Banat mountain country Germans

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The Banat mountainous Germans are an ethnic minority in western Romania . Its origins go back to German-speaking settlers who settled in the Banat at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century , which at that time belonged to the state of Austria-Hungary . These settlers came mainly from the Styrian and Upper Austrian Salzkammergut , later settlers from Tyrol , Zipser from Upper Hungary and German-speaking people from Bohemia , as well as emigrants from the Bavarian Forest, joined them . What these groups had in common was that they spoke Bavarian dialects, which differed from the Moselle-Franconian and Rhine - Franconian dialects of the Banat Swabians , which is why the term Berglanddeutsche has come into being to distinguish them. 

history

Ethnic composition in the Banat Uplands, 1930
Emperor Franz-Joseph in Orschowa, 1896
Barracks of the border guard regiment in Caransebes

The Banat Uplands are located in the southwest of the Romanian Banat, in the border area with Serbia and cover an area the size of North Tyrol , in the southwest of Romania. Most of it is in the Caraș-Severin district and only a few localities in the Timiș , Hunedoara , Gorj and Mehedinți districts .

The mountain region was and is rich in precious metals , copper and iron ores , so that after the Peace of Passarowitz (1718) the budding Habsburg monarchy decided to set up extensive mining in the Banat mountain region. The German colonists were supposed to rebuild the economy in the Banat with their expertise in agriculture, handicrafts and mining and thus contribute to an increase in state income through taxes. In 1716 the Banat was made an imperial province , separated from Hungary and Transylvania and directly subordinate to the Viennese court, the court war council and the court chamber .

There was also a need to secure the border with the Ottoman Empire . The first German settlers came before the Turks were finally expelled from the Banat. There were 13 Tyrolean miners who arrived in Orawitz in the spring of 1703 . They were followed by immigrants from the Zips , Lower Austria , Tyrol, Styria , Upper Austria and Hungary , but also from Bavaria , Württemberg , Baden and Bohemia . The land was made arable and numerous villages emerged; however, a new Austro-Turkish war (1737-1739) devastated the country again.

In order to cope with the constant incursions of the Turks, the southern and southeastern Banat was separated from the rest of the Banat as a wide strip from the Tisza via Panschowa , Weißkirchen , Orschowa and Caransebesch and declared a military protection zone against the Turks. The rest of the Banat received a civil administration and was separated from the Banat military border by borders . Under this protection, the country was able to recover economically.

In order to secure the further development of the mining industry, experts from the Alpine countries , mainly from Styria and Upper Austria, were resettled. Orawitz became the administrative center of the entire mountainous region and in 1771 the blast furnaces and the Reschitz ironworks went into operation. When the hard coal camps around Steierdorf were discovered in 1790, a larger number of miners had to be recruited to expand the coal mining industry. Initially immigrants came from Upper Austria, and later Bohemia , Moravia and Slovaks came . The numerous mountain towns from Rußberg to Reschitz to Bokschan , from Caransebesch over the military border to the Danube port of Orschowa, with numerous different types of mining, smelting, factories, domain facilities and hydraulic structures, shaped and shaped the Banat mountainous region in such a way that the German experts became a social factor and economic agent the region had become. The Banat mountainous Germans created an independent alpine habitat until the dual monarchy was broken up and established an important location in the heavy industry of Southeast Europe. After the collapse of the KuK monarchy, the Banat Uplands fell to the Kingdom of Romania .

In contrast to the Banat Plain, the population density in the Banat Uplands after the Turkish wars and the conquest of the Banat by Prince Eugene of Savoy was satisfactory, which is why there was no large-scale "impopulation" here. In the Banat Uplands there were two areas to be preserved until the second half of the 19th century, the Montanbanat with the mining areas and the Banat military border . Starting in 1722, initially only the skilled workers necessary for resumption, expansion, and construction of new smelters and mines came to the mountain villages, initially only Orawitza and Bokschan , later Lunkan , Saska , Moldowa , Russberg , Reschitza , then increasingly larger groups of skilled workers. Waves of immigration from miners, smelters, foresters and construction workers from other parts of the Habsburg monarchy were registered in this area until around 1870. There is only one action to be noted within the military border , that of the settlement of German-Bohemian and Czech border farmers (1827–1828) in the forests of the Semenic and Almăj Mountains .

