"Is It 'Rumania' or 'Romania?' " Part 6/Final

The end of World War Two saw Rumania's eastern border set again to its status prior to the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, but the part of Transylvania lost to Hungary in 1940 was returned to Rumania. Rumanian casualties during the war are difficult to determine, although my guess would be at least 700,000 dead, including military and civilian (which includes murdered Jews).*

Rumania was occupied by the Soviet Union after the war, and many thousands of Rumanian soldiers captured during the war by the Soviets returned to their native land fully imbued with communist ideas, giving the Soviets Rumanian communist troops to help in their takeover of the country. The Soviets and Rumanian communists gradually took control of the political machinery of the country and King Michael** was forced to abdicate at the end of 1947, thus ending the monarchy, and making Rumania a totally communist country, a "people's republic." The 1960s saw Nicolae Ceausescu take control of the Rumanian Communist Party and the country. He was more open to Western Europe, an obvious departure from Soviet policy, but he also began to tighten his dictatorial control of Rumania. This continued until December 1989 when mass protests of the government took place. Within days the military had abandoned Ceausescu, and he, his wife and a couple of associates fled before being captured by police and then handed over to the army. A quick trial was held and Ceausescu and his wife were executed by some army men.

A democratic governing system developed in Rumania and the country established closer ties to Western Europe and the United States. The Rumanian economy was gradually opened up to private investment. The beginning of the severe world economic recession of 2008 hit Rumania very hard, but it has been recovering.  

NOTE: Back in the 1990s I met some fairly recent Rumanian immigrants on a couple of separate occasions. Because I have studied World War Two extensively, I naturally mentioned that I knew something of Rumania because of its involvement in the war. Interestingly, on both occasions, the immigrants spoke highly of Antonescu, with one saying he was important to Hitler, and one of the others mentioning something about Antonescu's face-to-face meetings with Hitler put him in high standing. This certainly was NOT the "politically correct" thing for these people to say, and "perhaps" part of the explanation is, these were immigrants to the U.S., and like some immigrants from many countries, "may" have been highly anti-communist (although that is not a given). Remember too, Ceausescu had been overthrown not all that long before, and ill feelings toward him, if not outright hatred, may have colored their thoughts, and thus, Antonescu's anti-communism appealed to them, in spite of his association with Hitler. Whether these few people I spoke with represent a significant attitude held by average Rumanians, I do not know, but I thought their comments were interesting.

Likewise, I have had some medical issues over the last few years and several EKGs were taken. On two of those occasions, I had the same technician for the tests. She was from Hungary and as we chatted about my little bit of knowledge about Hungary, I mentioned Transylvania. She got very upset, told me how Rumania had "stolen" the area from Hungary. She was so worked up, I thought she was going to declare war on Rumania all by herself! So while one person's opinion does not make a trend, her impassioned feelings show how the Transylvania issue still packs some emotional punch, even for a person who no longer resides in that part of Europe. 

* It is a bit difficult to get a handle on figures for the Jewish deaths, as many Jews lived in, or moved to, the eastern districts, which then became part of the Soviet Union in 1940. Further, Jews also lived in, or were deported to, Transnistria (see Part 5 for more about this region), which was part of the Soviet Union, but was administered by Rumania after the conquest of the area in 1941. For a good explanation of all of this, please check this:  https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/Romania/five.pdf

Another problem with overall Rumanian casualties is, the part of Transylvania with a substantial Rumanian population was given to Hungary in 1940, and men in this ceded area then served in the Hungarian armed forces, and their casualties would have been counted as "Hungarian," although the area was returned to Rumania after the war. Further, Rumania fought on both sides during the war, although mostly as one of the Axis nations, but it did provide military forces to the Allies to fight against Germany and Hungary from the late summer of 1944 until the end of the war. These forces were under the overall direction of the Soviets. A good place to start when researching World War II casualties is "World War II: The Encyclopedia of Facts and Figures" by John Ellis, the 1995 edition with corrections to the initial 1993 release, but understand, other sources will not necessarily agree with figures from this book. 

