Romanian Hearth Union

The Romanian Hearth Union^[2][3] or Romanian Hearth Federation^[4] (Romanian: Uniunea Vatra Românească) is a far-right nationalist movement^[5] and civic organization,^[2] founded in Târgu Mureș in 1990.^[4]

Romanian Hearth Union

Uniunea Vatra Românească
Formation	February 1990[1]
Type	NGO
Region served	Romania

One of the founding members of the Hearth Union was Ion Iliescu.^[6][7] The main purpose of the organization is to save Romanians "hunted down in their own country" from the Hungarians viewed as "hordes plaguing humanity".^[4] The emergence of the "Romanian Hearth" was helped by ex-Securitate officers.^[4] The organization has been described by various sources as quasi-fascist,^[8] radical nationalist,^[4] xenophobic ultra-nationalist,^[9] anti-Hungarian^[10] and anti-Semitic.^[11] It was associated with the former political party of Romanian National Unity Party (PUNR),^[4] but had also ties to the Social Democracy Party of Romania (PDSR),^[12] Greater Romania Party (PRM) and the Democratic Agrarian Party of Romania (PDAR).^[13]

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.^[14][15] In 1992, the Union had around 4 million supporters, and the PUNR formed electoral coalitions with Iliescu's Democratic National Salvation Front in several Transylvanian counties for the 1992 election.^[16] PUNR was part of the political coalition that governed Romania between 1992 and 1996.

See also

• Ethnic clashes of Târgu Mureș
• Red Pentagon