Jody - # 10 Case

Case, Holly. Between States: The Transylvanian Question and the European Idea During World War II (Stanford: Stanford, 2009)

Question:

By looking at the Transylvanian Question, how can 'Europe' be understood as a substantial entity to which interests and agency can be attributed? How and what battles played out in the outwardly 'minor' struggle for Transylvania amid the 'major' backdrop of World War II? And how did this shape local and international policy?

Method:

Interestingly, and one that I admire, she does not judge or become biased. Attempting to examine all levels, in essence, she lets the competitors argue it out themselves. Masterfully laying out and utilizing the material - seemingly equal by not focusing on one major political opponent - to establish the historical debate, Case  basically provides the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Sources:

Primary and Secondary sources, maps, census records, opinion polls, newspapers, political press and propaganda.

Summary of Argument:

In the first four chapters Case lays out the struggle between Hungary and Romania for control of the Transylvanian territory during World War II. The final chapters ponders this contestation against the questions/ideas of a "New Europe".  As the two nations volley for European favoritism, Case shows how this issue in turn shapes major European powers action and policy. While World War II is the focus, we must revert to the past and the significant events leading up to the fight. Case often returns to the pivotal post-WWI Treaty of Trianon, which territorially shifted Magyars into non-Hungarian nations. Case also explores the Jewish Question, but points out that it was not the primary policy preoccupation before or during the war - there were other disputes to settle. Though technically allies, Romania and Hungary continued to ethnically cleanse their areas before/after/during the shifts of Transylvania in the Second Vienna Award of 1940. Interestingly, and ironically, the Axis powers of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy set up the 'German-Italian Officers' Commission' to oversee and investigate claims of minority abuses on both sides. Outwardly, minorities mattered or at least they appeared to. In the end, however, the territorial dispute was settled postwar in 1947 by Stalin giving Romania control. In conclusion, Case states that nationalism was not isolated but transnational. In fact, "we can observe how these discussions are not so much a product of left-right conflict with these states, but are the legacy of a political consensus on issues like the Transylvanian Question that emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century, and within which the left and the right sought to stake out territory on the same field to gain legitimacy....[which shapes] an idea of what Europe does in this region, and 'Europe' has in turn become the object of a new consensus, on over which the right and left are fighting new battles to determine who is more 'European' and what that means" (223).

Comment:

Overall, this is a wonderful work that is methodically and systematically laid out. I would prefer a more chronologically 'dry' social history though. At times the work, or at least sections (especially 'New Europe'), seems pieced together and disjointed. The back and forth - time travel ala J.J. Abrams - is difficult to follow. Largely, though, it added to my knowledge of this area during the war, and I must admit I love the cartoon of mother Hitler with her two children (Hungary and Romania) fighting behind her rocking chair (159). One of the most problematic issues concerns the killing of Hungarians by Romanians and vice versa, which are treated as afterthoughts in this account. I found this the most interesting aspect of the book and one that should have been explored and highlighted. Labor camps for non-Jews should be spotlighted since it begs the question: how does this relate to the Holocaust? Continuity, ethnic cleansing, or genocide? Case just mentions "murder," - making me question was this focused on the 'military' (as we are led to believe) or civilians? Recall Case's discussion of Antonescu murdering Communist (110)! Not to mention - against supposed allies! Not that she is an HGS scholar but it is a cop out if you ask me. This issue should definitely be explored in SEGAL's dissertation!

Argument (Chapter Outlines):

Introduction: Between States

I. The "Transylvanian Question" and European Statehood

II. "Why We Fight"

III. People Between States

IV. A League of their Own

V. The "Jewish Question" Meets the Transylvanian Question

VI. A "New Europe"?

Conclusion

Notes:

• Struggle between Hungary/Romania for control of Transylvania (1)
• 1940 split: N -> Hungary S -> Romania
• Looking at smaller powers changes our understanding of European history (3)
• Attack or generalized A/S (6)
• "Questions"/"Ideas" about nations are about Europe not nation (11)
• ***Not about place but about bigger national/European issues (13)
• 1867 Hungarian autonomy 1878 Romanian independence (20-2)
• 1867 incorporated into Hungary (24)
• WWI to Romanian [Hungarian loss of power] (24)
• Jewish minority (33-35) Jews as other
• Maps used to show agreement for territory (40-4) (48)
• Transylvania becomes a "European Problem" - making it purposeful (62)
• Fighting for territorial rights and nationalism (74)
• More of a track race for territory - not boxing match (95)
• 1940 Hungarian support through demonstrations for Hungarian occupation (99)
• Efforts taken by Antonescu to murder Communists (110)
• Statistics to "prove" each sides majority population (125)
• Sorting legal issues - set by name, faith, and nationality: (130)

Hungarian - Roman Catholic or Protestant

Romanian - Greek Catholic or Easter Orthodox

• Changing semiotics and Nazis - vitally important (131)
• Cemetery claims - even Jewish cemetery missing on Hungarian map:

Romania-Jews as Jews (135)

Hungary-Jews as Hungarian (148)

• Linking territory to will of the people (148)
• Legitimizing political claims through documentation/perception (148)
• Labor camps for R/H who slander nation (153)
• German-Italian Officers' Commission to protect minority rights (153)
• Minorities mattered OR appeared to (174)
• Hungarian rule allowed Jews to sue Romania for interwar period but kept them out of public life (176)
• History overview of Jews in Hungary (177->)
• Jews were used as a way of watching the respective other (187)
• Territorial concern linked to treatment of Jews (194)
• August 1947 Transylvania to Romania due to Stalin (203)
• The Transylvania Question still relevant today (210)
• H/R Nationalism is transnational - not isolated nationalism (221/223)
• Both H/R competed for Axis powers - H/R perfect allies to Axis (225)
• Great Cartoon (159)

5 Main Points (thanks Bob):

• Not about place but about bigger national/European issues (13)
• More of a track race for territory - not boxing match (95) - H/R Nationalism is transnational - not isolated nationalism (221/223)
• Linking territory to will of the people and legitimizing political claims through documentation/perception (148)
• Though there were labor camps for R/H who slander nation (153) a (Fascist) German-Italian Officers' Commission to protect minority rights (153)
• August 1947 Transylvania to Romania due to Stalin (203) - while the Transylvania Question still relevant today (210)