cluj-napoca between 1939-1960

CLUJ-‐NAPOCA 1939 1960. DIVERSITY OF REMEMBRANCES

Cluj-‐Napoca -‐ Novosibirsk 2012

2

Texts authors

Yulia Gordeeva

Romanian English Translation

Russian- Romanian Translation

Flaviu Orastean

Page Makeup

Yulia Gordeeva

Photography

Yulia Gordeeva

The project is one of the 28 selected for financing by the German Foundation

from various European and Asian states.

Copyright (c) 2012 by Geschichtswerkstatt Europa and the authors, all rights reserved. This work may be copied and redistributed for non-‐commercial, educational purposes, if permission is granted by the author and usage right holders. For permissions please contact info@geschichtswerkstatt-‐europa.org.

3

PREFACE

-Napoca 1939 1960. Diversity of October 2012 by our international team. This project

Erinnerung, Verantwortung und

the period February June 2012 our team managed to study the historical background of Cluj in the researched period and then, during the fieldwork in Cluj-Napoca in July October 2012, to conduct 21 in-depth interviews with people of different nationalities who lived in the city in the period 1939

at

researcher of contemporary Cluj-Napoca, sociologist Dr. Marius Lazar.

The main goal of the project was to research the way in which the processes that took place in the city during the war and the first after war decade are seen through the eyes of the

had on the creation of modern day Cluj-Napoca. Our thesis was that people of different nationalities will remember things differently. The research consisted of two main stages. During the first stage we studied the historical background of Cluj in the researched period in order to reconstruct the official version of the events as well as to reach a better level of communication with the interviewees by basing our questions on historical knowledge about the period. Using memoirs and guidebooks we tried to identify the main places of remembrances which our interviewees could refer to. This stage of our research was based on the main methods of history: reading sources critically and analysis of sites of remembrance. The second part of our research consisted of a number of interviews conducted in the city Cluj-Napoca with people of various ethnicities who lived there or moved there in the years 1945 1960. During the interviews we focused on the personal memories of interviewees about the city of Cluj, in order to see which events connected with the city space had the most important place in their remembrance, what shocked one nation most and which events went unnoticed by the others.

In the second part of our research we concentrated on two basic aspects. At first we collected memories of the everyday life in the after war Cluj and of the changes that took place in the urban landscape. In order to do so, we used methods of oral history and interviewed people who lived those changes. Having accomplished this, we managed to identify the main trends in the memories of that period. The following brochure is an attempt to present the main findings of

4

our field research together with the historical background research. The brochure consists of two main parts. The first one, the historical background presents the results of the first stage of our project, while as the second part, starting with the portraits of our interviewees presents the results of our field research and the conclusions. The places in Cluj-Napoca which are described in the brochure were those mentioned as being important for all the interviewees. From the

described in the brochure are the places which were mentioned by most of the interviewees as ost of those places are just as

important today -Napoca 1939 1960. Diversity of

remembrances of the after war Cluj. The difficult history of this city and the politics different authorities (Romanian, Hungarian, and Communist) towards the city space in the 20th century, in

period was a time when the city was adjusted to the ideological and political realities of the

changes that occurred in the city space could be remembered differently by people of different nationalities who lived in after war Cluj.

The research project and the brochure appeared thanks to the support of

foundation. We would like Littke and Dr Jennifer Schevardo for fruitful advice and constructive criticism. Apart from that, we would like to thank our mentor Dr Slawomir Kapralski for his advice, patience and for his theoretical and moral support in difficult situations. We are thankful to Dr Marius Lazar for theoretical and practical advice concerning our project. Our special thanks to Sorana Popa who became for us a kind of a guide through after-war Cluj. Other special thanks go to the Jews Association in Cluj-Napoca (and its director Robert Schwartz and secretary Mendel Estera) and the Deutsches Forum in Cluj-Napoca (and director Dr. Wilfried Schreiber). We thank the Centrul de Ingrijire si Asistenta Sociala al DGASPC (especially Director Dr. Liviu Popa). All of these associations gave our team a lot of support in finding interviewees. We would also like to thank for advice, inspiration and help to young Cluj-Napoca architects and researchers Dan Patric and Daniel erban, Tudor, Ioana and Mihai Alexandrescu.

We are grateful to all the interviewees for their willingness to share their remembrances of their life in after war Cluj and part of their free time with our team.

5

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Cluj-Napoca is a city with a difficult history in space where traces of different cultures -

-Napoca. Hungarians living in Hungary often consider this city to be the second most important centre of Hungarian culture after Budapest. Romanians from Cluj-Napoca usually consider this city as the most beautiful and important city in Romania with the best university in the whole country. The urban space of contemporary Cluj-Napoca is full of symbols which a visitor considers to be important for the nationalities who live there, and the history of the city is amazingly full of different nations some of which appeared in the city only for a short period of time, left their print on the city space and then almost disappeared (for example, Saxons who actually built the medieval Cluj could be hardly found

hat after the Second World War the city was passed to Romania to which it belonged in the interwar period. Before the period of the World Wars (the First World War and the Second one) Cluj / Kolozsvar was mostly a Hungarian city, even if its beginnings were connected with the Roman Empire and the medieval town was built mostly by Saxons, and most of the rural population of Transylvania consisted of Romanians. In this terms the Cluj of the first half of the 20th century could be compared to Lviv in contempordistinctive feature which makes Cluj-Napoca to certain extent different from Lviv, Vilnius, Wroclaw, Kaliningrad and other cities which changed their countries after the Second World War is the fact that almost all the Hungarian population of Cluj remained in the city.

In the period preceding the Second World War, Cluj was primarily a multicultural city, with inhabitants that could be divided into 4 major ethnic groups: out of a population of 103.840, the majority (48.000) were Hungarians, followed by Romanians (36.000), Jews (13.000) and

of regimes, the ethnical composition of the city changed drastically by 1956: the most visible tendency is the reduction of both the Jewish and German populations (only 525 Jews and approximately 1.000 Germans), as well as a constant increase in the number of Romanians (almost an equal number with the Hungarians approx. 75.000); actually by 1966, the Romanians will have become the main ethnical group, and their increase in number will go as far

phenomenon can be related to the political changes after the war and its consequences: along with industrialization, an increasing number of Romanians moved to Cluj, both from other regions of the country and the neighbouring villages (some of which actually became integrated in the city itself). The Hungarian population met with a visible decrease in numbers, the native German population was replaced mostly with newcomers from other regions, and the Jews almost completely disappeared.

The new Communist system that had imposed itself in Romania after the Second World War affected all aspects of individual and community life, but we consider that its impact on urban planning is one of the most significant and long-lasting effects. For almost 50 years following the war, Romanian architecture was directed to influence not only urban policies, but

6

Romanian Communist architecture was to promote and hasten the processes of modernization, industrialization and urb

villagers in order to inhabit the recently built blocks of flats. This colonization had not only

War, a process of reversing the population structure of Cluj had begun. But this took on new momentum after the rise of Communism: counting on popular reaction to the centuries of Hungarian domination and restrictions against Romanians in Transylvania, the new authorities actively promoted a dramatic colonization of the city with mostly newcomers from the surrounding villages. These newcomers played an active role in the modernization of Cluj, but, because of certain difficulties in adapting to city life, they also contributed to the failure of the same modernization process.

One other aim that Socialist architecture attempted to put into practice was the reversal in ). In a traditional city, there was a definite

correlation between special hierarchy and social hierarchy: namely, the city centre tended to be inhabited by those persons with higher social and economic positions, while the peripheries were mostly inhabited by peasants or workers. Communist architecture endeavoured to promote a change in the traditional relations between city centres and peripheries, in order to reflect the Communist doctrine. As such, different means of propaganda (books, journals, postcards, newspapers, reports) were used to present the new Socialist neighbourhoods, the parks, the factories and the new happy life of families living in the Socialist Eden. Since the focus was on the peripheries, the city centre was more than often neglected and old buildings in the city centre were either demolished or left to desolation. The Austro-Hungarian buildings with spacious apartments became shared living space, and the former inhabitants were forced to move into certain rooms, while the others were given over to the newcomers.

In Cluj, researchers state that the symbolic relations between centre and periphery were changed in accordance with the doctrinal confrontation between old and new (LCommunist authorities (in the entire Eastern bloc) attempted, where city planning made it possible, to create new, Socialist city centres by vigorous and often radical measures (such as

and demolishing) as was the case in Warsaw, Minsk, Moscow, Irkutsk, Bucharest to name only a few cities. In Cluj, no such means were used to change the city centre and, as a result of the limited special opportunities for expansion, the old city centre remained both the political and administrative heart. Therefore, we can say that the sought inversion of special hierarchy has never been achieved in Cluj.

War: the period immediately after the war, the period of national Communism (superimposed on Ceau -2004, and the on-going contemporary period.

The first period, comprising the first 15 years after 1945, was a period of following the lead of the USSR and its ideological policy. In Cluj, major changes only happened gradually: first and foremost, the names of the streets returned to their inter-war state, while some of them actually were adapted to fit the new political regime. As we have found out in our interviews, in the first years after the war, Cluj was still largely a bilingual city: names of shops were still

7

shown in both Romanian and Hungarian, and movie subtitles were broadcasted in both languages. It is only after 1956 (as an effect of the Hungarian revolution) that crucial changes mark Cluj: in 1959 the Romanian and Hungarian universities are forced to merge, an event also connected in popular remembrance to a reversal in ethical diversity. It is around this period that bilingual signboards disappear and Hungarian subtitles are no longer available.

Architecturally, this period meant rebuilding structures damaged during the war: the

1974), as well as the seriously damaged railroad system and administrative edifices. According

station and on nowadays Horea Street, leading from the city centre to the railway station. Population wise, this period is also characterize d by increased immigration from

villages; in order to cope with the boost in inhabitants, the characteristic services in a city were expanded: the sewer and tap water systems expanded, public transportation was extended and most streets were asphalted.

The immediate years after the war saw the industry returning to civil production, but this was soon followed by general nationalization (1948-1950): starting with banks and factories, followed by most enterprises (pharmacies, hospitals, private medical cabinets, cinemas, restaurants) and ending with housing facilities. The expansion of industry in Cluj determined the appearance of 4 industrial zones: the Eastern Zone (with such factories as: Iris, Unirea, Carbochim, Clujeana, Triumf, Uzina de Reparatii, Baza 4 aprovizionare, Combinatul de Ceramica Fina), the Central Zone (Tehnofrig Libertatea, Armatura, Metalul Rosu), the Baciu Area (Complexul de Morarit si Panificatie, Antrepozitul Frigorific, brick factory, the wine bottling plant) and Someseni Storage Area (Pascu, 1974).