The settlement of the Banat mountainous Germans essentially refers to:

In 1943 the German Wehrmacht was able to recruit Romanian citizens of German ethnicity based on an agreement with the Romanian government. Most of the "volunteers" were integrated into the Waffen-SS and those who survived the war had to face the consequences after the war.

In January 1945, the Germans in Romania , between the ages of 17 and 45, were deported to the Soviet Union for so-called reconstruction work (Don and Donets basins, Urals and Siberia). Many perished. In 1951, most of the village population was deported from the border strip with Serbia to the Bărăgan steppe . In the Caraș-Severin district, the proportion of Germans in these deportation trains was lower than in the Banat Plain, as there were no German villages in the border strip apart from Bresondorf , Moritzfeld and Königsgnad (today Tyrol). Around 10,000 Germans were forcibly deported from the Banat mountains. In the following years, Germans, mainly politically persecuted, began to emigrate to Germany and Austria, initially through fleeing and family reunification, then, especially after the fall of the Wall in 1989, through mass emigration. After the Second World War, despite the communist regime, the Banat Berglanddeutsche were able to continue their cultural activities in their mother tongue in the areas of journalism, education, theater and other areas.

economy

Mining

Chiklova industrial plant, 1905

After Eugen von Savoyen liberated the Banat in 1716, Claudius Florimund Mercy was appointed governor of the region. Mercy called Austrian experts to renew the defenses and, above all, miners to procure the necessary resources. The "Banat Furniture Commission" was headed by Kallanek from Timisoara. Summoned Zipser and Tyrolean miners took up ore mining and smelting based on the technologies tried and tested in German and Austrian mining. They blew on the first copper blast furnace in Southeast Europe in Deutsch-Orawitza .

At the same time the first large ironworks was built in Deutsch-Bokschan (1719). Further mines demanding copper , silver and lead were built in Deutsch-Tschiklowa (1718), Neu-Moldowa (1728), Deutsch-Saska (1730) and thus formed the Banat metal industry. On this basis, the trades founded the first mining school in this part of Europe (1729). The language of instruction was German . The native Romanians and Serbs were brought in for lack of immigrants.

The mines were managed by four mining offices . They were set up in Orawitz, Bokschan, whose role Reschitz later took over, Dognatschka and Saska, which was dissolved in 1877 and assigned to the administration of New Moldova. The mining offices were under the direction of the kk Oberbergamt , founded in 1723 , which existed as such, later under the name Banater Bergdirektion, with hardly any notable interruptions until 1856, temporarily located in Timisoara, but most of the time in Orawitz.

The invasion of the Turks in 1738 paralyzed the beginnings of mining. After the renewed peace treaty, the Empress Maria Theresa revitalized mining and schools. For example, new contingents, especially of German and Austrian origin, were created in the Banat Uplands by FK Krakows, the empress's councilor. Christoph Traugott Delius , who was appointed to teach mining at the Bergakademie Schemnitz , should be mentioned as an outstanding personality in the local mining industry . With the transfer of the right of disposal over the mineral resources to the administration of the state, the right to issue instructions for mining officials was introduced. Her training took place in the mining academies founded in various countries (Freiberg 1765, Schemnitz 1770).

In 1747, the Empress approved the responsible of the mining authority, Mulz von Walda, to set up mountain schools, taking into account the relevant regulations. At the beginning of the century, a mining school was set up in Petroșani . The change in the borders after the Treaty of Trianon resulted in the establishment of the mining and smelting faculty in Timișoara.

