Under the disguise of
demagogical formulae-like the "purging" from the whole administrative
and political apparatus of the former communists-the Szecklers and the Magyars,
very well coordinated by UDMR and other organizations, removed the Romanians
holding leading positions, forcing many of them to leave the area through threats,
molestations, meetings, etc.
This is what a Romanian ethnic stated in this respect: "The idea
was to remove the Romanians by organizing antidemocratic actions within
enterprises. In Baraolt, although there was no Romanian in a leading position
any more, they nonetheless organized a gathering where they shouted that they
only needed Magyar managers."2
The action of selecting
and appointing civil servants in executive positions was carried out under the
control of the political factors in the local branches of UDMR, under whose
influence were issued all appointing decisions.
The persons of Magyar
nationality who had formerly occupied high positions in the communist hierarchy
were rotated to other high offices; a few examples: Fabian Laszlo, Bedo Maria,
Pataki Emerik, Kovacs Janos, all from Miercurea-Ciuc, who, before December
1989, held leading positions in the communist apparatus. The attempts of post-revolutionary organization aimed
at replacing the Romanians from the leadership of the local bodies of the state
power and administration, from socio-economic institutions. What was questioned
was not professional competence, but ethnic origin; only at a first stage,
between late December 1989 and early January 1990, in Covasna county, after the
appointment as chairman of the provisional revolutionary council of Orban
Arpad, all Romanians from 18 socio-economic units were removed, being replaced
with Szecklers and Magyars.3 There were removed from leading positions even those
Magyars who had friendly feelings for Romanians in the former regime, this
smoothing up the path for extremist measures. To prevent the appointment of
Romanians to the leadership of institutions, they said in several localities
that the managers should know both languages- Romanian and Hungarian-so that
they could cope with all problems.4
Among the Romanians who were removed-as soon as the situation allowed for
it-from the offices they occupied, we mention: Grosu Comeliu from the Harghita County Commercial
Department (he was also threatened), Potor Mircea-a manager at the Meat
Processing Plant, Rus Teodor-President of the Harghita County Court of Justice,
Braic Alexandru-Manager of the State Farm, Caloianu Otilia-Manager at the Milk
Processing Plant-Harghita, Mihaila Elena-Deputy Manager at the post and
Telecommunications Office, Miercurea-Ciuc, Luncan Nicolae-economist, Puiu
Liviu-head of the Tourism Bureau- Harghita, lacob Emilia5-head
of the press department, chief engineer
Barbu Miron from Sf. Gheorghe, who, after 13 years' work in the enterprise had
to leave the town.6 Here is what was stated by Izbasoiu Marcel from Sf.
Gheorghe related to the above: "Many people left because of the threats
and even bearings. The chief of the station left, the priest, the head of the
Forest Department, several Romanian teachers, and others. Signatures are being collected
to force others leave. The head of the UDMR branch is collecting signatures to
remove Garlanescu- another Romanian who must be got rid of"7 In Covasna
County, there were removed from their offices: Gheorghe Constantin-Manager of
the Auto Transportation Enterprise-Sf. Gheorghe, Vasile Nicolae- Manager in Sf.
Gheorghe, Dudu Moise-Forest Department- Secuiesc, Munteanu Horia-Manager of the
Conflux Commercial Company-Sf. Gheorghe.8
Mention must be made
that all these changes were wrapt in a veil of attempted legality, by drawing
up minutes, collecting signatures, by the coordinated action of all Szccklers
and Magyars against any Romanian holding a high office. The "architect" of these fairly smart
actions was UDMR which, through its branches in the two counties, conferred a
unitary character on this action. The Romanian managers, who resisted for a
while, were coerced to put to disadvantage the Romanian employees by paying them
lower salaries to the purpose of making them leave. The following deposition is
quite relevant in this respect: "In point of salaries, they-the Romanians
(ed.n.)-were always at the end of the list, regardless of their work. They were
at the bottom of the list, especially the young ones. I, as a manager, could do
nothing about it. The collective decided. Or, this was preponderanity
Magyar."9 Some of the changes
from offices of the Romanians (at a higher level) were discussed and approved
by the highest executives in the two counties, as was the case of Grosu
Comeliu: "The members of the Executive Bureau agree in unanimity that, as
of February 10, 1990, Grosu Comeliu be removed from his office as Manager of
the Commerial Department of Harghita County, and in his place be appointed Mr.
