Anders Blomqvist | Dalarna University (original) (raw)
PhD Thesis by Anders Blomqvist
The history of the ethnic borderlands of Hungary and Romania in the years 1867–1944 were marked b... more The history of the ethnic borderlands of Hungary and Romania in the years 1867–1944 were marked by changing national borders, ethnic conflicts and economic problems. Using a local case study of the city and county of Szatmár/Satu-Mare, this thesis investigates the practice and social mechanisms of economic nationalizing. It explores the interplay between ethno-national and economic factors, and furthermore analyses what social mechanisms lead to and explain inclusion, exclusion and annihilation.
The underlying principle of economic nationalizing in both countries was the separation of citizens into ethnic categories and the establishment of a dominant core nation entitled to political and economic privileges from the state. National leaders implemented a policy of economic nationalizing that exploited and redistributed resources taken from the minorities. To pursue this end, leaders instrumentalized ethnicity, which institutionalized inequality and ethnic exclusion. This process of ethnic, and finally racial, exclusion marked the whole period and reached its culmination in the annihilation of the Jews throughout most of Hungary in 1944.
For nearly a century, ethnic exclusion undermined the various nationalizing projects in the two countries: the Magyarization of the minorities in dualist Hungary (1867–1918); the Romanianization of the economy of the ethnic borderland in interwar Romania (1918–1940); and finally the re-Hungarianization of the economy in Second World War Hungary (1940–1944).
The extreme case of exclusion, namely the Holocaust, revealed that the path of exclusion brought nothing but destruction for everyone. This reinforces the thesis that economic nationalizing through the exclusion of minorities induces a vicious circle of ethnic bifurcation, political instability and unfavorable conditions for achieving economic prosperity. Exclusion served the short-term elite’s interest but undermined the long-term nation’s ability to prosper.
Edited Volume by Anders Blomqvist
Hungarian and Romanian National Narratives and its dissemination in Encyclopedia Britannica
This volume explores bilateral relations between Romania and Hungary and examines the entangled h... more This volume explores bilateral relations between Romania and Hungary and examines the entangled history of their two peoples. Going beyond traditional nation-centred narratives, the contributors approach the shared pasts of Romanians and Hungarians within a transnational research framework.
Writing the history of Romania and Hungary within a unitary framework, rather than in isolation, allows for a more complete illustration of the complex history of the East-Central European region. This volume attempts to transcend the overlapping and often conflicting narratives of these two nations by looking for common theoretical and methodological ground on which to write the rich history of Romanian-Hungarian relations. The volume also seeks to test the relevance of the paradigm of transnational history for the study of Central Europe. The contributors employ recent theoretical and methodological tools provided by various forms of transnational research, such as the history of transfers, shared or entangled history, and histoire croisée. By offering a multi-perspective insight into the entangled histories of Romania and Hungary, this volume acts as a test case for comparative history, on a par with the better-known case of the shared past of France and Germany. It therefore contributes to the broader effort to re-think and re-narrate East-Central European regional history, and also all-European history, from an integrated transnational perspective.
Article by Anders Blomqvist
Deportations of Roma from Hungary and the Mass Killing at Kamianets-Podilskyi in 1941, 2024
At the end of August 1941, the Nazi German Einsatzgruppe, together with German Police Battalion 3... more At the end of August 1941, the Nazi German Einsatzgruppe, together with German Police Battalion 320 and Ukrainian auxiliaries, killed approximately 23,600 persons (mainly Jews) at Kamianets-Podilskyi. While some researchers assert that Roma were deported from Hungary and Hungarian-occupied Transcarpathia (presentday Ukraine) despite the absence of official reports, other scholars argue that Hungarian leaders may have planned to ethnically "cleanse" the area of Roma, but the plan was never executed, resulting in no deportations or deaths. This article presents new findings that support the former position, and argues that roughly one thousand Roma were expelled from Transcarpathia. New evidence includes a report detailing the ongoing operation to expel Roma, census data indicating a significant reduction in the Roma population near the border, as well as indications that individuals other than Jews were expelled, likely Roma. Only circumstantial evidence-verbal orders to eliminate Roma and reports of Roma killings by the same special commando in different locations-supports the claim that Roma were killed in the August 1941 massacre, though later reports from 1942 explicitly identify Roma victims. After analyzing this new evidence, the author supports the claim that Roma were deported and potentially killed earlier than had previously been known.
