Ethnic Identity in Transylvania

On the layers of the water names of Transylvania and the insettlement of its ethnicities
My paper aims at a detailed overview on the way of the settlement of the different ethnical groups in Transylvania at the time of the Great Migration Period. The analysis is based on the comparison of the historical-archaeological literature with the testimonies of the place names and especially the river names. The similar interdisciplinary analyses are very rare, these are focused usually only on the place names, or on the archaeological research.
From the written sources the immigration of the different peoples (German, Hunnic, Avar and Magyar) to Transylvania is known, but their settling areas, local ethnical history and the detailed chronology cannot be examined without the archaeological data. Their information is comparable only with caution with the Transylvanian place names, because—regardless the time of their formation— these originated mainly from the 12–13th centuries.
The main aspects, which I followed in the applicability of the place names in the ethnical reconstruction, HOFFMANN–RÁCZ–TÓTH 2018 deals with.

Explicaţia acestei lucrari este una minimala: aceea de a stabili modul în care oraşul medieval transilvanean s-a definitivat şi apoi s-a transformat în oraşul baroc şi modern. De aici derivă nuanţele reţinute de titlul lucrării, dar şi alte câteva nuanţe aduse de realitatea istoriografică şi conceptuală a studierii oraşelor din România.

Despite the development of the iconographic programs, the frescoes painted by the Grecu brothers remind us not only of the large ensembles beyond the Carpathians in Walachia and Moldova but also other Transylvanian decorations. These frescoes express not only the spirit of the time or the mentality of the community to which they belonged, but they also represented an opportunity to show the painters’ originality and personality, their need for personal affirmation and artistic individuality, connected to a new sensitivity of a given historical context. The representation of the inhabiting nations in Transylvania in the Passion’s Cycle highlights the disadvantaged status of the Romanian people who were oppressed by the privileged nations: by the Habsburg military force, the inequitable judgement of Saxons and the torments inflicted by Hungarians through their policies. All of these recreate mutatis mutandis the dramatic setting in which Christ was crucified.

Die Auflage lautete, einen Abriss der siebenbürgisch-deutschen Literatur zu verfassen. Nach einigem Besinnen gaben wir uns Rechenschaft, dass ein solches Unterfangen schwerlich zu einem guten Ende zu bringen würde sein, jedenfalls nicht im Rahmen einer so schmalen Arbeit, denn ein halbes Jahrtausend Literatur lässt sich nicht in –zig Seiten zusammenfassen, es sei denn, man lässt sich auf die Gefahr ein, wichtige Teile dieses literarischen Werdegangs der Siebenbürger Sachsen unberücksichtigt zu lassen.

Da kam uns die Idee, unseren Standort, Wien, mit dem gestellten Thema in Verbindung zu bringen: Die siebenbürgisch-österreichischen Literaturbeziehungen könnten der rote Faden der vorliegenden Arbeit werden, und zwar in allen ihren Facetten; es würden die Schriftsteller zu berücksichtigen sein, die, in Siebenbürgen geboren, einen Teil ihres Lebens in Österreich verbracht und da geschrieben haben, dann diejenigen Autoren, die in Wien oder anderorts in Österreich studiert und daselbst wichtige Impulse für ihr Schaffen empfangen haben; umgekehrt, Autoren, die in Österreich geboren und in Siebenbürgen gelebt haben; es werden auch Einflüsse österreichischer Autoren auf siebenbürgische Schriftsteller untersucht und auch solche angeführt werden deren Werke in Wien oder der österreichischen Provinz erschienen sind.