** As of this writing (May 2015), King Michael is still alive at the age of 93. The establishment of a democratic government after the fall of communism gradually saw Michael granted the right to visit his homeland and his public appearances have drawn large crowds, although a return of the monarchy itself to some position of power has not seemed to be particularly popular among Rumanians.        

The following were consulted for this article on Rumania: "Kingdoms of Europe" by Gene Gurney, published by Crown Publishers, Inc. NY 1982

"Romania/An Illustrated History" by Nicolae Klepper, published by Hippocrene Books, NY 2002

WORD HISTORY:
Cunning-This adjective, related to, and actually derived from, the verb "can" ("to be able to do, have the knowledge to do"), the modern meaning of which is, "shrewd, often deceptive, way of doing something." It goes back to Indo European "gnoh," which had the notion of "to have knowledge." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "kunnanan," with the same general meaning. This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "cunnan," the first and third person singular present form of which was "cann." The present participle of the verb was "cunnende, which was also used as an adjective, and it later became "cunninde" (also as "kunnende"), which then became "cunning" (also "kunning"). Most of "cunning's" Germanic relatives did not develop the "shrewd, deceptive" tilt to their meanings, but rather they have remained closer to it pure meaning of "be able to do," which is the case with its German relative "könnend," but Icelandic "kunnandi" does indeed mean "cunning." 

Latino Picadillo

This dish is really a type of stew, often served with rice, but also used as a filling for empanadas (I believe more so in Puerto Rican cuisine) or other meat filled pastries. It is made in many countries with Latino populations or Spanish influences, including the Philippines, as Spain ruled that nation from the 1500s until 1898. No matter the country, its basic ingredients are ground meat with various vegetables and spices. I went through several recipes each from the cuisines of Puerto Rico, Cuba and Mexico to make my own version of the dish, which I served with rice. So if you like my recipe, give me all the credit, but it's okay to blame Cubans, Puerto Ricans or Mexicans, if you don't like it (you don't think I'm taking the blame, do you?). I'm going to tell you, this dish was absolutely DELICIOUS! It is something of a cross between bean-less chili and a Sloppy Joe mixture. 

Regular readers here know that I'm not into "chop, chop, chop .... dice, dice, dice ... mince, mince, mince ... and measure a quarter teaspoon of this ingredient and an eighth of a teaspoon of that ingredient." Understandably, if you were going to use this dish for an empanada filling, you would want the vegetables to be finely chopped, but since I used it purely as a stew with rice, I did not finely chop all of the veggies, but I didn't leave them in big chunks either. I've noted how I cut the ingredients in the list below. I know the list looks intimidating, but most of these ingredients are things most people already have at home, or they are relatively easy to find.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs. ground beef (I used 80-20 meat to fat ratio)
1 large onion, chopped (I chopped it roughly, not finely; in fact, I chopped it so roughly, I must have felt sorry for it, because it brought tears to my eyes.)
5 large cloves of garlic, chopped
1 or 2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 each, chopped: a medium green bell pepper, a medium red bell pepper, and a medium yellow bell pepper (I must admit, when I went to buy the peppers, the store had a neat package with all of the above already cut in one package. Like liquid, I take the path of least resistance, so that's what I bought. I'd say from experience that the amount of each was from a medium sized pepper.)
1 serrano chili pepper and 1 red fleshy chili pepper (the serrano about 2" long and the red chili about 3" long, which the store simply had labeled as "red chili peppers," and they were a little less hot than serranos), chopped (I used the serrano with seeds and all, but I only used the thick flesh from the red chili, no seeds). I like spicy hot food, and these two peppers did not make the stew too hot at all for my standards, but if you do not like much heat at all, you can use only the flesh from the serrano too, which will cut down on the heat considerably; but remember, this dish will make a medium pot of stew, so two chili peppers are not really all that much).
about 1 tablespoon of dried Mexican oregano (here is where I used my own judgment rather than measuring it out, and Mexican oregano is a bit more potent, but you can use regular dried oregano and I'm sure Pancho Villa won't visit you in a nightmare or two.)
about 1 tablespoon of ancho chili powder (again the measurement was guesswork on my part. If you don't have ancho chili powder, just use any chili powder, or you could leave it out.)
about 1 tablespoon of cumin (I used guesswork for the measurement)
2 packets of  Sazón Goya with Coriander and Annatto (if you don't have this, it is a Latino seasoning that is easily obtainable in the Latino section of the supermarket or any Latino market. I bought a small box of 8 packets for about $1.75. There are different types, but the one with coriander and annatto should be used for genuine flavor and color, otherwise, I can't guarantee Pancho Villa will not visit you in at least one nightmare).
10 extra large pitted green olives (I quartered these) 
about two tablespoons of capers (I suppose you could chop these, but I left them whole)
about 1 tablespoon of brown sugar (I used dark brown, but light will do fine)
1 14 oz. can of diced tomatoes, with juice * 
2 medium potatoes (already cooked) cut into bite-sized pieces (I used the small red skin potatoes in a microwave bag and I used 6 fairly small potatoes, which I'm equating to 2 medium potatoes. I saved the rest of the cooked potatoes to be sliced up for my breakfast home fries.)
about 2 tablespoons of raisins soaked in rum (I simply put the raisins into a small cup and poured in the rum to cover. I let them sit for about 30 to 45 minutes while I was fixing the dish. Drain the raisins before adding to the recipe, but don't throw away the raisin flavored rum, it is very good ... ahhhhhh, at least that's what I've been told.) 
1 tablespoon of salt, if desired, but the Sazón and the olives will have salt, and in my case, I served the stew with rice, and I used a package of Carolina Yellow Rice I already had, and it has salt, so I added no extra salt to the dish whatsoever.

