the Truth about Us
and Will Cease to Believe the False Allegations
of Those Who Have
Made Life Impossible for Us
In
Harghita county, right after December 22, 1989, on the initiative of several
persons-LaszloffiPall, Papp Kineses Emese, KovacsJanos, Katona Adam, Rokaly
Laszlo, Nagy Benedek and others-several meetings were held, in which the
decision was made concerning the dismissal of Romanian school headmasters and
the separation of the sections, the foundation of new schools teaching in
Hungarian.1 At the county school
inspectorates of Covasna and Harghita, some radical measures were put into
practice; most of the Romanian inspectors were dismissed, with no explanation,
and preparations were made for their immediate replacement with Szeckler and
Magyar inspectors. In Harghita county, the general
inspector was driven away from the inspectorate building, Laszlofi Pal was
named head of the training section; mention should be made of the fact that he
had been general inspector between 1980 and 1984 and he had been dismissed
after some unlawful acts he had committed at the Economic Highschool in
Gheorghieni-cooked class rolls, false diplomas.2
The actions of total Magyarization of the training in this area were grounded
on the idea that, during the communist regime, the education institutions in
Magyar were almost completely suppressed, which is false. At the beginning of
the school-year 1989-1990, the statistics of the educational units with tuition
in Magyar stood as follows, at a national level:
|
|
Number of
schools |
|
Kindergartens
Primary school General school Highschools Vocational schools TOTAL |
929 408 700
107 21453 |
It
was more that once than the Szeckler and Magyar teachers reiterated the fact
that "the Romanians had mistreated them long enough", and that now
"they wanted to live freely, and feel as they were in a small
Hungary."7 As a retort, a
Romanian teacher said: "In the trade almost all of them were Magyars and
they would attend the citizens in a preferential manner. We have
"oppressed" them if oppression means that there was only one Romanian
in the People's Council, or 3 or 4 doctors of Romanian nationality worked in
the hospitals."
In
the schools were the Szecklers and the Magyars held a majority, the meetings
were held in Magyar8 only, starting
December 1989. The Romanian teachers were handed a summary of the talks and
they were faced with decisions already taken, being totally put to inferiority.
This is what teacher Pop E. Melania said: "The
problems started as early as the first meeting, after the setting up of the
provisional organization of the local power. In the end, after undemocratic
elections, only one Romanian was named, although there were 22 out of 47
participants. Therefore, I consider it normally that the board were half
Romanian, half Magyar. Then, we were separated, and we were told the schools
had to be separated and that we had been given another building."9 In some cases, the Romanian teachers
were told, in Magyar, "I assume you have understood how the matter
stands" but they were completely ignorant of the discussions. In other cases, the Szeckler and the Magyar teachers
asked the Romanian ones: "Why all the trouble? We have always been an Autonomous
Magyar Region after all."10 In
many schools the treatment was even more brutal, and the Romanian pupils and
teachers were chased away from schools. On January 17,
1990, teacher Papp Kineses Emese from Miercurea-Ciuc, later a secretary of the
UDMR in the town, gave a categorical warning to the Romanian pupils'parents:
"As of tomorrow, the children in the Romanian tuition classes are no
longer to come to this school."11
We have a relevant declaration concerning the
atmosphere in the schools of the two counties: "During the past two terms,
the atmosphere was very tensioned. During the breaks, the Magyar teachers would
insult the Romanian ones. They were glad about the trouble in the
country."12 The foreign languages departments dismissed the
Romanian teachers; the Magyar teachers used as an excuse the fact that the
pupils did not understand Romanian. 13
Many addresses were sent to the Ministry of
Education, communicating the fact that in the near future the Romanian teachers
would not be given any chairs . In every school in Harghita and Covasna, the
Szeckler and the Magyar teachers were eager to get rid of their fellow Romanian
teachers. Cioponea Ovidiu, teaching mathematics, stated: "I was told-by
the Szecklers and the Magyars-that if they did not take action, later they
wouldn't be able to do anything."14 Gh. Sora, Minister of Education,
was often warned as to the state of affairs at that time. This is another declaration from one of the teachers:
"I was at Mr. Sora 7 times but no measure was taken to stop this
Magyarization process of the education system in that area. The tension between
the Romanian and the Magyar teachers burst out right after December 1989, and
that was a time when people lived in a perfect chaos. In this respect, a
Romanian teacher said: "Before this-December 22, 1989-there were no tensions
between us-the Romanian and the Magyar teachers.15
We only had problems with some isolated teachers (...). What can be said about
the actions concerning education? I don't know of any coordinated, but
organized actions. I am sure." The Romanian
teachers really opposing these actions-very few, as most of them were
scared-were threatened, hurt and humiliated during the meetings in the common
room, "Mrs Szocs held a meeting where I was insulted; she said I tried to
stand against the psychical growth of the children, therefore I had to face
30-40 parents."16 Those who did
not understand they had to leave immediately, were threatened and forced to
leave the localities at once. The Romanian children
from other places were sent back to where they had come from. "There were
boardschools where the children from Piatra-Neamt were beaten and told to go
back to Moldavia."17 The training of the teachers was hence held in Magyar,
and there were cases where the reference material had been brought from
Hungary. Thus, in such a meeting in Tg. Secuiesc, where a Romanian teacher took
part, a tape from Hungary was played, then, after the talks in Magyar, the
training was ended.18 When the
Romanian teachers protested against the separation of the Romanian and Magyar
sections, they were threatened with dismissal. This
is the declaration of one of the teachers: "They told us that they would
fire us anyway. Their purpose was to do away with the Romanian language,
forcing the Romanians to leave, as they did not know Magyar."19 At the
Harghita School Inspectorate, the Romanian teachers left without jobs were
presented a list with Magyar teachers all over the country, with whom they
might have exchanged places.20 The
atmosphere in the small towns-where Romanian teachers worked-became tormenting.
