Resita mon amour
(http://radiosufletel.blogspot.com/2010/09/resita-prima-locomotiva-cu-aburi-si.html)
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Plecam la Resita dimineata, din Baneasa. Avionul ne lasa in Caransebes, de unde un autobuz al TAROM ne ducea mai departe spre Resita. Deseori insa cursa era amanata: norii erau in Caransebes prea jos. Mai glumea cate unul din calatori, spune-i Terezei sa mai impinga norii cu maturoiul, Tereza lucra la aeroportul dela destinatie. De vreo doua ori cursa a fost pana la urma anulata si ni s-au dat banii inapoi.
Asa ca de mult mai multe ori am plecat la Resita cu trenul. Din Gara de Nord seara, trenul trecea in cursul noptii prin Cariova, Turnu Severin, Orsova, Baile Herculane, ajungea spre dimineata in Caransebes, de unde vagonul nsotru era atasat la alt tren, spre Resita.
De vreo doua ori am petrecut cateva ore prin Caransebes. Un oras cu aspect nemtesc, ca toate orasele din Banat, cu strazi curate si cu cladiri de prin vremea Imperiului Austro-Ungar. Miron Cristea, care avea sa ajunga intaiul Patriarh al Romaniei, fusese episcop al Caransebesului, avea apoi sa mearga la Alba Iulia, unde s-a hotarat Marea Unire.
imagine din 1935
source: George Trohani
(http://www.imagoromaniae.ro/imagini/carti-postale/caransebe-catedrala-ortodox.html)
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sursa: Facebook (Garana Jazz Fest)
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(Amintiri din Garla Mare)
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(click here for the Romanian version)
I have always been interested in the history of ethnic minorities from Romania. One of the most important among them is the German minority (or rather it was: after 1989 the major part of them moved to Germany, after several centuries of existence on the Romanian lands) .
There have been several distinct German ethnic groups in Romania. The Saxons (Sachsen, saşii) came to Transylvania and settled in its Southern and North-Eastern parts, the Swabians (Schwaben, şvabii) came to Banat, the Bohemians (pemii, with a totally different origin than the Swabians) also settled in Banat, let's add to them the German communities from Bukovina, Dobruja, and the South of Bessarabia.
About the Bessarabian Germans and their villages I've already written on this blog, the Dobrujan Germans have had a similar history, the Bukovina Germans settled there after the Habsburgs annexed that region. The Banat Bohemians came from Sudetenland or Styria, as far as I know, and their dialect sounds more or less like the German spoken in Vienna. Speaking about Banat Bohemians, we should note that there is also a Czech community in Banat, beside the German Bohemians - both are known as Bohemians (pemi - by the way, Man sagt, die schönsten Deutsch ist in Prag gesprochen, und die schönsten Tchechish in Wien - They say the nicest German is spoken in Prague, and the nicest Czech in Vienna - t'could be true).
It is interesting that the Banat Swabians didn't take the name from their land of origin. They came from various regions of Germany, very few from Swabia. What happened was that they gathered in the Swabian city of Ulm, where they were registered and embarked on the Danube for Banat, since their name. Some of them had come even from Alsace/Lorraine, and that explains the existence of a few Swabian villages in Banat with inhabitants speaking German while having French names.
As for the Transylvanian Saxons, they are not Saxons, either. They actually came from the Western part of Germany (Franconia, Rhine valley, even Alsace/Lorraine, even Luxembourg), and seemingly their dialect is close to the language spoken in Luxembourg, to the extent that a Saxon from Romania and a Luxembourger can understand each other. Anyway it is not close at all to the Saxon dialect (I mean the Saxon dialect from Germany).. There are several hypothesizes about them being named Saxons without being Saxons. One hypothesis is that in the 12th-13th centuries the documents delivered by the Hungarian royal chancellery were naming all Germans altogether Saxons. There are also other hypothesizes.
There are important distinctions between Transylvanian Saxons and Banat Swabians. The Saxons came in the 11th-12th centuries, while the Swabians came much later, in the 18th century. The Saxons came here as Roman-Catholics, meanwhile they passed to Lutheranism, while the Swabians came and remained Roman-Catholics. Also their dialects are clearly different.
These Saxons (or rather so-called Saxons) built from the very beginning a number of fortified burgs in Transylvania. How many burgs it's again a matter of discussion: the common knowledge says there were seven such burgs in all, though their number was actually bigger (beside the fact that each Saxon settlement, smaller or bigger, had at least the church fortified - I will come later to this). Anyway, the German name for Transylvania is Siebenbürgen: Seven Burgs. From German, the name passed then to Polish, Siedmiogród, and further to Ucrainaian, Семигород.
Let's see now the names of these burgs. The Saxons settled firstly in the Southern part of Transylvania and founded there the burgs of Mediasch (Mediaş, 1142), Mühlbach (Sebeş, 1150), Hermannstadt (Sibiu, 1160), Schäßburg (Sighişoara, 1178), Klausenburg (Cluj-Napoca, 1178), Reußmarkt (Miercurea Sibiului, 1198), and Broos (Orăştie, 1200).
Then the Saxons settled also in the North-Eastern part of Transylvania where they founded Bistritz (Bistriţa) în 1206, and Sächsisch Regen (Reghin), firstly mentioned in 1228. Kronstadt (Braşov) followed, again in the South, în 1208.
(Sächsische Bäuerin aus Honigberg)
beginning of 20th century
(http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fi%C8%99ier:SasoaicaHarman.jpg)
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As I indicated for each of these burgs the German and the Romanian names, it would be fair to give here also the names in the patois spoken by Transylvanian Saxons.
Mediash is in Saxon dialect Medwesch, Mühlbach is Melnbach, Schäßburg is Schäsbrich, Klausenburg is Kleusenburch, Reußmarkt is Reismuert, Broos is Bros, Bistritz is Nîsner-Bistritz, Sächsisch Regen is Reen, Kronstadt is Krűnen, and the village of Honigberg is Huntschprich. And there are other two hundred or so Saxon small towns and villages, all with their fortified churches, sometimes with superb wooden organs inside these churches - each one with a German and a Romanian name, along with the name in Saxon parlance. As for Hermannstadt, it has the same name in Saxon, it seems.
Okay, that's all for the time being. I'll come back later to this topic.
posted by Pierre Radulescu at 6:27 AM
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