Transylvania [antikvár]

INTRODUCTIONThis special issue of the Carpathian Observer is being published on the curious occasion of the 2050th anniversary of a rather obscure event in the ancient history of Dacia wnich is celebrated by modern Rumanians as the beginning of their national history in Transylvania. Under such bizarre circumstances our publication on the Transylvanian problem cannot but be controversial. Yet in compiling the historical material on Transylvania, our aim was to scrupulously observe the rules of fairness and honesty in scholarship.Our publication deals with one of the most complex national conflicts of contemporary Europe. Victims of this conflicts are the Transylvanian Hungarians over two million of them living under Rumanian domination. They are known as minority Hungarians, not unlike their fellow Hungarians living in Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and the Soviet Union.The total number of these so-called minority Hungarians is close to four million, one fourth of all Hungarians living in the Danube region. They became minority Hungarians as a result of the territorial settlements following two World Wars. Most of them are living in areas where they are, or had been until recently, the majority. Now all of them are minorities in relationship to the total populations of the countries to which they were transferred by the peace treaties which unabashedly favored Hungary's rivals. Their fate is of paramount interest to all Hungarians wherever they may live.Fhe most burning issue among the Hungarian minority problems is that of the Transylvanian Hungarians under Rumanian rule, partly because they are the largest among the Hungarian minorities, partly because their treatment by the majority is the worst.6