All the developing industries needed labour force and therefore, under the influence of Soviet architecture, a new urban plan was adopted for a period of 5 years, controlled by the centrconstruction of the first Socialist neighbourhood in Cluj, namely Grigorescu neighbourhood (1952-1964), which eventually would house more than 30.000 inhabitants (according to Alicu, 1997, p. 159). This neighbourhood appears in memories of earlier inhabitants as having the least negative image of all Socialist neighbourhoods, mainly because it was situated close to the city centre.

Another important change, both symbolically and politically, was the transformation of the area around the Franciscan Church (the first city centre of Medieval Cluj), an imposing edifice built in the 13th century and interring a significant number of important Hungarians personalities and aristocrats. The park next to it was given the name of I.L. Caragiale (important Romanian writer and journalist) and his bust was placed there in 1957, in an attempt to turn this symbolically Hungarian area into a Romanian one.

st-war history was characterized by the turn to a specific National Communism, promoted by Nicolae Ceau

sort of national Communist developed gradually. Architecturally, this period was a re-connection to Western Modern architecture, at least on the level of stylistic doctrine, determining the so-called Postmodernist Romanian trend (Popa, 2011, p. 442 443). Historically, the second wave

8

massive ne , housing 2 thirds of the

parks, sport centres and squares were built (partly to decrease the traffic in the city centre, but also to minimize the importance of the traditional city centre).

1959-1960, a

authorities. This first global vision of urban planning in Cluj (Mitrea, 2011b) encompassed 2 stages: 1960-1965 and 1965-1970 and centred on the territorial function of the city as an economic, cultural and administrative centre. The priorities envisaged here related to the development of the industrial area, but also on providing accommodation for the future industrial workers (which meant building new Socialist neighbourhoods). The central area was to be turned into a pedestrian one and the traffic re-oriented towards the South and North of the city; green areas were also to be constructed. For the growing academic population of Cluj (more industry meant better trained people, and therefore more colleges, universities, industrial high schools),

students.

(30.000 places), the Sport Hall (3.000 places), the Olympic Swimming Pool, but also smaller sport facilities in the neighbourhoods

since urban policy was highly dependent on political ideology and decisions. The earlier Cluj neighbourhoods of Grigorescu and Gheorgheni come into contrast with later neighbourhoods

of living since they are spacious, green, sunny, and ventilated. The neighbourhood

constructed in 1973, planning to house 100.000 inhabitants in 30.000 apartments. Since this neighbourhood was mostly populated by Romanian villagers, this contributed to creating a very nationalist image of the neighbourhood. As early as 1946, an urban legend refers to the famous

ast between centre and periphery, but the tensions between Romanians and Hungarians. As the story goes, in 1946 a group of Hungarians dressed in Hungarian army uniforms were singing some Horthyst songs in a bus connecting the then- ity centre. Romanian workers asked them to stop, but they refused saying that Romania was now a democracy and everyone could do as they please. It is in this context that the Romanians forced the Hungarians to get off at the bus station just before reachin

on a banner at the entrance to the neighbourhood

9

OUR HEROES1

Sorana Popa (on the right) was born in a Romanian family, on 18 December 1942 in Roman. In 1951 her father was assigned the Captain of a military unit in Cluj so the whole family came here. Her entire life Sorana Popa worked as a Russian, French and Romanian languages teacher.

Victoria Aruncutean was born on May 16 1930 in Cluj, in a Romanian family. Her father worked as a janitor at the National Bank. She lived in Cluj until it became part of Hungary in 1940 when the National Bank moved to Sibiu. Some of the employees left but her parents remained here as they had a home in

After Transylvania was given back (to Romania) and after she finished 4th grade she came back to Cluj. She finished the 5th and 6th grades at the Princess Ileana high school in Cluj, which is now called Eminescu and

then she went to her uncle to Bucharest where she graduated from high school and then once she came home for the holidays from university and never went back. She found work in Cluj at the MAI car repair shop and she worked there. 1 This chapter presents a short description of our interviewees. The biography they provided us with differs in terms of length and of what they chose to share with our readers. This is explained by the fact that some of them allowed us to share their pictures, full names and a more detailed biography while others preferred to share less. We are very grateful to all of them for sharing their memories and their life stories with us. Each of the stories we listened to during our interviews was very interesting.

10

Veronica Lazar was born in Cluj in 1946, right after the war, in a Jewish family. She was a French teacher at the Nicolae Balcescu high school. Both her parents were from Cluj. In 1944 they were deported to Auschwitz and they returned in 1945 to Cluj, they met and married.

Robert Lazar, engineer, was born in Cluj in September 17, 1950, in a Jewish family. His parents met during the war in a work camp in Hungary. His father had another family, a wife before and a five year old child. None of them ever returned from the Auschwitz concentration camp. His mother was in the concentration camp as well but she survived and in 1949 she came to Cluj. She was the only passenger in the entire train because at the time pbetween Hungary and Romania. His father was a tailor and that was always his occupation during all the time he was a prisoner of the Russians as well as in the work camp, and his mother was a typist in Hungary.

Reka K. (on the left) was born in Cluj in 1947 in a Hungarian family. She is the 4th generation of her family living in Cluj.

11

Petru K. (on the right) was born in Cluj in 1942 in a mixed Hungarian-‐German family.

Vasile Nussbaum (on the left) was born in Cluj in 1929 in a Jewish family.

Vasile Szekely (second from the right) was born in Cluj in 1929 in a Jewish family.

Teodosie Perju (on the right) was born in 1923 in Orhei, Bessarabia (present day Republic of Moldova), in a Romanian family, and came to Cluj after the Second World War. Well known entomologist.

12

Victor Cioboat was born in Sibiu in 1945 and has been living in Cluj since 1951. He worked as a Russian and Romanian languages teacher.

Sonja Szimon (on the right) was born in Cluj in 1950 in a Jewish family.

Anna Klein (on the left) was born in Cluj in 1942 in a Jewish family.

13

Octavia Roman (on the right) was born in Alba Iulia in 1942 in a Romanian family. Her and her family were refugees there and in 1945, after the war finished, they came back to Cluj.

Maria Moraru (on the left) was born in Cluj in 1950 in a Romanian family.

Mioara Butan (on the right) was born in Cluj in 1950 in a Romanian family.

14

Ioan Cozac, driver, was born in Sic in 1941 in a Romanian family of farmers. He moved to Cluj for work-‐related issues, but he used to come to Cluj frequently with his parents already in childhood.

Ecaterina Groza, schoolmistress, was born in German family. She came to Cluj in the middle of 1950s to study at the Pedagogical Institute in Cluj. Her father worked for the locwas deported to USSR for 5 years. Afterwards, the entire family was sent into forced domicile in Odorheiu Secuiesc, as class enemies.

Greta Ern , stone mason, was born in 1942 in Cluj in a Hungarian family. His father was mechanic and his mother was a housewife.

Ioan Florea, mechanical engineer, was born in a Romanian family in Blaj in 1940 and moved to Cluj together with his family in 1949. His parents were from Blaj. His father used to be a music professor (one of and Greek-‐catholic theologian. His mother was an accountant and later a housewife. The family moved to Cluj because of their Greek-‐catholic religion.

Victoria Linguraru, cleaning lady, was borHer parents were from Cluj; her mother was a salesperson in Mihai Viteazu Market. She started going to work with her mother at an early age. They would go with the horse carriage with fruits, vegetables, flowers, mushrooms. Later on, she found a job as

with youngsters or have fun. Most of her memories are related to her work place,

Erzsi was born in 1946 in Harghita in a Hungarian family. Her father was a miner, and mother Mihai Viteazu Market.

15

THE IMAGE OF THE CITY

FIRST IMPRESSIONS, EARLIEST MEMORIES

Ecaterina Groza (German):

related to the majority of

Ioan Cozac (Romanian): His first memory of Cluj is related to the city centre and the Matei Corvin statue. was impressed by the fact that carriages with horses were not allowed in the city centre (Coming from Sic to Cluj, they used carriages to go to Mihai Viteazu market).

recalls that Cluj of his childhood because the elderly .

Ioan Florea (Romanian) recalls his first impression of Cluj: [where he came from]. First impression is also related to the first neighbours, a Roman-‐Catholic priest serving at St. Michael Church.

nd the only stop there in Cluj was at Melody Bar . Ioan Florea recalls that Cluj was still a rather rural city and he was walking barefooted as a child. The move to Cluj was tough for him, he found it hard to make friends, but eventually he was glad because he had

.

Erzsi (Hungarian) considers that then Cluj was more of a Hungarian city, and one could seldom hear Romanian being spoken in the streets. She remembers that there used to be horse carriages in Cluj and almost no cars.

Teodosie Perju (Romanian) My first impressions about the city: it was impressive, we were

16

Sorana Popa (Romanian): Cluj so we came here in spring and we took a carriage from the railway station, and my first impression of this big and beautiful city who welcomed me with its trees in blossom was from on board the carriage. On the way we passed by the school I was going to finish 2nd grade and

boulevards, by its style. The theatre is the most representative building of the city for a certain part of our society. To tell you the truth I got lost in Cluj as soon as I came here right in front

Victoria Aruncutean (Romanian): luj was a quiet city, there was the nowadays Bulevardul Eroilor, the square was in place, there were cinemas, no more than one or two, and it was a city full of students. It had clinics which are well known even now, they are appreciated everywhere, even a -1960, only the street names changed a lot. For example: Horea street was Ferdinand, Eroilor street was Queen Mary; Elisabeth Street was in the back of the Astoria Hotel, the Royal Street became the Re

17

THE CITY CENTER

Ecaterina Groza (German) the centre of Cluj, the heart of Cluj was the same as the heart of

Greta remembers that the city centre was not much affected by the war, there were only a few buildings affected. At the end of the war, he states that people went out in the streets to celebrate (but he also states that the end of the war was in 1948). He also recalls that in the city centre, they would go to Matei Corvin, sat on benches and look at passers-‐by.

Ioan Florea (Romanian): How it looked like?

Reka K. (Hungarian): Unirii Square, but I

grass, tulips, roses. And it was less pollution then because there were no cars, in the beginning only carts, bicycles, donkeys, these were on

Maria Moraru (Romanian)

: Cluj was Matei Corvin Square that was the

Robert Lazar (Jewish): centre much different than it looks today; it consisted of

Sorana Popa (Romanian): r me the city centre was the same as today: the Union Square,

centre

Victoria Aruncutean (Romanian): centre remained unchanged. It was in the same place as always. On what is called now Bulevardul

up and down the street and talk on Sundays and in the afternoon. The National Theatre was

18

Veronica Lazar (Jewish): centre where I lived for 31 years. Being in the city centre I had access to everything: the school was only 5 minutes away (the Nicolae Balcescu High school), I went to the Faculty of Chemistry

centre was for me the Libertatii Square; the Doja Street (Ferdinand) and Horea Street were

THE MAIN WALKING PLACES. STRADA EROILOR

Reka K. (Hungarian): We used to walk along Corso2 (Petru Groza, then Eroilor Boulevard

Ecaterina Groza (German) A special characteristic of the city was street where youngsters would walk up and down

Ioan Florea (Romanian): -called Corso: on the right side were the gentlemen and on the left side the so-

:

Mioara Butan (Romanian) We used to walk along the Corso.