Santha Pal Vilmos." About the way things were done at other levels, this
is what a person from Miercurea-Ciuc said: "On December 23, 1989, at the Post Office (Post
Department-Miercurea Ciuc) signatures were collected against the Romanians who
belonged there no longer; warnings were posted in the office reading that the
former director from Iasi and I had to leave the office because we were
terrorists (...) Terrorists were all Romanians, only the Romanians. At the
Ciceu railway station they threatened to kill me (...). One of my lady
colleagues told me to leave since we had poisoned them with our Romanian
language. My lady physician friend, who completely changed her behaviour, would
invite me to her place and tell me heavy words. I asked her what I had done to
her. She told me she too could tear my eyes out. The new management cancelled
my work contract (...) A referendum was organized in all post offices and they
went with those signatures to the Ministry to get us dismissed. The postmasters
were threatened to lose their jobs unless they signed."10
During the 8 January
session of the county leadership it was admitted that a number of managers of
economic units, "both Romanian and Magyar" had been replaced. But
they overlooked to say that while the Romanians were replaced by Szecklers and
Magyars, the jobs held by the latter were given to their conationals. They also
said, demagogically, in this meeting: "The only criterion in replacing
cadres should be professional competence"; and we saw that it was so.
The widely circulated
slogan in the period that followed the December 22, 1989 events was that the
Romanians had occupied the places of the Szecklers and Magyars in high offices,
which, as it will be shown below, was far from the truth. In point of number,
the Szeckiers and the Magyars had always been a majority as compared to the
Romanians. Thus, in Harghita county, before December
22, 1989, 52 major economic units had as managers 35 Szecklers and Magyars and
only 17 Romanians. To be more convincing, we shall give a few names: "Arta
Harghitei" Cooperative-manager Molnar Janos, the County Union of
Craftsmanship Cooperatives-manager Kovacs Elisabeta, the Commercial
Bank-Gheorghieni Branch-manager Farkas Ludovic, the Cadastre and Territory
Development Office-manager Pal Vilmas, the Wood Processing Mill-manager Szabo
Gavrila11, etc.
In
a relatively short time, in Harghita County, out of 67 major enterprises only 5
had Romanian managers. In some cases, cadres were brought from other counties
to replace the Romanians, as it happened with economist Poraczki Joszef-a
person involved in the Tg. Mures events-appointed manager at ICRA Harghita (a
commercial enterprise forfoodstuffs).12
In
January-February 1990, 55 major economic units in Harghita county had only 9
Romanian managers, and out of 154 persons in the managing staffs only 33 were
Romanians, the rest being Szecklers and Magyars.13
A few examples: the Commercial Company "Steels
for Tools" Cristuru Secuiesc-manager Bartha Nicolae, SEMCO S.A.
Gheorghieni branch-manager Lukacs Arpad, COMAT Harghita-manager Lorincz Lukacs,
SEPPL Miercurea-Ciuc-manager Gabos lulia, IIC Harghita- Borbath Andrei, Mining
Exploitation Harghita-Attzberger Eugen, the Department for Work and Social
Protection-Bogdan Iulia,14 COMIND
S.A.-Szatmari Ferencz, National Bank ofRomania-Harghita branch- Duda Tihomir
Attila, the Beer Commercial Company Miercurea-Ciuc- Magyary Zoltan, Medical
Department Harghita-Papp Arpad, the Garments Enterprise Odorhei-Lukacs
Adalbert, etc.
