curtain. The participants held Szeckler flags in red and black. It was only later that I found out that meant blood until death."¹⁶⁴

After March 15th, above the doorbells of every Romanian dwelling a sign appeared in the shape of a blue cross¹⁶⁵. The demonstration that took place in Gheorghieni, Miercurea-Ciuc, Baraolt, Tg. Secuiesc, Sf.Gheorghe, between the 20th and 25th of March were organized by the UDMR and had an inciting character against the Romanians. It was at such a manifestation organized in Baraolt that the most notable Romanians were taken by force to the centre of the town where they were insulted and humiliated by the extatic Magyars and Szeklers¹⁶⁶. One of the aggressed Romanians was forced to read a communique announcing the annulment of the "Vatra Romaneasca" office in town. The list with the members of this organization was read in front of the crowd. After the list had been read, several voices started to shout: "Let's hang them!" "Off with their heads!". Everywhere where Romanians lived, Magyars would knock on their doors and shout to them "Filthy Romanians!" "Vatra Romaneasca is fascist!"¹⁶⁷ Several Romanians were hurt and humiliated, being accused of being members of the "Vatra Romaneasca". Croitoru Gabriela said: "One of my colleagues, Mrs Goergescu, lawyer, was aggressed after taking her child from the kindergarten (...) I heard that a carter pretended to whip the horse, but instead he hit her. Then we all ran. All the Romanian citizens on the list ran."¹⁶⁸ Some Romanians were forced to participate in the protest strikes and demonstrations subsequent to the events in Tg. Mures; Cosa Veronica from Tg. Secuiesc said: "They forced us to join them in their manifestations and had we refused, they would have said we were against them".¹⁶⁹ As for the manifestation in Baraolt, Croitoru Dumitru stated UDMR telephoned all me units around Tg. Mures; I have never seen so many Magyars and Szecklers together in Baraolt (...). At 10,30, a lorry came up in front of all those people and it was turned into a platform; people would go up there and speak about what had happened in Tg. Mures¹⁷⁰. Mr. Croitoru also said: "When I got off the platform, our people made a cordon to protect us from being hurt, but it was useless (...). They claimed that the Romanians left the town. The following days they started threatening us on the phone, or leaving threats in our mailboxes, drawing crosses, telling us that if we didn't leave our dwellings would turn into a graveyard."¹⁷¹Croitoru Gabriela added: "I was hit and pushed over when I got off the platform. I was lucky to be surrounded by a few people who protected me".¹⁷² After the meeting in Baraolt, because of the tensioned atmosphere, many Romanian families left: Tamasila, Manolescu, Fletan, Miron, Manea, Bondoc, Croitoru, Moldovan, Carausu, Gherlan. The Manolescus found that the tyres of their ear had been cut flat.¹⁷³

Over 10,000 Szecklers and Magyars took part in a demonstration in Gheorghieni; they passed by the Orthodox parish and attacked it with metal balls and stones, meaning to kill the priest named PTnzaru.¹⁷⁴ In several units in the two counties pressures were made against the Romanian employees. This is what an engineer said: "On March 20th, I was at the office and I was asked out by two Magyars. About 300 workers from the 1st shift were gathered in front of the office. Nagy asked me if I knew anything about the events in Tg. Mures. The tone of his voice was very threatening.(...) Gergely Tibor warned me to leave the unit immediately accusing me of being the Securitate informer and of sending Romanians to Tg. Mures".¹⁷⁵ None of those accusations were founded, and they were only pretexts for getting this Romanian engineer out of the unit. At that time, vast areas from Harghita and Covasna were purposefully isolated from the rest of country. A teacher from Tg. Secuiesc stated: "The post office said they could only get in touch with the firemen. After the events in Tg. Mures they could not get in touch with other locality."¹⁷⁶ In different strategical points, the roads were blocked so that nobody could enter the area through the normal communication ways. An eye witness said: "On March 20th, when all the units were on general strike, and a meeting was to be organized, all the access ways to the town were carefully watched. To the Bicaz Gorges, beyond Lacul Rosu (The Red Lake), the forest was cut and the road was blocked with fir-trees. After that, they declared that the Moldavians came and stole the trees. At Ditrau, the road was blocked with concrete, to keep Romanians from the area of Toplita”¹⁷⁷ The Romanian organizations were all labelled as fascist and ironguardist, and the public meetings claimed that they be forbidden.¹⁷⁸ On March 20th, a meeting took place in Miercurea-Ciuc and a list was read in front of the participants; the list included the names of several Romanians. I had the feeling that the crowd was incited to violence and even crime. At the county hospital of St. Gheorghe all the Magyar staff went on strike, on March 23rd, 1990. The polyclinic surgery of doctor lacob Aurel was devastated, and all the windows of his house were broken.179 The strikes organized by the UDMR offices in all localities practically blocked the entire economic process in the two counties. On March 21st, 1990 the Romanian church in Baraolt was devastated, all its windows were broken, some of the paintings were scratched and the swastica was drawn on the walls.¹⁸⁰ On March 21st, a demonstration was organized in Sf. Gheorghe; over 15,000 Magyarstook part in it, as a solidarity sign with the ones in Tg. Mures. The chairman of the Provisional Council of the Covasna county told the participants they will get 50 per cent of their pay during the strike.¹⁸¹ On March 21-22nd, in Sf. Gheorghe 11 persons of Magyar nationality gathered in front of the Prefect's Office, saying: "We are from Tg. Mures and we are here because we need your help. Those with Hungarian blood running through their veins should be here with us. "¹⁸² Lists with citizens of Romanian nationality were displayed in different public places and the word "Death!"¹⁸³ was on the mouths of the people. Several demonstrations were held; the participants claimed that the Magyar language be introduced as an official language and that a total separation of the educational system should come into force.¹⁸⁴ In most of the units, the Szecklers and the Magyars blocked the access ways, the electric power was interrupted and the switchboard was guarded by men with clubs.¹⁸⁵ Alarming rumours were spread, according to which the Romanians would need a passport to go to Romania, as Transylvania will be taken by Hungary.¹⁸⁶ At the same time, they said that the conflicts in the area will only stop if Romania would be split into three autonomous principalities: Transylvania, Moldavia and Wallachia.¹⁸⁷ A few days before the May 20th elections, many gypsies from Cristuru Secuiesc complained that commissions of Szecklers and Magyars went from house to house, warning them that if they did not side with the Hungarians, the Romanians would come and take them to camps.¹⁸⁸