Desgleichen finden Autoren Beachtung, die in den Mittelpunkt ihrer Werke Themen mit Bezügen zu Österreich stellen, z. B. die Novellen, in denen das Ringen um die Vorherrschaft in Siebenbürgen zwischen dem österreichischen Kaiser Ferdinand und dem Fürsten Zápolya geschildert wird. Natürlich hätte solch eine austrozentrierte Darstellung ihre Lücken und Einseitigkeiten, deshalb werden in zusammenfassenden Passagen immer auch Übersichten über das literarische Feld in seiner Gesamtheit aus den entsprechenden Perioden gegeben. Literatur entsteht nicht im leeren Raum, deshalb erschien es nötig, jeweils den sozio-kulturellen Hintergrund zu beleuchten.

In diesem ersten Band wird die Literatur der Siebenbürger Sachsen von ihren Anfängen bis zum Jahre 1890 untersucht werden. In einem nächsten Band wird dann eine Übersicht über die Periode von 1890 bis in die Gegenwart gegeben werden. Weshalb das Jahr 1890 als Einschnitt in der siebenbürgisch-deutschen Literatur gewählt wurde wird an entsprechender Stelle erklärt werden.

Wir haben kein einheitliches Zielpublikum vor Augen, dasselbe ist vielmehr äußerst heterogen, sowohl was das Alter, als auch was nationale und soziale Herkunft anbelangt. Wir möchten gleichermaßen weniger junge Siebenbürger Sachsen erreichen, die sich in Österreich niedergelassen haben, als auch (um nur ein Beispiel zu nennen) die in der alten Heimat verbliebenen jungen Studenten. Andererseits ist die Arbeit nicht ausschließlich für Siebenbürger Sachsen geschrieben worden. So kommt es, dass für einige Manches vielleicht schon bekannt war, während es für Andere vollkommenes Neuland darstellte.
Arbeiten, die teilweise dasselbe Thema zum Gegenstand haben, wurden erst nach Fertigstellung dieses Abrisses eingesehen, und haben unsere Untersuchungen nicht beeinflusst.

„Klingsor“ gehört aufgrund ihrer leitenden Rolle zu den vielfach untersuchten Periodika, sodass der Beitrag statt einer allgemeinen Präsentation, auf einen in der Fachliteratur implizierten, aber nicht erarbeiteten Aspekt eingegangen wird: In einem ersten Schritt steht die Beziehungen von Klingsor und seinem Herausgeber zu maßgebenden Akteuren aus dem akademischen Leben in Rumänien während der ersten Phase der Ideologisierung (bis 1933) im Fokus. Punktuell wird dabei auch die Mitarbeit des Lehrpersonals an Gymnasien einzubeziehen. Der zweite, kürzere Abschnitt fragt nach Kontakten des Herausgebers zu Akademikern aus dem deutschen Sprachraum, die sich aktiv für die Verbreitung der nationalsozialistischen Ideologie engagierten und als prominente Figuren galten. Auf diese Weise entsteht ein erster Überblick des akademischen Netzwerks der Zeitschrift Klingsor in der Zeit vor 1933, der zugleich den Wirkungsradius und die akademische Einbettung der Zeitschrift aufzeigt.

Abstract
This article looks back to dance and music practice in villages of the Transylvanian
Plain throughout the long twentieth century in which the potential for conflict between
Roma musicians and village dancers was carefully managed through long established
customary practice.1 We apply an ethnochoreological approach to investigate the
ways in which moments of choreomusical performance intimacy offer a possibility
for social repositioning. The focus of previous studies has been on the formal analysis
of music and dance in their own terms as parallel systems, only occasionally on
the relationship of these to one another, and almost never on the production of social
meaning in their joint performance. We aim to redress this imbalance, arguing that an
ethno-choreomusical focus is needed to examine the complex field of social interaction
among these groups, that informs these dance events.

Despite the development of the iconographic programs, the frescoes painted by the Grecu brothers remind us not only of the large ensembles beyond the Carpathians in Walachia and Moldova but also other Transylvanian decorations. These frescoes express not only the spirit of the time or the mentality of the community to which they belonged, but they also represented an opportunity to show the painters’ originality and personality, their need for personal affirmation and artistic individuality, connected to a new sensitivity of a given historical context. The representation of the inhabiting nations in Transylvania in the Passion’s Cycle highlights the disadvantaged status of the Romanian people who were oppressed by the privileged nations: by the Habsburg military force, the inequitable judgement of Saxons and the torments inflicted by Hungarians through their policies. All of these recreate mutatis mutandis the dramatic setting in which Christ was crucified.