Petru K.: t was beautiful with trees, and I can still

Sorana Popa (Romanian): National Theatre was called Dr. Petru Grozbookstore to the theatre was the place where students used to walk; was very beautiful back then, although maybe simple, but it was conceived in a very good and decorative way where there was the promenade from the Unirii Square to the Avram Iancu Square and in the middle there was what was called the island. People used to walk on both sides and in the middle there were some linden trees that were so beautiful that when they cut them they destroyed maybe the most beautiful green area of the city. It will never smell like blooming lime trees in the city centre anymore. They removed them not so long ago in the 90ies. The right side of the promenade in the direction of the theatre was called Corso and

from Sic used to walk. Their hair was tied in a very long tail with a white or red ribbon in it; they wore very beautiful blouses with flounces and red skirts with white underskirts. And the young men from Sic used to come to the city to walk with them. They had tall straw hats and

2 place that many of the interviewees used exactly the same phrase to answer when asked where they used to walk.

19

tight sleeve blouses, blue vests, cloth trousers shoved in their boots, the girls also wore short heel black leather boots. They used to dance there where the Caragiale Park is now, near the Telephone building. They used to gather there and they used to dance in groups of four girls and they sang their own songs in Hungarian and they turned and their tails seemed to be fly

Victoria Aruncutean (Romanian):

stre

Veronica Lazar (Jewish): used to walk on the corso which is now Bulevardul Eroilor and they paved it with stone now but back then it had an alee in the centrehad always been an alee in the centre or at

I remember, and the corso was on

20

THE UNION SQUARE

Sorana Popa (Romanian): ion

Square except some flower beds which appeared later and are gone now. The Capitoline Wolf changed its place various times but not at that time.

movement in the Union

Sonja Szimon (Jewish):

where the statue is now, in autumn carts would come and

AVRAM IANCU SQUARE

Sorana Popa (Romanian): clean and bohemian city. It had three squares: the

Orthodox Cathedral and an obelisk in honour of the soviet soldiers who died during World War II (it was

Cemetery after 1989), and the Mihai Viteazu square where we used to live. The

much, it was a promenade and the Malinovski Square (now Avram Iancu) was the place where we used to sit between the Sunday morning and evening mass and until the plays started at the theatre. Here people used to come dressed differently and the characters that came there had different outfits. There were no buses, no cars, maybe one or two from time to time, everybody used the carriages. The

21

Mioara Butan (Romanian): in the front, and a monument to Soviet heroes in the back. No one was disturbed by these Soviet statues. And on May 1st, it was a privilege to stay there with other pioneers. You

pioneer, a soldier

MIHAI VITEAZU SQUARE

: Square, there was nothing, not even the

Erzsi (Hungarian) recalls that when she moved to Cluj with her family the Mihai Viteazu Square was beautiful market, i

Maria Moraru (Romanian): were shows in Mihai Viteazu Square, and I used to watch them from

in Cluj, and I lived in Mihai Viteazu Square until I graduated. The market was different, there was a well in the middle and there was a poem about an old man that slipped on the ice there [...]. The servants from Sic village met where McDonalds is now every Thursday and Sunday. I would watch them from my balcony.

inema then, there were actually 2 streets there. They

Sorana Popa (Romanian): o floor houses some of them had small balconies made of forged iron and they had many shops

- that was the name of the confectionery which was not far from the place

cream cones filled with chocolate cream and covered by a thin layer of chocolate. The

22

confectionery had a lot of space and it had two stairs inside which took you closer to the shop window where all the sweets were exhibited. It smelt nice like chocolate and butter. At the street corner, to the centre, a Turk was selling the best ice cream ever out of his two wheeled ice cream stand. He used to take the ice cream out with a spoon from a porcelain pot and skilfully build it up the crunchy cone. It cost 50 bani. We used to watch him work with admiration; he used to wear a white robe and a short moustache. Then the popcorn man appeared and he used to sell popcorn in newspaper cones. The buildings were the same as

lived at nr 32 and in front of us there was a street which passed by the old synagogue. Everything that was there where Republica is now, was demolished, they were very beautiful buildings and I remember there was a grocery store on the other side with slightly baroque

Hungarians, they had

the Pata neighbourhood is now. I remember I was astonished by the huge baskets with vegetables and especially by the way they dressed. The women had head kerchiefs which were tied under the chin, they were starched and I remember some of them had lace on the margins, they wore white blouses with puffed sleeves, some blue vests and very wide skirts under which I think they had many underskirts. They were very clean and almost stylish. I was 9 year old and I remember the atmosphere of the market place. There were also women who sold dairy products and cheese and my mother had a silver spoon which she used especially for trying the sour cream at the mark

big quantities, each of them produced only the amount they could sell. The ladies used to go to the market with wicker baskets and they were accompanied by their house maids which helped them carry the baskets and talk to the hostejan women because the maids were from the village Sic and used to come to work as house maids in Cluj. We had an ordinance, he was a soldier who lived in our house and slept in the kitchen. He used to clean the carpets, to bring

talked among themselves; it was a way of socializing. The conversations at the market were

23

not the same as the ones they had when they went to visit one another but people used to talk, in time they had preferred merchants, went shopping only to certain sho

Veronica Lazar (Jewish):

good that they reorganized the Mihai Viteazu market square, some more organized and more

Reka K. (Hungarian):: there, living in what was ccountryside, and everyone had their house and they grew vegetables and sold them in the

was call

had a particular costume and they dressed themselves like that when going to sell in the market and even nowadays they have some special holidays and some sort of association and the elderly still dressed as before. I know they had a sort of head dress with lace, and with

HOREA STREET

Robert Lazar (Jewish): Street, near the railway station right in front of the ambulance station in an old house which was national heritage. It used to belong to a bank. I grew up in the railway station area. There the blocks of flats on Horea Street exist and I vaguely remember the moment in which the old houses were taken down and those

Street changed: gradually the old houses were demolished, I even remember they used dynamite to do it, they blew them up and they began to build blocks of flaremember when the tramways

the traffic was quite weak. At one point

t in another

Sorana Popa (Romanian): leading from the railway station to the centre was called the Doja Street

Kovacs R (Hungarian): was rebuilt after the bombing, there

24

were many bombed houses there and arthink that on June 2nd there was the biggest bombing with thousands of deaths and the

CETATUIE AREA

Ioan Cozac (Romanian) recalls that in the end of 1950s at uie

Reka K. (Hungarian): was also

set up. Then it was a slum really with poor people and no gutters, everything was dirty, unsanitary, and ugly and they did it nicely with greenery, and parks, and playgrounds for kids. Later they built

: They initially wanted to build a stadium on uie. We would go there to play football. There were no stairs, only greenery and the

Tower: I jumped with a parachute once.

recalls that once he went with a girl to Belvedere he remembers a pool being there and they had a beer.

Sonja Szimon (Jewish): uia

not Belvedere, but the park and

Robert Lazar (Jewish): We

25

used to go walking on the . Only the parachute tower was there at the time, there was

Sorana Popa (Romanian): hill because it was not emember going 10 times on the hill because my parents only

used to walk in the central area, and look at the shop windows, go to book shops, there were a

Veronica Lazar (Jewish): hill right after the war was just a bunch of shacks and you had to hike up the hill to go for a picnic and see the view, there was no hotel or anything there. Then sometime in the 50ies they took down the shacks and they built the stairs and later on, the hotel. The river bank was neglected; there were some old

NEW NEIGHBORHOODS

Robert Lazar (Jewish): ue, to the centre, through what is now the Grigorescu neighbourhood Grigorescu neighbourhood, there were only old houses, my parents had some friends there, and we used to visit them. Actually I remember the area as an area of houses not as a block of

tur was considered to be something really far from Cluj until

Sorana Popa (Romanian): neighbourhoods were built later, even as a university student I used to walk only till I reached the Agronomy Institute,

know what was beyond probably the

farther than the theatre.

more than 4 times farther than the City Hall; all my friends lived in the centre

26

Victoria Aruncutean (Romanian): car to take me to Cluj to see my parents. It dropped me off in the city

neighbours neighbourhoods;

any other village by peasants and on the same spot our block of flats is situated today, there

blocks of flats. There was no neighbourhood in ti as well. The neighbourhoods were: River there used to be the Bulgaria

neighbourhood. It was inhabited by Bulgarians who were gardeners and they provided the Cluj market with vegetables and everything. There were fresh products recently brought. Then there was the Iris neighbourhood, mbul Rotund, but they were still suburbs at the

Teodosiu Perju, (Romanian): re was this I saw this thing once:

after drinking a lot, they placed this signboard there at the entrance to they were Romanians there and wanted to have a tougher democr

Veronica Lazar (Jewish): The Gheorgheni neighbourhood ietura

erybody thought having to move to a block of flats was catastrophe. It was thought that in a block of flats there was central heating so it had to be cold, there was no hot water and the heaters were cold while where we used to live we had terracotta stoves and you could just turn on the

neighbourhoods and they were slightly despised by the city centre inhabitants who considered themselves city dwellers and saw the others like peasants. Then they mi

Teodosie Perju (Romanian)signboard, and they made these demonstrative protests in the streets, they wanted to show

Petru K. (German-Hungarian): Market, the Agronomy, and southwards until Zorilor

27

GREEN AREAS AND OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES

Ioan Cozac (Romanian) recalls that in the summer, they would go out in the Hoya forest (refuses to develop the idea).

Ioan Florea (Romanian) recalls that they used to walk in the Central Park (The Big Park), the park in front of Romtelecom, The Victor ieganu) sports were practiced here He also refers to a common practice in the era, namely sunbathing on the banks of : we would go sunbathing, with groups of friends, we used to go where the present strand is today at the bridge in Grigorescu, but we also went further up along the river up to the wells at the Water

remembers walking in the Central Park, particularly the statues and boats on the lake.

Victoria Linguraru (Roma) mentions having walked a couple of times in the city centre and the Central Park. She also recalls going once to

have a picnic with her future husband.

Erzsi (Hungarian) used to go sunbathing on the banks of the river, and, during dates, walking in the Park. She can also recall that children used to play by the river.

Reka K. (Hungarian): better; it looked more or less like nowadays, there were fewer be We also used to

because she was a schoolmistress and organized trips and took us along. There were trips to other places as well. There was the St. John Spring this was the end point of the trip, we went on foot and there it was an open space and we stayed there until 4-5.

Petru K. (German-Hungarian) I also went hunting in , for fishing there was the The banks of were ugly,

Teodosie Perju (Romanian) used to go and pick mushrooms together with a Hungarian friend.

