BBC.com has posted an interesting article about Tarnava Mare, a Saxon area of Transylvania (Romania). Sounds like a great place to visit if you have a car and are seeking non-touristy options. Work is under way to revive some old crafts and preserve the distinctive architecture.
https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20220807-europes-remote-lost-in-time-villages
Very interesting article, about a part of Romania that we should visit. The article omits important details: Most of the Saxons were not "sold" to Germany during the 1980s. Most were forcibly deported in the immediate post-war period during the ethnic cleansing of Germanic heritage Romanians. Thousands were forced out from 1945-1950, my relatives among them. Since this was done with US and UK complicity, it's embarrassing to mention today, and is not widely known.
The US and UK were complicient with the Soviets in 1950? Interesting. Would love to read about that. Any books?
"complicity" denotes historical accuracy...good, fitting word. I would say also that the expulsion (Vertreibung) of the ethnic Germans from east-central Europe had the acquiescence of both the US and Britain ( Romania was one of those countries. ) after both the US and Britain had signed the Declaration at the Yalta Conference. It is not a topic that is dealt with often in anglophone historiography.
We stayed in Brasov a few years back. We hired a driver to take us to several of the fortified church villages, Viscri was included. It was a great day, in a fascinating part of the world. The churches still have old hyms and bible verses written on the walls in German. I forget the exact number, but after a 100/200 years of the Saxon presence, they represented 75% of the regions GDP. Prosperous hardworking people in a region with good resources.
Communism/etc kept large farms and herbicides out. The fields are super diverse as a result, mono-culture farming like in USA wasn't a thing. A typical meadow would have 300 varieties of plants, compared to 30ish for a field where modern techniques were used. This is one of the reasons Prince Charles became interested in the region. We did get to see the cows make the trek from the fields to their barns, each knowing the way and traveling unescorted.
Thanks to George, we had a great day exploring, ended the day at Sighasoara, walked by the house where Vlad Tepes may have been born...a few days later George dropped us off at Bucharest airport hotel. Very reasonable cost, I've driven in Germany/Slovenia/Croatia, real happy to have a drive in Romania.
Fred, I was serious. Interesting history if you know of a book.
@Fred not only the Germanic peoples, but the Soviets also kicked out thousands of Poles from their former eastern territories in what is now western Belarus and Ukraine and forcibly resettled them in the reclaimed territories of the west. Polish people probably got the worse deal, expelled eastwards by the Germans at the beginning of the war and then expelled westwards by the Russians at the end of the war.
In Poland there is a joke that by the end of this century their country will probably be located somewhere around the Netherlands.
Back in April we were in Brasov and Sebia for a couple of days. We toured the Fortified Churches located at Prejmer and Viscri. A lot of history which is still gong on today. I had a chance to talk to the women who manages the church at Prejmer, there are still +200 "Saxon" families in that area who are working to maintain their heritage. It was very interesting conversation.
@ Carlos...You are absolutely right. Kicking out masses people, ie moving them under duress was not only limited to Germans in east central Europe. The Soviets did likewise to Poles east of the Curzon line. What Stalin took in 1939 in his share of 4th partition of Poland, he had no intention of returning, those Poles, especially the elite, were shipped of to Siberia or just shot by the NKVD.
When one is visiting, exploring the sights of Krakow and Warsaw, as I did in 2001, one is bound to encounter a poignant and grim reminder of that tragic history....the memorials to Katyn. When you see them, they just hit you, just seeing the big letters "Katyn" produces that effect.
"Polish people probably got the worse deal...." Taken as a whole, one can make a pretty good effective case supporting that assertion historically, not only at the hands of Hitler and Stalin but also from the western Allies, eg, the Warsaw Uprising in August, after when the city was obliterated. No other city ie, a major urban center suffered a similar fate to that extent , the result of deliberate policy.
There are a number of books about the ethnic cleansing of the Germanic persons, from Romania, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Poland, Belorus, Czechoslovakia, and Bulgaria.
"Orderly and humane" RM Douglas
That's what I would read. This is a recent (10 year) discussion.