A teacher from Odorhei made the following statement:
"Before December 1989 we would greet each other in the street, whereas
after wards they avoided us, as if we were evil. It was for the first time I
was afraid to speak Romanian."21
A
Romanian teacher from Odorhei asked: "What will happen to us?'' A Magyar
colleague answered him: "Let them go beyond the Carpathians because the
country is large and beautiful."22
A Magyar teacher addressed a Romanian teacher:
"You, the teachers, the pupils, must take everything and leave the
school."23 In
some cases, such as in Odorhei, the Romanians were threatened that the Magyar
population would be incited against them. A Magyar teacher said: "If you
don't leave here the population of Odorhei will throw you out."24 Even the parents of the Romanian pupils were warned to send
their children to other places. A Magyar told a Romanian: "Take the girls
away from here because it's going to be a hard time. Romanians will all have to
leave."25 The
Magyar pupils were so incited that some of them even refused to give their
control papers in Romanian telling the teachers they were on strike.26 At the
classes of Dezso Emilia and Ivanov Leon from the "Salomon Emo"
Highschool the pupils refused to write in Romanian.27
All the vindictive actions were turned against the
Romanian pupils. In Gheorghieni, many of the Romanian pupils were threatened
with knives by their Magyar schoolmates.28
Stan Aurelia, a Romanian pupil, stated: "On
the train, coming back from Brasov, the Magyars in my compartment insulted us
when they heard us speaking Romanian.”29 The father of a Romanian girl student tells us about the
humiliation endured by his daughter and the Romanian schoolmates: "Right
after the Revolution, on entering the school, the Magyar children made a lane
and whenever a Romanian pupil passed, they would hit him in the back (...).
This lasted for days on end and my daughter was full of bruises".30 Even some
Magyar teachers became violent. Girl student Gherman Codruta from the Sanitary
Highschool said: "I asked the teacher to allow me to go to town. He asked
me why I insisted and he hit me. I left Odorhei because I could not take it any
more and I left the town for a place where I could be treated as a human."31 In Covasna,
the boardschool for Romanian pupils was devastated by a Magyar convict helped
by several gypsies.32
Teacher Oprea Maria from Tg. Secuiesc said:
"Some of the pupils got low marks in Romanian. I asked them to give me
their notebooks. One of the pupils spat on the notebook, threw it on the floor
and destroyed it. He told me he couldn't stand Romanian, he couldn't even bear
hearing it on the street."33 At
the beginning of January 1990, 129 pupils from the Romanian section in Harghita
and Covasna-The Odorhei Sanitary Highschool-left the town and went to the
Sanitary Highschool in Brasov. The main cause was
the fact that the Magyar teachers refused to go to classes, to the Romanian
classes, and the pupils were threatened. The Romanians did not feel safe
anymore. Of the entire Romanian section there were only 13 pupils left in the
9th-12th grades, and they were either Magyars or coming from mixed
families."34 According to Marc
Mariana, "the Magyar teachers refused to go to the classes with Romanian
tuition. We were even afraid to go out in town, or to speak Romanian. The Magyar teachers threatened us all the time. The
Romanian pupils from counties of Harghita and Covasna decided to transfer to
the Sanitary Highschool in Brasov, where they could go on with their studies.35 Some of
the Magyar pupils addressed the Romanian teachers using phrases like "When
are you going to leave, you Romanian?"36
The School in Covasna was devastated after the
meeting in Baraolt on March 21, 1990.37
But there were few cases when the Magyar pupils
came crying to the teachers, because they wanted to go on with their studies in
Romanian, but they were threateneed that in this case they would not be allowed
to finish highschool.38 Some of the Romanian teachers were thrown out by the
pupils who told them that they would study even the Romanian language in
Magyar.39 According
to the Communique no. 12 of April 4th, 1990, the presence of the Romanian
tuition classes troubled the entire educational process in the Magyars' mother
tongue.40
There were cases when the Magyar parents protested against their
children being moved to the Magyar section; a Magyar teacher, Nagy Rozalia,
tried to convince two of her pupils to make their parents understand that they
had a Magyar soul and consciousness.41
Professor Gyorgy Janos made the following "appeal" at this
physics class: "The Romanian pupils are not allowed at my class."42
The Romanian teachers were told they could keep their jobs if they
taught in Magyar.43
One important moment of
the Magyarization process of the education system in Harghita and Covasna was
the naming of new headmasters, after the events in December 1989. In Harghita
this took place in January 10-12, 1990. The Romanian
directors were dismissed and Szeckler and Magyar headmasters were put in their
places. At General School no. 1 in Miercurea due-Sandor Denes, at the General
School no. 9-Mandel Laszd. At the Harghita School Inspectorate, the former
party secretary Kovacs Janos still held his position, whereas all his Romanian
colleagues, except one-married to a Hungarian woman-were dismissed.44 On February
5, 1990, during a meeting at the Covasna School Inspectorate, only 50 of the
120 Romanian teachers were invited. General Inspector Szasz made a proposition
to split the Romanian schools from the Magyar ones. Romanian teachers Stoica
Eugen, Mares Felicia, Calotescu Narcis, Iliescu Mariana opposed, showing that
this initiative would lead to the destabilization of education during the
school year45 and would generate
dramatic situations for the Romanian teachers.