The pretexts for replacing Romanians varied
from one enterprise to the other, often verging on the ridiculous. Here are the "arguments" brought up by
senator Cozsokar Gabor to replace a Romanian manager: "At the County
Enterprise for Communal Husbandry there was also a manager of Romanian
nationality, Serban by his name, but he was deemed guilty because during the
former regime he would applaud when slogans were shouted at communist
meetings."15 Then he went on; "Studying the statistical data
on the personnel, we can say that the situation has not changed much as
compared to the period before December 1989."16
A statement that is far from truth if we take intc account the facts.
Many Romanian high
officials were removed from their offices without any explanation whatsoever.
Thus, Vladuj Mircea from the Farming Trust Sf. Gheorghe stated: "I was
thrown away like a rag, like a useless object."
In many cases, the
Romanians who remained or were recommended for high offices were married to
Magyar women-as was the case of the Romanian inspectors accepted at the
Harghita School Inspectorate-so that they could be manipulated into
compromises. About one
case from a townhall it was said: "After the Revolution, the Romanian
representative in the townhall was Gavril loan who, owing to his origin
(Csango) and that of his wife (Magyar) stayed in after the elections. Although
the local official organization did not recommend him, there was an order from
UDMR."17 in some cases, the
pressures put by UDMR to change Romanian high officials were straightforward,
and it happened even in the case of mixed families. Here is what was stated in
this respect: "After the democratic elections, in January, manager Szekely
Nagy Virginia (although she had a Magyar name she was Romanian) was re-elected.
The president of the UDMR called at the enterprise
asking his subordinates why they re-elected her, did they want to be led by a
Romanian? Elections were organized anew and she was elected again, but,
eventually, because of the pressures put on her, she had to resign (among other
things, she was forbidden to speak Romanian at the board meetings)."18
At the
County Museum of History in Miercurea-Ciuc, manager Soiom Viorica was demoted
in a meeting convened without any previous notification, in which participated
even the charwomen, and, since only 3 Romanians were present, she was obviously
replaced by a Magyar in a so-called "democratic" way. She was removed
even though she had had remarkable merits in the activities and exhibitions
that the museum had organized.
In the field of justice
the same process took place of removing the Romanians and replacing them with
Szecklers and Magyars. After December 22, 1989, it often happened that
juridical documents were drawn up in Hungarian only, even though there were
also Romanians in the panels of judges. Here is
what the former president of the Court of Law in Miercurea-Ciuc stated:
"On December 24, 1989, a group of Magyar lawyers came to court, entered my
office and told me to hand them the keys since I had been demoted. One of them
told me: 'We have all due respect for you and we wouldn't like you to go through
what Nicu Vrabie did-the general school inspector who was kicked out of his
office. We can do the same to you, but out of respect we advise you to take it
easy and to understand the moment."19
From Covasna county there left-almost driven away-8
persons who worked in the field of justice: 1 jurist, 1 prosecutor, 3 judges, 3
lawyers.20 As
regards the replacement of the President of the Covasna County Court of
Justice, Muresan Vasile, of head district attorney Tomuj Radu, and of lacob
Maria, documents read as follows: "At present, the maintaining in office
of these persons is no longer justified since the county has become entirely
Szcckler."2l
In
the field of health, after the December 1989 events many Romanian doctors left
for other counties due to the anti-Romanian atmosphere in the area. At the
Muncipal Hospital Odorhei no Romanian doctor remained. At the Health Department
of Harghita County only Magyars were appointed in high positions: Papp Arpad,
Bokor Marton. The level of medical assistance in this county ranks below the
average in this country because very many Szeckler and Magyar doctors-since
they were better paid-left for Hungary for good.22
Only 10 Romanian doctors remained in the whole Harghita County (the Health
Department and the Municipal Hospital). When the
appointment was attempted of a Romanian in a secondary leading office,
radiologist Nagy Klara reacted promptly: "We, the Magyars, are in minority
at the management of the department. We resent the fact that a Romanian is
appointed as deputy director at the outpatient ward. We want a Magyar
representative."23
In
the field of press, the journalists of Magyar nationality grouped together and
15 publications saw the light of print in Harghita County.24 The only Romanian
newspaper in the region, Adev2rul Harghitei, with a team of 7
newspapermen, was confronted with a lot of difficulties because of the
pressures put on it, while its circulation and distribution were boycotted.
