ABSTRACT
This case study of the city Satu Mare, situated in the Hungarian-Romanian ethnic borderlands, reveals how anti-fascism during the 1930s was an important political ideology both on the local scene and in connection with national and international events and ideologies. In the area, anti-fascism was linked with both border revisionism and issues pertaining to the socio-economic situation of ethnic minorities. Anti-fascist activities were undertaken from different standpoints, ranging from leftist to conservative, and involving both male and female groups. Anti-fascist ideas were disseminated by political organizations, underground associations and local intellectuals, journalists, and writers in Satu Mare to the local, national, and international levels. Anti-fascist and leftist organizations aimed at uniting Hungarian and Romanian-speaking supporters in Satu Mare. However, the increasingly radicalized nationalist views in Romanian politics in the mid-1930s prompted the anti-fascists to label a growing number of Romanian politicians as ‘fascists’. This trend was especially notable among the Jewish and Hungarian minorities of Satu Mare, who felt targeted by the radical nationalists. At the same time, the nationality question also divided the anti-fascist movement, both in Romania in general and in Satu Mare in particular. It turned out to be easier to unite in the anti-fascist struggle against distant fascisms – such the German and Italian regimes – than to come together around local political platforms to fight the national fascist movements. Thus, anti-fascists in Satu Mare were divided along ethnic lines by 1938.