* You can also add 1 15 oz. can of tomato sauce, if you want the stew to be more moist. I added an 8 oz. can of tomato sauce to some of the leftover stew and made it into a Sloppy Joe mixture, which I put on hamburger buns. 

Start with a large skillet or medium size sauce pan. Add the oil and heat on medium and then add the ground beef and saute it for about 4 to 5 minutes. Add the onion, peppers and garlic, continue cooking on medium low heat for another 2 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. Add the chili peppers, stirring to mix in. Reduce heat to medium low. After about a minute, add the oregano, cumin, chili powder and seasoning packets (also the salt, if using it), stirring to mix everything well. While my dish was not too dry by this time, I can imagine it could get that way, so add a couple of tablespoons of water, if necessary. Stir in the brown sugar, then add the olives, capers and tomatoes with juice (this is why you shouldn't add too much water earlier, since you will be adding the juice of the tomatoes), again stir to mix well. After a couple of minutes add the already cooked potatoes, then add the drained raisins. Let the stew gently simmer for at least another 15 minutes, but longer is desirable, but be sure to occasionally stir. Again, "if" the mixture gets too dry, add a little water, or regular tomato juice if you happen to have some already opened (if so, you could add this in place of the water earlier). Let the dish sit for a few minutes before serving. As I noted, I served it with yellow rice, because I had some already in the house, but white rice is traditional. 

WORD HISTORY:
Seal-In this case, this is not the word for the animal of that name, but rather the stamp used to close a document to give it validity of authority and to show it has not been opened. Of course there are some variations in the meaning, including for the verb form, meaning "to close something off securely." It is related to "sign." The origins of this word are uncertain, although some Indo European root is often suggested as a possible source.^ Anyway, it goes back to Latin "signum," which meant "sign, mark." This then produced Latin "sigellum," a diminutive^^ which meant "small figure/figurine, small marking/engraving." This gave Old French, a heavily Latin-based language, "seel," with the meaning "a wax seal for documents." This was carried to England by the Normans and it was borrowed into English in the 1200s. Close relatives of English, including German and Low German, also borrowed the word, although I believe they borrowed it directly from Latin, thus they still spell it with the "g" (German has "Siegel" and Low German Saxon has "Segel").

