Anti-Romanian sentiment
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. |
Historically, anti-Romanian discimination has sometimes been present in the policies of countries bordering Romania towards the Romanian-speaking population residing in these countries like commonly happened between any countries whose political borders did not coinside with the patterns of ethnic population. The term is also known as "Românofobia" (Romanophobia in the Romanian language) or antiromanism in reference to hostility toward or prejudice against Romanians, which can range from individual hatred to institutionalized and violent persecution.
The Romanian population of Transylvania was never directly represented in the Transylvanian Diet which consisted of German, Hungarian and Szeckler nobles (the Unio Trium Nationum), despite the fact that the three groups were minorities, whilst the Romanians comprised an overwhelming majority of the Transylvanian population. Moreover, in Medieval times, the Romanians were not allowed to reside within the walls of some Transylvanian cities such as Sibiu or Braşov. This led to extensive persecution against the under-represented Romanians. For example, in the 16th century Transylvanian laws of justice separated the rights of the Hungarians and Saxons from the rights of the Romanians.
As a consequence, Romanian peasants would sometimes revolt and demand better treatment. These revolts, such as the 1784 Romanian peasant-uprising, would be ruthlessly suppressed by the Hungarian nobles who would execute peasant leaders and their admirers by breaking on the wheel. This method of execution consisted of the victim being laid on the ground whilst the executioner would break the prisoner’s bones with a spiked wheel. Other peasants would be forced to watch the executions in order to frighten them from attempting future uprisings.
After Transylvania became part of Hungary in 1867, a policy of assimilation (see Magyarisation) of the minorities was employed by the Hungarian authorities and one of its major targets was the Romanian population of Transylvania.
The Romanian national movement lead to the 1892 Transylvanian Memorandum, a document sent by the leaders of the Transylvanian Romanians to the Austrian Emperor which asked for Romanians equal national rights with the Hungarians and demanding the cease the persecutions and the attempts of denationalization of the Romanians. The memorandum was turned down and the leaders of the movement were sentenced to prison for "homeland betrayal".
At the end of the 19th century – at the beginning of the 20th century Bessarabia saw an intense process of Russification. Were closed some hundreds of Moldavian churches, and all Romanian books from these churches were burned [dubious – discuss]. Military service became a new instrument of Russification.
Following Bessarabia becoming a part of the Russian Empire according to the 1812 Treaty of Bucharest, a period of autonomy followed after which all Romanian government institutions, schools and press were closed down and replaced by a Russian style provincial administration. <>.
After the Russian Revolution, Bessarabia became a part of Romania until 1940 when the USSR re-annexed the territory as well as Northern Bukovina. It is reported that over 12,000 Bukovinian-Romanians were deported to Siberia in the year 1940 alone [citation needed]. The Soviet action culminated at the Fântâna Albă massacre when 5,000 to 12,000 Romanian refugees who were attempting to leave Bukovina for Romania were cought by Russian border troops and executed at a place called "Fântâna Albă" (White Fountain) in the Romanian language. This policy resulted in a substantial shrinkage of the Romanian element in the province. By 1941 out of 250,000 Romanians in Bukovina, only 192,000 were left.
The territory of the MSSR was composed of Basarabia (except the Southern Basarabia assigned to Ukraine) and a part of the territory of the former Autonomous Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic (Transnistria), founded in 1924 within the territory of Ukraine. In the document confirming the establishment of the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Moldovan Republic (ASSMR) of 12 October 1924 the West frontier of the republic was traced out not along the Dniester River but the Prut River. In the ASSMR the ideology of the anti-Romanian Moldovanism had been consistently and strictly applied. It was tried even to introduce a “Moldovan” language, non-Romanian and totally artificial alleged to be “of a Slavonic origin” that was different from the Romanian. The Russian alphabet and abundant Russisms were introduced. Attempts to restore the Latin alphabet in the 30s ended up with the physical extermination of the small number of intellectuals who were forced by the totalitarian regime to serve the anti-Romanian ideology. Another historical event which contributed to the future implementation of the anti-Romanian feelings constituted Romania’s behaviour in the World War II when the Romanian regime allied itself with the Nazi Germany.