In the years 1733-1759 the first dams were built in Orawitza and Dognatschka . In October 1768 Maria Theresia granted the building permit for the "Eisenwerk Reschitz", at the suggestion of the miners Christoph Traugott Delius and Franz Xaver Wögginger, instead of an extension of the Bokschaner works. On July 3, 1771, Germans from Bokschan blew on the "Franziskus" and "Josephus" furnaces in Deutsch-Reschitza. In 1771, 126 German families lived in the Reschitz workers' colony. In the Styrian forest in 1790, the lumberjack Mathias Hammer discovered the "black stone", the coal .

In 1803 the entrepreneur Franz Hofmann founded the Russberg ironworks in Pojana Ruska . Three Austrian private entrepreneurs, the brothers Franz, Anton and Ferdinand Hofmann, founded the Ferdinandsberg ironworks in the northern mountains . Tyrolean mountain farmers who had successfully defied the Bavarians and French in the battles on Iselberg in 1809, were abandoned by Emperor Franz after their defeat , left their homeland , led by Josef Speckbacher , Andreas Hofer's comrade-in- arms , and settled in In 1810 on the edge of the Banat Mountains, where they founded the municipality of Königsgnad , today's Tyrol.

In contrast to the beginnings of industrial development in the Western European countries, the Banat industry did not emerge from the natural development of the country, but was implanted from above and from outside. It was promoted by the mercantilist politics of the House of Habsburg, conceived by experts from the empire and specifically built up by colonists from the empire and local residents. This implantation had the advantage that the development stages of Western and Central Europe did not have to be repeated in the Banat Uplands. The industrial plants were built on the technical level of the industrial areas of the empire.

The StEG in the Banater Bergland

The "Resicza" locomotive
Railway Museum Reșița
Banat “Semmering” railway Anina-Orawitza

The rich mineral resources of the Banat mountainous region, iron as well as ores containing other metals and precious metals (in Eisenstein, Dognatschka, Vartoape near Bokschan, Delinesti, Orawitz, Tschiklowa, Saska,) high-quality hard coal (Doman, Sekul, Anina, Steierdorf), essential for steel smelting Additions such as lime (Coltani), manganese (Delinesti), forests with wood for the extraction of charcoal and large water reserves from the Semenik Mountains favored the development of mining and metallurgy in this part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire as early as the 18th century. The first blast furnace was blown in Reschitz in 1771.

In 1855 the StEG bought the Banat mines, domains, ironworks and railway lines from the Austrian state. With the contract of January 1, 1855 and the subsequent specific handover protocols, the StEG took over the mines, smelters and copper hammers from Orawitza-Tschiklowa, the copper, silver, lead, zinc and iron mines and the smelters from Dognatschka in the Banat Copper and iron mines and the smelter from Saska, the hard coal mines from Doman and Sekul, the copper mines and the copper smelter from Neu Moldowa, the hard coal mines from Steierdorf-Anina, the Reschitz ironworks and the iron hammer from Franzdorf, the ironworks and the copper hammer from Bokschan, the iron hammer of Gladna, the iron mines of Eisenstein and Slatina and the domains with a total area of ​​130,083.40 hectares. Of this, 42,577.71 hectares were arable land and 87,505.69 hectares were forest. The company has also taken over the feudal rights on its domains through its eight mining authorities: Neu-Moldowa, Deutsch-Saska, Deutsch-Orawitz, Steierdorf, Dognatschka, Deutsch-Bokschan, Deutsch-Gladna with the associated mining communities and 51 urbarial communities. The StEG paid the Arar 11,123.045 florins and 89 kreuzers for all of the Banat plants, forests and domains  .

After the takeover of the Banat mining area by the Imperial-Royal Privileged Austrian State Railroad Company (StEG) in 1855, development was accelerated, with the result that the material transport within the companies, which had previously been practiced with horse-drawn railways, no longer met the requirements could meet. The success of the use of steam power in the transport sector of the developed Western European industrial countries prompted the company's management to send a locomotive to Reschitz in 1871. It was a series StEG 52 locomotive with a track width of 948 mm and an output of 45 hp. It was built according to the designs of John Haswell in the company's own locomotive factory in Vienna and was specially tailored to the needs of the Reschitza works.

