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.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/258359 |
| Date | January 2007 |
| Creators | Davis, Sacha Edward, History & Philosophy, Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, UNSW |
| Publisher | Awarded by:University of New South Wales. History & Philosophy |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | Copyright Davis Sacha Edward., http://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/copyright |
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