On February 1, 1990, 29 Romanian teachers left the county. In
September 1990, out of 64 school headmasters only 7 were Romanians.46 As
for the situation of the deputy headmasters, the Ministry of Education had made
it clear that where there were Romanian pupils, the Romanians had the right to
be represented in the leadership, and the deputy headmaster had to be Romanian.
This stipulation was only observed in a few schools. Nicoara Manuela Carmen
said: "They said that the deputy headmaster was to replace the headmaster
when the latter was missing, therefore, he had to be Magyar too. Everybody
voted then, the whole staff, and the deputy director was a Magyar
eventually."47
In
order to demonstrate the fact that even during the communist regime the
Szecklers and the Magyars were well represented in the leadership of the
education institutions, we shall give a few examples: The Industrial Highschool
in Odorhei had two headmasters in 1990, a Romanian and a Magyar, 36 classes, 6
of which were in Romanian tuition, 29 in Magyar. In 1990, out of 51 classes
there were only two with Romanian tuition, the remaining 49 being in Magyar
tuition.48 At the "Tamasi
Aron" Highschool in Odorhei, in 1980 the school was run by two
headmasters, a Romanian and a Magyar; in 1990 both headmasters were Magyar, 5
classes were in Romanian tuition and 23 in Magyar. We have given all these
examples to demonstrate the fact that the forced Magyarization process over the
education system was enforced over a brief period of time.
The Romanian teachers
from the two counties continued to be persecuted. On January 17,1990 the
Ministry of Education issued the following address: "In support of the
reorganization of the tuitional training of the ethnic minorities, the teachers
making the subject of the reorganization process, beginning the second term of
this year, have priority in taking the chairs from other localities, enabling
them to get closer to their families. This is also
meant to satisfy the justified requests of the teachers from the ethnic
minorities. To this respect, the school inspectorates should answer these
requests favourably as soon as possible."49
Gheorghe Sora, then Minister of Education, ignored the fact that, by this
acknowledgment, he practicaly left hundreds of Romanian teachers without jobs,
because, in most of the cases, they stood no chance to take their chairs in
other counties, but they received their chairs according to the score they got,
depending on their experience and grades. On the other hand, the dwelling
problem was a difficult matter to solve.
Under these
circumstances, the Romanian teachers who left were confronted for months on end
with the difficulty of finding dwellings, having had to live in the meantime in
workers' or students' hostels. There was a perfect similitude between the
leaving of the Romanian teachers and of the pupils studying at the Romanian
section. Thus, at the Medical High School in Odorhei, within a very short while,
out of 131 Romanian pupils only 9 remained, mostly from mixed families. Out of
23 Romanian teachers, who taught in the high schools in Odorhei, 10 left from
the Teacher-training High School alone. After January 1990, 29 Romanian
teachers left the general schools. At High School No. 1 in Miercurea Ciuc, the
Magyar students in the 11th and 12th grades said, in a first stage, that they
wanted to finish their studies at this section. As a
result of the pressures put on them by their Magyar teachers and parents, the
students "changed" their minds asking to study at the Magyar section.
Within a relatively short period of time, 5 Romanian teachers left
Cristuru-Secuiesc, 12-Gheorghieni, 28-Odorhei, 30-Miercurea-Ciuc, 10-Vlahita,
50-the rural areas; the figures refer to the Harghita County.50 Between December 22,
1989-September 1, 1990, 10 Romanian teachers left the General School No. 3 in
Tg. Secuiesc alone, due to the reorganization of education.
