Reference Type: Journal Article
Author: Gyémánt, Ladislau
Year: 2001
Title: The formation of the Transylvanian Jewish and Romanian identity. A comparative view
Journal: Studia Hebraica
Issue: 1
Pages: 25-34
Language: English
Keywords: Jewish minority, history, ethnic identity, ethnic denomination, self-perception, assimilation, emancipation, integration, elites, interethnic relationships
Abstract: (En) The Romanian and Jewish elites adopted similar strategies in building up their identity in multicultural 19th century Transylvania. The Enlightenment influenced both the Romanian and the Jews in their selection of arguments for their civil rights demands and in the formulation of their petitions addressed to the imperial authorities in Vienna. However, as the two minorities chose different approaches to emancipation, the Jews succeeded, as an assimilated ethnic group, to integrate themselves in the mainstream of the Austro-Hungarian society, while the Romanians were regarded as the main opponents of the double monrachy until World War I.