Transylvania: The Notion of a Nation

You'll probably never get to Transylvania. Most of the world will not get to Transylvania, it's simply not close to any beaten path. The northwestern third of Romania, it is a place rooted more in legend and history than in actuality. Only on maps for tourists will you actually even see the word.

So what is it? Simply mention the word Transylvania, especially at this time of year, and we're all bound to envision the same picture: full moons, Dracula's castle and the like. Maybe even werewolves.

And certainly, Dracula's birthplace, the city of Segesvar (Sighisoara), lives up to that reputation. The city is strikingly Gothic. Medieval church steeples stand tall against the early dusk like upturned fangs. But the over-commercialization of the cult of Dracula, and hearing English spoken on the tourist-shop-lined streets, make it seem somehow less haunted in person.

Transylvania is the people who live there. Unfortunately, that's a complicated story.

Before the Romans came, nothing much is important. And no one argues that the Romans were there, but that's where the consensus stops. Romanians say they are the descendants of the ancient Romans, with a Romantic language as proof. Romanians are orthodox Christians, more European than the slightly Asiatic Hungarians. The Hungarians living in the region say they found Transylvania deserted and made it their home, only to have the Romanians come back later. And left out of the mix are the minority Saxons, ethnic Germans invited at the end of the Dark Ages to bring their civilization and trades into the region.

The Hungarians controlled Transylvania for much of what we might consider the beginning of modern time. But the Turks conquered the Hungarians in the 1500s, leaving Transylvania to its own device. During that time, the Reformation blossomed in Transylvania, and Unitarianism -- with a long claim to the title of most liberal "protestant" religion -- flourished. Under a Unitarian king, the only one in history, Transylvania was the first European nation to grant a degree of religious freedom, in 1568. But the Austrians defeated the Turks in Hungary and kept on going through to Transylvania. The good Catholics from Vienna marched the Counter-Reformation and German into Transylvania, dictating both. For a long time, much of Central Europe was under the multi-ethnic dominion of the Austro-Hungarian empire.

World War I didn't simply end on Nov. 11th, 1918, I'm slowly discovering. Wilson's 14 Points and the Senate's rejection of the League of Nations are the end of the story in American textbooks, but in Europe, troops were still moving. By the next year, 1919, the Russian revolution's Red Army was on the border of Poland, on the attack, and poised to sweep westward through Europe. And in these parts, Romanian armies defeated a communist-led regime in Hungary. By marching all the way into Budapest in 1919, Romania ensured Hungary's status of defeat before the 1920 Treaty of Trianon. The reorganization of European borders was disastrous for Hungary. Two-thirds of its territory and one-half of its population was lopped off and renamed Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania or Yugoslavia. Ethnic Hungarian majorities were included in foreign lands, despite the era's attention to self-determination, for political reasons and "strategic interest." Transylvania was one of these regions, although to be fair, most of the territory did decide in a plebiscite to join Moldova and Wallochia and create the new nation-state of Romania.

To this day, ethnic Hungarians and Hungarian-speakers remain in pockets of Romania, upwards of 2 million. (The population of Hungary is 10 million, Romania has 20 million.) They are mostly Catholic, although there are also many Unitarians. We stayed in their villages and learned their stories, being a Hungarian outside of Hungary. They are a traditional people, subsisting off the land with little surplus. Many are more likely to ride a horse-drawn wagon to the field or factory than to take a car. Many of the Hungarian villages cater to visitors these days, from Hungary or from further abroad. The beauty of the villages in enticing, and the natural landscape of the Carpathians is breathtaking. They cook good food, share their homemade palinka with you, and then offer a bed for the evening. It's a rather nice way to see and people and the land they live in.

(To be refined. All errors are my own.)