The Legacy of Communism: The Breakdown of Ethnic Communities

When the Communists came to power in Romania, they brought with them many new regulations and policies. One ethnic group that was greatly affected by the new regime was the Roma. The Romanian government did its best to try and force the Roma to settle down. In an ideal communist society, the Roma would relocate to the major cities and live a "decent" communist way of life. The concept of a permanent residence was not something that this group was used to, or very willing to adapt to. Despite this tension between the Roma and the government, the people did benefit from the regime’s policies. These people were now entitled to housing, health care, and jobs that were not available to them pre-Communism.
Yet another ethnic group greatly affected by the regime were the Saxons, or ethnic Germans living in Romania. This group of people had been residing in Romania for over 800 years and were legally Romanian citizens. Yet, when the Soviets came to power, they quickly began to deport these people in order to gain both their money and their land. Even though the King protested this forced removal, his pleas were overruled by the powerful regime despite that these deportations were breaking the international law. It is estimated that about 70,000 ethnic Germans were brought to Donbas coalmines on cattle cars and forced to work under strict observation. About one in every five of these people died at the camp due to disease and malnutrition. Those surviving prisoners remained at these camps for over ten years.
Throughout this time period, there were a large number of Hungarian communities already established in Transylvania. The communist regime considered this group to be “dangers to Romania’s territorial integrity,” so they must be eliminated or repressed. The government closed the Hungarian university in Cluj, and worked on eliminating Hungarian education completely. In order to repress the population even more, Gheorghiu-Dej proceeded to place these people in jail and even executed some. Although the exact numbers were never officially made public, it is estimated that 20 Hungarians were executed and some 40,000 jailed. Dej also arrested leaders of the Hungarian People’s Alliance to extinguish the people’s thoughts of possible rebellion.
In the aftermath of the Communist era, these ethnic communities continued the fight to regain their cultural heritage that they lost to the regime. Today the Roma still struggle to find their place in the new society, and are still somewhat discriminated against by other communities. The Roma traditions are not conducive to maintaining stable employment, so many of these people are without jobs. The majority of the remaining Saxons never returned to Romania, but many of their previous establishments are still standing. In contrast to the Communist policies, today the Hungarians are able to run Hungarian schools in their communities. Despite the repression by the Communists, these ethnic groups are making progress to reestablish their unique contributions to society.

Submitted by: Cailin, Elizabeth W., and Breanna