Mioara Butan (Romanian): were savage, people went sunbathing on

The lake in the Central Park provided entertainment in the

28

Everyone had skates, some improvised because in winter the lake would become a skating We

often went to the Botanical Garden, and saw many turtles there. Around the Water tower, there were ponds and fish, but also water lilies. Kids were allowed to stay on the leaves and take pictures. Palacsai

As children, she remembers that fieldtrips outside Cluj were organized by h Our parents sometimes took us to Hoia or

: the river, in Grigorescu. [...] I used to go fishing at Intre Lacuri, on , at the end of Grigorescu

Robert Lazar (Jewish): also went on trips to Sf. Ion, there was a lodge there at the time as well, and we used to go to Hoia on the 1st of May like everybody to the Baciu Gorges. Obviously going to Sf. Ion used to bwent to the Botanical Garden; it looked the same as today.

Sorana Popa (Romanian):

used to be. We used to walk there very often; I can still remember those walks. My mother walked with my frienand we walked in front of them, we were 7th grade students. The park was beautiful but sad; those were sad times already because my parents had some political related problems. My father was forced to retire from the army when he was only 45 because he used to serve in the

were a lot of people all drinking beer and

the political atmosphere was the Botanical Garden remained a beautiful green and melancholic oasis, it was

Victoria Aruncutean recalls the Central Park as a child:

swan lake in the park and in the middle there was an island where the swans had

29

a coop where they lived and back then there were no boats on the lake, there were only swans, it was very beautiful and there was music at Chios on Sundays and especially in the evenings

yo

Veronica Lazar (Jewish): alk in the park, there was the Swimming Pool which

parents to the Babes stadium; that was the resting ground for the Cluj citizens who were too lazy to go to or Hoia. The public transport was a problem back then and very few had a

30

EVERYDAY LIFE

LIVING CONDITIONS

Reka K. (Hungarian): ther family, a flat with several rooms, and a kitchen, and maybe a bathroom; few people had even a toilet because each family had one room and the toilet was at the end of the hallway. In this house for example there were 15 families, each family one room, and there were only 2 toilets: one up and one down. When they started building blocks there were apartments with

-and then each started living separately. We used to live in an old building, called Korda Palace, across the Conservatory, at the first floor and we had no sewage, no toilet in the

could be better. And then in 1960, UBB needed that building because already half of the building was with classrooms and the other half with apartments for teachers. And the University evicted everyone and everyone got apartments in Mihai Viteazu Square and it was like heaven on Earth cause you had a bathroom with a toilet, and a shower and warm water and cold water, and central heating and we no longer had to worry about the gas or, before

town begin to develop: in the centre there were insanitary houses or ruins from the war bombardments and they began building blocks of flats where both the inhabitants living in insanitary conditions and the newcomers moved. People came to Cluj because they found jobs here; neighbourhoods, first Gheorgheni with 10-storey blocks which have never been before, than Grigorescu, , and then they kept expanding. Distances grew; workplaces were further from home, so we were living in a

Petru K. (German-Hungarian): Pushkin Street (Universitatii, now), right in the centre and this building belonged to the university, and since my father was a university professor, we got a place there [...]There was absolutely nothing in that building, there was no toilet, no hygiene, we built them all, there was no gas then (I am talking about the

Robert Lazar (Jewish): belong to a bank, at some point there had been a prison there and the house we lived in had

at house looked somewhat different than the rest of the building. We had a room and a kitchen and a common toilet. Further there was another apartment with one room and a kitchen where the concierge lived. If you came home after 10 you had to ring the bell

heating for a long period of time more or less until 55-56 when methane started to be

31

introduced. Also, the traffic was not what it is today; there were even carriages for a while neighbourhood, further than the

bridge and I used to go there. I also used to go to Hoia on trips, to the Baciu Gorges too, but not so often. My father had a lot of work. In the first years after 49-50 when it was still allowed he had a private tailor shop right near our apartment where there is a bar nowadays right in front of the ambulance station. Later, when the nationalizations were made he joined the New Road Cooperative with everything he had in his shop including the employees and he was the master tailor while the others used to sew, and I used to spend my time there. When the constructions started on the Small Street, right on the corner with that block of flats on Horea street, we were children and we used to go there and play and we held great wars between ourselves in that area, and in winter we used to build all kinds of snow castles

Szekely Vasile (Jewish): then, there were no buses, no trolleybuses, no trams, and I used to walk from home to school. [...] In the 1940-1944, Cluj was not so much developed. My brother, we were a poor family,

so he became an apprentice in a factory. There were Hungarians and Romanians there. And this factory helped him a lot because they would give him wood for the winter, and that helped the family because we could get a fire. Each worker was also given a pair of shoes each year. Being a child, I remember life was ha

Mioara Butan (Romanian): neighbourhoods of today are the mini-towns of back then...there were some neighbourhoods with houses, and public transportapeople either walked or rode bikes.[...] Every year there was something new. Every year something would make life better. We went to school by car; people were buying bikes, motorcycles. Heating was cheap

Maria Moraru (Romanian): you would take them to the train station. We used to have horse-carts to bring in the corn. Trolleybuses were only

ng in Mihai Viteazu and this was a holiday for Russians, but we celebrate it as well, and I remember people screaming.

edifices appeared: the c the Towers on

Octavia Roman (Romanian): k there were cabs and buses near the train

32

: train station. [...] Then we moved to the army blocks on ilor, next to the High school for the Blind. I actually grew up there. We were a lot of boys, we used to play football, [...] After the war, living was tough, and my father had some advantages as an army man: he would bring cabbage, beans, some sort of bread. When he sent us to school, he made sandwiches with grease or marmalade marmalade since. [...] Streets changed their name, edgings had grass growing inside cause there were fewer cars. I remember when there were carriages in Cluj. At the train station, and in winter, there were sledges. And us, children, would connect our little sledges to theirs and when the coachman saw us, we would flail us. These coachmen they had some sort of caps. But students also had

living conditions were hard, not only because of shortages caused by war, but also because of 0s are described as very restrictive, from both the

was hard but no one died of hunger. People adapted harder, not to poverty, but to the new restrictions. For example, young people were not allowed to go out after 10. If they saw you, the patrols, they asked your name, especially if you gad long hair, because these bands like Beatles, Rolling Stones were popular. We used to listen to then on Europa Libera, of course under cover. If they saw you with longer hair, they took you down to the police station and cut your hair. But this police state had its advantages: there were no beggars, no vagabonds; it was simpler to walk at night from one neighbourhood to the other. A militia and a soldier were patrolling and they checked everyone. If one was unemployed, they kept records and if

Victoria Aruncutean (Romanian): s, only buses that ran on methane

foot. There were very few cars. There were horse carriages and in general, the people from

carriage station used to be, then there was one at the railroad station and I think there was one in front of the National Theatre where the church was but people used to go by foot and it

Sorana Popa (Romanian): There were buses here and there but in 54-55 if you heard a car


used to shop at the market, early in the morning she used to stay in line for buying milk so that I would have a glass of milk when I would get up and go to school, because there was no refrigerator at the time, and when mother was cooking she used to store the pots on the window edge during the night to keep it from going bad. The fridge appeared later. I knew life

was stricter in the 60ies. When I celebrate my birthday my friends would stay until 10 pm.

33

Once I went to a birthday and when I came back it was 11 and my father was waiting at the

and wood was difficult to find and you had to bring them from the countryside and you were only allowed to bring a limited quantity and people used to ask for a free day at work to wait for the lumberjack who had a wood cutting machine pulled by a donkey, and he used to bring the wood and cut it into smaller pieces and store them in the basement because they were big logs brought from the mountains. We had to carry them to the apartment afterwards and cut them into small pieces with the axe and because we had to save wood, we only lit the fire in the stove we had in the bedroom and we never lit the fire in the kitchen so because of that, the pipes froze and cracked. Around 1955 I was on the first or second grade and methane was

centre and we used to look how the flame burns for half an hour, it was such a big miracle that there was a flame. Methane was much cheaper than wood and more

She talks about the living conditions of her family: 4 apartments on each floor. It belonged to a landlord. The house was nationalized; the bigger apartments were divided so people had a common bathroom and a common toilet. From the

or living room in order to get to your room. You had to pay r

cookies at home. We used to stay in line for food products and there coupons. After the war some food products were given on food coupons basis and others were given per person, and I

FREE TIME ACTIVITIES

Ecaterina Groza (German) recalls that in her free time, she used to go to classical music concerts, organized by the local Philharmonic. She also used to go see movies. eally was fun, were the balls: the student balls. So, these were extremely beautiful, as in I thought they were extremely beautiful. Since we were at the Institute [The Pedagogical Institute],

Ioan Cozac (Romanian) recalls that in the end of 1950s they would go to uie, where folk dances were organized

The participants were mostly servant girls and housemaids, the city inhabitants did not usually take part. ans had their dances separately, on Thursdays and

34

Erzsi (Hungarian) recalls that back then, children used to play on the street, and by the river .

Victoria Linguraru (Roma) says she seldom went to the city centre, and she only went dancing Street, with a couple of musicians: there in the street

Robert Lazar about the central Park: ating on the lake in winter and in summer we used to row boats on the same lake. The park looked more or less the same, the gazebo was there, and there

Reka K. (Hungarian): ment was playing in the courtyard of our building in the city c tianu street, no. 23, then it was called

Victoria Aruncutean (Romanian): anything so we used to go to the theatre, people used to go to the theatre, to the cinema and our entertainment for us when we were students was the cinema. But we had restrictions; we were not allowed to go out after 8 PM. There were school patrols and we had to wear matriculation numbers, if they caught you without it you were sanctioned or if you were caught after 8 you got in trouble because they had to report you to the school principal and

Petru K. (German-Hungarian): is, all sports, swimming, that was entertainment and of course school helped a lot, from this point of view it was a more active period for culture, sport, all [...] There was more time for studying and for sports because

Vasile Nussbaum (Jewish) states that after the war, the main activities were

Sonja Szimon (Jewish) recounts the novelty of circuses coming to town:

a whale called Goliath, everyone in Cluj came to see it. There were dwarfs as well at the circus. In winter, sledging was the main source of entertainment

for children: an Street and

: , next to the High school for the Blind. I actually grew up there. We were a lot of boys, we used to play football, our team played in eni once (there used to be some sort of street championships), and they threatened us cause we had won and we ran and ran [...] I played football as a child, at Carbochim. There were movie nights and dance nights 2 times a week.

35

We went there and girls looked at us longingly. On what is now called Clujana Square. There was a rivalry between boys in different neighbourhoods. [...] There were no discos. There were

ere students. If you went without a date, it was OK, because there were girls there and you could ask one to dance. There were these places for socializing.