This paper examines a literary debate which took place in 1930 between two prominent figures of Hungarian literature Frigyes Karinthy and Áron Tamási. This debate was one of the first manifestations of the rural vs. urban (népies vs. urbánus) controversy. This is a conflict between authors of different social origin and - consquently, often also political views – which is present in Hungarian culture, society and politics up until now, therefore it is worth to examine the roots of this phenomenon.
The problem also involves the following questions: what criteria decide the affiliation of authors and their literary works to ’national literatures’? Language, origin, citizenship, theme of writings? What is the relation of minority and mother country literature? The debate also sheds light on how Hungarian literature was coping with the trauma of Trianon and how it influenced its development.

The relatively short history of the Transylvanian Principality (one hundred and fifty years or so) was full of unexpected changes. From the tragic Battle of Mohács, fought against the Ottoman invasion (1526), until the Diploma Leopoldinum, which integrated the Principality in the huge Habsburg Empire, events like the rise of Lutheran, Calvinian or Unitarian reforms, the Catholic Reformation or Counter-Reformation – despite the Edict of Torda in 1568, which declared religious tolerance and freedom of conscience – brought forth more disagreements. In the 1670s a new population coming from Moldova appeared in the Principality: the Armenians. The history of the establishment of this population was mentioned by the Catholic priest István Lakatos in his work Siculia (1702). Through the analysis of this work, we search for answers to the question regarding the relatively short integration period of this ethnic group.

The relatively short history of the Transylvanian Principality
(one hundred and fifty years or so) was full of unexpected changes. From
the tragic Battle of Mohács, fought against the Ottoman invasion (1526),
until the Diploma Leopoldinum, which integrated the Principality in
the huge Habsburg Empire, events like the rise of Lutheran, Calvinian or
Unitarian reforms, the Catholic Reformation or Counter-Reformation –
despite the Edict of Torda in 1568, which declared religious tolerance and
freedom of conscience – brought forth more disagreements. In the 1670s
a new population coming from Moldova appeared in the Principality:
the Armenians. The history of the establishment of this population was
mentioned by the Catholic priest István Lakatos in his work Siculia (1702). Through the analysis of this work, we search for answers to the question regarding the relatively short integration period of this ethnic group.

ABSZTRAKT. Szovátai pionír-expedíciók egy magángyűjtemény tükrében: kisebbségi törekvések, amatőr néprajzi gyűjtések az 1970–1980-as évek Romániájában. Fekete Árpád történelemtanár magángyűjteményében 12 szovátai pionír-expedíció anyagait őrzi. A tanulmány egyrészt e gyűjteményről (expedíciós dokumentumokról, tanári jegyzetfüzetekről, úgynevezett „expedíciós tükrökről”, albumokról, expedíciós krónikákról és néprajzi gyűjteményekről) nyújt forrásismertetést, másrészt Fekete Árpád expedíciószervező tevékenységének, illetve a gyűjtemény tartalmának tükrében elemzi az 1970-es, 1980-as évek expedícióinak mibenlétét, az ezek mögött meghúzódó (nemzetiségi) kisebbségi törekvéseket. A tanulmány a turizmustörténet, valamint a néprajzi tudománytörténet kérdéseire koncentrál.  ///  ABSTRACT (ENG). Pioneer Expeditions from Sovata through a Private Collection: Minority Endeavours, Amateur Ethnography in Romania in the 1970s–1980s. The private collection of the history teacher Árpád Fekete contains the materials of 12 pioneer-expeditions from Sovata, Romania. This article offers on one hand a description on this collection (expedition-documents, teacher’s notebooks, so called „expedition-mirrors”, expedition albums and chronicles, ethnographic collections), on the other hand an analysis of the pioneer-expeditions from the 1970s and 1980s, and the ethnic minority efforts behind them in the reflection of this special collection and the expedition-organizing activity of Árpád Fekete. The work follows the questions of history of tourism and history of ethnography.  ///  ABSTRACT (RO). Expediţii pioniereşti din Sovata prin prisma unei colecţii private: aspiraţii minoritare, culegere etnografică de amatori în România anilor 1970–1980. Profesorul de istorie Fekete Árpád are o colecţie personală, care păstrează materialele a 12 expediţii pioniereşti din Sovata. Lucrarea de faţă pe de o parte oferă o prezentare a acestei colecţii (documente ale expediţiilor, notiţe ale profesorului, rapoartele expediţiei, albume, cronici şi colecţii etnografice), pe de altă parte analizează temeliile expediţiilor din anii 1970–1980, respectiv aspiraţiile minoritare ce se aflau în fundalul acestora, toate prin prisma activităţii organizatorice a lui Fekete Árpád şi a conţinutului acestei colecţii. Lucrarea focusează pe probleme de istorie a turismului, respectiv de istorie a etnografiei.