This locomotive was in service for decades and served as a model for the construction of another three copies, which were reproduced in the Reschitza mechanical workshops in 1872 and 1873. Today it is exhibited in the Locomotive Museum in Reșița.

In 1854 the first standard gauge railway on the soil of today's Romania, between Orawitza and Basiasch, was opened to traffic. The Viennese court chamber sold its Banat mining property in 1855 to the “Imperial-Royal Privileged Austrian State Railroad Company” (StEG). Reschitza iron workers and miners founded the “Workers Support Association” in 1861, a self-help organization, the first workers' association in the Banat Uplands.

In 1863 the Banat “Semmering” railway Orawitza-Anina was opened to traffic. It leads through 14 tunnels and over 10 viaducts and overcomes an incline of 338 meters. The reason for the construction of this railway was the transport of coal from Anina to Baziaș on the Danube. Today the journey takes two hours and five minutes. A special feature for railway enthusiasts is a special trip with a set pulled by a steam locomotive. This ride with enough photo stops has become a tourist attraction.

Share in Uzinele de Fier și Domeniile din Reșița (UDR SA) from June 1926

In 1872 the first locomotive in what is now Romania and all of Southeast Europe was built in Reschitza. It was called "RESICZA". A year later the third locomotive "HUNGARIA" built in Reschitza was presented at the Vienna World Exhibition . In 1878 Reschitza took part in the World Exhibition in Paris . The StEG received two “grand prix”, two gold, one silver and one bronze medal and the former mining engineer Wilhelm Zsigmondy from Reschitza was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Legion of Honor. In 1920 after the connection of the Banat to the Kingdom of Romania , the StEG was converted into a Romanian stock corporation "Uzinele de Fier și Domeniile din Reșița (UDR)".

In just two decades, the StEG expanded its facilities in the Banat by setting up the following plants: a sulfuric acid factory in New Moldowa, the Anina ironworks, the mineral distillation works in Steierdorf, the paraffin works in Orawitz, the ironworks in Dognatschka, the Art mills in Orawitz and Bokschan, the lime and cement factory in Orawitz, the lime ring kiln near Kraschowa, the lime and brick kilns in Roman-Bokschan, the Orawitza-Anina mountain railway, the narrow-gauge Morawitza-Reschitza-Sekul mountain railway.

From the StEG the UDR took over the iron works of Reșița and Anina, the Bokschaner agricultural machinery factory, the iron mines of Eisenstein , the coal mines of Steierdorf-Anina, Doman and Sekul, the disused mines of Oravița (copper, gold), Ciclova Montană (copper), Saska (copper) and New Moldowa (copper, iron pebbles), the concession for the pits of Delinești (iron and manganese ore), Armeniș (iron ore and lignite), Caransebeș (lignite), Bozovici (lignite), Dolni Lupkowa (copper, Iron), 95,800 hectares of domain (of which 88,248 hectares of forest), 4 sawmills (Anina, Wassiowa, Franzdorf, Sawoi), the lime kilns from Colţan, the saw from Reschitz-Stavila, 134 km of railway lines, 103 km of wood canals, 3 vineyards (Ramna, Tyrol, Neu-Moldowa), 2 trout ponds (Franzdorf, Steierdorf-Anina), 8 lakes and 27 sales magazines. In addition, there are the StEG shares in Holzverkohlungs-AG, the ironworks and the forestry company of Nădrag and the Banat milling industry. After the annexation of the Banat, the UDR was the most important heavy industry company in the new Romania.

tourism

Hercules Bath, 1824

Although the Romans were already familiar with the healing power of the warm salt and sulfur springs that spring here, modern spa operations began in Hercules Bath when the Habsburg Empire took possession of the Banat in 1718. At that time, Johann Field Marshal Hamilton laid out new baths. The place was since 1767 in the area of ​​the Banat military border; Part of the recreational facilities belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Army, from whose ranks many spa guests came. The military border and with it the military administration of the place were dissolved in 1873. The Austrian baths were built between 1883 and 1886 according to the plans of the architect Carl Wilhelm von Doderer .

