IOAN HAŢEGAN, Ph.D.

Bessarabia is the easternmost Romanian province. It has been an integral part of the province of Moldova for centuries, acting as a shield against the major invasions from the east, namely the Goths, the Huns, Avars, Slavs, Pecenegs, the Uzi, the Cumans and the Tatars. Although Moldova had fluctuating relations with Kievan Russia, then with the Polish-Ukrainian union and with the Cossacks, the bravery and wisdom of Moldovan rulers managed to preserve the unity of the country.
Banat is another Romanian province whose rulers once belonged to an uninterrupted dynasty spanning approximately two centuries (9th – 11th centuries). The province gradually came under the influence of the feudal Magyar kingdom, yet managed to preserve its own distinct identity. Its inhabitants’ decisive involvement in the anti-ottoman struggle conferred them considerable economic and social privileges. Banat was the sole Romanian province under foreign rule that enjoyed such privileges bestowed upon the Romanian districts. In between 1552-1716, the province of Banat was conquered and ruled over by the ottomans, while during 1716-1778 it belonged to the Habsburg Empire, having been conquered by the power of arms and mastered as a domain. Then it was ceded to the Hungarian kingdom (1778-1849).
To sum up, this would be the historical and geographical background of the two provinces. Our readers might find it interesting to follow the parallel developments in these provinces during the 19th century.

Bessarabia was torn off the rest of Moldova in the aftermath of the Russian-Ottoman wars, when the Russians – pursuing their imperial policy while also pretending to defend the values of Orthodoxy – reached the mouths of the Danube. That was when the term “Bessarabia” was coined (although the descendents of the Wallachian Basarab family had never ruled over this province) in an attempt at personalizing the new rule. For starters, the occupants tried to administer the new territory via local self-governing and then transformed the area into a Russian gubernia until March 1918.
Banat was divided into several counties, except for its southern and eastern parts, where the Austrian military border lay until 1872. After 1849, Banat became once again a country belonging to the Crown, under the name of Serbian Vojvodina and Timiş Banat, until 1860, having German as the official language. It was reincorporated in the Hungarian kingdom until 1 December 1918.
Foreign populations were brought in both provinces, in a Germanification and Russification attempt respectively. In both provinces, the official language, the language spoken within state schools, the language of the Orthodoxy, was different from Romanian, which was the language spoken by the vast majority of the population. These endeavors to tear off the provinces from their homeland ended up in failure. The Romanians put up a stubborn resistance to the dominant state and this became manifest in several ways, from the simplest, individual actions to genuine actions of social resistance. Sometimes repressed, sometimes partly successful, these movements had a marked influence on the Romanians’ national conscience.
The national movement of the Romanian population unfolded at a constant pace and was aimed at raising awareness with regard to the common traits of the Romanian provinces, while also struggling to earn the national rights and liberties: school, church, press, etc. During the closing decades of the 19th century, the movement gained momentum and diversified with the establishment of national and social-democrat parties.
The years of the First World War saw the oppression of the Romanians living in the two provinces, but they were also the years of attaining political maturity and radicalization. Once Russia had entered the Bolshevik era, Bessarabia declared its autonomy, then its independence, followed by the Parliamentary Assembly’s decision to proclaim the union with the homeland in March 1918. As far as Banat was concerned, things took a turn for the better in October – November 1918, when the national movement of Romanians in the dualist Austro-Hungarian Empire became more radical. Several large-scale gatherings in each Romanian inhabited town elected deputies in the Grand National Assembly hosted by Alba Iulia on 1 December 1918. They voted in favor of the union between Transylvania, Banat, Crişana and Maramureş, on the one hand, and Romania, on the other.
It was decided that Banat be territorially divided according to the Wilsonian criterion of nationalities: 2/3 in Romania, 1/3 in Yugoslavia and 1% in Hungary. Because of the occupation troops, the Romanian administration took over its assigned territory as late as the summer of 1919. At the same time, several attempts were made (something that the general audience is not familiar with) at occupying the entire territory of Banat, but these were doomed to failure.
The Soviets kept a watchful eye on developments in Romania and, always on the prowl trying to reincorporate Bessarabia, they set up the so-called Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic (present-day Transnistria or Trans-Dniester) on the left bank of the Dniester River. When the whole of Europe was divided between the Nazis and the Bolsheviks in 1940, Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina and the region of Hertza were annexed by Soviet Russia.
It was now that the martyrdom of the Romanians living in Bessarabia reached its historical peak. Not even the Tatars treated the Romanians as despicably as the Soviets did. Although several books have been written and several documentaries have been released on this topic, although some of the survivors of the Russian gulags are still alive, the actual history of the oppression against Romanians Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina and the region of Hertza has still to be entirely revealed.
It is the paramount duty of historians, writers, cultural personalities and simple folk in Bessarabia and Romania alike precisely to study, get familiar with and reveal in writing the historical truths experienced by Romanians across the centuries, up to this day. In the absence of such harsh, yet necessary truths, we will no longer be ourselves, we will no longer manage to fight against those who misrepresent our history.
In both provinces, the foreign influence (Russian influence in Bessarabia and German and Magyar influence in Banat) was powerful enough to modulate the economic, social, cultural and political environment, yet it failed to drive Romanians away from these territories.
Reference is often made to the existence of several ethnic minority groups in the two provinces, which is perfectly true. Reference is also made to the ecumenism and ethnic tolerance in Banat, to the good understanding among ethnic groups in Bessarabia, which is equally true.
But mention is seldom made of the decisive role played by Romanians themselves in fostering such an environment. Take a closer look at any other European region inhabited by a majority population and several ethnic minority groups and you will notice that the majority displays an “aggressive” tolerance (to say the least) towards the minorities. Therefore, the legitimate question would be: how come the ethnic minority groups enjoyed rights and liberties and certain closeness to the Romanians only in those regions with majority Romanian population? Why is it that only the Romanians allowed these minorities to enjoy their own language, religion, school, and culture? Do the Romanians really deserve to be blamed for this, as do those who still believe in imperial chimeras?