GENOCIDE of the Ethnic Germans in Yugoslavia 1944-1948
http://arno.daastol.com/books/GENOCIDE%20of%20the%20Ethnic%20Germans%20in%20Yugoslavia%201944-1948%20(2007).pdf?fbclid=IwAR1QwmttUYlTV_nhUO9NYYOAYJ4tUNuL1zUNL48UITwLmUIAijJ2o3vxNRQ
This is a free .pdf published by the Donau Schwaben Association of the USA
It was planned in Yalta. In Yalta, Stalin demanded forced labor from German peoples after the war. MILLIONS of persons of Germanic heritage were taken to Russia esp Ukraine to work in mines and farms. Many stayed there for 5-6 years, and many thousands were killed. There were hundreds of concentration camps. Yugoslavia was one of the worst places. Thousands of Germanic persons who had been in Yugoslavia from 1785 (like my relatives) were given 1 hour to pack a suitcase, and then were driven out. Some were put in camps (Gakowa) which were death camps just like the Jews were put in. '
Millions of Germanic persons (12,000,000-14,000,000) were sent away from the MittelEuropa nations on the same cattle cars, under the same conditions, that the Germans used for Jews and Gypsies. My mom's aunt died in 1950 in a camp.
This is not known by most in the US and the UK. That's because many still hold all Germanic peoples at fault for WWII.
Brasov (Konigsberg before WWII - Fred reminds me below that this incorrect and the actual name was Kronstadt) was one of 7 Saxon towns, in which persons from Saxony were brought in to serve as a bulwark against the Huns in the 1350s. By WWII, there were at least 25,000 Germanic persons there. One was my mom's 2nd cousin, Lieselotte Pfeiffer. She went to Gymnasium in Konigsberg. She and other relatives were driven out during and after WWII. She now lives in Frankfurt Germany. Brasov now has about 1000 Germanic ethnic persons.
Here is a link to a DonauSchwaben online resource which discusses the situation of the Germanic persons in Yugoslavia, and in the wider area.
https://www.dvhh.org/history/atrocities/index.htm
Here is a specific discussion of the camps in Yugoslavia for Germanic persons 1945-1948.
https://www.dvhh.org/history/atrocities/1944-1948-atrocities-map.htm
Hungary also was complicit in Nazi activity.
The complicity of the persons with Germanic backgrounds is one reason why this is a difficult matter. Some were complicit. In the Donau Schwaben areas, the "Prinz Eugen" regiment was partially volunteers, partially conscripts. Kurt Waldheim, the politician and UN leader, was a Nazi soldier during WWII.
The civilians also were complicit in some cases. In many cases, they were not complicit. And it is generally accepted that the "generalized punishment" of an entire group for the problems caused by some is not acceptable.
In now-Serbia, the northern section called Vojvodinja (N of Belgrade to the border) was substantially Germanic persons before the war. These were ethnically cleansed by Tito and his Yugoslavians. Their property was taken, houses, farms, personal items. Today, in that area, perhaps 1% are of Germanic ethnicity. Soon after the end of Yugoslavia, Serbia had a 2-week period of time in which those whose property was removed were allowed to put in a claim. Since this was not publicized outside of Serbia and it was during the civil war, almost no claims were made.
Here are some articles about the process of returning property seized illegally:
https://balkaninsight.com/2018/02/19/serbia-long-wait-for-return-of-confiscated-property-02-18-2018/
Beyond question the issue of "who was complicit and who assisted the Nazi forces in WWII" is complicated. Many Germanic ethnic folks did. Many did not.
Waldheim was an officer, a Leutnant, in the Wehrmacht noted for his language skills. I would not call him a Nazi soldier unless specific war crimes can be attributed to him, either guilt by commission or omission. His guilt is nebulous. As a Leutnant did he have such authority that exceeded the normal powers of his rank?
In terms of Nazi parlance those ethnic Germans living in Yugoslavia, Hungary, Romania were known as Volksdeutsche as opposed to Reichsdeutsche and Auslandsdeutsche. The Waffen SS recruited heavily in those countries, especially in Romania. The historical query is why? Like wise in the West, ie Holland.
Historically, Brasov was known as Kronstadt, just as Sibiu was known as Hermannstadt. There were 2 towns by that name in Europe, one was in Romania. In Oct. 2017 one of girls working in the breakfast room in the B&B in Kings Cross was from Sibiu...very nice, approachable. I started the conversation by asking her where she was from, obviously from eastern Europe, then following her answer (NW Romania, ie., yes, the old Transyvania) asked if she spoke German too along with her English. She's there in the B&B also to improve her English. Of course, she knew the old name and told me basically no one really cares which of the two names you use.