In 1878 Hoffenreich Mór founded the climatic health resort Marilla between Steierdorf and Orawitza, which is located at an altitude of 714 m and lies in the middle of a dense fir and oak forest.

Thanks to the mild climate, the healing springs and the influence of the Hercules Bath and Busiasch, the architect Franz Sittner opened the “Natural and Steel Bath” in Orawitza on June 10, 1888. Following the personal instructions of Pastor Kneipp , the Sittnerische Bad was changed to a Kneipp bath and opened on June 1, 1893.

In addition to the mountain resort of Steierdorf, a mountain health resort at over 800 m altitude was founded in 1897, which was named "Sommerfrische" and in 1900 the health resort "Mühltal" was opened in Orawitza by the large pond along the Orawitza brook.

In 1923 Alexander Tietz founded a group of wandering birds in Reschitza at the suggestion of the Wandervogel from Germany, based on the model of the association founded by Karl Fischer in Steglitz in 1901 to promote the desire to hike and to cultivate folk song.

Mountainous German villages

Cultural life

Church and pilgrimage

The pilgrimage church of Maria Tschiklowa

At the time of the introduction of the Reformation in the 16th century, the Jesuits had a mission and a denominational school in Caransebes; their activity was revived in the first decades of the 18th century. In addition, a Catholic church was built in the center (1738).

The settlers built a hospital and a school in Steierdorf in 1774. In 1787 the first church was built. In its place, today's Roman Catholic Church was consecrated in Gothic style. The Protestant church in Steierdorf is just as old .

The Roman Catholic Church of Orawitza was built between 1718 and 1721, making it one of the oldest in the Banat. Until its inauguration, the small Kreuzwiesen chapel served as a place of prayer. For the patronage "Exaltation of the Cross" on September 14th, a service is held every year until today. On May 4th, St. Florian's Day, the St. Florian Chapel attracted walkers and pilgrims to prayer. On April 24th there was a pilgrimage to the St. Mark's Cross for the "fruit consecration". The Convent of the Poor School Sisters of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, was founded in 1864.

Maria-Tschiklowa is the pilgrimage church of the Catholics of the Banat mountainous region. In 1727 the Maria Fels chapel was built to keep an old miraculous image. The bishops László Nádasdy (1727) and Adalbert von Falkenstein (1733) obtained indulgences from the Pope for the three feast days of Mary. In 1777 the current pilgrimage church was built on the rock. The complete indulgence for the whole year took place in 1798 by Pope Pius VI. From 1807 Tschiklowa got an independent parish. On May 12, 1854, "the miracle of Tschiklowa" happened when little Elisabeth Windberger fell from the high church rock out of carelessness and got away with only a few scratches.

In 1776 the first Roman Catholic parish was founded in the Reschitza workers' colony and a small church made of stone and fire bricks, with a wooden tower, as well as a parish and school house was built. In 1846 the Roman Catholic parish church "Maria Schnee" was consecrated. The construction of this church was approved in 1841 by Montan-Aerar as patron. On June 29, 1874, the new memorial was inaugurated on Kreuzberg. In 1877 the Roman Catholic church choir was founded in Reschitza on the initiative of Ludwig Mottl. After Mottl retired, the then school director and cantor teacher Josef Tietz took over the leadership of the church choir. The Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession was inaugurated in Reschitza in 1910 .

Press and publications

The brothers Arthur and Albert Schott published the first collection “Romanian folk tales from the Banat” in Stuttgart in 1845 . The collector and translator of the fairy tales was Arthur Schott, who had spent several years as an estate manager on the edge of the Banat mountains, in the Orawitza valley. In 1888 the native Reschitza writer and translator Ludwig Vinzenz Fischer was awarded the "Golden Medal for Art and Science" for his translations from Romanian by the Romanian King Charles I.

In 1868 the first edition of the local newspaper "Berggeist" appeared in Orawitza. In the same year Karl Wunder founded the first printing company in town. From 1872 the newspaper appeared uninterrupted until 1940 under the name "Orawitzaer Wochenblatt". It was last published by the local printing company "Kaden".