After the events in Targu Mures, the Romanian students got often beaten
up by their Magyar schoolmates, as a teacher highlighted in his deposition:
"The Magyar pupils stormed in an 8th grade of Romanian children and beat
them up. They used to do it the way they had seen in the Tg. Mures heatings.
They entered the classrooms with wooden boards, spat at them, beat them
up."51
Another wide-scope step of the Magyarization process of education was
the change of the names of school institutions, an action which had no legal
basis, as will be seen below. Thus, according to Decision No. 31/1990, passed
on February 28, 1990, the town hall of the Covasna County decided the change of
the names of several schools in the county with names of more or less reputed
Magyar or Szeckler personalities. Thus, the High
School of Mathematics-Physics in Sf. Gheorghe became "Szekely Miko
Kollegium", the Industrial High School No. l became "Puskas
Tivador", the Industrial High School No. 2- "Mikes Kelemen", the
Industrial High School No. 2 in Tg. Secuiesc-"Gabor Aron", the
Industrial High School Covasna-"Korosi C. Sandor", the Industrial
High School Baraolt-"Baroti Szabo David", the General School No. 2
Tg. Secuiesc-"Barabas Miklos".52
In the Covasna County, only 2 high schools, one
general school and 3 kindergartens preserved their Romanian names. In
Gheorghieni, Harghita County, most of the schools also received the names of
Szeckler or Magyar personalities: General School No. l-“Fagarassy Mihaly”,
General School No. 2-"Kos Karoly", General School No.
5-"Karacsony Janos."53 The change of all the names of the education
institutions in the two counties was illegal, since during the 1st trimester
1990 was still in force Decree No. 386/0ctober 27, 1977, which was abrogated on
March 14, 1990 by the Decree-Law No. 100.54
On February 26, 1990, an address was sent to the Central Office of the
State Administration which required clarifications related to the action of
changing the names of school institutions, but the answer was no longer waited
for, the said decision being issued only two days later. On
June 26, 1990, the Covasna County School Inspectorate informed Bucharest that
new names had been given to over 30 schools, of which only two had Romanian
names, the rest of 28 bearing the names of Magyar and Szeckler personalities:
"Benko Janos", "Baroti Szabo David", "Puskas
Tivadar", "Tatrangi Sandor", "Barbath Karoly", "Kriza
Janos", etc. The carrying out of these measures was made through Budapest
rather than through Bucharest, numerous delegations of teachers and inspectors
paying visits to Hungary.55 There were signalled intentions of completely
detaching the education in the two counties from Romania's Ministry of
Education with education remaining under the control of the prefect's offices-56
The UDMR (Democratic
Union of the Magyars in Romania) undertook ample actions to "repair"
the mistakes made in certain school units related to the driving away of the
Romanian teachers and pupils. Thus, on the first day of the 3rd trimester of
the school year 1989-1990, several parents of the Magyar pupils were
"mobilized" to express their "protest" as to the leaving of
the Romanian pupils from the Teacher-training High School Odorheiu Secuiesc.
This protest sounded as follows: "We request the Romanian section continue
to function since we have the guarantee that the pupils will become capable
schoolmasters in a prestigious school". The "protest" was signed
by 18 persons who, seemingly, did no longer recall the difficult moments
experienced by the Romanian teachers and pupils who were forced to leave that
school institution. They made this "protest" when in that school
there were no more Romanian teachers, but only a few Romanian pupils from mixed
families.
In Odorheiul Secuiesc
there was decided the setting up of a Romanian language high school,
"Marin Preda", where, out of the 28 teachers, 13 were Romanians and
15 Magyars. Here, the Romanian teachers did not say that they did not want to
see any Magyar in the school, as their Magyar colleagues had done a little
while before!
At
present, in Covasna County there are 3 schools for orphan children-of whom 90%
are Romanians-who are actually Magyarized and cannot express themselves in
Romanian, since they are taught only in Hungarian.57
The Romanian teachers who tried to resist the pressures put on them to
make them leave were repeatedly threatened in writing-the papers were signed
RMDSZ (the initials of UDMR in Magyar)-more often than not in vulgar terms, to
leave the area.58
At
the Industrial High School Baraolt, several Magyar pupils who studied at the
Romanian section were expelled on January 23, 1990 by deputy headmaster Gyorgy
Janos who told them "all Romanians out".59
7 pupils attested to this, of whom 6 were Magyars. One of the Magyar girl students, from the High School
in Baraolt, stated that she was coerced by teacher Nagy Rozalia to study in
Hungarian, although she wanted to further study in Romanian.60
Between December 22,
1989-April 22, 1990, the reorganization of education in Covasna County forced
to leave 53 teachers of history, geography, philosophy, mathematics. On
November 1990, out of some 400 persons who left the Covasna County, over 170
were teachers who had to look for jobs in other counties.