This accounts for the fact that many events could not be covered properly by
the said newspaper since its employees could not work safely. In exchange, the
Magyar publications, Harghita Ncpe- circulation 30000-40000 copies, Uj
5porf-circulation 3000-4000 copies, Alfa-10000 copies, Szabadsag
Udvarhely Hirado, Ablak, constantly published offensive articles against
the Romanian people and State. The articles signed by Papp Kineses Emese,
Rongvak Jozsef, Madanas Magclolna, Ambrus Edith, BajnaGyorgy had an overtly
anti-Romanian character, but their authors were never questioned about it.
The agriculture of the
two counties was disorganized after the sowing campaign, the lands of the
former Production Agricultural Cooperatives being distributed together with the
crops on them. A political group was set up, the Party of Small Farmers,
subordinated to UDMR, which handled the new organization problems after
December 22, 1989.
In
the field of culture and arts, the few genuine Romanian intellectual values
were removed on the basis of the same leit motif: they had discredited
themselves during the communist regime. At the head of the major cultural
institutions in Harghita and Covasna counties were appointed Szecklers and
Magyars who immediately started the action of reorganization, or better said,
of Magyarization of the cultural events in the region. The Romanian section of
the Theatre in Sf. Gheorghe was practically dismantled in the wake of the
leaving, because of pressures, of the 13 actors, 2 set designers, 2 stage
directors, all of Romanian nationality.25
All the events organized in libraries, houses of culture, museums, were based
on highlighting the culture of the Szecklers and Magyars as if no Romanians
lived in the region.
In the Harghita county,
before December 22, 1989, in the field of culture there worked a preponderant
number of Szecklers and Magyars- 9 Szecklers and Magyars and 4 Romanians-, and
after that the number of the Romanians went down to 3 and that of the Szecklers
and Magyars went up to 10.
Once instituted the new prefectures and townhalls-in most cases by
observing the structure of the former people's councils, almost completely
purged of Romanians-at their leadership were appointed public servants mostly
of Magyar nationality, by virtue of the principle of ethnic proportion, often
applied restrictively for the Romanians.26
At
a given moment, at the Prefecture of the Harghita County, out of 11 members
only 4 were Romanians, out of 58 mayors only 8 Romanians, out of 24
deputy-mayors only 4Romanians, out of 58 townhall secretaries only 8 were of
Romanian nationality.27 Out of the total 337 members of the townhalls in
Harghita county, only 54 were Romanians, that is 13.4%. Same as in other
fields, it was said that before December 1989, the Szecklers and the Magyars
had not been properly represented in the leading political bodies. To clearly
show that it was not so, we provide below the lists of the people who were
members in the political leadership at the level of municipality, town and
commune, of the Harghita county before December 22, 1989:28
1. Fabian
Andrei-first-secretary
2. Oprea Maria-secretary
in charge with organization
3. Popescu
Nicolae-secretary in charge with propaganda
4. Blaga Aurel-economic
secretary
5. Kelemen Maria-social
secretary