Comparative Legal History, 2023
This article examines the establishment of the legal framework that led to the destruction and el... more This article examines the establishment of the legal framework that led to the destruction and elimination of Jewish communities in Croatia and Romania during World War II. It argues that both regimes, supported by domestic fascist ideologies, evolving antisemitism, and inspired by the Nazi regime, promulgated anti-Jewish legal norms to present and establish new political, ideological, and social values and categories to their citizens. This article employs the theoretical framework of norms developed by Paul Morrow, whereby norms are seen as practical prescriptions, permissions or prohibitions. We argue that these destructive norms served as guidelines for individuals within the fascist new worldview and new reality. As such, these norms received state authorisation and implementation, serving as the ‘legal’ basis for the institutional destruction of unwanted citizens. This gave local and state actors a ‘legal’ pretext for the persecution and murder of Jews, who were stripped of their rights, assets, properties and right to life. The article concludes that the two legal frameworks enacted the process by which Jewish communities in Croatia and Romania faced a devastation of unseen proportions, which testifies to the importance and impact of legal norms on individuals, be they victims, bystanders or perpetrators.
Keywords: Holocaustantisemitismlegal normsCroatiaRomaniafascism
This article investigates the power of national narratives and the lack of genuine efforts to com... more This article investigates the power of national narratives and the lack of genuine efforts to come to terms with the past in Hungary and Romania. Hungary and Romania have experienced a common history marked by conflicts, chaning borders, and totalitarian regimes. The two countries have not succeeded in overcoming issues in their commoin past. Instead, national narratives have been institutionalized in textbooks and among historians, even in the international context. Historians have narrated the nation's history under the strong influence of political agendas. This political force supports the hegemonic positions of the national narratives today. The national narratives are not only dissiminated domestically, but are also reflected in articles about the two countries in encyclopedias abroad, such as the Swedish National Encyclopedia (Nationalencyklopedin).
Romania has undertaken more efforts to come to terms with its past than Hungary has, in assuming responsibility for the Holocaust and investigating crimes against humanity during communism for example. Hungary's position on the Holocaust has been contradictory. On the one hand, Hungarian officials have admitted the Hungarians state's responsibility. However, on the other hand, leading historians appointed by the Hungarian government have explicitly claimed that Nazi-Germany alone was responsible for the Holocaust.
The officially sanctioned responsibility assumed by the Hungarian and Romanian governments should be seen as sign of political correctness rather than genuine reconciliation. Politicians and historians in Hungary have together launched a campaign of historical revisionism, which is most visible with regard to the interwar and Second World War periods, in order to strenghten the national consiousness among its citizens. This campaing has reinfored the exclusive ethnic perspective of Hungary's history, and serves as a norm of present day politics.
In both Hungary and Romania national narratives maintain a hegemonic position thanks to the support from politicians and historians. This undermines reconciliation and accountability with regard to both the individual and the shared history of the two nations.
Hungarian journal Korall and use of national and international references
Papers by Anders Blomqvist
One city with two images and two communities : the case of the Romanian-Hungarian city of Satu Ma... more One city with two images and two communities : the case of the Romanian-Hungarian city of Satu Mare/Szatmarnemeti
Eurolimes, 2008
[Review of] Thomas Lunden: On the Boundary: About humans at the end of territory. Huddinge : Sode... more [Review of] Thomas Lunden: On the Boundary: About humans at the end of territory. Huddinge : Sodertorns hogskola, 2004, ISBN 91-89315-42-1
Entanglements of Economic Nationalizing in the Ethnic Borderland of Transylvania, 1867–1940
Historisk Tidskrift (S), 2009
[Recension av] Peter Johnsson: Polen i Europa: en resa i historien 966-2005. Stockholm: Carlsson,... more [Recension av] Peter Johnsson: Polen i Europa: en resa i historien 966-2005. Stockholm: Carlsson, 2005. ISBN 91-7203-671-0
Competing Stories about Transylvania’s Past : National Stories in an International Context?
