\nUnder
\nthe Vienna Award of August 30 1940,
\nGermany and Italy forced Romania to cede Northern Transylvania to
\nHungary. This was Romania’s second loss of territory that year,
\nfollowing that of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, which had been
\nannexed by the USSR in June. Yet a third territorial loss would occur
\nin September, when Southern Dobruja was awarded to Bulgaria under the
\nTreaty of Craiova. Northern Transylvania had almost 43,500 square km
\nand some 2.4 million inhabitants according to a population census
\nfrom 1930, with ethnic Romanians making up around 50% of the ceded
\nterritory and ethnic Hungarians 38%. The Vienna Award was the result
\nof Hungary’s revisionist policy after the 1920 Treaty of Trianon
\nbetween the Entente and Hungary, which concluded WWI.
\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\nThe
\nforced cessation of Northern Transylvania was not without
\nconsequences, including persecutions against the Romanian and Jewish
\npopulation, as well as expulsions and displacement, with around
\n500,000 Romanians, people from the administration and the elites,
\nhaving to leave the area. Those who fled Northern Transylvania did
\nnot however, resign to the new state of affairs. On 15th
\nNovember 1940, a group of young intellectuals established the Pro
\nTransylvania association, which also had its own radio station, with
\nthe leader of the National Peasant Party Iuliu Maniu as honorary
\npresident. The aim of the association was primarily to condemn the
\nloss of territory. Although the association was clandestine, its
\nmembers did get hold of a military radio station which they used to
\nbroadcast for 2-3 hours a day from Bra\u0219ov.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\nProfessor
\nVictor Marian was a member of the Pro Transylvania association and in
\n1997 he gave an interview to Radio Romania’s Oral History Centre:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\nIt
\nwas a pirate station and we were constantly followed, so we kept
\nmoving from one place to another. After 41 Castelului street, we
\nmoved the station to Mount T\u00e2mpa, in the hut of an abandoned
\nsheepfold. The key figure of the station was Leon
\nBochi\u015f, and he was joined by Lucian Valea, Iustin Ilie\u015f and myself.
\nI worked with them until mid 1942, when I got an appointment in the
\neducation system in Bra\u015fov, which made it harder for me to continue
\nwith the station.
\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nThe
\nbroadcasting station in question was called Free Romania, it used
\nportable equipment and covered around 100 km. Victor Marian said the
\nstation had a good location and the information it broadcast into the
\noccupied territory came via courier and even from the army:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\nThe
\nstation was well organised because broadcasting from Bra\u015fov it could
\nbe received easily, especially in the Szekler region and T\u00e2rgu
\nMure\u015f. I knew people from Cluj, which is 230 km away, who said they
\ncould often pick up this clandestine station. From T\u00e2mpa, the
\nstation moved to Post\u0103varul Peak, and from Post\u0103varul to Piatra
\nMare mountain, but I’d already stopped working with them by that
\ntime. I heard about it from Leon Bochi\u015f, who was a very good friend.
\nFrom Piatra Mare they moved the station to F\u0103g\u0103ra\u015f mountains, and
\nthat was the final move, because they were tracked down and had to
\nflee. They had to leave their equipment behind and the station
\nno longer broadcast after that.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\nVictor
\nMarian also spoke about the newspaper published by the Pro
\nTransylvania Association, called Ardealul,
\nand which had an equally important contribution to maintaining hope
\nin the Romanian media:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\nThis
\nnewspaper, Ardealul,
\nwhich was led by Anton Ionel Mure\u015fanu, carried lots of reports about
\nthe movement of the frontline and other international events. So we
\nknew about all the efforts made by Iuliu Maniu at an international
\nlevel, in Stockholm, Ankara, Cairo, etc. We were up to date, so we
\nwere able to provide accurate information about these diplomatic
\nefforts. When these reports appeared, we felt we were being followed,
\nwe could tell the station was being tracked, and would move
\nimmediately. We simply had to pack up and leave because as soon as we
\nbroadcast these reports about Romania wanting to leave the war, the
\nGermans, who had much more sophisticated equipment, would have caught
\nus in no time.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\nAs
\nthe front line was advancing into the Soviet Union, the activity of
\nthe Pro Transylvania association was becoming more and more
\ndifficult, and it eventually closed in 1942. On the advice of Iuliu
\nManiu, the members of the broadcasting team fled, and the
\nbroadcasting equipment was abandoned in the mountains. Two years
\nlater, in 1944, the fate of history changed, and in 1947, Northern
\nTransylvania, for which a lot of compromises that been made, was
\nreturned to Romania. <\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Pro Transylvania opposed the cessation by Romania of Northern Transylvania to Hungary under Vienna Award of August 1940.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":123226,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41141],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-131687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-history-show"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n