Sachsen und Rumänen in Siebenbürgen. Vortrag und Diskussion

In the organizer's words:

The relationship between the various population groups in Transylvania has been little researched and has even been largely bypassed for the period up to 1918. Romanian, Transylvanian Saxon or Hungarian historiography usually gave priority to their own national history or movement. Regardless of the sometimes still polemical debate among historians and politicians about the origin of the Romanians in Transylvania, it is a fact that Romanians, Hungarians, Szeklers and Transylvanian Saxons lived on the territory of Transylvania for many centuries. For a long time, the Romanians were excluded from power and participation in social life by the three leading estates - Hungarian nobility, Szeklers and Transylvanian Saxons - who were always intent on preserving their vested interests. The individual nations lived side by side rather than together. From the 18th century onwards, and especially during the revolution of 1848/49, when population groups throughout Hungary began to position themselves nationally, it became increasingly clear that a solution had to be found for the largest language group in Transylvania, namely the Romanians. The Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 put an end to the recognition of the Romanians as the fourth nation in Transylvania. Even if cooperation between Transylvanian Saxons and Romanians increased from the 16th century onwards, particularly in the economic and cultural sphere, it was not until the unification of Transylvania with Romania in 1918 that cooperation was noticeably intensified. After initial difficulties, the comprehensive communist oppression and economic hardship increasingly welded together all nationalities living in Transylvania from 1945 onwards. Dissatisfaction with the living conditions in communist Romania led to an increase in the resettlement of Saxons to Germany and thus to the almost complete dissolution of the social structures of the Saxons in Transylvania after 1989.

In her lecture,Dr. Olivia Spiridon from the Institute for Danube-Swabian History and Regional Studies in Tübingen will analyze historical to contemporary constellations of the relationship between Saxons and Romanians in Transylvania and will delve deeper into the interaction in the literary field. In addition, an archive film will be shown that stages the situation of the German minority in Romania in the post-war period. The lecture will be followed by a panel discussion with Dr. Spiridon and the historians Dr. Paul Bagiu and Dr. Erwin Jikeli. The snack afterwards offers the opportunity for in-depth discussions on the topic.

A joint event of the Gerhart-Hauptmann-Haus Foundation, the Association of Transylvanian Saxons in Germany e.V. Düsseldorf District Group, the Federation of Romanian Associations in Germany e.V., the Association of Romanian Teachers in NRW e.V