Treznea massacre

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Monument in memory of victims of the Treznea massacre
Monument in memory of victims of the Treznea massacre

The Treznea massacre occurred in the village of Treznea, Sălaj (Ördögkút in Hungarian) in north-western Transylvania on 9 September 1940, during the handing over of Northern Transylvania from Romania to Hungary after the Second Vienna Award.

On that day, some Hungarian troops made a 4 km detour from the Zalău–Cluj-Napoca route of the Hungarian Army and started firing at will on locals of all ages, killing many of them and partially destroying the Orthodox church. The official Hungarian sources of the time recorded that 87 Romanians and 6 Jews were killed, including the local Orthodox priest and the Romanian local teacher with his wife, while some Romanian sources give as as many as 263 locals that were killed. Some Hungarian historians claim that the killings came in retaliation after the Hungarian troops were fired upon by inhabitants, allegedly incited by the local Romanian Orthodox priest, but this claims are not supported by the accounts of several witnesses. The motivation of the 4 km detour of the Hungarian troops from the rest of the Hungarian Army is still a point of contention, as it could not have been as a routine occupation manoeuvre. Most evidence points towards the local noble Ferenc Bay who lost a large part of his estates to peasants in the 1920s, as most of the violence was directed towards the peasants living on his former estate.

By the accounts of some witnesses, not all soldiers were wearing full uniform and some of them were drunk. Also, some villagers claim to have recognised some of the young men as locals from Zalău. This might suggest that not everyone in these Hungarian troops were operating under the jurisdiction of the Hungarian Army, but it is unclear why they were wearing official Hungarian uniforms and guns.

According to some historians, several Hungarian inhabitants of the village tried to stop the massacre, but they were themselves chased and beaten. About 200 locals were rounded up and pushed towards a cliff, where they were to be machine-gunned. However, they were let go after the retreating Romanian Army, stationed nearby at Poarta Sălajului, threatened to intervene.

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