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The German minority emigrated massively from Romania after the fall of the communist regime in 1989, so the void left by it had to be filled with representatives of Romanian ethnicity. The main actors for the relations between the Saxons and the Romanians in Transylvania are the children who study in schools with German as a mother tongue. They will carry on the cultural heritage left by the Saxons. But how can we reach out for these children? The answer is given to us by the writer Anne Junesch in her book „Das Amenchen. Mäuseleben”, published in 2019. An attempt is being made to sensitize young readers to Transylvanian culture. With the help of a story centered around a fortified church and a main character from Germany, a world full of secrets and of the unknown is revealed to us. With small steps, an incursion is thus made into the almost lost world of the Transylvanian Saxons.
The article intends to present some facts about the medieval history of the Saxons in the Wallachian town of Câmpulung Muscel/Langenau. German-speaking colonists were settled in Langenau around the 13th century, and their traces can be followed until the middle of the 18th century. A German language document from the 16th century will serve as an illustration, depicting the relations between the Transylvanian Saxons from Râșnov/Rosenau and the population of Câmpulung Muscel/Langenau. The linguistic peculiarities of the document are discussed, as well as the problems of its transcription, which led to different publication variants. This document is also interesting because it contains many Romanian names of persons.
The novel “Wasserzeichen” was published at the Pop Publishing House in Ludwigsburg, Germany, in 2018. The destiny of the main character of the aforementioned literary work is undoubtedly linked to the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca. After finishing high school in Brașov, the young Eginald – who is not the same as the author of the novel – arrives in Cluj-Napoca where he first goes to the Faculty of Protestant Theology, from which he is relegated; afterwards, he starts the courses of another faculty, but before finishing his studies he is arrested by the Securitate. The life story of the young Transylvanian Saxon turns out to be a troubled one – full of defining experiences for his existence. Due to the relationships with the people whom he meets there, the romantic entanglements, and the betrayals he experiences, he matures quickly. The 1st person narrator becomes a true man in this predestinate space.
The German-speaking Saxon minority from Transylvania, a region in Romania, has almost disappeared due to the historical events after World War II and the fall of communism in December 1989. Therefore, the literary work that was created before 1990 is often considered to be a “lieu de mémoire”, a place of remembrance, for the Saxon culture. This article deals with the question whether Maria Haydl’s short stories can be considered as such or do they show too much influence of the politically imposed writing style in order to be authentic.
German in space and time is a central aspect both from a scientific perspective and from the perspective of one´s own identity preservation within the language island situation. MsGerhild Rudolf’s thesis offers an analysis of the choice of languages within the Evangelical Church A.B. in Romania (ECR) and at the same time a general overview of language change processes within the ECR. There is an irreversible paradigm shift that is taking place along with the ongoing transition from a monolingual to a bilingual linguistic culture in worship. The status of German in the public use of language is also reflected, the efforts of preserving the German language and culture are presented from a current perspective, and the importance of the German minority is discussed historically and in a forward-looking manner. The thesis offers sufficient reason as well to think about future research on the role of the church and of German from different perspectives, to also emphasize the relevance of interdisciplinarity
An essential factor for the naming practice lies in the language(s) spoken by that certain family. In the nowadays very common multilingual families in Transylvania, the so called ‚mixed marriages’, the linguistic contact also becomes manifest in the field of onomatology. Out of the vast subject matter, four aspects will be approached: the decline of the tradition of naming a child after a parent; naming practices following ethnic reasons in order to denote a certain identity; naming preferences for international names in mixed families; the increasing diversification and inter-culturality of name-giving due to globalization and the impact of social media. Concrete examples – based on bap tis mal registers of the local Lutheran Church – illustrate the monitored trends.
This scientific article focuses on Ursula Ackrill’s novel ˮZeiden, im Januarˮ and its aim is to examine the specificity of present-day literature of the Transylvanian Saxons. Starting from the methodological considerations of Jan Assmann and Aleida Assmann, the concept of memorial culture will be exemplified and analyzed through relevant scenes of the novel, in close connection with Leontina Philippi’s approach of writing the chronicle of Codlea. Antonescu’s fascist dictatorship, the obligation for Saxon men to serve in the SS troops, the friendly collaboration between Antonescu and Hitler, the collaboration between German and Saxon military, the role of collaborators at that time, the Saxons’ customs and traditions, the portrait of the Jew of Lipscani street, Bucharest society during the rule of Ion Antonescu are just a few aspects of the novel which emphasize the intercultural character of this writing on the basis of communicative and cultural memory.
Intermarriages in Transylvania are a topic that is still to little scientifically explored. Saxons and Romanians in Transylvania each married in their own circles in accordance with the times they lived.The Second World War, the establishment of communism, deportation and nationalization have changed relations between the Transylvanian Saxons and Romanians. The number of mixed marriages has begun to grow and cultural proximity has become real. Life in Communism has become a collective destiny. At the base of this study are 25 questionnaires filled in by people coming from mixed marriages. The following aspects were analyzed: the name and identity attributed thereto, spoken languages, confession, family life, identity positioning.
The materialis based on the fact that German citizens which have been born in Transylvania (Saxons) and immigrated to Germany return even “in death” to their homeland, be that through the choice of the medium where the death notice is published, or through the content of the death notice itself. The article follows the mechanisms through which this reference is built and analyzes the objective, geographical and cultural referentiality as well as the subjective recollections of the former, now far away, homeland, relying on death notices published in the Siebenbürgischen Zeitungbetween January 2012 – December 2015 und January 2017 – March 2018.
Auf Wolke Siebenbürgen … : eine Kindheit voller Gefahren. Die „Deportation“ und Rettung der Mutter
(2017)
Transylvania is a region that frequently appears in the texts of the German speaking writers from Romania. Walther Gottfried Seidner‘s story makes no exception. In the center is the narrator, a kindergarten child, who explores the history of Europe experienced from a subjective point of view. His attention is directed especially to the mother, who is in danger of being deported to the Soviet Union. The red thread of the narrative is interrupted by retrospectives, which complete the image of Transylvania at the beginning of the year 1945. This analysis refers to several aspects within the original text: the Cibin River and its significance to the community of Sibiu, the Christian cross and the swastika, the German National Socialism and the Communism, the deportation of the German minority.