Octavia Roman (Romanian): to the radio every night, but TVs only

THE MAIN MEETING POINTS

Ecaterina Groza (German):

would go walking along the Corso, then to a cinema or

(she

personally, but heard it from her colleagues).

Ioan Cozac (Romanian): The meeting point for dates with girls was the cinema Republica. From here we would go to drink a juice, a

Petru K. (German-Hungarian): because you could then go in and have a coffee. There were some gorgeous coffee houses; you could smell freshly-roasted coffee. The centre attracted people, there was more greenery, beautiful pubs, and it


where the girls from Sic used to walk or to the lime tree island where our parents used to walk. It was impossible not to meet each other

different sides. There were meetings organized at the High Schools and we used to go from on High School to another. We all knew each other from sight. It was a warm, calm atmosphere,

36

Victoria Aruncutean (Romanian):

Teodosie Perju (Romanian): meeting place was behind this church in the centre, somewhere on the right. We met, we discussed, and we ees of Bessarabia on a street leading to Market. We used to meet at the city hall, but we

BARS, COFFEE HOUSES

: In the city centre, he can only recall the pubs in the cinemas and the Bar across

the Opera House.

Ioan Cozac (Romanian): One particular coffee-house he remembers is Urania (next to Mihai Viteazu Square, in the corner). He admits having heard of Continental and Melody bars, but has never been in them. He states that he was going out mostly with Romanians.

Ioan Florea (Romanian) He also recalls

such summer gardens as Boema (on March 6th Street nowadays Iuliu Maniu Str.), in the Central Park on the embankment, the Old Casino

Reka K. (Hungarian): But the city

offered a variety of other means of socializing; tea houses are always mentioned: to go to tea houses in the centre, the Green teahouse that is now closed, the Carpa i teahouse that is still there, there was one in Liberty Square and across the Cultural House. There was some sort of amandine, small cubes with cream, it was c

Petru K. (German-Hungarian) stating that the places intended for socializing and entertainment were far superior to the ones nowadays. entertainment for the people of Cluj was the central area, the New York Hotel (Continental), there we met, the boys, there we had fun. There were also the teahouses in the centre, but each had its particularity, for example the artists met on a little street next

37

Teodosie Perju (Romanian) only remembers one cafeteria in Cluj, from the period when he had just arrived here as a refugee:

Octavia Roman (Romanian) recounts the memories of her early childhood, in reference to the cafeteria; as would be expected, places meant for socializing outside the city centre were not characterized by glamour or civility, but on the contrary:

they had this stinky specialty: small fried fish with onions. You coulsiphon because of the odour

Mioara Butan (Romanian):

Sorana Popa (Romanian): drink coffee at the time but we ate Indian cakes and drank water. We used to make sorbet at

they grinded coffee there with a special grinder

and you could buy grinded coffee and take it home and it smelled very nice and they also had

: the players would go to Conti for a coffee or a beer, supporters came and cheered. [...] There were 2-


38

RELIGIOUS LIFE

Ecaterina Groza (German) recalls that an important place for her was the Evangelist Church (across Melody bar) where sermons were held in German, as well.

:

Ioan Cozac (Romanian) recalls that religious holidays were not celebrated in the public space.

Ioan Florea (Romanian) recalls that in the -‐Catholic

Church St. Michael (although they remained Greek-‐Catholics).

Reka K. (Hungarian): Church, our parents took us to see churches,

because our parents were not religious. We were Reformed and the Reformed

go to organ concerts, but when I was a child,

Petru K. (German-Hungarian) explains that the lack of religious education, both at home and in school, determined the lack of interest in children for religiosity and religious life; as a Roman-‐Catholic, exceptions were granted for such events as confirmation:

e family events, birthdays, name days, religion was less important: neither the family, nor the school emphasized religious education. We seldom went to church, this was actually forbidden and they would admonish you about it. I was a Roman-Catholic, we went to the church in the centre, but we visited churches from other religions. We were somewhat forced to go to church since we were Roman-Catholics

for confirmatio

39

The moving of the St. Mary Statue: street with high traffic. They moved it behind St. Peter Church, a well chosen place. Perhaps

esides the statue was surrounded by 6

Vasile Nussbaum (Jewish): -religion, not only Jews but other confessions acted accordingly because you could not get promoted if you were religious and the Jewish community was very affected. Another reason, there were very few. Before the war, there were thousands of people, and then few returned from the death camps and a part of them went elsewhere. There were few religious people. There was a tough anti-religion policy and there were anti-religion organizations for all nationalities, so they could counteract the effects of religion. There were lectures, dances, everything but the church. These organizations were supported by the state, and there was nothing for churches, I mean all churches. These organizations were supported by the state, and there was nothing for churches, I mean all churches.


Victoria Aruncutean (Romanian): cathedral on the Queen Mary Street (then. I went to primary school at the Bob school which was in the Bob churchyard and we used the entrance on Nicolae Iorga Street and there was the Virgin Mary nun school and we used to walk in rows lead by the nuns. We were Greek Catholics back then and only

40

Teodosie Perju (Romanian) is one of the few interviewees to maintain the importance of religion and the attachment of Cinhabitants to religion; despite his statements he gives no actual arguments of a vivid religious life in the period under study: people of Cluj are religious, they love their

-1960, in partnership with the Bishop of Cluj, , we organized some mixed groups, Romanians, Hungarians

Octavia Roman (Romanian): church, if someone saw you, they could tell the school about it. On Easter, we had school. But

Maria Moraru (Romanian):

: church, except for Easter and Christmas. We

Veronica Lazar (Jewish): war in Transylvania as well as everywhere else religion was more or less respected. My mother had some financial problems even before the war and she had to work on Saturday so

deportation erased any trace of faith in them; they used to say that if God allowed for something like that to happen he

of us. And the atheist education we had in school and in society after the war fitted

41

CELEBRATIONS IN THE CITY STREETS

recalls that on January 24th the Romanians would celebrate in the streets but says because

After asking about Hungarian celebrations, he indirectly says that with his friends, they would go drinking in the Central Park.

Ioan Cozac (Romanian) recalls that on January 24st Romanians would celebrate on the streets (but refuses to talk of this). He states that on March 15th, the Hungarians would also celebrate in the streets (but also refuses to develop on the subject). He also remembers Communist visits (for example the visit of Ghoerghe Gheorghiu-‐Dej).

Ioan Florea (Romanian) recalls the Communist parades of May 1st, August 23rd, and November 7th. On May 1st and August 23rd, there were some

Rom

never About March 15th he says that perhaps the Hungarians also celebrated, but

Robert Lazar (Jewish): festivals like the days of the city or

Sorana Popa (Romanian): ...1st of May. We used to go to rehearsals early in the morning in the park. Then on the 1st of May there was a stand built in front of the theatre facing and we used to parade from the direction, we used to come from the Peter and Paul Church on the boulevard, we passed by the Court House and we used to wait in front of the crossroads near the theatre until our turn came to pass in front of the official stands. We had ribbons, balls, music. There were also parades on the 23rd of August, but there were less people because they were on holidays. There were no open air festivals and there were no religious

Victoria Aruncutean (Romanian): recalls the celebrations which used to hold in Cluj before the communist rule was established: where on the 1st of May artistic programs were organized and an orchestra used to play, people ate mici and had fun. They used to go to Hoia and forestorganize parades at t

or stuff like that, the most important holidays were the religious ones. The national holidays were the 10th of May which was the royal day, on May 1 everybody went to the woods and

42

Reka K. (Hungarian): y 1st and August 23rd parade, and picnic and a free day for everyone and everyone had to go, to Hoia and

Mioara Butan (Romanian): prettiest girls, with white legs were in the front. And they put some coffee on our legs, and then the rain began and our white sneakers were all covered in coffee. We had big open-air parties, and open-air shows. There were tons of mititei and beer and I used to buy the first melon on August 23rd. There were fireworks in the evening. In 1959, we celebrated 100 years since the union. I was 9 then, everything was organized. We did a big dance around Matei

also recalls the celebrations taking place in the streets of Cluj on May 1st and August 23rd, but he did not go into particulars about their specificity.

Veronica Lazar (Jewish): to be a parade on 23 of August and the 1st of May. The pioneers, the Union of Communist Youth members and the workers participated. As a pioneer, for example, we had to rehearse for an entire month, we had a costume we made ourselves at home because it was quite warm we had a skirt and a blouse and we used to tell the teachers

allowed to tell us anything. The leading pioneers were holding a homemade wooden sign on which there was a big number 10 to show that we are the best students. We had to get up early in the morning somewhere in and we used to wait for hours before our turn would come in order to parade in front of the official stand which was placed in front of the Romanian Opera where all the important comrades of the county were seated. We used to march in rows from and when we got in front of the officials we formed a column, we sang and saluted, and we were obliged to participate including on 23rd of august, during

proclaimed) there were school celebrations with patriotic songs, there were also celebrations

43

CULTURAL LIFE

THEATERS AND OPERA HOUSE

used to go the theatre:

Ioan Florea (Romanian) recalls that people went more often to theatres, operas, cinemas, shows, concerts ( ).

Robert Lazar (Jewish): House, in addition, my father had a lot of friends in the theatre world and they used to come to our house since my father was known to be a good tailor in C

Sorana Popa (Romanian): used to go to the Hungarian theatre only when they had a ballet because at the time

Victoria Aruncutean (Romanian): used to go to the theatre more often. There was no other entertainment, there was no TV or anything so we used to go to the theatre, people used to go to the theatre, to the

Veronica Lazar (Jewish): As a student I had a subscription to the theatre, to the opera as a

the Romanian Opera. I had a season ticket at the opera. I used to go to the theatre at the Hungarian theatre; because on one hand there better voices at the Romanian opera, and on the other hand, they used to sing in Romanian at the time, not in Italian, and when Romanian it sounded almost like in Italian, but when they sang it in Hungarian my ears hurt. I had a season ticket at the opera but I used to go to the theatre only when there was

ts was much cheaper than it is today, unfortunately there were also a lot of bad quality events like amateur shows, all of them

44

patriotic, only folkloric music and patriotic songs, manifestations were organized in schools

Reka K. (Hungarian) used to go to the state theatre and opera house in Avram Iancu Square and to the Hungarian theatre and opera, to the Philharmonic:

extra-shows, etc.

