Southeast Europe

atmosphere. For example, because about 85% of the people were expropriated, churches
had reduced sources of income. Under the circumstances of diminished opportunities to
benefit from instruction in their mother tongue, the minorities were forced to organise
their own alternative confessional system of education. So-called “cultural areas” were
created where teachers who came from the former Romanian Kingdom got land and a
higher salary in Szeklerland and in other areas where Hungarians formed a majority, in
an attempt to romanianise the Hungarians (Mikó, 1941).
Against this background, the attitude of the Hungarian minority– similar to that of the
government in Budapest –was a revisionist one. But there was another attitude, too. It
was the one exposed by Károly Kós, expressing a pragmatic position, and which is
known as the doctrine of Transylvanianism. This stated that Transylvania was a specific
geographical, historical and social entity that had its own collective awareness and
culture. Some Saxons (intellectuals in the county of Brasov) adhered to Károly Kós’
point of view (Roth, 1996: 126-134, Mikó, 1941).
When King Carol II (king of Romania between 1930-1940) set up a dictatorship and
replaced the multiparty bourgeois parliamentary system with a single body for political
representation, Hungarians were mentioned as a section of the National Renaissance
Front. In addition, they followed the German pattern and formed the Hungarian Ethnic
Group (Magyar Népközösség), chaired by Count Miklós Bánffy (Mikó, 1941: 204-258).
The aggressive politics of Hitler’s Germany, supported by Mussolini’s Italy and other
similar states, modified considerably the international political situation at the end of the
1930s. Using this background, the Hungarian Government led by Horthy took
advantage of the context and brought the Transylvanian issue into focus, claiming
Transylvania (to the Mureş River). Romania threatened by Stalin’s ultimatum that asked
Romanian officials to cede Bassarabia to the USSR and the Quadrilater area to the
Bulgarians was ready to negotiate yielding part of Partium to Hungary on condition of a
population exchange. As a result of the negotiations that took place in Vienna, Northern
Transylvania became part of Hungary (September 1940). When it became obvious that
Germany and its allies were going to be defeated, the Count of Bánffy tried to contact
Iuliu Maniu (Romanian prime minister at that time) in order to negotiate with him, but
the change in the balance of forces in favour of the Allied Powers did not encourage
further steps (L. Balogh, 1999a, 1999b).
The Soviet and Romanian Armies occupied Transylvania in the autumn of 1944. Under
the new circumstances, the Romanian Communist Party, which was then being
organised with the assistance of the Soviet Union, also included many Hungarians. On
November 12, the Romanian administration, charged with alleged atrocities against
Hungarians, was suspended by the Soviets. The Soviets intended to blackmail both
Romania and Hungary with the issue of Transylvania. Many Hungarians died in labour
camps such as the ones in Feldioara and Focşani, or were deported to the USSR. In the
autumn 1944, the Hungarian communists organised the Hungarian Popular Alliance
(Magyar Népi Szövetség), active until 1953 (Romsics, 1998b, Vincze, 1999a, 1999b,
Antal, 1993).
Considering the upcoming Peace Treaty and having a leftist ideology at its foundation,
the Petru Groza Government took a series of measures in favour of the minorities that
consequently became their allies. From 1945 to 1946 the educational system was
extended to include instruction in Hungarian. The Hungarian Bolyai University was
established in Cluj. Later on, however, policies changed and education in Hungarian
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