The Ethno-Demographic Development of Tîrgu Mureş between World War I and World War II
The Ethno-Demographic Development of Tîrgu Mureş between World War I and World War II

Summary/Abstract: The Unification of Transylvania with Romania after the First World War created a new situation in Tîrgu Mureş city, as well as in all major Transylvanian cities, where the majority of the population was composed of ethnics who weren’t Romanian, such as - Hungarians, Germans, Armenians -, and which has applied throughout the time a constant policy of blocking the Romanians, preventing them from entering these cities with the purpose of preserving the old ethnic character of these. As a consequence, one of the priorities of the Romanian administration from Tîrgu Mureş between the two world wars was to correct this situation, respectively to modify the ethnic structure of the city ,on one hand to create a solid base for the Romanian administration and on the other hand to harmonize the ethnic structure of the city with the one of the surrounding territory and to allow the manifestation of the Romanian element on the measure of its natural capacities. This policy was applied especially during the National-Liberal administration, between 1923-1927 and 1933-1937, through several types of measures firstly, in chronological order, modifying the aspect of the city by removing the monuments representing personalities from the history of Hungary, infamous for Romanian population and Transylvania and their replacement with representative monuments for the history of Romania. In the central area of the city there were built specific Romanian buildings. Romanian ethnic element was promoted in the public administration - in the Prefecture, City Hall, institutions and public services - in public schools, in cultural institutions. In all these it was mandatory to learn and to use the official language of the Romanian state. The promotion of the Romanian element generated discomfort to the minority inhabitants -who represented the majority in the city -, only in the case in which they refused learning and using Romanian language and the cooperation with Romanian authorities, those who adapted having no problem from this point of view. As a matter of fact, if in the public institutions the Romanian element constituted the majority, in the private economic, judicial, political and cultural structures and institutions the minority element - Hungarian and Jewish mainly -, had control between the world wars and even decades in the post-war age, within the frame of so-called Hungarian Autonomous Region.

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