Scandinavian Economic History Review, 2005
[Review of] Lars Pira: Staples, Institutions and Growth. Competitiveness of Guatemalan Exports 15... more [Review of] Lars Pira: Staples, Institutions and Growth. Competitiveness of Guatemalan Exports 1524-1945
One city with two images and two communities : the case of the Romanian-Hungarian city of Satu Ma... more One city with two images and two communities : the case of the Romanian-Hungarian city of Satu Mare/Szatmarnemeti
Historielararnas Forenings Arsskrift, 2009
[Recension av] Victor Sebestyen: Ungernrevolten 1955. Tolv dagar som skakade varlden, Stockholm: ... more [Recension av] Victor Sebestyen: Ungernrevolten 1955. Tolv dagar som skakade varlden, Stockholm: Prisma, 2006. ISBN 91-518-4612-8
Eurolimes, 2008
[Review of] Thomas Lunden: On the Boundary: About humans at the end of territory. Huddinge : Sode... more [Review of] Thomas Lunden: On the Boundary: About humans at the end of territory. Huddinge : Sodertorns hogskola, 2004, ISBN 91-89315-42-1
The history of the ethnic borderlands of Hungary and Romania in the years 1867–1944 were marked b... more The history of the ethnic borderlands of Hungary and Romania in the years 1867–1944 were marked by changing national borders, ethnic conflicts and economic problems. Using a local case study of the city and county of Szatmár/Satu-Mare, this thesis investigates the practice and social mechanisms of economic nationalizing. It explores the interplay between ethno-national and economic factors, and furthermore analyses what social mechanisms lead to and explain inclusion, exclusion and annihilation.
The underlying principle of economic nationalizing in both countries was the separation of citizens into ethnic categories and the establishment of a dominant core nation entitled to political and economic privileges from the state. National leaders implemented a policy of economic nationalizing that exploited and redistributed resources taken from the minorities. To pursue this end, leaders instrumentalized ethnicity, which institutionalized inequality and ethnic exclusion. This process of ethnic, and finally racial, exclusion marked the whole period and reached its culmination in the annihilation of the Jews throughout most of Hungary in 1944.
For nearly a century, ethnic exclusion undermined the various nationalizing projects in the two countries: the Magyarization of the minorities in dualist Hungary (1867–1918); the Romanianization of the economy of the ethnic borderland in interwar Romania (1918–1940); and finally the re-Hungarianization of the economy in Second World War Hungary (1940–1944).
The extreme case of exclusion, namely the Holocaust, revealed that the path of exclusion brought nothing but destruction for everyone. This reinforces the thesis that economic nationalizing through the exclusion of minorities induces a vicious circle of ethnic bifurcation, political instability and unfavorable conditions for achieving economic prosperity. Exclusion served the short-term elite’s interest but undermined the long-term nation’s ability to prosper.
Hungarian and Romanian National Narratives and its dissemination in Encyclopedia Britannica
This volume explores bilateral relations between Romania and Hungary and examines the entangled h... more This volume explores bilateral relations between Romania and Hungary and examines the entangled history of their two peoples. Going beyond traditional nation-centred narratives, the contributors approach the shared pasts of Romanians and Hungarians within a transnational research framework.
Writing the history of Romania and Hungary within a unitary framework, rather than in isolation, allows for a more complete illustration of the complex history of the East-Central European region. This volume attempts to transcend the overlapping and often conflicting narratives of these two nations by looking for common theoretical and methodological ground on which to write the rich history of Romanian-Hungarian relations. The volume also seeks to test the relevance of the paradigm of transnational history for the study of Central Europe. The contributors employ recent theoretical and methodological tools provided by various forms of transnational research, such as the history of transfers, shared or entangled history, and histoire croisée. By offering a multi-perspective insight into the entangled histories of Romania and Hungary, this volume acts as a test case for comparative history, on a par with the better-known case of the shared past of France and Germany. It therefore contributes to the broader effort to re-think and re-narrate East-Central European regional history, and also all-European history, from an integrated transnational perspective.
