Romanian School from Transylvania in 1917-1918. „The Cultural Area”
Autor: Dorin Giurgiu
Cuvinte cheie: învăţământ, şcoala românească, istoria învăţământului, legislaţia învăţământului, luptă naţională, secolul XIX, secolul XX, Transilvania
Keywords: Education, romanian school, history of education, education legislation, national struggle, XIX th century, XXth century, Transylvania
Şcoala românească devine la sfârşitul veacului al XIX-lea şi începutul celui următor instituţia care polarizează toate energiile locale în lupta naţională. Susţinerea şcolilor româneşti şi apărarea caracterului lor naţional, devenise un adevărat comandament politic în condiţiile sporirii agresivităţii cercurilor conducătoare din monarhia austro-ungară faţă de cultura şi existenţa naţională a românilor. În anii 1917-1918 aceste tendinţe de maghiarizare forţată au cunoscut forme deosebit de virulente, prin încercarea de desfiinţare a întregului învăţământ românesc. Opera de distrugere a şcolilor confesionale româneşti, fără „zona culturală” era incompletă. Această acţiune trebuia să fie o încoronare a politicii şcolare păcătoase şi o ultimă sforţare a unui sistem de guvernare brutal şi imoral.
Romanian school becomes at the end of the XIXth century and beginning of the following the institution which concentrates all local energies within national fight. Support of Romanian schools and defense of their national character became a real political percept amid increase of aggressiveness that leading circles from Austrian-Hungarian monarchy showed towards culture and national existence of Romanians.
The sole aim of the Hungarian policy towards other nations between 1867 and 1918 was that of their denationalization. Hungarian governments paid great attention to organization of education which was regarded as the best way of magyarization, and school laws were also used to denationalize Romanians. School regulations from 1868, 1873, 1879, 1891 and especially lex Apponyi from 1907 pursued this goal.
In 1917-1918 these tendencies of forced magyarization underwent extremely acerb forms, by attempt of abolishing the whole Romanian education. The image of Romanian confessional schools’ destruction was incomplete without the “cultural area”. This action had to be a completion of wicked school policies and a last attempt of a brutal and immoral governing system.
On 2 August 1917, minister of cults A. Apponyi made known that all Romanian schools from counties neighbouring Romania will be nationalized and will be declared state schools, for “state security”. Instead of Romanian schools was intended to build 1600 state elementary schools, within which Hungarian was the teaching language. Opposition of the two Romanian churches, of the didactic bodies and especially defeat of Central Powers’ armies made that regulations concerning nationalization of border schools to be revoked (on 6 November 1918).
The act performed on 1 December 1918 in Alba Iulia ended the last endeavour of integrating Romanian education within the state one, the last attempt of forced magyarization of the Romanians from Transylvania.