Petru K. (German-Hungarian): ere was a great emphasis on

education. Education started at home. We often went to the Hungarian theatre and opera, but there were also really good shows at the Romanian opera and theatre. We had friends there and we visited the Romanian Opera. We had grea

Teodosie Perju (Romanian) connects such cultural activities as going to the opera and theatre to the lack of conditions at home:

Romanian Opera and Theatre. As a student, we had place at the balconies, because we

ere, and

Octavia Roman (Romanian): culture; he took me to the opera when I was 5. I used to act in opera shows as a kid. Bapproval to go out after 8. As an extra, I could hear the entire show, I could rehearse, and I

allow me to do it anymore, but event

Mioara Butan (Romanian) considers that cultural activities were encouraged by the regime, which promoted them, and offered substantial reductions for children and youngsters interested in such activities: because it was compulsory in school to go to the theatre, philharmonic and opera. Also it was fashionable for

45

She also recounts the significance of education in the eyes of the new Communist regime; actually this interest and promotion of education and culture is generally considered the most significant

en. Kids had facilities,

there were lots of shows for kids, puppet theatre, movies for children, and the philharmonic would play a show for

: ke it then, but eventually

I developed a taste for it and now I like it. There were

collected all the money, bought a ticket, went to the toilet and opened a window for us and we all got in like that. It was risky cause if they saw you without a seat, they could

and the He will later recount about the growing

opportunities existing: ing company came from Russia and a friend working because our stage was too

there because I didn

CINEMAS

) recalls such cinemas in after war Cluj as Muncitoresc, Arta, and Steaua Rosie.

Erzsi (Hungarian) everybody would go and they showed mostly Russian films.

Victoria Linguraru (Roma) recounts going to the cinema a couple of times.

Robert Lazar (Jewish): Progresul cinema. As a child I used to go with my parents to various movies, especially in the period when they were subtitled both in Romanian and in Hungarian, afterwards, when they

understand anything. That was in the 58-

46

Sorana Popa (Romanian): a was the Progresul Cinema where I used to go with my parents, and in summer it had an open air cinema in the summer garden. There were very good movies. As a child I used to go to the Timpuri Noi Cinema, to Arta Cinema and to 23 August Cinema on Horea Street. I watched everything I could, my mother

When I was ten there used to be a lot of Russian movies at the cinemas, apart from that there were also French movies,

Victoria Aruncutean (Romanian): anything so we used to go to the theatre, people used to go to the theatre, to the cinema and our entertainment for us when we were students was the cinema. But we had restrictions; we

around Matei Corvine, the entrance was under a gate and it was an old cinema, it was called

Reka K. (Hungarian): cinema was in Liberty Square, it was the main cinema, and it was demolished because it was

The Victoria Cinema, on ii Street was

Arta, 23 August was on Horea and Republica with a

Petru K. (German-Hungarian) recounts how such activities as going to the cinema were highly regulated by authorities and a greater concern was shown to what the youth would see on the cinema screen: were a group of students, someone would stop us and ask us what we were looking for. You could only go to certain movies and then only if the school mistress signed a paper. Or you could go number tag and they would know immediately where you studied, and they would tell the school you went to some movie that was for adults. There were some war movies that for children;

Mioara Butan (Romanian): en. It cinema;

47

movies with Indians vies for children and cartoons. The same movie was shown all day long. And there were some propaganda movies,

: Movies with Jean Marais, Gina Lolobrigida, Gerard Philippe, adventure movies. Cinema houses,

students, we went to the movies from 9 to 10; we used to

Veronica Lazar (Jewish): Progresul cinema, that was the most important cinema and in summer it had a big garden where they used to show movies. Then the Republica cinema was built and we used to go

MUSEUMS

Robert Lazar (Jewish): n Ethnographical

Sorana Popa (Romanian): parents; many famous paintings because the museum was at its beginnings. I rarely went to the history museum; the exhi Victoria Aruncutean (Romanian):

Reka K. (Hungarian): skeletons of prehistoric animals, which before I only saw in drawings. At the history museum, there were all sorts of objects found after archaeological digs. We also went to the ethnographic museum in Hoia Forest, with decorate Petru K. (German-Hungarian):

Teodosie Perju (Romanian) used to go to the Ethnographic Museum ere was this sector and he also visited the museum near the former

Capitol Cinema (nowadays, the Art Museum). Veronica Lazar (Jewish): going to the Art Museum. It was in the same place as it is today, in the old Banfy palace. I also

48

remember going to the porcelain factory in Iris as it had an exhibition hall. There was also an

49

RELATIONS BETWEEN NATIONALITIES

THE ISSUE OF LANGUAGE

Erzsi (Hungarian) remembers that then Cluj was more of a Hungarian city, and one could seldom hear Romanian being spoken in the streets.

Robert Lazar (Jewish): matter of fact it was from them that I learned Romanian, because in our house we spoke only

fact Romanian from the children. There was a Hungarian language kindergarten in the Horea

the Reformed Church was it was the Nr. 8 General School, the first two grades I went to the Hungarian section but I moved to the Romanian section afterwards, in 3rd grade. It was very hard for me since we only spoke Hungarian at home and the only Romanian I had learned from the children in our courtyard was too little for 3rd grade, but I was lucky that our teacher spoke Hungarian and she stayed with me and another boy after class and explained the lessons to us in Hungarian. Since 5th grade I moved to Nr. 10 High School which was on

children in the block where I lived; I grew up only with Romanian children. All of them spoke Romanian; I started to learn Romanian without noticing from the kids I used to play with. It was never an issue whether you were a Romanian or Hungarian or anything else, to tell you more, in Transylvania and in Cluj a lot of Romanian families also spoke Hungarian. My mother became very good friends with a Romanian family but they spoke perfect Hungarian so she spoke Hungarian with them and as a matter of fact tha

were many merchants who spoke Hungarian, in the shops it was the same until the 60ies. Even if later the Hungarian subtitles disappeared from the cinemas, she listened to Hungarian radio or watched Hungarian television. When watching a movie my father used to translate it for her. Since people spoke two languages in Cluj she never had to learn Romanian. I learned perfect Romanian even if I used to read more in Hungarian than in Romanian, I even knew the

Sorana Popa (Romanian): in both

languages. The relations between people were different; they all knew each other, now I have

Veronica Lazar (Jewish): My parents spoke Hungarian of course because they graduated from Hungarian school but before the war both Hungarian and Romanian were official

50

went to Romanian school but the teachers were Hungarian speakers so they explained in

never learned it at all. After the war only Romanian remained an official language but for example the subtitles at the cinema were both in Hungarian and in Romanian and from a

professional point of view, my father was an accountant and he had to hold the accounting in Romanian o he had to take Romanian language courses. And because they had problems with the Romanian language they decided I should go to a Romanian school and when I started to

encouraged the friendship with Romanian children so that I could learn Romanian. I caught

starting with 4th grade. Starting with 5th grade in general we used to learn French as well. We were taught that all that was done in our country was good and it was thanks to the Soviet Union and to the party, that until Ceausescu came to power, then it was thanks to

Reka K. (Hungarian):

Romanians so we could speak with them. Where we lived and on the street and in the building

Petru K. (German-Hungarian): learned Russian in hig

Vasile Szekely (Jewish): rian,

Romanian or Jewish. Each one with his own language. government, and up to 1989, it was Romania again, so we had to speak Romanian everywhere, but we could still speak Romanian or Hungarian, as we chose .

Teodosie Perju (Romanian):

Cluj], the only shortcoming was not knowing Hungarian, there are a lot of Hungarians here and it

.

Octavia Roman (Romanian): made any difference when it came to nationality. There was no such thing; you spoke whatever language you thought convenient. If a

51

Romanian came, you would speak Romanian, if a Hungarian did, you would speak Hungarian.

Victor Cio : inhabitants of

NATIONAL ISSUES AND THE LIFE OF THE CITY. BORDER CHANGES, POLITICAL CHANGES

Ecaterina Groza (German) remembers not being able to be part of the Students Choir because in 1956-‐1957, arrests among the students of Cluj started, as a result of the Hungarian fact that in 1956-‐1957, people of any nationality were arrested. Although she worked in

She had friends of all nationalities (Romanians, Hungarians, Germans, ).

Ioan Florea (Romanian) states he had friends of all nationalities (), but later he would recount his problems with a group of Hungarians that

tried to attack him because he was speaking Romanian: ... but there were some famous conflicts here

Later on, he recounts how the boys in his high school used to organize snowball fights with the boys from the Hungarian high school (located across the common school

about events in Timisoara, but not in Cluj (although he was living right in the city centre).

Erzsi (Hungarian) says she interacted with Romanians as well at her work place (a bakery). She believes there were no problems between different nationalities.

Victoria Aruncutean (Romanian) recalls her impressions about how the Hungarian army entered the city during the Second World War: they wore those hats with cock feathers on them and they used to blow in the wind and they had their faces were so frowned and they treated Romanians very badly, many were

Hungarians came no Romanian had the courage to go out on the street, we just looked at She continues

had a younger brother who was a very good with cars. He had a car repair shop and it was working well so he made some enemies and the Hungarians expulsed him in 1940 when they came. He was allowed to take with him only one bag per person and he had to leave everything else here: furniture, clothes, his workshop, everything. He told my father however

52

to take care of his things for him while he is gone. He was expulsed in a much uncivilized manner because he was embarked on a livestock boxcar. He got to Alba Iulia and he got a job in a car repair shop and he started to live well and since they had no children he agreed with my father to take me there to continue my Romanian language school education in Alba Iulia. The border was in Feleac, and it was already illegal to cross the border. My father had some friends at the Central Bank and they had some land there and people who owned land in Feleac or in Romania had a work permit which allowed them to cross the border and work their land and to come back. My father agreed with a woman who to take her on his horse cart to her land there but he asked her to take me as well and leave me in Romania since he had agreed with the school principal in Feleac who himself was a refugee to let me sleep at his place for a couple of days and send me to Alba Iulia. They put me in the horse cart and covered me with hay. The custom officers came and checked the documents, looked at the cart

father and interrogated

the relations between Hungarians and Romanians were good and my father had Hungarian friends and they helped him so nothing happened to hi

across the border were organized. Two bars were installed at a 5 meter distance from one another and the ones from Romania came up to one bar and the ones from Hungary came to the other bar and my father and my uncle arranged for a meeting. But only a small amount of people were allowed to pass because there were too many. Can you imagine talking in such a crowd five meters from one another? Everybody was shouting an

can imagine. And we were not allowed to get closer or to kiss each other because if the border officer saw you they immediately pushed you b She comments on the life of different nationalities in Cluj Hungarian friends and neighbours, there were no ethnicity problems, there were even a lot of

About the life in Cluj immediately after the war she says back to Cluj, and after I finished 4th grade I came back to Cluj as well. In the meantime my uncle bought a house on Art Street, he opened a car repair shop and he earned well, but the managing bodies in the city were still Hungarian and he was persecuted and threatened with

Sorana Popa (Romanian), about the after the war period: can honestly say that each nationality lived the life of the community they belonged to: Romanians with their language and celebrations but they were friendly to their Hungarian or Jewish neighbours; the Hungarians had their churches and enjoyed their traditions but they were more reserved in becoming friends with others but they were serious and mild mannered people; the Jews even if they spoke Hungarian at home began to give their children to Romanian schools and asked us to teach them Romanian when we played with them and everybody had their own

53

houses and give pots and pans in exchange for old clothes, they were dressed very colourful and wore head kerchiefs with

use to talk with one another and often learned phrases and had small dialogues in the other

ver heard people speak bad things about the other nationalities, about Hungarians and Jews. I was taught to respect this beautiful city, not to offend it by breaking anything, to dress nicely when going for a walk or to the theatre or to the church and to be helpful and well-

Veronica Lazar (Jewish): that some of the civil rights of the Jews were limited and in the end they gathered them in a ghetto somewhere in a bricthese things began later, but there was an anti-Jewish attitude, they had to wear the yellow

that at the beginning of the school year they had to fill in some papers with student personal data and one of the questions asked was to which nationality you belong to and what your

everybody lived She adds,

Vasile Szekely (Jewish): - because sure is that until 1940 it was Romania and then the Hungarians came and Cluj was

Octavia Roman (Romanian): and he said the king had renounced the throne. I dwent to kindergarten and I saw they took off that nice picture; the picture was there no more. The Green Kindergarten was the only one with a pavilion.