Deportations of Roma from Hungary and the Mass Killing at Kamianets-Podilskyi in 1941, 2024
At the end of August 1941, the Nazi German Einsatzgruppe, together with German Police Battalion 3... more At the end of August 1941, the Nazi German Einsatzgruppe, together with German Police Battalion 320 and Ukrainian auxiliaries, killed approximately 23,600 persons (mainly Jews) at Kamianets-Podilskyi. While some researchers assert that Roma were deported from Hungary and Hungarian-occupied Transcarpathia (presentday Ukraine) despite the absence of official reports, other scholars argue that Hungarian leaders may have planned to ethnically "cleanse" the area of Roma, but the plan was never executed, resulting in no deportations or deaths. This article presents new findings that support the former position, and argues that roughly one thousand Roma were expelled from Transcarpathia. New evidence includes a report detailing the ongoing operation to expel Roma, census data indicating a significant reduction in the Roma population near the border, as well as indications that individuals other than Jews were expelled, likely Roma. Only circumstantial evidence-verbal orders to eliminate Roma and reports of Roma killings by the same special commando in different locations-supports the claim that Roma were killed in the August 1941 massacre, though later reports from 1942 explicitly identify Roma victims. After analyzing this new evidence, the author supports the claim that Roma were deported and potentially killed earlier than had previously been known.
Comparative Legal History, 2023
This article examines the establishment of the legal framework that led to the destruction and el... more This article examines the establishment of the legal framework that led to the destruction and elimination of Jewish communities in Croatia and Romania during World War II. It argues that both regimes, supported by domestic fascist ideologies, evolving antisemitism, and inspired by the Nazi regime, promulgated anti-Jewish legal norms to present and establish new political, ideological, and social values and categories to their citizens. This article employs the theoretical framework of norms developed by Paul Morrow, whereby norms are seen as practical prescriptions, permissions or prohibitions. We argue that these destructive norms served as guidelines for individuals within the fascist new worldview and new reality. As such, these norms received state authorisation and implementation, serving as the ‘legal’ basis for the institutional destruction of unwanted citizens. This gave local and state actors a ‘legal’ pretext for the persecution and murder of Jews, who were stripped of their rights, assets, properties and right to life. The article concludes that the two legal frameworks enacted the process by which Jewish communities in Croatia and Romania faced a devastation of unseen proportions, which testifies to the importance and impact of legal norms on individuals, be they victims, bystanders or perpetrators.
Keywords: Holocaustantisemitismlegal normsCroatiaRomaniafascism
This article investigates the power of national narratives and the lack of genuine efforts to com... more This article investigates the power of national narratives and the lack of genuine efforts to come to terms with the past in Hungary and Romania. Hungary and Romania have experienced a common history marked by conflicts, chaning borders, and totalitarian regimes. The two countries have not succeeded in overcoming issues in their commoin past. Instead, national narratives have been institutionalized in textbooks and among historians, even in the international context. Historians have narrated the nation's history under the strong influence of political agendas. This political force supports the hegemonic positions of the national narratives today. The national narratives are not only dissiminated domestically, but are also reflected in articles about the two countries in encyclopedias abroad, such as the Swedish National Encyclopedia (Nationalencyklopedin).
Romania has undertaken more efforts to come to terms with its past than Hungary has, in assuming responsibility for the Holocaust and investigating crimes against humanity during communism for example. Hungary's position on the Holocaust has been contradictory. On the one hand, Hungarian officials have admitted the Hungarians state's responsibility. However, on the other hand, leading historians appointed by the Hungarian government have explicitly claimed that Nazi-Germany alone was responsible for the Holocaust.
