A Night at the Beach – A Vote Against Fear and Humiliation

One August night, I climbed over the fence of one of these beaches with some young Hungarian people from Ciuc (Csík), who had come to take their university entrance exams. About two dozen strangers were already cooling off in the pool, some sitting quietly on sunbeds and chatting softly. No one wanted to draw attention by making noise. Everything seemed as it did on any given summer night. Soon, we stripped down and started swimming laps, speaking in our mother tongue, Hungarian.

One stranger took offense at our Hungarian conversation. He attacked one of the young men from Ciuc in the water, saying half in Hungarian, half in Romanian: „Go home, măi!” He started pushing him around. I swam over and tried to calm him down. I knew my friends had entrance exams the next day and should not be harmed in any way. „Lasă-i în pace!” (Leave them alone!) I said. I didn’t realize the man was about to strike.

We ran towards our clothes along with the group from Ciuc. Blood was pouring from my face. The attacker chased after us with a stick in hand but stopped a few meters away. „Mai vrea cineva ceva, bozgorilor?” (Does anyone else want anything, bozgors [Romanian slur for Hungarians]?)

When you are in the middle of trespassing, you can’t really call for help. So, none of us wanted anything else but to get out of that dangerous, pitiful, humiliating situation as quickly as possible. We dressed hastily, climbed back over the fence; the guys from Ciuc headed home, and I went to the emergency room. Dr. Matekovits, who was on duty at oral surgery, recognized me. „Well, they sure did a number on you!” he said. Then he stitched up my mangled gums with 18 stitches and patched the hole above my upper lip, through which I could even stick out my tongue.

Since then, I have always grown out both a mustache and a beard.

I never spoke about the fear and humiliation I felt that night at the beach, but I have never forgotten the incident.

Similar feelings were experienced by Hungarians in Marosvásárhely (Târgu Mureș) during the Black March of 1990, and although it didn’t turn into a bloodbath, we felt the same way on June 6, 2019, when we Hungarians stood together to form a human chain to protect the Úz Valley military cemetery from a Romanian nationalist mob.

Today we know: George Simion rode this very wave of hatred. His political career is largely built on it. His party gathered those who share these hateful sentiments and who have repeatedly shown that they do not shy away from verbal or even physical violence. We are standing at the threshold of their world. It’s possible that next week we will wake up to that world. Let no one be deceived by George Simion’s apparent moderation during the campaign, or by his recent quotes from Viktor Orbán.

Even Dan Tanasă, the vice president of the right wing political-party AUR (Alliance for the Union of Romanians) that George Simion leads, disciplined himself during the campaign – despite having built his political career solely on combating the perceived Hungarian threat. He previously filed hundreds of lawsuits to protect Romania from Hungarian signage as well as Székely or Hungarian symbols – but even he seems to have restrained himself lately. These AUR politicians perhaps think that openly displaying their anti-Hungarian sentiments would neither help in the battle for votes nor in seeking European allies.

No matter what they say, if George Simion becomes Romania’s next president, and a government forms in which Dan Tanasă becomes, for instance, the Minister of Justice, our lives would change radically.

This is why it is essential to participate in the second round of the presidential elections. We must not allow beach brawlers and cemetery-vandalizing football hooligans to feel that „our time has come,” that „our people” have come to power.

Let no one be reassured by the fact that a recent poll shows George Simion and his opponent, Nicușor Dan, who represents European values, running neck and neck. The first round of voting only proved that Simion's actual support is much higher than what pollsters can measure. Many of his voters are silent about their support and intend to keep voting for him.

• Therefore, everyone who envisions a European future for their homeland must go out and vote.
• This is the only way to prevent a radical downturn in our fate.
• And Transylvanians living in Hungary and the Western world must also vote. They too bear responsibility for their homeland.

Today, every well-meaning Hungarian from Transylvania, or of Transylvanian origin, who cares about their nation and homeland, has the task of finding at least one person in their circles who did not vote in the first round and convincing them that a decisive vote is coming up, whose outcome can only be steered in a good direction with all of our votes.

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Éjszaka a strandon – egy szavazat a félelem és a megaláztatás ellen

Egy soha el nem mondott személyes történetet mesélnék el 1986-ból. Épp elvégeztem az egyetem fizika szakán az első évet. Elviselhetetlen hőség volt Temesváron.