Journal Analele Banatului N.S. Archaeology-History

Stelean-Ioan Boia

Identitate și alteritate etnică și confesională in spatial arădean interbelic / Ethnic and Confessional Identity in Arad between World Wars

Jan. 1, 2017

Abstract

After the First World War, the minorities were represented in Arad / Arad County by: Hungarians, Jews, Germans, Serbs, Croats, Czechs, Roma. The Romanian authorities faced numerous situations in which ethnic minorities opted for the citizenship of another state (the Hungarians) but refused to leave the country. The Romanian authorities had to organize their repatriation on several occasions. There was also the refusal of certain socio-professional categories (civil servants) to take the oath of loyalty to the Romanian state, to acquire Romanian language, to observe the national holidays and insignia. The local authorities’ reaction was in all cases moderate. The analysis of the demographic and socio-professional structure in Arad County allowed us to conclude on the existing relations between the majority and the minority, starting from the fact that the minorities constituted the majority of the population in the city of Arad (68,18% in 1925) and the Romanians the minority. In the rural settlements, the relations between the majority and the minority were changed, the Romanians having the highest weight. Throughout the interwar period, Arad represented a pattern of interethnic and interconfessional tolerance.