By
May 1991, as a result of the reorganization of education, of pressures, threats
or molestations, 408 teachers of Romanian nationality left the Covasna County.61 In view of the dramatic situation,
as early as May 26, 1990 the Romanian teachers and the parents of the Romanian
students addressed a "Protest" to the Ministry of Education and to Romania's
Government denouncing the actions of deslabilization of education by Szecklers
and Magyars. The "Protest" was signed by 1700 persons and was meant
to draw the attention of central bodies on the danger that threatened the
Romanian-language education.62
Concomitantly
with the leaving of the Romanian teachers from the Harghita and Covasna
Counties, the coming in was organized of teachers of Magyar nationality from
other localities; within a relatively short period of time there were recorded
very many transfer applications. As a result of the
massive displacement of Romanian teachers from Covasna County, this is what the
general situation in 1991 was: out of 1832 teachers, only 180 were of Romanian
nationality, the rest of 1652 being Szecklers and Magyars. Mention should be
made that in 1989 the situation stood as follows: out of 1792 teachers, 487
were Romanians and 1305 were Szecklers and Magyars.63
And to make things even clearer as to the fact that the Romanian-language education
was strongly affected in Covasna County, we provide below fairly telling
statistical data:
|
Grades 1989 |
Total students |
Romanian
sections |
Magyar sections |
||
|
9th grade 10th grade 11th grade 12th grade |
1149 2384 1332 1149 |
37 41 22 21 |
29 27 15 13 |
||
|
Grades 1990 |
Romanian
sections |
Magyar sections |
|||
|
9th grade 10th grade 11th grade 12th grade |
16 15 6 6 |
51 50 19 20 |
|||
After the December 1989 events, large amounts of history and geography
school books from Hungary were brought in the Covasna and Harghita Counties,
and the students learned from them.66
In
Odorheiu Secuiesc, from a car arrived from Hungary thousands of copies were
distributed of the work "The History of Transylvania", published in
Budapest. In February 1990, the Ministry of Education sent a special note that
forbade the teaching after school books printed in Hungary in the Covasna and
Harghita Counties.67 The note was not
observed and the school books were further used. The impact upon the Magyar
students was prompt, many of them acquiring a faked image on the history of
Transylvania.
During the exam sessions that took place in Tg. Secuiesc, Baraolt,
Covasna, Sf. Gheorghe, the candidates of Romanian nationality were repeatedly
put back till they gave up standing for the exams, or sometimes they were sent
back from the gates of the high schools, being told that there was no need for
Romanians.68
In most cases, the educational facilities of
the Romanian-language high schools were taken over by the Magyar high schools,
the same thing happening with the archives-for instance, the archives of the
Industrial High School No. 2 Sf. Gheorghe (now "Mihai Viteazul") were
entirely taken over by "Mikes Kelemen" High School.69
The members of the County School Inspectorates
took training courses in Hungary, trying to introduce similar principles into
the Romanian education system.70
During the interethnic conflicts in Targu Mures, the students of the
schools in Covasna and Harghita Counties were rallied by UDMR, going on strikes
as a token of solidarity with the Magyars, courses were disrupted and the
Romanian teachers who wanted to go on with their activities were sent home.71 Likewise, the Romanian students were
prevented from attending classes, telling in this respect being the deposition
of teacher Dinu Mirela, living at the time in Sf. Gheorghe: "On March 22,
1990, the Romanian students were prevented from entering the classroom by
Magyar students bearing white bands on their sleeves "Many Romanian
students were abused, humiliated or molested by their school mates of Magyar
nationality. This is what a Romanian student
stated: "The undersigned, Stavila Sorin Dmniiru, a student in grade 7th-A,
declare that on March 22, 1990, during the break, before the mathematics class,
a boy from grade 7th-C, swarthy and black-haired, Otvos by his name, came to me
and asked me whether I was a Romanian. I answered in the affirmative. Upon
which, he started to beat me".72 A Romanian girl student from the Industrial High School Covasna
was threatened by the Magyar students Fazekas Levente and Caspar Csaba that
they would throw her out of the window unless she speaks Hungarian.73 Between March 19-21, 1990, several
Romanian students had to transfer themselves to schools located in localities
with a majority Romanian population because of the attitude of their Magyar
school mates. Here is the content of such a
transfer application: "The undersigned, Suciu Toader, domiciled in the
village Izvorul Muresului No. 261, a student at the "Salamon Erno"
High School in Gheorghieni, grade 9th-A, electrical engineering, ask you to
consent to my transfer from this high school to the Industrial High School No.
1 in Toplita, since on January 19, 1990, I was driven out of school by my
Magyar schoolmates, and told not to set foot there again."74
The Romanian-language teaching schools still function in inadequate
quarters, the most telling example being "Marin Preda" High School in
Odorhei, where the Romanian teachers and students are deprived of laboratories
and classrooms likely to ensure an adequate education process.75 This is the only Romanian-language
high school in the entire town, having to function in extremely poor conditions.
At the end of the school
year, in the two counties, in several schools the students sang the Szecklers'
anthem, since they did not know Romania's national anthem.