Maria Moraru (Romanian): o care who what nationality .

54

ETHNICAL TOPOGRAPHY OF THE CITY

Ecaterina Groza (German) There were few Germans in Cluj: the German population was composed of the Germans of Cluj (very few), most of them were Germans that had come after the war from around Bistri a Since her arrival in Cluj, she believes that neighbourhoods

neighbourhoods

Ioan Cozac (Romanian) recalls that at area. He also states that

neighbourhood, whilst was a

Ioan Florea (Romanian):

lieve there was this He also says that Gipsies only came to Cluj later, in Iris,

Victoria Linguraru (Roma) only testify to the fact that in her neighbourhood there were both Romanians and Gipsies.

Robert Lazar (Jewish): areas in , but apart from that, the Hungarians, Romanians, Jews, lived in blocks of flats and whether you were Romanian or Hungarian or whatever it was not a problem. It was

Victoria Aruncutean (Romanian): Everywhere there were Jews, Hungarians, and Bulgarians (those lived more separately because they dealt exclusively with agriculture and

Sorana Popa (Romanian): lived mainly in the centre from what I know because if the synagogues were built there that

Veronica Lazar (Jewish): 1940 when Cluj was given to the Hungarians, this meant that some of the civil rights of the Jews were limited and in the end they gathered them in a ghetto somewhere in a brick factory

Reka K. (Hungarian): lived around and Cipariu Square, behind the Theatre and on Lingurarilor Street

55

nationalities, after I went to college I had 2 friends who were Jewish and I found out some

Petru K. (German-Hungarian): nationalities, except there were some high schools with a Hungarian profile. We were good friends, we went out together no matter the nationality, even Gipsies, we were friends with

along just as well with a German or a Russian woman. Most parents educated their children

you this would happen because of that? We should educate the youth differently, to be friendlier here were certain streets were most of the inhabitants were Jews, like Parisului, Francisc, close to the synagogues. I cared a lot about Jews, I used to go to Jewish weddings, and they were splendid. I went to the synagogue and I knew a lot of Jews that told me about their memories from Auschwitz and Birkenh -knit and friendly people and good businessmen, they had connections everywhere, relations with Jews were different from nowadays. [...] I had no connection with the inhabitants of

Vasile Szekely (Jewish) remembers that his neighbourhood was inhabited by

Teodosie Perju (Romanian): e here with the army in 1945 and there were no situations like groups of Romanians and Hungarians, they all

nd Germans, and there are Despite these affirmations, we would later state that the case of

neighbourhood, and there was like a line

sometimes misu

Octavia Roman (Romanian):

anymore). It was a narrow street, like you can only see in Mopresents the neighbourhoods house was

Sonja Szimon (Jewish):

Victor Ciob : neighbourhoods exist; there were only some houses and farms (like Zorilor). There were farmers growing vegetables. They were both Romanian and Hungarian. hostejeniback then. I had friends in Feleac. There were no Hungarians in Feleac or . Only when they started building blocks, did the Hungarians moved in. had 100.000 inhabitants out of the entire population of Cluj. It was awful! [...] There was no Jewish neighbourhood. There were 2 categories of Jews: the ones from Moldova and the ones from

56

Cluj, which were Hungarian. The Romanian ones were less thrifty, less selfish, and not as Romanian as the Hungarian ones were Hungarian. Iris and Bulgaria were neighbourhoods with lots of gipsies. We used to play football by the and when the ball fell in the water, the gipsies stole it. Romanian neighbourhoods were and , and in the centre

57

LIFE OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITY IN POST WAR CLUJ

Ecaterina Groza (German) had a Jewish friend. When she first came to Cluj she visited the Synagogue near Mihai Viteazu Square and was impressed by its austerity. Regarding the Jewish issue, she was impressed that her Jewish friends and neighbours never made her feel guilty for the Jewish tragedy.

Greta recalls that They used to live and on Tutunului street. After the war, the Jews

Ioan Cozac (Romanian) recalls that in his childhood there used to be a lot of Jews in Cluj,

where they lived and

meeting Jews.

Ioan Florea (Romanian) recalls that the Jews lived near Mihai Viteazu Square, especially since the Policlinic there was

anything further.

Anna Klein (Jewish) I was born in 1942 at the Jewish Hospital. And there are maybe 2-3 kids born then that had survived deportation. Because I was the only Jew in class, I was always selected during Communism to take part in various activities because they had to have a Jew in their committees. parents were communists but I used to accompany my friends to the Orthodox Church on Horea street during 1st-2nd grade... I

maintain connections with the community, we only used to take my grandmother to the synagogue and we knew very little about religion.

menorah

Teodosiu Perju (Romanian): -workers, sharp, this is one quality you need to suc

Robert Lazar (Jewish):

58

became a tailor, but after the war, when he practically lost his entire family (they were 10 brothers, he also had a wife and a 5 year old child and only two brothers were left alive) he

to the synagogue on holidays. I knew there were some holidays. Dad knew a lot about religion

atheist and he raised me in that spirit as well. Mother too. We used to visit our relatives in

h the Jewish community nu but my parents had some friends from the concentration camp and they lived in the houses they had before the war

r the grocery store in the corner, another one was on iu

street and another one around Medicala 3 near the so called Jewish hospital. It seems the hospital was built and sustained by the Jewish community. Even now, people know it by this name. The prayers were held at the synagogue, but now it is used only in summer because you have to heat it in winter, and in winter there is a prayer house somewhere near the firemen

n the

Sorana Popa (Romanian): he kosher shop was. The synagogues were functional after the war. The Jewish women who used to go to the synagogue used to wear

ttend. On a street in the back of the print house somewhere in a big yard there were Jews who still kept the traditions and they used to built something that looked like a small room like a wooden bird cage and they went inside and read some prayers and I

I never even asked my Jewish friend what they were doing and when they had their holidays we considered it an

Victoria Aruncutean (Romanian): There was no Jewish quarter from what I know, Jews

Veronica Lazar (Jewish): something bad would happen to me. They were quite old when I was born; it was the second

former husband and wife as well as his son never returned from the concentration camp, and my parents, having met each other afterwards, the same as many Jews who managed to come

my parents got married and there were a lot of children in the 46-47 generation (only in my class thbecause it was their second family they were very worried that something would happen to

59

She comments on the religious life of her family: trace of faith in them; they used to say that if God allowed for something like that to happen he either

atheist education we had in school and in society after tconceptions. They however respected two things: they used to go to church once a year, usually in autumn during Yom Kippur it is a day of fast and they used to fast that day not to honour God but for the sake of those who were no longer with us, in memory of their family and of belonging to a certain nationality, in honour to the ones like us, because we are not

forget and to disinherit u

nging to a nationality is the same as being born blond. We also respected the Pass Over but we ate bread anyway (you are not allowed to eat bread for 9 days), however my father used to read

She recalls, that was more than one synagogue. In the Judaic tradition there are two main currents: the orthodox, and the neologues (who had more liberties). For example, the big synagogue on Horea street which you know and which still functions today was neologue. There were other smaller synagogues, orthodox ones, on

street, I think one of them still exists but it is closed. If you walk on the river

the rite anymore. In the 50-

all over the world so that they would have their own home and not to be chased from one place to another anymore, so many Jews from Romania emigrated. My parents thought about it but they gave up in the end and since the number of Jews dropped, it was not profitable to keep so many synagogues open because nobody attended them so the Jewish community reduced the number and the activity of those synagogues. Nowadays only the big synagogue is functioning and there is also a prayer house on David Francisc street between Mihai Viteazu

winter when it is difficult to heat the synagogue, people go there. The Jews in Cluj only go to the synagogue on Friday evenings and Saturday mornings. In order for the service to be held, 10 men have to be present and sometimes it is a problem to find 10 men in Cluj, but they go there anyway. Basically, in the orthodox synagogues men and women are not allowed to stay together but in the neologue ones it is allowed and men stay in the front and women in the

even go there on Saturday, only when it was the day of remembering the dead, once a year. Since their parents and relatives died in Auschwitz at an unknown death, they established a day when they used to light a candle and they went to the synagogue where they say a special prayer in memoriam, and we ourselves respected this tradition as well. When a parent dies, for a year, you have to go each Saturday to the synagogue and say a prayer of remembering the dead. It is called

ng about death or the dead. Only the men are allowed to say

60

it but you can pay somebody to go in your place and say read it. Where the prayer house is, there is a ritual bath called mikvah and for example when I got married I was supposed to go there for a

Vasile Nussbaum (Jewish): on different fronts. Of course, everyone lived differently: basically, Hungarians had no problem in that period, obviously, let not say during the war, because then of course there were shortages. Germans had many privileges, a Romanian indeed had a series of problems, since

Romanian school so, yes, I think they had all the issues of a minority. With the Jews, it was

completely different. First of all, in the first period, in 1940, Jews were better off than in Romania, the raciThen of course, it got worse. Even in the beginning, some things really influenced us, I mean children of 10-14-15. numerus clausus and the numerus nulus, which meant no Jew could attend a school or high school. In the beginning, with numerus clausus, a Jew or two could

place to send children and they studied hard, you could get one or two in a class, then from 1942 it was numerus nulus: no Jew could attend any school. What I want to say is that in 1940, some way or other, they managed to make a Jewish High school here in Cluj, on nowad ilor street

to it there was the school). With a bit of exaggeration and conceit, I tell you that was probably one of the best high schools in the world and I tell you why: everywhere and always when a minority, children need to know that they have to study harder for the same results as others;

especially then, in that anti-Semitic period. For children, if they wanted to succeed in life, they had to work harder; there was this frame of mind: we have to do more. On the other hand, all Jewish teachers, including university professors were fired so the director could choose from university professors. I was 12 or 13, with short pants (only older boys could wear long pants)

It was the first nteresting until we realized we

the grades are and

not university. There were university teachers, with PhD an inspection certificate because other schools in Cluj. This school was an oasis. The only place in the whole city (including our house) where we could be free. There were older students, Communists, Zionists and they