The officially sanctioned responsibility assumed by the Hungarian and Romanian governments should be seen as sign of political correctness rather than genuine reconciliation. Politicians and historians in Hungary have together launched a campaign of historical revisionism, which is most visible with regard to the interwar and Second World War periods, in order to strenghten the national consiousness among its citizens. This campaing has reinfored the exclusive ethnic perspective of Hungary's history, and serves as a norm of present day politics.
In both Hungary and Romania national narratives maintain a hegemonic position thanks to the support from politicians and historians. This undermines reconciliation and accountability with regard to both the individual and the shared history of the two nations.
Hungarian journal Korall and use of national and international references
One city with two images and two communities : the case of the Romanian-Hungarian city of Satu Ma... more One city with two images and two communities : the case of the Romanian-Hungarian city of Satu Mare/Szatmarnemeti
Eurolimes, 2008
[Review of] Thomas Lunden: On the Boundary: About humans at the end of territory. Huddinge : Sode... more [Review of] Thomas Lunden: On the Boundary: About humans at the end of territory. Huddinge : Sodertorns hogskola, 2004, ISBN 91-89315-42-1
Entanglements of Economic Nationalizing in the Ethnic Borderland of Transylvania, 1867–1940
Historisk Tidskrift (S), 2009
[Recension av] Peter Johnsson: Polen i Europa: en resa i historien 966-2005. Stockholm: Carlsson,... more [Recension av] Peter Johnsson: Polen i Europa: en resa i historien 966-2005. Stockholm: Carlsson, 2005. ISBN 91-7203-671-0
Competing Stories about Transylvania’s Past : National Stories in an International Context?
Scandinavian Economic History Review, 2005
[Review of] Lars Pira: Staples, Institutions and Growth. Competitiveness of Guatemalan Exports 15... more [Review of] Lars Pira: Staples, Institutions and Growth. Competitiveness of Guatemalan Exports 1524-1945
One city with two images and two communities : the case of the Romanian-Hungarian city of Satu Ma... more One city with two images and two communities : the case of the Romanian-Hungarian city of Satu Mare/Szatmarnemeti
Historielararnas Forenings Arsskrift, 2009
[Recension av] Victor Sebestyen: Ungernrevolten 1955. Tolv dagar som skakade varlden, Stockholm: ... more [Recension av] Victor Sebestyen: Ungernrevolten 1955. Tolv dagar som skakade varlden, Stockholm: Prisma, 2006. ISBN 91-518-4612-8
Eurolimes, 2008
[Review of] Thomas Lunden: On the Boundary: About humans at the end of territory. Huddinge : Sode... more [Review of] Thomas Lunden: On the Boundary: About humans at the end of territory. Huddinge : Sodertorns hogskola, 2004, ISBN 91-89315-42-1
Scandinavian Economic History Review, 2005
[Review of] Lars Pira: Staples, Institutions and Growth. Competitiveness of Guatemalan Exports 15... more [Review of] Lars Pira: Staples, Institutions and Growth. Competitiveness of Guatemalan Exports 1524-1945
Entanglements of Economic Nationalizing in the Ethnic Borderland of Transylvania, 1867–1940
[Recension av] Victor Sebestyen: Ungernrevolten 1955. Tolv dagar som skakade varlden, Stockholm: ... more [Recension av] Victor Sebestyen: Ungernrevolten 1955. Tolv dagar som skakade varlden, Stockholm: Prisma, 2006. ISBN 91-518-4612-8
East Central Europe, 2009
Competing Historical Narratives : [Review of] Brubaker, Rogers et al: Nationalist Politics and Ev... more Competing Historical Narratives : [Review of] Brubaker, Rogers et al: Nationalist Politics and Everyday Ethnicity in a Transylvanian Town'. Princeton, N.J. : Princeton UP, 2007 ISBN 978-0-691-12834-4
Historisk Tidsskrift, Sep 14, 2016
‘Ethnic Division and National Narratives among Romanians and Hungarians in Satu Mare/Szatmarnemeti