As
regards the leaving of Romanian teachers from Harghita County, the County
School Inspectorate considered (tendentiously) that this phenomenon could be
accounted for by the following: the forced appointments of faculty graduates,
the decision of the FSN (National Salvation Front) on compulsory probation
term, the phone note No-9252/January, 18, 1990 regarding transfers, in the wake
of the reorganization of the mother-tongue education of national minorities;
the smaller number of classes per teacher created vacancies in several towns.76 There was no mention of the fact that the Romanian
teachers were literally driven out of schools, being told that they no longer
belonged there. On November 2, 1990, a note signed by
the Covasna County School Inspectorate read: "The teaching staff of
Romanian nationality had been appointed by force, on the first opportunity
after the Revolution the; required to leave the county.. .."77 Only that the two counties, beside
young teachers with a few year's practice, were left also by those who had been
working in this area for 15-20 years. Here are a few
examples in this respect: Manolache Gheorghe and Manolache Doina-15 years, Pop
Horea and Pop Monica-14 years. Hie Stefan and Hie Elena-14 years, Mares Ioan-16
years.78 This
is what stated teacher Mincu Viorica from Odorhei: "Lady, you may have
your own way, we shall never hurt you, but we won't be able to defend you
against Magyar parents.”79 Mincu
Florea, a teacher of chemistry and physics at General School No. 6 in Odorhei,
was told by his Magyar and Szeckler colleagues to come to classes no longer
since his presence might create trouble. Teacher
Florice Ene from Gheorghieni testified that when she came back to school after
the winter holidays the management of the school notified her: “We are sorry,
you no longer have a chair, unless you learn Magyar..."80 A family of young teachers from
Odorhei stated: "Odorheiu Secuiesc meant to me and my wife our first home,
"We were together after our first marriage year. We
wouldn't have left Odorhei, we had an apartment there, we had managed to buy
furniture, we also have a young child. Things went well in school too, we had
very good students, so we had no intention to leave the town."81 Teacher
Voda Valer from the Teacher-training High School in Odorhei said: "In the
wake of events that took place there, I had-against my wilt-to leave
Odorhei (...) As an eye-witness, while assuming all responsibility, I assert
with all my conviction and in full awareness that what happened in that
beautifull town beats any man's imagination."82
Concerning the leaving
of Romanian teachers from Harghita County, Pop E. Melania stated: "School
inspector Kovacs Janos said that 180 teachers of Magyar nationality came to
replace the 240 teachers who left the county after the Revolution. Mr. Kovacs is directly responsible for the
destabilization of education in Harghita County, in spite of our applications
for activity diminution which we were compelled to fill in. We decided to leave
the place also because we did not want our daughter to grow up in that milieu,
to see her verbally abused or beaten up because she is Romanian (as it happened
to the children of Roman Lazar family)."83
After the reorganization
of education, at certain schools in Harghita County an extra number of Magyar
students were admitted without standing for an exam. Thus, as related to the
situation created at the Teacher-training High School in Odorhei, teacher Valer
Voda stated: "The management set up three classes
for Magyar students without an exam, without checking their knowledge (...) Our
number grew ever thinner. My colleague and I were the last to leave Odorhei.
Little before that, a Magyar colleague, teacher Vovkori Laszlo told us:
"if you don't leave the school you'll come to regret it". Another
Magyar colleague said: "You Romanians would better leave and stay away for
at least 5 years'."84
Regarding the tight
atmosphere in the two counties, teacher Nicoara M. Carmen stated: "No
physical pressure was put on us, but there was an overwhelming psychic
atmosphere: our Magyar colleagues in the school would no longer answer our
greeting, and when we went downtown and asked something in Romanian we were
answered in Hungarian. Hadn't it been for the
December 1989 events, we wouldn't have left the county either, because we had
nothing in Galap, in Bucharest it would have been even harder; we had here our
friends and home (...) Now we have to solve up the problem of the dwelling."85 The teaching staff of Romanian
nationality-we refer here to the families of young graduates-experienced much
suffering both during the communist regime-being separated by appointments in
different places-as well as after the December 1989 events, when they were
forced to leave their jobs in Harghita and Covasna counties. The dramatism of the situation is tellingly mirrored
by the deposition of teacher Chelaru Mihai from General School No. 10 in
Miercurea-Ciuc: "I was a victim of Ceausescu's regime, forced to leave my
residence in Slobozia and live with my wife and child in the boarding High
School No. l in Miercurea-Ciuc..."86
Along the same line, teacher Listeveanu Mariana from Miercurea-Ciuc
underlined: "We did not leave the town of our own will, but nobody can
help us."87 A lady teacher who left Covasna for Bucharest stated:
"I don't manage to get myself an apartment, I'm now living in a rented
one, the rent is very high, I really don't know how long I can go on like
this."88
We provided these
examples, using the words of the people directly involved in the events, to
demonstrate the fact that the Romanian teachers did not leave Harghita and
Covasna counties of their own will-as the School Inspectorates alleged-but they
were forced to do so by the circumstances created by their Magyar and Szeckler
colleagues.
