The Romanian Hearth Union or Romanian Hearth Federation () is a far-right nationalist movement and civic organization, founded in

Târgu Mureș Târgu Mureș (, ; ; German language, German: ''Neumarkt am Mieresch'') is the seat of Mureș County in the historical region of Transylvania, Romania. It is the list of cities and towns in Romania, 16th-largest city in Romania, with 116,033 ...

in 1990. One of the founding members of the Hearth Union was

Ion Iliescu Ion Iliescu (; born 3 March 1930) is a Romanian politician and engineer who served as the second president of Romania from 1989 until 1996 and from 2000 until 2004. Between 1996 and 2000 and also from 2004 to 2008, the year in which he retired, ...

. The main purpose of the organization is to save

Romanians Romanians (, ; dated Endonym and exonym, exonym ''Vlachs'') are a Romance languages, Romance-speaking ethnic group and nation native to Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. Sharing a Culture of Romania, ...

"hunted down in their own country" from the

Hungarians Hungarians, also known as Magyars, are an Ethnicity, ethnic group native to Hungary (), who share a common Culture of Hungary, culture, Hungarian language, language and History of Hungary, history. They also have a notable presence in former pa ...

viewed as "hordes plaguing humanity". The emergence of the "Romanian Hearth" was helped by ex-

Securitate The Department of State Security (), commonly known as the Securitate (, ), was the secret police agency of the Socialist Republic of Romania. It was founded on 30 August 1948 from the '' Siguranța'' with help and direction from the Soviet MG ...

officers. The organization has been described by various sources as quasi-fascist, radical nationalist,Mihaela Mihailescu
Dampening the Powder Keg: The Role of Democratic Oppositions in Fostering Ethnic Peace in Post-Communist Romania and Slovakia
ProQuest, 2006, pp. 116-117 xenophobic ultra-nationalist, anti-HungarianJuliana Geran Pilon
The Bloody Flag: Post-Communist Nationalism in Eastern Europe : Spotlight on Romania
Transaction Publishers, 1982, p. 67 and

anti-Semitic Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

. It was associated with the former political party of

Romanian National Unity Party The Romanian National Unity Party (, PUNR) was a nationalist political party in Romania between 1990 and 2006. History The PUNR was the first nationalist party in post-communist Romania, created in 1990, with Gheorghe Funar emerging as its leader ...

(PUNR), but had also ties to the

Social Democracy Party of Romania The Social Democratic Party (, PSD) is the largest political party in Romania. It is also the largest Social democracy, social democratic List of political parties in Romania, political party in the country. It was founded by Ion Iliescu, Rom ...

(PDSR),

Greater Romania Party The Greater Romania Party (, PRM) is a Romanian far-right political party. Founded in May 1991 by Eugen Barbu and Corneliu Vadim Tudor, it was led by the latter from that point until his death in September 2015. The party is sometimes referred ...

(PRM) and the Democratic Agrarian Party of Romania (PDAR). The Union received support from the then-ruling National Salvation Front and president Iliescu, hoping to increase the popularity of the front in the area of Transylvania. In 1992, the Union had around 4 million supporters, and the PUNR formed electoral coalitions with Iliescu's

Democratic National Salvation Front The Democratic National Salvation Front (, FDSN) was a Romanian political party formed by former President Ion Iliescu and his supporters stemming from the National Salvation Front (FSN) on 7 April 1992. It was the result of the breakup of the ...

in several Transylvanian counties for the 1992 election. PUNR was part of the

political coalition A parliamentary group, parliamentary caucus or political group is a group consisting of members of different political parties or independent politicians with similar ideologies. Some parliamentary systems allow smaller political parties, who a ...

that governed Romania between 1992 and 1996.

References

{{reflist, 2 Romanian nationalism Far-right politics in Europe Anti-Hungarian sentiment in Romania Antisemitism in Romania

See also

References