Reconciliation in the ethnic conflict in Transylvania: theological, political and social aspects*

Abstract

Romania had to be addressed without delay. Located in the heart of Transylvania, an area that has been co-inhabited by various ethnic groups for many centuries, Targu Mure~ contains a large Hungarian community. This violent clash, occurring just over three months after the collapse of the totalitarian regime in Romania, was a first warning sign indicating the social instability that the previous regime had managed to create. As Romania prepared to embark on its long journey towards democracy, the problem of ethnic minorities posed one of the greatest dangers to social and political stability. This particular explosion of interethnic hatred had no serious long-term consequences, mainly as a result of the moderate responses of the political representatives of the Hungarian and Romanian governments, but it highlighted how quickly such unresolved tensions inherited from the past could intensify and lead to serious interethnic and international conflicts in Eastern Europe. Over the past 200 years the Romanian and Hungarian ethnic communities in Transylva­ nia have experienced oscillating degrees of tension; these escalated during communism with the intensification of radical nationalism, xenophobia and the crass violation of human rights. The hostility, which had built up especially within the largest ethnic minority in Romania, emerged with the change in the political milieu and threatened the precarious social and political stability in postcommunist Romania. The task of construct­ ing a democratic Romanian society required, and continues to require, the affirmation of a political strategy or ethic in which significant action needs to be taken toward the alleviation of the interethnic conflict. In this article, my concern is with proposing a strategy for understanding the theological, political and social factors involved in dealing with ethnic conflict. Such a strategy will entail analysing the nature of conflict and possibilities for resolution with reference to the concept of social reconciliation. The ethnic conflict in Transylvania will serve as a case study that will allow us to assess the relevance of this strategy to a concrete social and political context.