In Bessarabia the Soviet government, pursued a policy of denationalization of the native Romanian population, firstly by dividing the province in a "Moldovan" Socialist Republic and a southern region known as Budjak which was renamed Izmail oblast and attached to the Ukrainian SSR. Elite elements of the Romanian population were then deported to Siberia much like their Bukovinian counterparts. Russian and Ukrainian [citation needed] settlers were used to fill the vacant areas caused by the deportation of Romanian deportees. The language was renamed Moldovan and the Cyrillic script was introduced. Romanians who continued to identify themselves as Romanians and not Moldovans were severely punished by the Communist regime.
The autonomy of Basarabia and the local legislation were eliminated already in 1828. The process of russification and colonization of this territory started to be carried out by representatives of other ethnic groups of the Russian Empire. When the Russian Empire collapsed after the Russial Revolution of 1917, in Basarabia the representative local body called “Sfatul Tarii” was created. In conditions of a total chaos and of the civil war on the territory of the former Russian Empire, on 27 March 1918, “Sfatul Tarii” set up with the help from Romania adopted the decision to unify Basarabia with Romania which was used as an excuse for swift occupation of the territory by Romanian troops.
The evidence of direct anti-Romanian actions undertaken by the USSR in the 1920s is abundant. The convention of October 28, 1920, whereby the British Empire, France, Italy, and Japan recognized Romanian sovereignty in Bessarabia, was rejected as invalid by the USSR. Moscow even denied the validity of that part of the convention that stipulated that, upon Russian request, the Council of the League of Nations could be empowered to arbitrate the Russo-Romanian dispute over Bessarabia. In short, the Kremlin insisted that Romania was illegally occupying Bessarabia. Kremlin encouraged revolutionary activities by Bolshevik elements in Bessarabia. The establishment in October, 1924, of the Autonomous Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic as a focal point for eventual reincorporation of Bessarabia into the USSR indeed eliminated the possibility of peaceful resolution of Russo-Romanian differences.
The exact position of the USSR on these issues is unknown except for Moscow's unwillingness to make any concessions to Bucharest on Bessarabian issues. Recent tracts by Romanian historians have emphasized the support given by Romanian Communists to the "democratic forces" opposed to alteration of the status quo in Transylvania in 1938 and subsequent years. True as this may be, there has been no evidence presented in support of any fundamental change in Moscow's traditional anti-Romanian positions with respect to Bessarabia in 1938 and subsequent years.
Whether the Kremlin envisaged this entire scenario in August, 1940, is uncertain.
An example of the policy’s efficiency to influence the public opinion in a totalitarian society constitutes the image of the post-war period in the MSSR implemented in the public opinion. Recollections of the local population about the forced deportations (1940-1941, 1944-1948, 1949), which led to the physical destruction of the social state that was socially and economically the most elevated and active state, had been erased. In 1946-1947, as a result of the famine organised in the MSSR [citation needed] (according to some data of certain scientists; official data are not published until nowadays), died around 300 thousand people and many cases of cannibalism occurred. In addition, the population of the former ASSMR, as a part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, had to suffer also from the awful famine in the 30s when in Ukraine several millions of people died. However, the truth about these crimes of huge proportions produced an insignificant impression on the society and did not serve as a strong argument in political confrontations even on the right bank of Dniester. Therefore, those inherited stereotypes, amplified at a large scale by the UCWC (Unified Council of Working Collectives) and mass media of Transnistria were to be only consolidated on the background of political confrontations in Chisinau. The ideological machinery of the unconstitutional separatist regime, following traditions of the 30s in the USSR, made its best to transform the feeling of Romanian-phobia and the irrational fear of the Republic of Moldova’s unification with Romania into an extremely efficient instrument to manipulate the public opinion, to create the image of the enemy from the other side of the Republic of Moldova.
