The Transylvanian Saxons provide a case study of how small minorities respond to their lack of statehood and the imposition of an "alien" nation-state upon them. In this thesis, I will argue that, as with many other minorities unwilling or unable to form a nation-state in their own right, the Saxons sought collective rights on the basis of self-determination. This included access to resources, self-administration, an independent education system, the ability to exclude outgroups and powers by which to ensure social norms within the community. Their aims did not include territorial autonomy or independence, and for this reason it is necessary to consider their strivings as distinct from nationalism. I term this attempt to secure collective self-determination by non-territorial means "ethnocorporatism". The goals of Saxon ethno-corporatism were influenced by the broader discussion of minority rights in interwar Europe before and after the First World War. In this sense, the Saxons were typical of many small communities in interwar Europe. The Saxons approached the challenges of ethno-corporatism by numerous means. These included the pursuit of collective legal rights by negotiation with the Romanian state, positing a broader multi-ethnic Transylvanian polity that would guarantee collective ethnic rights, pursuing ethno-corporatism under the banner of religious freedoms and seeking to strengthen ties with other German communities. While a number of these strategies met with partial success, none fully compensated for the lack of a state, and all fell short of Saxon expectations. I argue that disappointment with other attempts to achieve ethnocorporate status led to growing radicaIisation of Saxon ethnic identity, and to the eventual adoption of fascism. In this sense, while influenced by currents from Germany, Saxon "National Socialism" can paradoxically be seen as stemming from the pursuit of minority right.

No description available.

The Reformed church in Hungary and Transylvania had extensive connections with western Calvinist churches during the early seventeenth century, and became more closely linked with co-religionists abroad during this period. In this thesis I shall examine the ideology and shared interests of this international Calvinist community, and assess the significant impact which contacts with fellow Calvinists beyond Hungary's borders had on the development of the Hungarian Reformed church. The early seventeenth century saw increasing numbers of Hungarian student ministers travel to western Reformed universities, western Calvinist teachers travel to work in Hungarian schools, and the transfer and translation of foreign Reformed theological works for use in Hungary and Transylvania. This pattern of broad engagement with western Europe heavily influenced the development of education in the Reformed schools of Hungary and Transylvania, as well as the forms of worship and ceremony adopted by the Hungarian Reformed church. Godly princes, godly gentlemen and clergy were partners in the building-up of the Reformed church of Hungary and Transylvania. The church was indeed reliant in the early seventeenth century on patronage and support from a series of Reformed Transylvanian princes, and from Hungarian nobles. The continuing commitment of these parties to further religious reformation in the region was challenged by some Reformed ministers who, inspired by their experience of Calvinist churches abroad, sought to introduce presbyterial government and reforms of church ceremony and discipline, an agenda dubbed locally as Puritanism. International Calvinist contacts however largely served to bolster the theological orthodoxy of the Reformed community of Hungary and Transylvania against its confessional rivals, invigorating the Reformed church's zeal to defend its position with a stridently anti-Catholic ideology. Comparisons with other Reformed churches reinforced commitment in Hungary to tighten standards of discipline with an ethos of morality which was distinctively Reformed. International Calvinism therefore assisted the Reformed confessionalisation of Transylvania and eastern Hungary in the early seventeenth century. However the ties binding Transylvania with the rest of the Calvinist world in this period also encouraged Transylvania's princes to adopt a diplomatic policy of Protestant cooperation tinged with apocalyptic ideas, which was ultimately to jeopardise the stability of the principality and the place of Reformed religion in east-central Europe.

"Die Arbeit hat im Rohbau 1942 der Theologischen Fakultät der Universität Heidelberg als Dissertation vorgelegen." / Bibliography: p. [270]-271.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Georgetown University, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.

La Nachbarschaft ou « institution de voisinage » est une forme d’entraide instituée pratiquée en Transylvanie/Roumanie depuis des siècles. Elle se réfère à une forme spécifique et organisée de relations de voisinage au sein des différents groupes ethniques roumain, tsigane, saxon ou hongrois.<p>L’évolution de la cohabitation interethnique, la définition et les revendications des uns et des autres sont intimement liées à l’articulation des relations économiques, sociales, de pouvoir et d’autonomie à travers le temps. Les relations qualifiées aujourd’hui d’« interethniques » s’inscrivent dans un lent processus de cohabitation, à différentes échelles, dont les catégories ont perduré mais ont changé de signification au cours des siècles. <p>Quelle est la place de cette institution vieille de plusieurs siècles dans la Roumanie actuelle, dite « en transition » depuis la chute du régime communiste? Les institutions de voisinage continuent-elles à combler un certain vide laissé par l’Etat ?Alors que la construction de la « société civile », terme clé de la littérature scientifique sur la transition des pays de l’Est, est un des processus jugés vitaux dans les années suivant la chute du mur, l’institution de voisinage n’a pas arrêté d’investir cet échelon de vie collective. Comment investit-elle cet espace d’échange entre unités domestiques, sur quoi est fondé cet échange ?Enfin, quelles sont les dynamiques qui l’animent et qui conditionnent sa transmission ?<p><p><p> / Doctorat en Sciences politiques et sociales / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