6. Buslig
losif-first-vicepresident
Total: 3 Romanians and 3 Magyars
1. Gal Francisc-first-secretary
2. Marton Francisc-secretary in
charge with organization
3. Popa Georgeta-economic secretary
4. Nagy Eva-secretary in charge with
propaganda
5. lakab Elisabeta-social secretary
6. Luncan Nicolae-first-vicepresident
Total: 2 Romanians and 4 Magyars
1. Barabas Elisabeta-first-secretary
2. Csiki Andrei-secretary in charge
with organization
3. Vilcan loan-secretary in charge
with propaganda
4. Tinka Coloman-vicepresident of
the People's Council
Total: 1 Romanian and 3 Magyars
1. Movila Liviu-secretary
2. Ilyes Elisabeta-secretary in
charge with propaganda
Total: 1 Romanian and 2 Magyars
1. Danciu Eugen-secretary
2. Csergo Magdolna-secretary with
propaganda
3. Vild luliu-vicepresident
Total: 1 Romanian and 2 other
nationalities
1. Fichtel Ana-secretary
2. Loghin Gheorghe-secretary with
propaganda
3. Ban Dezideriu-vicepresident
Total: 1 Romanian and 2 Magyars
Atid-Mathe Ecaterina
Avramesti-Bedo Livia
Capalnita-Konrad Ileana
Ciuc Sangeorgiu-Laszlo Benedek
Ciumani-Domokos Magdalena
Carta-Marton Stefan
Corund-Kecseti Rozalia
Dealu-Nagy Emeric
Ditrau-Andone Gavril
Frumoasa-Kapas Bela
Lazarea-Vanyolos losif
Lueta-Andras Maria
Lunca de Jos-Kedres Bela
Sancraieni-Ferchiu Laura
Remetea-Szabo Francisc
Sarmas-Taran Vasile
Tulghes-Ungureanu Toader
Lunca de Sus-Galaczi Paulina
Lupeni-Simo Laszlo
Martinis-Csamor Imre
Mugeni-Pasztor Iolan
Praid-Vakar Gavril
Siculeni-Bedo Ferenc
Sandominic-Kisztian Elisabeta
Tusnad-Csiszer Maria
Zetea-Boros Maria
Bradesti-Farkas Lajos
Feliceni-Hompeth Dezideriu
Suseni-Kovacs Imre
Sanmartin-Csibi Alexandru
As it can
easily be noticed, the number of the Szecklers and Magyars is preponderant-28%
Romanians and 72% Magyars and Szecklers- which clearly shows that the latter
were well represented at all levels. And if they enjoyed this right under the
communist regime, now, in the new conditions of freedom and democracy, the
Romanians cannot enjoy the same right!
In the Agro-Industrial
Councils (CUAIC), the Szecklers and Magyars also had their representatives:
Miercurea-Ciuc-president Todoran
Constantin
Odorhei-Kovacs Geza
Gheorghieni-Kurko Catrina
Cristuru Secuicsc-Zoltani Stefan
Lupeni-Vass Arpad
Mugeni-Bencdck Ladislau
Martinis-Kuti Laszlo
Sanmartin-Deak Carol
Sancraieni-Rusu Viorel
Carta-Kelemen loan
Ditrau-Pongracz Ladislau
Praid-Csiki Anton
Sarmas-Muresean Petru
Statistical
data show that out of the total number of the CUAIC presidents, 31% were
Romanians, and 69% were Magyars and Szecklers.
At
the January 8, 1990 session of the Executive Board of the National Salvation
Front Harghita the fact was admitted that: "As regards the structure of
the FSN Municipality Council, we mention that out of the total 27 members, 5
are Romanians, which equals a percentage pf 18.5%, which does not mirror the
national structure of the municipality's population which is 24%
Romanian."29
On
June 6, 1991, the structure per nationalities of the leading offices at the
level of prefectures and townhalls was as follows:30
|
Magyars |
|
||
|
Prefects
1 Subprefects 2 Secretaries
1 Members 7 TOTAL 11 |
1 - 5 7 |
1 1 2 4 |
and Magyars 36.37% Romanians |
|
|
|
nationalities |
|
|
Mayors
10 Deputy-mayours 6 Secretaries 8 TOTAL
24 |
18 49 114 |
- - 1 |
& Magyars 17.9% Romanians |