In Trans-Dniestria (on the left bank of Dniester), the policy of Moscow oriented towards changing the ethnic composition of the so-called “national republic” had been intensely applied. For tens of years the native population was imposed (forced deportations of 1940 – 1949) or economically stimulated to leave for the eastern areas of the Soviet Empire. For example, according to some statistical data, only in 1988 around 34.5 thousand persons left the MSSR for the Russian Federation and 33.9 thousand persons arrived in Moldova from Russia, 20.9 thousand left Moldova for Ukraine and 20.8 thousand arrived in Moldova from Ukraine. The territory of Trans-Dniestria was more industrialised in comparison with the other part of Moldova and the industrialisation process of Trans- Dniestria was accompanied by a population flow from other areas of the USSR, especially from the Russian Federation. Although in the Republic of Moldova the level of population density was the highest one in the USSR, the power of Moscow continued to stimulate the arrival of labour force from outside, including that with a poor qualification. Even Igor Smirnov himself, current leader of the unconstitutional separatist regime of Trans-Dniestria, was sent in 1987 from Russia to town of Bender to be the director of an enterprise. This process was also amplified by the excessive militarization of the area. Many officers of the Soviet Army, serving in military units on the left bank of Dniester river, transferred to reserve, preferred to stay and live in Tiraspol and Bender. Therefore, if on the whole in the MSSR in 1989 the native population was about 65%, in Trans- Dniestria – only 40%. Moreover, the majority of native population on the left bank of Dniester was dispersed in rural localities and it was more difficult for them to consolidate and to express themselves politically. Most of population of the industrial centres on the territory of Trans-Dniestria had the mentality of the “the Soviet nation” that was contradictory to the fight of the native population for their national rights and the idea of transforming the MSSR into an independent state. Working collectives of the industrial enterprises were conceived and used as shock detachments in political fights. At the same time, the population - deeply affected by the feeling of Romanian-phobia – was absolutely unprepared psychologically to accept the historical past of the MSSR. The adoption in 1989 of the Law on state language (official language) and Law on functioning of languages on the territory of the MSSR generated an extremely negative reaction in industrial centres of Trans-Dniestria. By these laws, the Romanian (Moldovan) language – language of the native population has been granted the status of state language and the Latin alphabet has been restored instead of the Russian one, the identity of Moldovan with Romanian language has been recognised. Although the absolute majority of the Trans-Dniestrian population never read these laws which, in fact, served as a reason for the conflict outburst, on the left bank of Dniester stereotypes had been immediately created simulating that by the application of the new linguistic legislation, the [[Russian language]] speakers would become second class citizens. At the industrial enterprises, including those of the military-industrial complex of the USSR strikes occurred protesting against granting the status of official language to the mother language of the native population. It is obvious that strikes within the military-industrial complex in principle were impossible to take place without the approval of the Moscow leadership.
Post-USSR Moldova and Transnistria
After the break-up of the USSR, many native Romanians hoped that their situation inside the newly independent Republic of Moldova would improve. Although this was true in the beginning, the Russification process started once again, after the 2001 elections which saw the Communist party of Moldova took power.
After 2001, the Moldovan leadership has reinforced the thesis whereby the natives of Moldova are named Moldovans rather than Romanians. History books were replaced with new anti-Romanian ones whilst a move was made to reintroduce Russian as an mandatory language in schools. This latter move angered many Moldovan-Romanians who took to the streets to protest the decision in 2002.
The Moldovan government and president Vladimir Voronin has simultaneously accused Romania and the Romanian population inside Moldova of "imperialism", while at the same time putting extreme pressure on Romanian language newspapers.
After the 1992 war between the pro-Russian breakaway republic and Moldova, in Transnistria at least 5,000-10,000 Romanians fleed the region. Although the Romanians of Transnistria still comprise a plurality of the population, the Romanian language is almost never used in public.