^ One root suggested usually had a meaning of "cut;" thus the notion of "sign," since our ancestors "cut" into wood or other materials to make a "sign." However, another root meaning "tell, say, point out, point to," has also been suggested, as has a root meaning "follow." The root meaning "cut" (Indo European "sek") seems more convincing, but I'll leave the question open. 

^^ A diminutive is a way of expressing a word to show it as being small or endearing. This is typically done by adding a suffix to the base word, as in: pig and the diminutive form piggy or piglet, cigar and cigarette, duck and duckling, drop and droplet, goose and gosling, mom and mommy, dad and daddy. 

"Is It 'Rumania' or 'Romania?' " Part 5/Fascism and War

The aftershocks of the Bolshevik takeover of Russia, and the disillusionment over the World War and its territorial settlements, brought heightened tensions in many countries, including Rumania, between strong socialist and pro-communist elements versus right wing and rising fascist movements. The Rumanian monarchy and the nation's upper classes began to turn to the extreme political right. Hitler's eventual territorial acquisitions and his anti-Soviet pronouncements led Rumania's political right to look more and more to Germany for protection against the Soviet Union and communism. The failure of  Rumania's traditional allies, Britain and France, to stop Hitler, only led the country's  rightist elements to see these nations as too weak to help Rumania against Stalin and the Soviets.

Ion Antonescu, a military man, became defense minister, and he also began a close relationship with right wing and fascist elements. The German-Soviet Pact of August 1939 put Rumania into a serious situation, as Germany and the Soviet Union essentially became allies. One of the secret provisions of the pact gave the Soviets leeway to move into the former territories of the Russian Empire, the Rumanian provinces of Bessarabia and Bukovina. This led Hungary to propose, and to enter into, negotiations with Rumania over the disputed area of Transylvania, but the negotiations got nowhere, and Germany and Italy were asked to arbitrate, which resulted in Hungary acquiring the northern portion of Transylvania. King Carol II, growing more unpopular by the day and threatened by protests, especially from rightist groups, appointed Antonescu as prime minister, but with additional powers taken from the king, who finally abdicated in favor of his son, Michael, who was left more or less as a figurehead, with Antonescu as dictator. Antonescu joined with the Iron Guard (Rumanian: "Garda de fier"), a fascist, pro-Rumanian Orthodox, anti-Jewish, political party, to rule the country, but just months later, an Iron Guard uprising against Jews and government officials was crushed when Antonescu, with support from Hitler, used the army to restore order.

Germany supplied military advisers to help modernize the Rumanian military, and the presence of actual German military units in Rumania continued to increase. Rumania had substantial oil and refining facilities, extremely important to oil-dependent Germany's increasingly motorized and mechanized military forces. When Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, Rumanian forces joined in the attack, as Rumania sought to recover the lost territories of Bessarabia and Bukovina, and to even gain additional lands in Transnistria.* In mid November 1942 the Soviets launched a massive offensive directed at Rumanian military forces located deep within Russia. The Rumanians were bolstered to some degree by German troops on either side of the German Sixth Army in the Soviet city of Stalingrad. The Soviet forces broke through the Rumanian lines and proceeded to encircle German and Rumanian forces in Stalingrad and vicinity. The result was a devastating defeat for the Germans and the Rumanians and the surrender of these troops brought a pronounced increase to the prospects of an Axis defeat in the war. With Allied bombings of the Rumanian oil fields at Ploesti, of Bucharest (the capital), and the with the approach of Soviet forces, Rumanians, led by King Michael, overthrew Antonescu in August 1944. Rumania then changed sides in the war. Antonescu was arrested and then after the war he was put on trial, found guilty of various charges, including his complicity in the murder of hundreds of thousands of Rumanian and Soviet Jews. He was executed by firing squad.

More in the next part ...