In
spite of the numerous cases of forced leavings, the former deputy minister of
the Ministry of Education at the time, Demeny, declared serenely that he knew
but 2 cases: a history teacher and the former general school inspector of
Harghita county, Nicu Vrabie.89
Between 1990-1991, the schools in the two counties were discriminately
financed, the Romanian ones receiving much smaller earmarkings than the Magyar
ones. Here are a few examples meant to illustrate the above: High School
"Marton Aron"-Miercurea Ciuc- 6,834,000 Lei, High School "Tamasi
Aron'-Odorheiu Secuiesc- 6,598,000 Lei, Teacher training High School Odorhei-
5,642.000 Lei, "Marin Preda" High School-888,000 Lei! The obvious
discrepancy needs no further commentary.90
At
the level of school unit managements, from where the Romanian teachers and
students had been driven away. there took place ample actions meant to
disinform the central bodies. Thus, the management of the Medical High School
Odorhei asserted: "We hereby declare that the students who left were in no
way driven away from school. At present, too, the educational process is being
carried out botli in Romanian and Hungarian. We have a Romanian section at all
levels."91 What they overlooked
to say is that at that time the school had on its roll only a few students at
the Romanian section-mostly from mixed families-the depositions of the students
who left being entirely relevant as to the way they had been treated by the
Szeckler and Magyar teachers.
At the High School
Baraolt, by February 18,1990, the students at the Romanian section had not had
any class.
As
regards the way the reorganization of education was carried out, here is what a
lady teacher stated: "One day, Nagy Rozalia together with Gyorgy Emese,
Bordocz Ildiko, Gyorgy Janos, Antal Izabella and Benko Pirosko changed all the
class rolls, making up overnight other rolls which featured all the students at
the Magyar section, without consulting the Romanian teachers, thus wishing to
prove that there was no need of a Romanian section in Baraolt."92 The action also extended to the
kindergarten in the town. Croitoru Gabrieia testified: "I was against the
dismemberment of the Romanian groups. From that moment on, the Romanian
children had been isolated, they would stay in a small room, a sort of a closet
where laundry was ironed. The lady director, upon
directions from the headmaster of the high school, from the local UDMR branch,
decided to place these children together with the Magyar groups where they
would have Magyar-language classes as well. They said that the Romanian
children were bound to learn Hungarian, to have a schedule in Hungarian."93
Due to the leaving of Romanian teachers who taught the Romanian
language, their classes were held by teachers of Magyar nationality, who, in
most cases, had no knowledge of the Romanian language. A Romanian teacher
stated in this respect: "The Romanian language classes are held
sporadically, lacking any methodology, sometimes by teachers who do not know
nor would learn the Romanian language."94
The same happened to the history classes, where teachers would teach
after books published in Hungary. About one of these teachers it was said:
"Teacher Garda Dezso takes litly of the history classes, he seldom holds
them, he mostly talks politics. He mocks at the history of Romania. Besides, he
procures his materials from Budapest, from teacher Gyorgy Bela who left Romania
five years ago."95
At the "Solomon
Erno" High School in Gheorghieni, there were two inscriptions-one in
Romanian and one in Hungarian-, the one in Romanian (containing thoughts of
scholar Gheorghe Lazar) was taken off immediately after the reorganization of
education. Mention should be made that in this school the Romanian language had
been taught even before 1940.
After the dismemberment
of the Romanian sections and the departure of the Romanian teachers and
students, in order to demonstrate that Romanian-language tuition is still
provided, classes were set up with one single student even, this being
otherwise a diplomatic action meant to cover the illegalities and abuses in the
previous period.
Over all this period-in spite of the numerous delegations of the
Romanian teachers to Bucharest-the Ministry of Education took no step to put an
end to this exodus of the Romanian teachers from Harghita and Covasna counties.
This is what a teacher stated: "At that time, we had the feeling that we
had been forgotten by the Government, by all those who were in a position to
know the truth and make decisions."96
To further underline the
dramatism of the situation, we publish below the statement of engineer Florin
Gheorghe, who held classes at the High School of Mathematics and Physics in
Miercurea-Ciuc: 'There were terrible moments for me, I was harrassed,
threatened to leave my job, they took away my classes at the High School where
I would teach technical drawing. My apartment was ransacked. The situation had become unbearable not only for me
but also for other Romanians. It was enough to speak Romanian in the street, in
restaurants or on buses and you were immediately aggressed: “When the hell are
you going to leave this place?”97
In
1991, in Covasna county there was a percentage of 23.5% unqualified teachers,
and one of 22.7% in Harghita County. At the chairs of Romanian language, the
number of unqualified teachers raised to a percentage of 30.4% in Covasna and
of 29.8% in Harghita. In the school year 1990-1991, in Covasna County, out of
243 teachers teaching Romanian language. 120 were Szecklers and Magyars, and
Harghita, out of 309 Romanian language teachers, 185 were Szecklers and Magyars.