Romanian schools comprise about 11% of the total schools in Transnistria, despite the fact that according to the latest Transnistrian census of 2004, Romanians make up about 32% of the population. Most of these schools are forced to teach in the Cyrillic script and use outdated, 40-year-old, communist-era books. 6 schools are permitted to teach in Romanian using the Latin script, however pressure is often put on these institutions to close. The 2004 school scandal is a prime example of this, when the pro-Russian government in Tiraspol forcefully attempted to close down 2 of these schools. In the orphanage of Tighina, Romanian children were beaten by Transnistrian and Russian troops and forced to sleep in the streets for a few months, until, due to the pressure of the Moldovan and Romanian governments as well as the OSCE, they were allowed back in. Numerous Romanian parents were arrested or fired from their jobs due to their political views and their determination to keep their children in Romanian-language schools.
Citizens who express pro-Romanian or pro-Moldovan attitudes are likewise persecuted in Transnistria. The Ilie Ilaşcu group is the most commonly known and well-documented of these organisations.
Ukraine has inherited the regions of Southern Bessarabia or Bugeac as well as Northern Bukovina from the USSR.
The Ukrainian government has followed a policy of Ukrainization from 1992 until today, which among others requires minority students to learn Ukrainian rather then their own languages. This measure affects almost 7 million Russians but also 385,000 Romanians who inhabit the historical regions mentioned above. The results of Ukrainian census include Romanians and Moldavians as two separate minorities. However, the census respondents were free to choose their ethnicity from the offered to them choices as they wished or not to respond at all and no challenges to the census being free and fair where ever raised in connection with the Romanian or Moldavian minorities.
Despite the 1997 treaty with Romania, which among others requires the two countries to respect each others minorities, Ukraine has continued to close down Romanian schools [dubious – discuss], while reports show that Romanian recruits in the Ukrainian army are systematically persecuted and humiliated [dubious – discuss].
Yugoslavia and modern Serbia and Montenegro
Romanians living in the Vojvodina province are very well represented at the provincial level despite their small presence (about 30,000 people), and their language is one of six official languages of the province.
In eastern Serbia (mainly in Timok Valley region) live people who speak basically same language as Romanian. These people declare themselves in census as ethnic Vlachs and their number is about 40,000. These Vlachs are bilingual, they are fluent in two languages, Serbian and Vlach/Romanian. In everyday communication Vlachs mainly use Serbian language, while their native language is used mainly at home. Since many Vlachs declare themselves in census as Serbs, the real number of the people of Vlach origin is unknown (This number could be as high as 135,000, since that is a number of people whom declared Vlach language as their mother tongue in 1981 census).
Some Romanian nationalists accusing Serbia for not providing autonomy, schools or churches for Timok Vlachs, despite the fact that these Vlachs do not ask such rights for themselves, since most of them consider Serbia to be their native country, and many of them declare themselves as Serbs in census. Also, the majority of Timok Vlachs regard themselves as a distinct nation, different from both, Serbs and Romanians.
A smaller number of Timok Vlachs also regard themselves as Romanians, but this view is not widelly accepted among Vlach community.
The year 2004 as well as 2005 saw a dispute between the local Serbian authorities in Negotin and the Romanian priest when a priest decided to build a small church where he would hold services in Romanian. The problem was that the priest have builded a church with no permission from local authorities. The priest also has been subjected to threats while children attending the mass with their parents have been humiliated in the village school by their Serbian teacher.
In the town of Negotin, the Romanian Cultural Association has been vandalized in the year 2004 when Serbian ultra-nationalists wrote "Romanians go home" on the windows of the main doors.
References
Transnistria
USSR
- Grenoble, Lenore A (2003). Language Policy in the Soviet Union, Springer, ISBN 1402012985
Transylvania
- Pop, Ioan-Aurel (1997). Istoria Transilvaniei Medievale, ISBN 9739261248
Serbia
- Crăciun, Gilia. BBC - "Minoritatea românilor din Serbia este nemulţumită" (in Romanian)
- Mihalcea, Florian. BBC - Biserica românească din Malainiţa ameninţată din nou (in Romanian)
- Petrovici, Georgeta. Evenimentul Zilei "Românii nimănui" (in Romanian)
- Ursuleţu, Lucian. Evenimentul Zilei - "Slujbă clandestină pentru românii de pe Valea Timocului" (in Romanian)
- Dolha, Viorel. ROST - "Românii din Timoc" (in Romanian)