The relatively short history of the Transylvanian Principality (one hundred and fifty years or so) was full of unexpected changes. From the tragic Battle of Mohács, fought against the Ottoman invasion (1526), until the Diploma Leopoldinum, which integrated the Principality in the huge Habsburg Empire, events like the rise of Lutheran, Calvinian or Unitarian reforms, the Catholic Reformation or Counter-Reformation – despite the Edict of Torda in 1568, which declared religious tolerance and freedom of conscience – brought forth more disagreements. In the 1670s a new population coming from Moldova appeared in the Principality: the Armenians. The history of the establishment of this population was mentioned by the Catholic priest István Lakatos in his work Siculia (1702). Through the analysis of this work, we search for answers to the question regarding the relatively short integration period of this ethnic group.

We start, through this study, the research of some architectural monuments which have not benefited at all of the well deserved attention. This buildings are located, in most of the cases, around the fortified churches belonging to the Saxons, and maybe this is the reason why this houses have not been an atraction for the researchers or tourists.
All the attention was captured by the fortified monuments, much older and, why not, more imposant. For the future, we believe that  it is necessary the implementation of a a research program, focused on the current situation of this parish houses and the on ways how they can be used taking into account various aspects as economical, cultural, touristic etc.

From the Germans of Danzig (now Gdansk, in Poland) to the Turks of Rhodes: the «Europa etnografica» map (1:6.000.000) of the Atlante internazionale del TCI (1st ed., 1927). For a later version of this map (3rd ed., 1929) you can see www.davidrumsey.com

The aim of the study is to analyses the elements of the identity of Transylvanian-Romanian peasants at the end of the 18th century, during the Horea revolt. The work highlights that the revolt itself cannot be considered as a national movement of romanians, nor a movement against Hungarians.

Uma apresentação crítica e compreensiva da biografia romena do escritor conhecido por seus livros em língua francesa. "O Cioran de antes para melhor compreender o Cioran de depois", nas palavras de Alain Paruit, um de seus tradutores para a língua francesa.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Dk4NEBOJ3Y&t=9336s

Az erdélyi szász Lucas Raussról, aki a barcasági Földváron született 1724-ben és az amerikai német lutheránusok lelkészeként halt meg a pennsylvaniai Yorkban 1788-ban, alig történik említés a magyarországi irodalomban. Jénai beiratkozását a peregrinációs adattárak becsületesen számon tartják ugyan, de ahol leginkább keresnénk róla információt, Joseph Franz Trausch lexikonában csak néhány mondatot találunk.

