Southeast German wandering bird
The Südostdeutsche Wandervogel was an amalgamation of various migratory bird federations in what is now Romania . It was dissolved in 1935.
history
Already in 1907 groups of the Austrian wandering bird were founded all over the German-speaking areas of Austria-Hungary as far as Transylvania (Transylvania) and Banat . The teacher Theodor Fabini from Schäßburg (Sighișoara), who studied in Berlin, where he got to know the migratory bird, led his students into nature according to the migratory bird species. Sibiu high school students of the Alwyl group of birds under the leadership of Capesius undertook a 10-day long journey from Hermannstadt (Sibiu) to Kronstadt (Brașov). Further groups soon emerged in all German cities between Klausenburg (Cluj-Napoca), Bistritz (Bistrița), Hermannstadt (Sibiu) and Kronstadt (Brasov). Except in Kronstadt, where the movement was mainly carried out by craft boys, it generally started out with high school students.
In 1918, in the Treaty of Trianon, most of the Banat was added to the Kingdom of Romania . The Romanians of Transylvania had on 1 December 1918 in the Karlsburger decisions ( Alba Iulia pronounced) for unification with Romania; the people's assemblies of the Transylvanian Saxons and the Banat Swabians also decided in 1919 to unite their territories with Romania. In the Karlsburger resolutions the Romanians assured the Magyars and the Germans as minorities extensive equal rights, but later failed to comply. The Transylvanian Wandervogel was founded in November 1918 . Numerous groups of girls also emerged in the 1920s. The Transylvanian Wandervogel was strongly influenced by imperial German groups such as the Silesian youth in the German Freischar , with whom they traveled together and who invited many Transylvanian groups of migrant birds to Germany.
In 1927 the working group of Transylvanian and Banat Wandering Birds Groups was founded, which in 1929 was renamed in Mediasch as the "Association of Southeast German Wandering Birds". The Banat migratory birds also had good contacts with the migratory birds in the Yugoslav part of the Banat, while German associations were forbidden in the Hungarian part of the Banat. The refuge on Lake Bâlea (Bâlea Lac) in the Southern Carpathians was restored in numerous voluntary work assignments . Today there is a newly built hut on the site, which is managed by the German Alpine Association . Not far from the place is the former bear hunting hut of the dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu .
In 1934, the work was banned by the Romanian government because it was viewed as a new party organization. The only approved organization of the Germans in Romania, the German ethnic group in Romania , then continued this work with the migratory birds and several social institutions such as children's recreation camps, school service and other things developed from it. The German scout groups in Bistritz joined in 1935 as an independent Horst dem Wandervogel. Many groups of migratory birds built their homes in old defense towers or from barns, where they held their nest evenings, which greatly contributed to the community awareness. Walter Hatzak later set up a youth hostel in Transylvania.
Political developments brought the movement to a quick end. The German Reich government in Berlin had the leaders of the party groups of the German minority in Romania appointed to Germany and replaced them with a leader of the ethnic group . As in the territory of the Reich, the German youth organizations such as scouts and Wandervogel were banned in Romania and converted into a uniform youth association. It is true that the Wandervogel, which was predominantly strongly Lutheran, gave rise to critical voices about Hitler’s policy early on , because on their wanderings in the multi-ethnic state of Romania they quickly learned that respect for their own people is based on respect for every other people. Nevertheless, there was no resistance worth mentioning when the German youth in Romania were sworn to the Führer and brought into line with "unconditional obedience" . This wiped out the freedom of the individual and the Meißner formula , according to which young people could shape their lives “on their own responsibility, with inner truthfulness”.
Many migratory birds died in war or deportations, which affected all Germans in Romania after the war and where they had to work for years in inhumane conditions in the Soviet Union . Returnees were often not allowed to enter Romania and were deported to the German Democratic Republic or the Federal Republic of Germany . A Transylvanian Circle of Friends of the former Southeast German Wandering Bird still exists today .
Known members
- Alfred Bonfert , chairman of the German People's Party in Romania
- Albert Klein , Bishop of the Evangelical Church AB in Romania
- Alexander Tietz , writer and ethnographer
- Nikolaus Hans Hockl , educator, politician, historian and writer
- Hans-Konrad Molitoris , doctor and co-organizer of the land service movement
literature
- Youth movement in Transylvania . In: red-gray leaves. internet publication of the gray reiter scouting association, No. 48, October 2005, pp. 12–19 , schriftleitung.org (PDF; 550 kB)
- Gerhard Albrich, Hans Christ, Hans Wolfram Hockl: German youth movement in the southeast . Gieseking, Bielefeld 1969
- Karl Otto Paetel (Ed.): Südostdeutscher Wandervogel: German youth hikers in Romania . Publishing house Die Kommenden, Flarchheim 1930
Web links
- Reflections on the youth and migrant movement in Romania. Transylvanian Newspaper