* Transnistria was a poorly defined region roughly between the Dniester River and the Southern Bug River. The term literally means "across or beyond the Dniester," but the area's boundaries were vague, depending upon who was doing the defining. The region exists today, but is not recognized by all nations as a separate country. Of course, it has a defined border today. During World War Two the Germans and Rumanians defeated the Soviet forces there and it was under Rumanian control, with administration directed from the city of Odessa. In this case, "the area" was defined by the Rumanians. Of course the Soviets reconquered "the area" later in the war.

The following were consulted for this article on Rumania: "Kingdoms of Europe" by Gene Gurney, published by Crown Publishers, Inc. NY 1982

"Romania/An Illustrated History" by Nicolae Klepper, published by Hippocrene Books, NY 2002

WORD HISTORY:
Car-This noun goes back to Indo European "kers," which had the notion of "run, move swiftly." This gave its Old Celtic offspring "karros," which meant "chariot, wagon, wheeled vehicle." This gave Gaulish (a Celtic language) "karros," with the same general meaning. This was then borrowed into Latin as "carrus," seemingly with the main original meaning being "chariot," but later also "wagon, cart." This gave Old Northern French "carre," with the same meaning, and this was carried to England by the Normans where it was borrowed by English in the early 1300s. Later it came to be most often used in railway terminology, but by the late 1800s it was applied to the early models of vehicles powered by the internal combustion engine. 

"Is It 'Rumania' or 'Romania?' " Part 4

The aftermath of the World War* saw Rumania gain control of Bukovina, a region under Austro-Hungarian control for about the previous 150 years, and a region of mixed ethnicity, as besides Rumanians, it contained substantial numbers of Poles, Jews and especially Ukrainians. Rumania also took over  a large part of the Banat, a multi-ethnic region also previously part of Austria-Hungary, and which contained a large number of ethnic groups, but especially Serbs, Germans and Hungarians. All in all, the Rumania of the early 1920s was far larger in area and population than the Rumania before the World War, but it was also a far less truly Rumanian entity.

Rumania became a large oil producer in the post World War era, and its agriculture also did well. In 1927 King Ferdinand I died. This brought Ferdinand's grandson, Michael, to the the thrown, as Michael I. The problem was, Michael was not yet even six years old, and so a regency was set up to act in his stead until he came of age.** The Great Depression brought economic problems for Rumania and exacerbated political divisions within the country. In what was really a coup, Carol returned from exile and took the throne as King Carol II, thus ousting his young son and the regency, and also ignoring his own earlier renunciation of the throne. The 1930s saw Rumania move decisively toward fascism, as right wing and ultra nationalist elements were given favor by Carol II, who eventually circumvented the national constitution by proclaiming emergency powers and then having a rewritten constitution approved in a highly debatable "free" referendum, where voters had to "openly" (not by secret ballot) voice support for the document. The terms of the new "constitution" made Carol a dictator and it gave his right wing/fascist allies a large role in governing with his consent, but all was not well ....

More in the next segment ... 

* I am using the term "World War," just to keep the historical perspective that the term "World War One" (or "First World War") was not in use back then, because there had been no World War Two. Many historians referred to the war as "The Great War."

** To put a complicated situation into simple terms, Ferdinand's son Carol had been the legitimate heir to the thrown, but Carol got caught up in an extra marital affair, causing him to renounce his right to the thrown in favor of his own son Michael, who then became king at less than six years of age in 1927. Carol left the country at that time.

The following were consulted for this article on Rumania: "Kingdoms of Europe" by Gene Gurney, published by Crown Publishers, Inc. NY 1982

"Romania/An Illustrated History" by Nicolae Klepper, published by Hippocrene Books, NY 2002

WORD HISTORY:
Foot-This word for the lower part of the leg goes back to Indo European "ped/pod," which meant "foot." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "fot," which gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "fot" (presumably with a long 'o' sound). This later became "foot." The other Germanic languages have: German "Fuß" ('ß'=ss, and it is also written with the double 's' in Switzerland and Liechtenstein), Low German Saxon "Foot," Dutch "voet," West Frisian "foet," Danish "fod," Swedish and Norwegian "fot," and Icelandic "fótur."