In the years 1886–1888 Cornel Diaconovich had a Romanian review in Reschitza . Political-literary monthly. Budapest - Reschitza - Vienna (1885–1892) print, the first magazine to publicize Romanian cultural assets in German. In 1887 the weekly newspaper "Reschitzaer Zeitung" appeared in Reschitza as an organ for local, social and cultural interests. It was published in "Allgemeine Volks-Zeitung" in 1889. Organ for social and cultural interests. Reschitza ”and appeared as such until 1895. The“ Reschitzaer Zeitung ”appeared until 1944. The journalist and social democrat Georg Hromadka , who was born in Lupeni , continued with his work“ Small Chronicle of the Banater Bergland ”, published in 1993 by the Südostdeutschen Kulturwerk München, the Banater Bergland a monument.

Alexander Tietz made his debut in Romanian in the magazine "Reșița" in 1939, with a series of 13 articles under the title "Scrisori din sălașul meu" ("Letters from the Alm"). In 1940 he began collecting folk tales, legends and stories in Wolfsberg and Franzdorf, and in 1942 he expanded his research to include the traditions of the Romanians, Kraschowans and Serbs from the Banat mountainous region. The first book by Alexander Tietz was published in 1956 by the Bucharest youth publishing house: “Legends and fairy tales from the Banat Mountains”, and in 1958 the second book by Alexander Tietz was published by the Bucharest youth publishing house: “Das Zauberbründl. Fairy tales from the Banat Mountains ”and his third book in the Bucharest literary publishing house in 1967:“ Where the chimneys smoke in the valleys. A reading book ”. In 1979 Alexander Tietz published “Fairy tales and legends from the Banater Bergland” in the “Kriterion” publishing house in Bucharest. In 1980 the Romanian record company "Electrecord" released a long-playing record with fairy tales in German. Page A contains fairy tales from the Banat Bergland ("Hans with the Pig's Ear", "The Glass Mountain" and "The Two Children with Golden Hair") by Alexander Tietz.

The writer Anton Breitenhofer from Reschitza was editor-in-chief of the long-standing daily newspaper Neuer Weg , Bucharest, from 1954 to 1976 . On May 17, 1971, for the first time in the history of this ethnic group, the Banat Berglanddeutscher was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany .

School and Education

Orawitza Military School

When the Banat came under Habsburg rule in 1718, the school system was reorganized. In 1779 there was a "German Border Guard School" in Caransebesch. After Caransebesch joined the "Wallachian-Illyr Border Regiment" (1783), the "Trivial Border Guard School", which trained NCOs for the Banat military border, was set up. At the main company there was a secondary school with three classes in German, and at the headquarters of the regiment there was the "Officer and NCO School" with four classes in German. In 1811 the "Normal Realschule" trained NCOs. The first vocational school was established in Orawitz in 1729 and the first elementary school in German in 1738 . In 1864 the 126th branch of the Munich “Notre-Dame” order was built in Orawitz, and its school sisters founded a girls' elementary school and a community school here. Compulsory schooling was already legally enacted in 1772 and has gradually become established.

From 1776 there were also school lessons in German in Montan-Reschitz. 1804–1805, 122 of the 173 German school-age children attended school regularly. At first there was only a two-class elementary school. It was later expanded into a four-class school and expanded into a six-class elementary school at the beginning of the 19th century. In 1853 a school building was built next to the Roman Catholic Church , which also housed the rectory. It was a Roman Catholic elementary school for boys and girls with German as the language of instruction. It served as a school for over a hundred years until it fell victim to industrialization policies in the 1970s when it had to give way to the rolling mill. From 1883 boys and girls were taught separately. In 1872 a second school with German as the language of instruction was opened in the parish building of the Protestant church . She was visited by the children of German and Hungarian Protestants. In 1908 a small private school with German as the language of instruction was opened for the Köhler's children . Another private school was the "Pittner School" on Strada Furnalelor . In 1874 the local council decided to found a “higher elementary school” with a three-year training course for boys and a two-year-old for girls. Because the financial means were lacking, the school could only be opened in 1877. The two founding classes were attended by 34 boys and 45 girls. In 1889 a two-storey building was erected directly below the “old citizen school”. It still serves as a school today. After the completion of the building, the "higher elementary school" moved in here.

