Abstract
This chapter focuses on the little-known attempt by the Romanian communist government to “win back” the country’s ethnic Germans. In March 1954, the authorities decided to return the houses and some of the land to ethnic Germans, assets that the state had confiscated in 1945 as a form of retribution. The government made the restitution conditional on the ethnic Germans joining the collective farms. This partial and conditional restitution eventually backfired; many regarded it as a gesture that came too late and offered too small an incentive, and it only reinforced their decision to emigrate to West Germany.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
Dan Diner, “Memory and Restitution: World War II as a Foundational Event in a Uniting Europe,” in Restitution and Memory: Material Restoration in Europe, ed. Dan Diner and Gotthart Wunberg (New York: Berghahn Books, 2007), 15.
- 2.
In 1962, the Party officials in Romania declared that the collectivization was accomplished. See Gail Kligman and Katherine Verdery, Peasants under Siege: The Collectivization of Romanian Agriculture, 1949–1962 (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2011).
- 3.
Ottmar Traşcă, “Andreas Schmidt and the German Ethnic Group in Romania (1940–1944),” Euxeinos (2015): 16–19, here 19.
- 4.
Paul Milata, Zwischen Hitler, Stalin und Antonescu: Rumäniendeutsche in der Waffen-SS (Cologne: Böhlau, 2009).
- 5.
Stefano Bottoni, Transilvania roșie: Comunismul român și problema națională 1944–1965 (Cluj-Napoca: Kriterion, 2010), 67.
- 6.
Ana Siljak, “Conclusion,” in Redrawing Nations: Ethnic Cleansing in East-Central Europe, 1944–1948, ed. Philipp Ther and Ana Siljak (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2001), 327–36.
- 7.
“Raport Final,” Comisia Prezidenţială Pentru Analiza Dictaturii Comuniste din România, Bucureşti (2006), 543, footnote 6. https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/media/documents/article/RAPORT%20FINAL_%20CADCR.pdf (accessed 23 June 2021).
- 8.
Ibid., 544.
- 9.
The first transport of ethnic Germans returning from the Soviet Union occurred as early as October 1945. “Raport Final” (2006), 544.
- 10.
Ibid., 546.
- 11.
Arhivele Naționale ale României (hereafter ANR), Fond CC al PCR, Cancelarie, File 3/1954, 42. This number comprised the German population in all of the villages in the Banat and Transylvania regions. It did not include the property of rich peasants, or the houses of ethnic Germans living in urban areas.
- 12.
ANR, Fond CC al PCR, Cancelarie, File 3/1954, 42. As all but one of the archival references in this chapter are from the same archival fund (Fond CC al PCR, Cancelarie), I will henceforth cite only the file and page numbers.
- 13.
Kligman and Verdery (2011), 393–4.
- 14.
Smaranda Vultur, Germanii din Banat prin povestirile lor (Iași: Polirom, 2018).
- 15.
Interview with Frau Weber (pseudonym), born 1935, conducted in Sibiu in 2005 by Emanuela Grama.
- 16.
See Ville Kivimäki, Peter Leese, eds, Trauma, Experience and Narrative in Europe after World War II (Palgrave, 2022), on the negotiations of loss among different groups in the aftermath of the war in Europe.
- 17.
Decree 80/1954 on 17 March 1954. File 10/1954, 5. For detailed instructions on how to apply the decree, see File 3/1954, 76–87.
- 18.
File 3/1954, 29.
- 19.
File 3/1954, 29.
- 20.
“Raport Final” (2006), 428–9. On the history of the collectivization in Romania, see Kligman and Verdery (2011).
- 21.
Kligman and Verdery (2011), 103.
- 22.
File 3/1954, 23–4.
- 23.
File 3/1954, 32.
- 24.
File 3/1954, 31.
- 25.
File 3/1954, 29.
- 26.
Kligman and Verdery (2011), 201.
- 27.
File 3/1954, 23–4.
- 28.
File 8/1954, 5.
- 29.
File 8/1954, 8.
- 30.
This was not a village as such, but a commune, that is, the smallest territorial division that generally included a set of neighboring villages under a common administration. File 3/1954, 46.
- 31.
File 3/1954, 47.
- 32.
File 3/1954, 48.
- 33.
File 3/1954, 49.
- 34.
File 8/1954, 3–4.
- 35.
File 10/1954, 4.
- 36.
Decree 81/1954 on 18 March 1954. File 10/1954, 6–7.
- 37.
ANR, Fond CC al PCR, sectia Organizatoric, File 32/1956, 9, cited in Hannelore Baier, “Die deutsche Minderheit in Rumänien 1953–1959,” in Zwischen Tauwetter und Neostalinismus. Deutsche und andere Minderheiten in Ostmittel- und Südosteuropa 1953–1964, ed. Rudolf Gräf and Gerald Volkmer (Munich: IKGS, 2011), 107–17, here 116.
- 38.
Minutes of the Politburo meeting of 10 February 1960, ANR, Fond CC al PCR, Cancelarie, File 10/1960, 17. I am grateful to historian Hannelore Baier for sharing a copy of this archival document with me, and to Narcis Tulbure in Bucharest for verifying the archival reference.
- 39.
By immigrating under the title of Aussiedler (“out-settlers”), these persons immediately received German citizenship and generous financial assistance. Amanda Klekowski von Koppenfels, “Second-Class Citizens? Restricted Freedom of Movement for Spätaussiedler Is Constitutional,” German Law Journal 5, no. 7 (2004): 761–89.
