The small town of Gergosentmiklosh, which a hundred years ago was part of Hungary and is now known as the Romanian Georgien, is similar to many settlements in Armenia.
The lush green hilly landscape is akin to the Lori province, small stone houses with red roofs, narrow streets, and the sounds of liturgy interspersed with Armenian words – this is how the town appeared in the documentary “Ayir Mer” (“Our Father”), shot by young Hungarian director Kinga Kali.
The film, which recently enjoyed success at the VI Yerevan International Film Festival “Kin,” is dedicated to the revival of national self-consciousness among the descendants of the Transylvanian Armenians, which includes Kinga herself.
A graduate of József Eötvös Loránd University (Budapest), Kinga chose as her doctoral dissertation the topic of ethology “Armenian Identity of Transylvanian Residents.”
As a result of many years of research, she collected a vast amount of material, part of which was published in the press, and another part formed the basis for the film “Our Father” (1999).
Today, Kinga Kali continues her research in another of the Armenian centers of Transylvania – the town of Samoshyuivar (Romanian name Gerla), formerly Armenopolis, one of the largest centers of the Transylvanian Armenians. Kinga Kali talks about her work as follows:
The Transylvanian Armenians. I became interested in the Transylvanian Armenians during my university studies. Being Armenian on my mother’s side, I became eager to understand who we are and how we ended up separated from our homeland.
There are four families with Armenian roots preserved in our lineage. My mother’s uncle – the priest of the Armenian Catholic Church of Gergosentmiklosh, Father Miklos Fogoyan helped me with my doctoral dissertation, part of which became the film “Our Father.”
According to some studies, in Transylvania, not only the Armenians who have recently immigrated but also our compatriots who settled here in the past and externally lost their identity remember their national identity. I started collecting information from them.
Already during the first meetings, I encountered an interesting fact: there was a big difference in the information that people gave in the presence of Father Fogoyan and without him. This meant that there were two points of view on the origin of the Transylvanian Armenians – the official and the common one. So, I decided to conduct research alone to gather more detailed information on the topic.
I tried to reveal the life of the Armenians of this town in the film through the family of the main character Janos Bushliga. The old man, like his neighbors, only accurately remembered that his ancestors moved here from Ani after the Seljuk Turks plundered the city in 1064.
According to stories, at that time 3,000 Armenian families resettled in Transylvania, but according to statistics, there were only 240-260. It’s not hard to understand that, by citing such a large figure, the Armenian settlers wanted to present themselves in their new homeland as strong and protected.
From the Armenian traditions in their families, only the preparation of some national dishes – gurut, agandjapur, pirli with meat, as well as church customs – participation in the liturgy, singing songs in Armenian, etc., has been preserved.
Indeed, the vast majority of Armenians in Gergosentmiklosh do not understand their native language – the texts of the songs are memorized by them by heart. Calling themselves “Armenians on weekends and holidays” and “Hungarians on weekdays”, they, nevertheless, try to preserve their national identity, or rather – the memory of it, carrying in their souls nostalgia for historical roots.
Armenians first settled in Transylvania in the 10th-11th centuries, leaving Ani, and then began to settle here in different historical periods. In addition to Gergosentmiklosh and Samosujvar, they now live in Erzhebetvarosh (Romanian name Elisavetopolis) and Chikzhepvitse (Frumoasa).
The largest community was formed in Samosujvar, the former Armenopolis. Since ancient times, this highland area was considered the coldest point of the country, where ancient Hungarian tribes with a pronounced national identity – the Szeklers, lived.
Due to climatic conditions, Samosujvar was isolated from other settlements of the country, therefore it was more conservative in terms of migration changes. The appearance of Armenians here in the 16th century, fleeing from Ani to Crimea, then to Moldova, then to Transylvania, was met with caution by the Szeklers.
For several decades, the Armenians remained foreigners to them, as evidenced by the large number of Armenian graves in the so-called cemetery of settlers. For the descendants of the Armenians of Transylvania, the cemetery was their Armenia, a small corner of the country they never saw.
But being a hardworking people, by the 17th century they had obtained a certificate with a papal bull for legitimate trade in Transylvania and began active activities, first as horse breeders and tanners.
Moreover, during this period many Armenians participated in the fight for liberation from the Ottoman yoke, some of them playing a key role in the decisive moments of Hungarian history.
By the end of the 17th century, the Armenian population had increased so much that at the initiative of the bishop Vrzaryan, a servant of the Armenian Catholic Church, the construction of a city began in 1700 on land purchased by Armenian merchants from King Leopold I of Austria for 12,000 florins.
The city, where two Armenian Catholic churches were operating, was named Armenopolis. Armenians living in this and a number of other cities were granted internal autonomy; the mayors and judges were Armenians.
The largest merchants began to trade not only in Armenopolis, but also in neighboring cities, where they began to form secondary Armenian communities. Due to constant relocations, the traders knew several languages – Hungarian, Romanian, German, and even Latin, which they spoke with clients, as well as with each other in the presence of family members, not wanting to disclose professional secrets.
Over time, these languages began to dominate in Armenian families, and the native language began to fall out of use. The Armenians mastered new professions, and soon their high status in Hungarian society and the adopted Catholicism contributed to the gradual loss of their national identity.
Over the years, Armenian surnames increasingly acquired a Hungarian sound, some families acquired new surnames based on nicknames given by the Szeklers, mixed marriages among Armenians became more frequent.
These and other social factors led to the decline of the Armenian community. The active participation of Armenians in the Hungarian national liberation struggle against Austria in 1848-49 in some sense became a verdict on their attempts to preserve national identity.
The Austrian government closed Armenian schools in Transylvania, introducing the Armenian language only in the first two grades of some schools. In 1867-1880, these grades were also closed.
By the way, one of the Armenian heroes of the 1848-49 revolution, military leader Janos Cetz (Tsetyan), escaped from custody and, having fled to Argentina, founded not only a military academy there, but also an Armenian community.
In 1920, Transylvania was ceded to Romania, which also led to the development of new ethnic processes.
The new wave of emigration after the Genocide brought here, in particular to the former Armenopolis, a certain number of Armenian refugees, who quickly assimilated. And today in this city you can find perhaps about 20 Armenians who speak their native language.
In my family, apart from priests Miklos Fogoyan and Janos Fogoyan, who were educated at the Murad-Raphaelian school on the island of St. Lazarus in Venice, I speak a little Armenian: I have been going to Venice for three-week Armenian language courses for two years now. However, today a serious process of awakening of Armenian self-consciousness is unfolding in the region.
Upon returning home from Yerevan, I will continue my research on a more detailed basis and perhaps start working on a new film about the Armenians of Szamosújvár.
I also want to publish a book by my Armenian grandmother, who has been collecting culinary recipes of Hungarian Armenians for many years, and writes humorous stories about her compatriots. And I will continue to study the Armenian language independently: after all, the restoration of this knowledge is one of the main steps in preserving national identity.
Interviewed by Magdalina ZATIKIAN
Translation by Vigen Avetisyan