The relatively short history of the Transylvanian Principality (one hundred and fifty years or so) was full of unexpected changes. From the tragic Battle of Mohács, fought against the Ottoman invasion (1526), until the Diploma Leopoldinum, which integrated the Principality in the huge Habsburg Empire, events like the rise of Lutheran, Calvinian or Unitarian reforms, the Catholic Reformation or Counter-Reformation – despite the Edict of Torda in 1568, which declared religious tolerance and freedom of conscience – brought forth more disagreements. In the 1670s a new population coming from Moldova appeared in the Principality: the Armenians. The history of the establishment of this population was mentioned by the Catholic priest István Lakatos in his work Siculia (1702). Through the analysis of this work, we search for answers to the question regarding the relatively short integration period of this ethnic group.

Transylvania, centre and periphery (1892-1918)

The failure of the Revolution in 1848 was followed by the emergence and development of a civic nationalism on the part of the Romanians, a kind of nationalism that was not directed against the “other”, but a way of integrating the coexisting nations in Transylvania. The Romanians, as members of nation excluded from the political and administrative affairs of the time, were the best to understand that the autonomous principality of Transylvania could not make progress with- out a system of participation of all nations in the governing of the province. This short-lived political exercise along with the long constitutional autonomy traditions of the principality determined Romanians to stick to the idea of autonomy and to claim it both after Transylvania’s union with Hungary and later, when Transylvania’s union with Romania.

This volume of studies presents the relationship between society and state in 20th century Transylvania belonging since 1918 to Romania. The articles written mainly by Transylvanian historian, political scientist and anthropologist scholars, university lecturers present and emphasise the political, cultural and economic structure and self-organization of different entities of Transylvanian society - Hungarians, Romanians, Germans, Jews, political-cultural-economic elites, peasants and urban population - as a resistance against or adaptation towards state policies (centralization, assimilation, repression, censorship of culture, command on economic and ideological sphere) during the interwar and WWII period (1918-1944), as well as during the socialist regime (1945-1989).

The seven and a half decades between the Mongol invasion of 1241-1242 and the granting of the urban liberties to the German hospites of Cluj (Kolozsvár, Klausenburg) represent one of the most critical periods in the history of this city. Castrum Clus was confronted, like other county centres destroyed by the Mongols, with the danger of losing its status and becoming a place without importance. It was saved from this unhappy destiny by Stephen V, young king of Hungary and duke of Transylvania, who installed here an apparently significant group of German colonists. These German guests played an extremely important role in the revival of the medieval Cluj. After 1275, when Cluj become abusively, in a period of civil wars, a possession of the bishops of Transylvania, these German colonists were those who refused to give up the freedoms with which they had been endowed and struggle four decades to regain them. This period of the history of Cluj is full of unknowns, the specialists having disagreements about many of the problems related to it. However, it remains an indisputable fact: The colonization of the German „guests” (hospitum et saxonum nostrorum, 1316) by Stephen V and their endowment with liberties was a crucial moment in the history of medieval Cluj. This truly founding moment was followed by a series of events that led to the granting of the royal diploma of August 19, 1316, and to the indestructible alliance between the German settlers in Cluj and the kings of the Anjou dynasty. The conflict that marked the evolution of this colonists’ community in the first decades after its settlement was one with lasting effects on the evolution of medieval Cluj.

Hungarian, Saxon, and Romanian nationalist activists in Transylvania disseminated competing claims to “Westernness” by swaying visiting British travel writers’ descriptions through hospitality networks that guided what writers saw and heard, assuring that travelers favored the nationalists’ classifications of the region’s ethnicities. Although the qualities British travelers valued varied depending on individual differences and intellectual currents such as enlightened reform, scientific racism, and the romantic revival, travelers consistently ascribed the qualities they best favored to the nationality on whose hospitality they relied. Wealth and time of travel determined which hospitality networks travelers favored. The Hungarian noble elites hosted most travelers until 1918, when the newly dominant Romanian nobility replaced them. Throughout, peasant voices especially remained marginalized.