61

listen to London and my dad opened and hit me. You had to control yourself even at home so

had a compulsory cap and on it the name of your high school. And for us it was the Jewish high

Ha! want to emphasis

because

-Semitism, on the radio the same, in his family -Semitism all over

Europe. Our life was a constant danger, for the whole 4 years. I mean this high school with no past, barely opened. After 4 years it was all over: children, teachers, everyone in the ghettoes and Auschwitz. From all the boys and girls in my class, there are only 3 of us here. Kids

returned, returned alone. I had a brother, he died there, my parents never returned. Alone. We came alone. And when I came home, to Cluj, I say: I have no house, no money, no job, no parents, I have no one. hostels, dormitories, I mean we had no one. A gang of street-children. But we all had our education. We all graduated from college and half of us had academic titles and taught at the

fired, lawyers could no longer work, maids were fired, doctors, it was tough. As kids, we had no problems, we went to school, and it was different because our parents were thinking what would happen to us, how long we could live. Now maybe I tell you something shocking: one of us wrote a book about the ghetto, the ghettoes were awful here and everywhere. In the ghetto of Cluj were 17-18.000 people together. In harsh

h being told, we only stayed there for a month and most of us got deported at the end of May, other is June. And now my opinion about the ghetto, why I never said this is because it is shocking, but that was the most beautiful period of my life, in the ghetto: all kids from school were there, and girls.

future or what was happening with us in that awful ghetto, do you understand? My parents might have told you differently. This is shocking because me, at my age, I felt good. Then, when we were sent to Auschwitz, I had a younger brother with me; we were together, just the two of us. My father was elsewhere. future, our fight for survival, the selection for the gas chambers, the hunger. And if I want to

r. I was so preoccupied

62

kids as we were, so you have to take that into consid

for Jews, it meant freedom. There used to be Fascism, there came the Soviets. What owe my life to the Red

If the Red Army had come a year later, then we would not be speaking now. Of course, you cannot believe what some say today, that it was not liberation, but

me, that was liberation; that is the truth. There are many truths in this world, each with his own point of view. But these governments, somehow Fascists, because they deported too some social classes, but none of these dictatorship officially promoted some anti-Semitic, or anti-Hungarian or anti-what act. Official act. Officially, there was no anti-Semitism, but there are anti-Semites

radical change. Communism had its sins and a lot of changes happened. I think life always has

returned, returned alone. I had a brother, he died there, my parents never returned. Alone. We came alone. And when I came home, to Cluj, I said to myself: I have no house, no money, no job, no parents, no one. hostels, dormitories, I mean we had no one. A gang of street-children. But we all had our education. We all graduated from college and half of us had academic titles and taught at the

need money to study. [...] In the Socialist era, there were many positive things for Jews and for others. For minorities, for Jews, it meant freedom. There used to be Fascism, there came the

be speaking now. Of course, you cannot believe what some say today, that it was not

is the truth. There are many truths in this world, each with his own point of view. But these governments, somehow Fascists, because they deported too some social classes, but none of these dictatorship officially promoted some anti-Semitic, or anti-Hungarian or anti-know what act. Official act. Officially, there was no anti-Semitism, but there are anti-Semites. We, the youth, when we returned, we never thought there was going to be a new life, a radical change. Communism had its sins and a lot of changes happened. I think life always has

nking and

-Rabi for 40 years. A very intelligent man, otherwise insufferable, a dictator in matters of religion, a Zionist. And he made so that the state agreed to 300.000 Jews immigrating to Israel. Probably

cafeterias, almost free, for Jewish students. So they would come somewhere with a Jewish community, not in the church, but in the cafeteria. And then he established a choir: whoever

63

joined the choir could eat for free. The choir sang Jewish religious songs; to church. And then, whoever wants to learn Hebrew could then eat for free. He made all these to attract people back to the community. If they have a mother or father who are not Jews, it

could, even non-Jewish husbands or wives. After the war there was a small Jewish community, but then it developed. 403 members, out of which 170 were mixed families. We have no youngsters here, we have the largest over-65 category, but the youth is missing. We have a choir, an orchestra and something related to Jewish traditions once a week. For 20 years or

Vasile Szekely (Jewish): [about the period 40-44: But there were some anti-Semites, and they taught their children like that. What happened to me is that I was forced to wear that cap saying Jewish school and each day on my way to school I met one who would bring 2 friends from his school and would kick me. I was alone, they were 3. So there was some anti-

when I met this guy later, I was with my older brother. And he was scared and Look, remember me? You used to kick m

going to kick you. But I hope you are smarter now and will c

knew our host and our host never asked us why we were walking around town without the star. Once, when we got back, there was a truck there and they took our parents and we wanted to go, but they made a sign to us to stay there. And we never saw them after that. We stayed at the host there, sleeping in a hallway (Vasile Szekely and his brother continued to look for their parents and therefore got themselves deported to Auschwitz and Birkenhau but fortunately they survived the Holocaust and managed to return to Cluj).

Vasile Szekely added about the after war period: because there was democracy and the state helped us. My brother kept working in the factory and got promoted, no matter if he was Hungarian, Romanian or Jewish. He finished high school and then they sent him to a university in Leningrad and I stayed here and graduated from the Unitarian High school and then went to college, and I never felt I was a different nationality. how it was here up until 1989 because here Hungarians and Romanians and Jews leaved well

64

CONCLUSION

-Napoca 1939 1960. Diversity of

remembrances of the after war Cluj. The difficult history of this city and the politics different authorities (Romanian, Hungarian, and Communist) towards the city space in the 20th century, in

r period was a time when the city was adjusted to the ideological and political realities of the

changes that occurred in the city space could be remembered differently by people of different nationalities who lived in after war Cluj. However, the results of our field research in Cluj-Napoca shows that, first of all, people do not pay much attention to the city space reshaping.

progressive. The new communist construction was perceived ambiguously as we can see fro neighbourhoods

other side those who were forced to change their apartment and to move from their old house from the city centre into newly built blocks of flats were amazed by the level of comfort which existed in those new buildings.

The centre of the city for all the interviewees included the contemporary Union Square and Heroes street. Contemporary Avram Iancu square and the Orthodox cathedral were mentioned by Sorana Popa who came to Cluj as a child from another region of Romania the Orthodox cathedral to which she used to come each Sunday with her parents, and the Romanian National Theatre became important points in her own topography of the city.

The main free time activities of people who lived in Cluj in the first after war years depended on the social status of their families and their financial condition. Most of our respondents used to go to the theatre, to cinemas and to go for a walk on Heroes street or in the Central park. Among the important places in the city which we can identify thanks to the interviews were St. Michael Church, Matthias Corvinus monument, the contemporary Union square, the Heroes street, the Romanian National Theatre, the Central Park.

Our research provided evidence that what Rogers Brubaker observed in Cluj-Napoca of the beginning of the 21st century was characteristically for the city already after the Second World War. If the city landscape became a kind of battlefield of memory (first of all for the two titular nations of the city Romanian and Hungarian), this conflict was created from above by

the streets of the city in such way as streets and squares renaming, statues and memory plaques changing, institutions removal wLaitin (1988) has noticed that the culture is Janus-faced. The first face of culture concerns values, and the second one is instrumental. The authorities, during the ideological layer of the city landscape reshaping after the Second World War, worked with the first face of culture, while people who lived in this city space treated the city landscape instrumentally. We can see in this

65

situation how such important cultural opposition as public/collective versus individual levels works. The ideologically inspired changes of the city landscape by the authorities applied only to

untouched by the politics of culture. It is worth mentioning that most changes in the symbolical

all the interviewees or were seen as progress regardless of their nationality. Almost all remeabout their childhood and youth. Our remembrances about years of childhood and youth are always colourful and happy. hure presents on the basis of those memories is rather peaceful and beautiful. We are aware of the fact

their childhood from the perspective of an old person are almost always influenced by their first of

all elaborated by Marianne

This limitation of our project is connected with the time frames of our research those people who were already mature in the immediate after war period and could tell their story and their vision limitation is the small representativeness of Hungarian interviewees. This is connected with the fact that most of the old Hungarians we tried to approach were not too eager to talk, or they changed their mind in the last minute. It was also quite a challenge to find Roma and Germans who lived in the city after the war but on the other hand we were lucky to find more Jewish respondents than we expected and they were very friendly and supportive.

The separate group of people whose remembrances of after war Cluj and their life there is

Holocaust and the war influenced not only their way of life but also their upbringing and their way of thinking.

66

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Assmann, Aleida. (2011) Cultural Memory and Western Civilization: Functions, Media,

Archives, Cambridge.

2. Assmann, Aleida, ed., Shortt, Linda, ed. (2011), Memory and Political Change,

Basingstoke.

3. Brubaker, Rogers. (2006). Nationalist politics and everyday ethnicity in a Transylvanian

town, Princeton.

4. The remote borderland: Transylvania in the Hungarian imagination,

New York.

5. Laz The Metastasis of Ostentation: Black & White

16; http://idea.ro/revista/?q=en/node/41&articol=186.

6. -

monumentelor sale. Cluj-Napoca: Apostrof

7. Marshall, Catherine & Rossman, Gretchen. (1995) Designing Qualitative Research, SAGE

Publications.

8. Mitrea, Vasile. (2011). Spre o gandire globala a municipiului In Panescu Eugeniu (Ed.),

Cluj- 50 de ani. 1960 2010. (pp. 56 65). Cluj-Napoca: Meteor Press.

9. Amintiri pentru Mileniul III. Cluj-Napoca: Ed. Ledo.

10. Student la Cluj. Cluj-Napoca: Studia.

11. Istoria Clujului. Cluj: Editura Dacia.

12.

Cluj- 50 de ani. 1960 2010. (pp. 442 450). Cluj-Napoca: Meteor Press.

13. Sommer, Barbara W., ed., Quinlan, Mary Kay ed. (2009), The oral history manual,

Lanham.

67

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface 3 The historical background 5 Our heroes 9 The image of the city 15

First impressions, earliest memories 15 The city centre 17 The main walking places. Strada Eroilor 18 The Union Square 20 Avram Iancu Square 20 Mihai Viteazu Square 21 Horea Street 23 uie Area 24 New Neighbourhoods 25 Green areas and outdoor activities 27

Everyday life 30 Living conditions 30 Free time activities 33 The main meeting points 35 Bars, coffee houses 36 Religious life 38 Celebrations in the city streets 41

Cultural life 43 Theatres and opera houses 43 Cinemas 45 Museums 47

Relations between nationalities 49 The issue of language 49 National issues and the life of the city. Border changes, political changes 51 Ethnical topography of the city 54

Life of the Jewish community in post war Cluj 57 Conclusions 64 Bibliography 66

cluj-napoca between 1939-1960

Documents