When Romania Turned Hungarian Bibles into Toilet Paper June 14, 1985

The Wall Street Journal

by Peter K. Keresztes "In all of the diabolical manifestations of Adolf Hitler's hatred for God and all religions ­keeping in mind that he burned Torahs - I don't think even he conceived of anything so ugly." So fumed California Rep. Bob Dornan at a GOP-organized press conference last week on rights abuses in Romania. He was describing samples of toilet paper with Biblical words such as "Esau," "Israel," "Jeremias," "Satan" and "Isten" (Hungarian for God) embedded in the tissue. The sample panels are "incontrovertible evidence," Rep. Dornan said, that 20,000 bibles donated in the 1970s by the World Reformed Alliance of the Transylvanian Magyar Reformed Church with the permission of Bucharest were diverted to a mill in Braila, as labels on the rolls indicate, for recycling into toilet paper. The high­quality Western paper and ink, however, resisted the smashing, and the Biblical words are clearly legible in the creases. In lobbying for renewal of their Most Favored Nation trading status with the U.S., the Romanians in the past often cited the agreement to distribute the Bibles as an example of their magnanimity.

This barbaric profanity is but one example cited of charges over the past 20 years from Romania (Bucharest has flatly denied them) over minority ­ and religious­rights violations. Laszlo Hamos, chairman of the New York­based Committee for Human Rights in Rumania, which has monitored the situation there over the past nine years, says that "over the past two years physical brutalities, imprisonments, house searches and beatings against minority­rights advocates have markedly increased." Although the 2.5 million (officially 1.8 million) Hungarians ­Europe's largest national minority ­ in that country of 23 million have been hit the hardest, Mr. Hamos says, ethnic Germans and Jews have also complained of abuses. Here are some examples: The death last year of the Rev. Geza Palfi, who during his 1983 Chistmas homily bemoaned an edict by President Nicolae Ceausescu making Christmas a "day of labor." The Roman Catholic priest was arrested the following day by Securitate agents, according to the underground Hungarian Press of Transylvania, and died three months later of internal injuries, at the age of 48. This sort of brutality par­Romania.

Six other known deaths in recent years of Roman Catholic, Pentacostal and Baptist clergymen that occurred during or following interrogation.

The "correction" of Romanian authorities of a construction error of one meter on a church ­by leveling it with a bulldozer. So where are the indignant headlines and commentaries in the mainstream press? Nowhere. To the contrary, Flora Lewis, filing to the New York Times op­ed page last week from Bucharest, warned against the "verbal fist" that she saw in the call for a tougher U.S. stand by Ambassador David Funderburk as he resigned last month after 8º frustrating years in Bucharest. "Life is very difficult" in Romania, Ms. Lewis counseled, and "Policy requires nuance." Meanwhile the Capital Hill exposure of the desecration scandal got little ink outside the ethnic press. Why doesn't the State Department act more resolutely? It quietly protested the death of Father Palfi, but, Mr. Hamos says, the U.S. delegation to the current Ottawa human rights conference in its statment, "Discrimination Against National Minorities," overlooked the plight of Europe's largest national minority. The Romanians, he adds, have been known to agree to bilateral talks at such conferences in exchange for suppression of criticism. Mr. Funderburk's advocacy while ambassador of a harder U.S. line against Bucharest was easy for the State Department to ignore because of President Ceausescu's image as a "maverick" who dares to stand up to the Soviets and who therefore could be beneficial to U.S. interests. But in fact, the price for Mr. Ceausescu's "independent line" is exacted from the hides of minorities and the devout in Romania, as part of a transparent deal with the Soviets whereby they tolerate Mr. Ceausescu's unorthodoxy as long as he keeps Romania from drifting in the direction of a Poland. Last week's news conference, nevertheless, signaled a maturing U.S. attitude toward Romania. Michigan Rep. Mark Siljander has proposed legislation (HR 2596) to change the Jackson­Vanik amendment to the 1975 Trade Act. The change would like Most Favored Nation trading status to a country's progress in correcting ethnic, religious and cultural persecution, in addition to the current requirement relating purely to emigration. The new law would be a powerful economic weapon in its own right that could be leveled on dictatorships, left and right. The Republican effort (Democrats are also launching one) seems, at least as far as Romania is concerned, to buck the position of the Reagan administraton, which last week proposed extension of the country's MFN status another year. Curiously, Rep. Sam Gibbons ID., Fla.) has yet to schedule the usual annual hearing to review Romania's trade status. While the ability to emigrate is a fundamental human right, the prerogative to stay put and still live in dignity is equally one. The Siljander measure would provide leverage should the U.S. decide to exert pressure against what has been aptly described as Romania's cultural genocide of minorities ­ the dispersal or exile of their intelligentsia; official curtailment of their educational, language and religious opportunities, and a campaign of intimidation against their cultural and religious leaders. Romania has variously ignored, arbitrarily applied, and misused the emigration stipulations of Jackson­Vanik to embarass the U.S. For exampIe, even Ms. Lewis concedes that the recent dumping of a thousand or more would­be emigres in West Berlin constituted a "mini­Mariel."

If the U.S. is to formulate an honest and humane foreign policy toward Romania, it needs to peel away the myths enshrouding the Ceausescu phenomenon and recognize it for what it truly is. Mr Keresztes is on the staff of the Wall Street Journal's editorial page. [< Go to all AHF news]