Another street anti-Romanian demonstration took place in Miercurea-Ciuc on June 13th, 1990 as a retort to the events in Bucharest. At about 4.30p.m., a group of people, among whom Bogoy Zsolt, AkosBenedek, Kanda Gergely, Juncsak Levente came to the police headquarters asking them to replace the Romanian plate. They tore out the Romanian plate and they trod it under their feet. Eventually, there were about 2,000 participants in this demonstration. Although the plate was replaced, the participants started shouting anti-Romanian slogans: "Lousy Romanians". "Iliescu, don't forget Transylvania is not your land!"¹⁸⁹ "Away with the Romanians!" "Now or never!". Among those who incited people to violence there were intellectuals too, such as the case was with Nagy Antal, a teacher, and other teachers present there. As we have mentioned the details concerning this demonstration in a special chapter, we would only like to point to the fact that the Romanians' situation had worsened. A police officer said: "On June 13th, 1990, in Miercurea-Ciuc, 10-15 Magyar citizens came after me at my former place of residence."¹⁹⁰Even in the Romanian Parliament, an interpellation was made: "After the expressed attitudes of our colleagues in Transylvania about the Bucharest events of June 13-15, 1990, their families became the target of ceaseless attacks, hence being forced to take refuge at their relatives and friends. (...) These threats are obvious proofs that today, in Romania, only one ethnic minority is threatened, aggressed and oppressed, namely the Magyarized Romanians in Harghita and Covasna."¹⁹¹ It was of the few expressed attitudes as far as we know, when the matters were outspoken, giving up diplomacy which had been meant to avoid the "hurting" of the UDMR MPs.

On August 15th, 1990, a demonstration took place in front of the St. Gheorghe prefect's office; the Szecklers and the Magyars shouted their slogans and forced their way into the courtyard of the institution.¹⁹²

All the street demonstrations of the Szecklers and Magyars co-ordinated by the UDMR had in view: to cultivate the peoples distrust in the political leadership of the country who had been accused of chauvinism; to artificially create a state of general fear psychosis concerning the threat over the Magyar minority; to spread irredentist theses regarding the autonomy of Transylvania and its annexation to Hungary. No categorical retort was initiated by the Romanians in the two counties, not even when they faced obvious nationalistic, chauvinistic and irredentist manifestations, for fear of the violent actions that would have followed. They nevertheless handed letters and memoirs to the officials in Bucharest, to the new representative institutions of the power; despite all these, in those difficult moments, the Romanian citizens felt abandoned. Within this context, the "fait accompli" policy of the UDMR gave excelent results, and the situation was eventually settled, brought to "peace", a "peace" motivated as follows by a Romanian woman: "Now they have no one to pick on-she was referring to vioJent actions- as we are now only an element of decor."¹⁹³

We end this chapter quoting the words of school teacher Stefu Rodica who witnessed the events: "I have never heard of one Magyar complaining he had been driven away by the Romanians. I would surely want to hear someone say: The Romanians sent us away. Why are they chasing us?"¹⁹⁴