In a multiethnic region, the language of instruction is determined by several factors: the nationality and school policy of the government of the state concerned and the self-assertion of the individual ethnic groups. In addition, religious affiliation played an important role when schools were first established in the Banat Uplands. The schools were subordinate to three authorities. The state provided the legal framework. The church established schools and determined religious education. The community had to support the school financially. A specialty in the Banat mountain villages was the patronage of the mountain administration, later the StEG. She was not only an employer, but also took on tasks for the community and was thus responsible for many areas of social life. Among other things, she was responsible for the material basis (construction and maintenance of buildings, teachers' salaries) for the schools in the communities that belonged to her domains. Most of these were Roman Catholic primary schools with German, but also Greek Catholic and Orthodox primary schools with Romanian as the language of instruction. At the end of the 19th century, the StEG supported 12 German Catholic classes, the German Protestant school, two Romanian classes and the Reformed Hungarian school in Reschitz. As a result of the population structure of the mountain village, German-language elementary school instruction was predominant in Montan-Reschitz until the end of the 19th century.

The massive Magyarization began with the Austro-Hungarian compromise in 1867 , when the Habsburg Monarchy became the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy . The government responsible for the Banat was no longer in Vienna, but in Budapest. The declared goal of the new rulers was the unified nation. The most important instrument for this was the school. In 1879, learning the Hungarian language became a compulsory subject in schools. After a transition period, the teachers had to be proficient in the Hungarian language enough to be able to teach in that language. After all, all of the lessons had to be given in Hungarian. This development did not take place at the same speed in all Banat villages, because the local conditions played a certain role. So the patronage of the StEG had a favorable effect, as the final Magyarization of the public schools in the mountain resorts only took hold relatively late. In the German primary schools patronized by the StEG, teaching was still in German at the end of the 19th century. In 1907 another law came into force that tightened the Magyarization of elementary schools. In all state and state-sponsored schools and kindergartens, lessons had to be given in Hungarian. Religion could continue to be taught in the mother tongue. From 1914, German as a mother tongue was allowed to be taught in three hours per week. As a result of the Magyarization, Hungarian was the language of instruction in Reschitz for around 10-15 years in elementary schools and for 30 years in middle schools. Teaching in the mother tongue was not reintroduced until 1919. After the First World War, the formerly Magyarized schools were subordinated to the Romanian state. Romanian and German departments were set up at the Reschitz schools as early as 1919.

Theater and music life

The old theater in Orawitza (1817) is the oldest theater building in Romania

In 1763 the German traveling theater group of Antonius Entry appeared in Orawitza. The Orawitza "Dilettantenverein" received its own theater in 1817, the oldest theater building on Romanian soil that is still standing today. It was built on the model of the old Burgtheater . The specialty of this theater were the trilingual theater evenings.

The Reschitzaer Sängerbund was founded in 1897. The choir was the choir of middle officials and the middle class. The founder and choirmaster was director, teacher and Regens Chori Josef Tietz for over 30 years. The flag consecration took place on May 18, 1902. The choir existed until the Second World War.

In 1899 the “Lyra” singing club was founded in Reschitza. The first president of the association was Johann Kriesel. The association existed until 1905. On August 18, 1918, the "Iron Quartet" was founded in Reschitza. The first and only president for 20 years was Karl Kummergruber, choir master Josef Tietz, conductor for the choir orchestral performances by Peter Rohr .

dialect

The German settlers remained in contact with the Austrian administrative language for a long time, but also with the German cultural area. The school lessons, the church, the customs and festivals, but also the everyday colloquial language at work and in living together ensured that the German language remained lively in all German or German-influenced places and developed its own dynamic. In the cities there were additional favorable factors, such as the German press or the German theater, which were preserved even during the communist regime.