This was the situation of school
units, per teaching languages, in Harghita County, on November 7,1990:
Tuition level
|
Total |
Romanian section |
Magyar section |
Mixed |
Percentages
|
||
|
Rom. |
Magyar |
Mixed |
|||||
|
Kindergartens |
281 |
27 |
228 |
6 |
9.68 |
81.13 |
92.7 |
|
1 st-4th grade |
147 |
18 |
123 |
6 |
12.24 |
83.67 |
4.08 |
|
5th-8th grade |
126 |
15 |
103 |
8 |
11.90 |
81.74 |
6.34 |
|
High schools |
29 |
5 |
11 |
44 |
17.24 |
27.93 |
44.82 |
|
Vocational Schools |
16 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Finishing schools |
7 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
At present, at an
international level, ample actions are being carried out by Szecklers and
Magyars in Romania, in cooperation with groups in Hungary, to draw the
attention of the European public opinion and of world bodies to a so-called
oppression of ethnic minorities in Romania as regards tuition in their mother
tongue.
In fact, the Government
passed Law No.521/1990 with precise provisions regarding the rights of the
minorities to mother-tongue tuition. Thus, at present, in pre-university
education in Hungarian are enrolled 360.383 students which spells a percentage
of 70.04% from the Magyar school population, the rest having chosen to study in
Romanian. There is a number of 2132 pre-university school units with tuition in
Hungarian, of which 21 high schools, 200 kindergartens, primary and secondary
schools, teacher-training education with tuition in Hungarian only. As regards
Hungarian-language higher education, there is the Babes-Bolyai University in
Cluj, where no administrative separation has been operated, but where there is
a clear division between the degree of teaching in Romanian and Hungarian. At
the Institute of Theatre in Targu Mures and at the Medical School courses are
held in Hungarian. Within the University of Bucharest a Chair of Hungarology
was set up, and within the University of Cluj the Chair of the Lectorate of
Magyar Literary Language and Civilization started operating. These are only a
few examples of facilities granted to the Magyar minority.
With a view to demonstrating
that the rights to mother-tongue tuition of the ethnic minorities are observed
we provide a statistic of the whole network of education units with tuition in
the languages of the ethnic minorities as it was in the school year 1990-1991:
|
Type of Tuition |
Total |
Magyar |
German |
Serbian |
Ukrainian |
Slovakian |
Czech |
Bulgarian |
|
Pre-school |
1122 |
909 |
183 |
12 |
4 |
11 |
2 |
1 |
|
Primary School |
454 |
402 |
29 |
4 |
|
4 |
5 |
- |
|
General School |
898 |
685 |
192 |
11 |
2 |
8 |
|
- |
|
High school |
156 |
136 |
17 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
- |
|
|
Total |
2630 |
2132 |
421 |
28 |
7 |
34 |
7 |
- |
|
Nr. Faculty crt. |
No. of Magyar
students |
No. of Magyar students studying in Hungarian |
Percentage |
|
1. Mathematics |
373 |
105 |
28.2% |
|
2. Physics |
122 |
71 |
58.2% |
|
3. Chemistry |
339 |
. 182 |
53.7% |
|
4. Biology.
Geography. Geology |
88 |
33 |
37.5% |
|
5. Law |
36 |
9 |
25% |
|
6. Economic Sciences |
182 |
- |
- |
|
7.
History-Philosophy |
27 |
14 |
51.9% |
|
8. Letters |
183 |
183 |
100.0% |
|
TOTAL |
1350 |
579 |
44.22% |
|
Type of tuition |
Total school population of Magyar minority |
Total populate attending courses in Hungarian |
Total population attending courses in
Romanian |
|
Pre-school |
59871 |
46489 |
13392 |
|
Primary school General school |
92208 |
74000 |
18208 |
|
High school Vocational |
81553 |
45282 |
26271 |
|
Total |
360383 |
252399 |
107984 |
We deem these figures
relevant enough as to the fact that the Magyar minority as well as the other
ethnic minorities benefit by mother-tongue tuition institutions; whatever is
being said in various Western milieux is nothing but meant to mislead the public
opinion and to compromise the Romanian State.
In spite of what
happened to the Romanian teachers and students in Harghita and Covasna
counties, who were driven out of their own country, at the level of the central
bodies of the Romanian state no sanctioning steps have so far been taken
against those guilty of this, but on the contrary, in order to alleviate
interethnic tensions, laws have been passed sanctioning the rights and
liberties granted to the Szecklers and Magyars in Romania. Moreover, in the areas
with a majority Szeckler and Magyar population, further destabilizing actions
are being carried out, and the exclusivist attitude is maintained against the
Romanian population in the region.
2. Ibidem
3. Ibidem