RUMANIA’S PROBLEM

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 26, 25 October 1938, Page 11

RUMANIA’S PROBLEM

Minority Populations

REORGANISATION UNDER NEW STATUTE

Rumania has recently adopted a Nationalities Statute containing liberal provisions for her minority populations, and the article here published is written by Professor Dragomir, head of the commission which is to conduct the reorganisation under the Statute. It appeared in the Johannesburg “Star.”

With the new frontiers obtained by the Peace Treaties, Rumania absorbed a considerable number of ethnical minorities, he states. Of a population of 18,507,000 established by the 1930 census, the minorities amount to 5,076,000 people, rather more than a quarter of the population of the whole country. However, of these 17 ethnical minorities, each having its own language, there are only four of any number or degree of culture, the Hungarians, Germans, Ruthenians and Jews. The others are either fragments, small in number (Poles, Serbs, Czechs, Slovaks, Bulgarians, Russians, Greeks, Armenians, Tartars and “Gagautz”), or small racial groups not strong enough to create an organised national conscience or highly-develop-ed civilisation. In any case, they are not a vital factor in the Rumanian minority problem, though taken together they show a higher figure (1,547,000) than any of the four main minorities.

Largest Minority.

The Magyars settled in Transylvania form the largest minority (1,425,000), without forming a compact mass, except in the province of the “Sacui.” The rest of the Hungarians are so scattered that they do not form a majority in any single district, and only in one or two smaller administrative units. In Transylvania the Rumanian majority predominates; Hungarians are more numerous only in towns and along the narrow strip of the western frontier, where the two ethnical elements, Rumanian and Hungarian, meet and mingle.

The smaller German element in Rumania numbers 145,000, or 4.1 per cent, of the whole population. These Germans are divided, into two groups, the Saxons and the Swabians; they are also geographically divided and scattered over the three , provinces which were added by the' Peace Treaties. The Ruthenian minority is smaller still (582,000), and is of importance only in the Bucovina, where it collected in the last century under the' encouragement of Austria, always a past-master in the art of mingling and dispersing racial units. As they are only 3.2 per cent, of the population, the Ruthenians are naturally not so important ethnologlcally. Jewish Citizenship.

The Jews constitute the fourth minority, but they have counted as such only since 1918. In old Rumania, although there was even then a Jewish problem, this was entirely concernned with the legal position and rights of individuals who had .recently immigrated into the country. In language assimilated to the Rumanians, the Jews have never shown a tendency to (constitute themselves a separate nationality. In numbers they form one of the largest minorities, representing with their 757,000 members a percentage of 4.2 of the whole. They do not form compact masses, but are scattered throughout the provinces and dwell more in towns than in villages.

These diverse groups differ greatly in their political and economic tendencies. Only the Hungarian and Germen elements have been politically active. Left without leaders after the re-arrangement of frontiers the Hungarians soon organised themselves, thanks to their intelligence and the rich cultural and economic heritage of the old Empire. They succeeded in assembling their masses and defending their interests, and in adapting themselves to the new cori- , ditions of existence. The Germans also succeeded in constituting an organised solidarity, although their units are so scattered and their political traditions so various. Led By The Saxons. ( The Germans in Rumania are led by the Saxons, who were for so long privileged under feudal Hungary; they adapted themselves quickly to new circumstances, and they increase their economic and cultural strength. The Swabians of the Banat awakened to -a national conscience under the Rumanian Government, stimulated by the founding of German schools and the freedom granted to them to help in their emancipation from the yoke of Hungarian Catholicism. The Jewish problem is more complex, and recently even became acute for two reasons. First, their numbers were increased by a continuous influx of refugees coming over the River Dniester and of immigrants from neighbouring countries. Secondly, Jewish predominance in finance, industry and commerce, which became particularly obvious at the time of the world economic crisis, gave rise to a reaction among the ethnical majority, and persuaded the Rumanian Government to take laxative steps. This means that a revision of the citizenship of all Jews ■in Rumania Is in the course of execution, which explains the tendency of Rumanian Governments to ensure that the Rumanian element is represented in a corresponding proportion in economic life. The New Decrees. Since the dispensation of 1918 the State has taken into consideration the position of ethnical minorities _in the new territories. The easy-going characteristics of the Rumanian people, no less than the precise stipulations of the treaty as regards the helping of ethnical and religious minorities, have induced in general the adoption of .a tolerant attitude towards all minorities. Bitter struggles between political parties have afforded no respite and no time for ensuring minority rights by constitutional provisions'. Electoral cartels have resolved merely local quarrels by offering the material support of the State on a large scale of the affected minorities.

Tn this way new problems have accumulated from year to year in connection with the minorities and their rightful claims. Their solution was continually postponed, both from lack of a united conception of minority politics and particularly from lack of courage and fear of party electoral interests. Outside influence, particularly revisionary propaganda, has contributed to_ the creation of an atmosphere hostile to a settlement. The new constitution promulgated by King Carol II on February 27last, and accepted by an almost unanimous vote, guarantees (in articles five and ten) absolute equality to the ethnical minorities and the

regularising of their position. By a Royal Ordinance on May 4 a general minority commission was created, while an an ordinance of August 3 the duties and attributions of the General Commission for the Minorities were established, with standards to guide it in its activity. It is true that these provisions contain nothing new; they really reproduce the stipulations of the Peace Treaties, of-'the Constitution, and of the laws already in force. They emphasise in the clearest terms, however, the will of the Rumanian legislators to respect, the principle of absolute equality and supervise the application of administrative and legislative provisions as affecting the minorities. The existence of a united policy, hitherto conspicious by its absence, is plainly seen by the creation of a permanent body whose duties will be to keep in close touch with every phase of life among the minorities, and to give advice on measures concerning their religion, education, settlement, and in general to all questions of interest to minorities within the framework of the State.