More than 90% of the Banat mountainous Germans speak a Bavarian-Austrian dialect. Pure dialect was only spoken in the Bohemian villages of Sadowa, Weidenthal, Wolfsberg and Lindenfeld. In the other places, a mixture of Styrian , Bohemian and other Austrian language elements has prevailed, with a slight Romanian , Slavic and Hungarian influence. In addition to this linguistic and dialectal puzzle, Upper Austrian and Viennese also play an increasingly important role in Reschitz .

Personalities

literature

  • Julius A. Baumann: History of the Banater mountainous German ethnic group. A contribution to the history of the Temesese Banat. (Eckartschrift 109). Protection Association Österr. Landsmannschaft, Vienna 1989, DNB 891250948 .
  • Christian Gitzing: School through the ages . Volume 1: The German elementary school in Reschitza from the beginning to the present. Publishing house Banatul Montan, Reschitza / Romania 2003, ISBN 973-97258-3-43
  • Waldemar König, Karl Ludwig Lupșiasca, Erwin Josef Tigla: The Banater Berglanddeutsche: a manual. Publishing house Banatul Montan, Reschitza / Romania 2013, ISBN 978-973-1929-51-4 .
  • Georg Hromadka: Small Chronicle of the Banater Mountains. IKGS Verlag, Munich 1994, ISBN 3-88356-051-0 .
  • Rudolf Gräf: Contribuții la istoria industrială a Banatului Montan. StEG, factor de modernizare (1855-1920). Presa Universitară Clujeană, 2011, ISBN 978-973-595-296-9 .
  • Costin Feneşan, Rudolf Gräf, Vasile Mircea Zaberca, Ion Popa: Din istoria cărbunelui. Anina 200. Reşiţa 1991.
  • Johannes Brudnjak, Rudolf Gräf, Werner Kremm : Travel Guide to the Romanian Banat. Austria Media Print, Graz 1998, ISBN 3-85333-038-X .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hans Gehl : Moselle Franconian in the dialects of the Danube Swabians. ( Memento from November 13, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ^ Hans Gehl: Rhine Franconian in the dialects of the Danube Swabians. ( Memento from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ Herta Drozdik-Drexler: History ( Memento of October 12, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) on banater-berglanddeutsche.de
  4. ↑ Hans Gehl: German urban languages ​​in provincial cities of Southeast Europe . Franz Steiner, 1997, ISBN 3-515-07171-7 , p. 52.
  5. ↑ a b c d e Banater Berglanddeutsche ( Memento from December 14, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ^ Settlement of the Germans in the Banat Uplands .
  7. ↑ Settlement of the Banat mountainous Germans .
  8. ^ Democratic forum of the Banat mountainous Germans .
  9. ↑ a b c d Reports of the Federal Geological Institute . (PDF; 138 kB)
  10. ↑ a b c d Structural changes in the economy of the Banat mining area .
  11. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n The Banat Uplands: a timetable . (PDF; 89 kB)
  12. ↑ a b c d Steam locomotive construction in Reschitz ( Memento from December 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  13. ↑ Highlights of the Banat Mountains . (PDF; 286 kB)
  14. ↑ Hans Fink : Behind the scenes of the war. Romania and Hungary in the crosshairs of the great powers .
  15. ↑ Hercules bath .
  16. ↑ uni-oldenburg.de , Karansebesch / Caransebeş
  17. ↑ Maria Tschiklova .
  18. ↑ The old Orawitza and the Orawitzaer "Koari" .
  19. ↑ caransebes.ro ( Memento of December 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), Caransebesch. Education.
  20. ↑ a b c d Notes on the first schools founded in Reschitz . ( Memento of December 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 1.6 MB)
  21. ↑ Review by Hans Dama , Horst Fassel : Bühnen-Welten from 18.-20. Century. German theater in the provinces of today's Romania.
  22. ↑ a b Montanbanat dialects .
  23. ↑ collection of reschitzarer vocabulary. ( Memento from February 16, 2009 in the Internet Archive )