In the seventeenth century, news of the Transylvanian princes in weekly newspapers and biannual Messrelationen rarely comes from the principality itself, but from the cities which are the Transylvanians' allies, enemies and invaded neighbors. This thesis examines the German language periodicals of four periods: István Bocskai's rebellion against the Habsburg Emperor (1604-5), Gábor Bethlen's first march into Hungary (1619-21), György I Rákóczi's Hungarian offensive (1643-5) and György II Rákóczi's incursion into Poland-Lithuania and the subsequent Ottoman invasion of Transylvania (1657-8). Between these periods, political developments and postal improvements shift the reporting networks which carry the news of Transylvania. As a result, each prince is reported on by a different set of reporting regions altering the language of the news. Bocskai's rebellion is presented in the Messrelationen as an alliance of the unchristian Protestants and Ottomans, dependent on military success rather than political legitimacy and causing devastation in the region. This perspective continues in later periods in news from Vienna, the most consistent reporter on Transylvania, as the princes are shown to be capable of upsetting the Emperor's position in Hungary, but more feared for their association with the Ottomans. Bethlen's march is also reported on by Transylvania's allies in Prague, who present the prince with greater diplomatic importance, and supporters in Hungary, who detail the diet meetings where he is elected king, proving his legitimacy. György I's march does not benefit from a breadth of perspectives, and Vienna’s dominates the news with its concern for quick peace. György II’s invasion of Poland is largely reported from the new news centers along the Baltic, presenting him as a military commander with precedent for his claim to the Polish throne. With the Ottomans' invasion the following year, Vienna’s fears for the safety of Christendom once again dictate Transylvania’s portrayal in the news.

"Die Arbeit hat im Rohbau 1942 der Theologischen Fakultät der Universität Heidelberg als Dissertation vorgelegen." / Bibliography: p. [270]-271.

The thesis presents an analysis of the discourse of Transylvanian regional identity in Romanian newspaper from 1989 to 2014, opposing the hegemonic political and societal discourse promoting nationalism. In doing so, it emphasized inter-ethnic tolerance as a key principle that distinguished regional discourse from its centralist counterpart. The fact that the most important historical peoples of Transylvania were understood by the regional discourse as carriers of regional identity in the spheres of daily and political life not only confirmed the trans-ethnic inclusiveness of this construct, but also became its diversification factor. In addition to tolerance and acceptance of multiethnicity, regional discourse in the examined media relied predominantly on ideas of the region's essential democratic character, its cultural, social or economic specificities, as well as considerations of possible autonomy. These narratives, whether abstract or more pragmatic, represented the content of a discoursively constructed regional identity, conveyed its sharing by different ethnic groups, and defined Transylvania in the context of an era within Romania as a whole. The internal thematic composition of Transylvanian regional identity discourse was not entirely constant during the period under review, its shape...

KOCIÁN, Jiří. Transylvanian regional identity and its political reflection after 1989. The thesis deals with the question of reviving Transylvanian regional identity and its political use in Romania after 1989. It demonstrates that regional identity has gradually grown in political importance, and represents the content, actors and typology of models of its reflection. The Romanian Communist regime under Nicolae Ceaușescu followed longer-term centralizing tendencies that did not favor maintaining regional specificities. But regional identity, like other collective identities, is the result of a continuous process of daily interactions between its bearers and external actors, all of whom are involved in its construction. Because of that, it survived a period of suppression in its vernacular form. Contributing to its survival was the fact that the multi-ethnic region of Transylvania and its specificities, which represent the core of regional identity, have a thousand-year history. The thesis points, by applying a discourse analysis of the content of newspaper articles, to the fact that regional identity took the form of political discourse after 1989. This discourse rivaled the previous discursive hegemony of the country's centralist concept of state and nation in Romanian public sphere. At the same...