nr. 13/2002 - SSI Erasmus – ISHA Bucharest

ERASMUS № 13 / 2002
A strong critique of the legal situation of the ethnic minorities in Romania,
came from Dr. Hans Otto Roth (1890-1953), a skilful lawyer and one of the leaders
of the German parliamentary group. In May 1923, he wrote a study in a collective
work, called The Doctrines of the Political Parties. In 1992, Iordan Chimet
republished this text, a reliable source in order to understand the guiding lines of
the political activity of the German representatives in the Parliament. Roth remained
all his life a democratic politician and a defender of the ethnic minorities rights, in
general, of course, but with a special interest in his own nation, of course.
Roth began his contribution with a declaration of fidelity to the country he
lived in, also saying that irredentism would be a foolish thing, as long as the
community living in Romania is torn apart from the mainland of the German nation.
It was thus natural to be a good citizen, being also natural to run a defending
policy for the rights Germans should be granted 9 . According to the Saxon politician,
the above mentioned Resolution presented in Alba Iulia ought to be a Magna
Charta for the new born state, as it originated in the long time struggle of the
national movement from Transylvania. The German autonomies were also affected
by the Austro-Hungarian compromise of 1867 10 . Furthermore, Germans had their
own political traditions, cultural life, and, important condition, the energy to fight
for their rights. 11
What Roth actually demanded was the cultural self-determination, which in
fact meant the constitutional guarantee of the use of their own language in
education and administration. This could be achieved through the recognition of
the old rights to establish an own taxation system, headed by the Church, to
gather the financial resources for schools. This must have been mentioned in the
Constitution, giving the Germans a collective individuality, and not spliting the
rights of the community into individual rights 12 .
If those would have been accomplished, the tensions and problems of the
dead and buried Austro-Hungary would have been avoided, and would constitute
a pathfinder on the roads of tolerance and mutual understanding for the Romanian
majority, rather then a danger 13 .
In the end, Hans Otto Roth has launched a proposal for a German
parliamentary party. The goals of such an organization, its main thesis, in author’s
view, were mainly the commitment to the Romanian state, the total involvement
in its parliamentary political life, contributing to the post-war re-contruction and
future development and, last, but not least, the implement of the own program of
the party 14 .
3. Political organizations: in and out the Parliament Houses: democrats vs.
extremists. If willing to understand the dramatically change in the situation of the
German minority in Romania at the beginning of the communist period, one must
carefully observe the political tendencies developed inside this ethnic community
during the thirties. The rise of the third Reich was of crucial importance for their
fate, a consequence of the outburst of the extreme right-wing movements after
the so called Great War and, particularly, the circumstances in defeated Germany.
Romania was not an exception, the unforeseen evolution towards extremism
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