- 40.
Ovidiu Oltean, “From Privilege to Restrain: The Migration of Ethnic Germans from Romania and Poland,” http://migrationcenter.ro/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Raport_cercetare_The-migration-of-ethnic-germans-from-romania-and-poland_Recasting_Migrants_Voices_report-1.pdf (accessed 14 June 2021).
- 41.
File 109/1973, 33.
- 42.
Newspaper clip** of an article published in Die Welt, 23 November 1957 (no title mentioned). Open Society Archives, Fond HU OSA 300-60-1, Records of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Research Institute: Romanian Unit: Subject Files, Archival box 186/2, “Ethnic Minorities: Germans, 1951–1962,” Item 3588/1958.
- 43.
Heinrich Zillich (1954), cited in Michael Fabi, “Das Hilfskomitee der Siebenbürger Sachsen und evangelischen Banater Schwaben im Ringen um ‘Bleiben oder Gehen?’,” in Grenzen leben – Grenzen überwinden. Zur Kirchengeschichte des 20. Jahrhunderts in Ost-Mittel-Europa, ed. Christian-Erdmann Schott (Berlin: Lit, 2008), 55–89, here 64.
- 44.
The Association (Der Verband) was established in 1949, but in 1950 it became Die Landsmannschaft der Siebenbürger Sachsen. I will refer to the organization as the Association. Cristian Cercel, “The Deportation of Romanian Germans to the Soviet Union and Its Place within Transylvanian Saxon Memory Discourses in Germany in the 1950s and the 1960s,” New Europe College Stefan Odobleja Program Yearbook 2012–2013 (2014): 49–82.
- 45.
Fabi (2008).
- 46.
However, not everyone viewed mass emigration as the only solution. The Aid Committee, the other main organization of Romania’s ethnic Germans in Germany, coordinated by the Lutheran Church and the Red Cross, strongly opposed mass emigration, believing that it would lead to the disappearance of the Lutheran Church in Romania.
- 47.
Pierre de Trégomain, “‘Renversements sémantiques’: Mémoire des expulsions chez les Saxons de Transylvanie,” in Fuite et expulsions des Allemands: transnationalité et représentations, 19 e–21e siècle, ed. Dominique Herbet and Carola Hähnel (Villeneuve d’Ascq: Presses Universitaires du Septentrion, 2016), 89–102, here 94.
- 48.
Letter from Zillich to Josef Trischler, 23 December 1956, cited in de Trégomain (2016), 94.
- 49.
File 15/1958, 11.
- 50.
“Notă,” Direcția Treburilor CC al PMR, no. 338, 9 May 1958, in Gavriil Preda and Petre Opriș, România în Organizația Tratatului de la Varșovia. Documente (1954–1968), vol. I (Bucharest: Institutul Național pentru Studiul Totalitarismului, 2008), 281.
- 51.
As the then Minister of Propaganda, Leonte Răutu, declared in the Politburo meeting of 10 February 1960. File 10/1960, 19.
- 52.
“Notă,” Direcția Treburilor CC al PMR, 9 May 1958, in Preda and Opriș (2008), 277.
- 53.
File 15/1958, 11.
- 54.
File 15/1958, 11.
- 55.
File 10/1960, 19.
- 56.
File 166/1954, 1–2.
- 57.
File 10/1960, 35.
- 58.
Ibid, 18.
- 59.
Ibid., 28.
- 60.
Ibid., 17.
- 61.
Ibid., 19.
- 62.
File 20/1960, 8.
- 63.
File 20/1960, 3.
- 64.
File 113/1968, 2.
- 65.
File 113/1968, 71.
- 66.
File 113/1968, 3.
- 67.
File 113/1968, 22.
- 68.
File 113/1968, 11.
- 69.
File 113/1968, 12.
- 70.
File 113/1968, 86, 87.
- 71.
Florica Dobre et al., Acțiunea “Recuperarea.” Securitatea şi emigrarea germanilor din România (1962–1989) (Bucharest: Editura Enciclopedică, 2011), xxxvii.
- 72.
Ronald D. Bachman, ed., Romania: A Country Study (Washington, DC: GPO for the Library of Congress, 1989). Available at http://countrystudies.us/romania/.
- 73.
Some authors talk of approximately 210,000, while others estimate it to be around 236,000.
Bibliography
Bachman, Ronald D., ed. 1989. Romania: A Country Study. Washington, DC: GPO for the Library of Congress.
Baier, Hannelore. 2011. Die deutsche Minderheit in Rumänien 1953–1959. In Zwischen Tauwetter und Neostalinismus. Deutsche und andere Minderheiten in Ostmittel- und Südosteuropa 1953–1964, ed. Rudolf Gräf and Gerald Volkmer, 107–117. Munich: IKGS.
Bottoni, Stefano. 2010. Transilvania roșie: Comunismul român și problema națională 1944—1965. Cluj-Napoca: Kriterion.
Cercel, Cristian. 2014. The Deportation of Romanian Germans to the Soviet Union and Its Place within Transylvanian Saxon Memory Discourses in Germany in the 1950s and the 1960s. New Europe College Stefan Odobleja Program Yearbook 2012–2013: 49–82.
Comisia Prezidenţială Pentru Analiza Dictaturii Comuniste din România. 2006. “Raport Final.” Bucharest. https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/media/documents/article/RAPORT%20FINAL_%20CADCR.pdf. Accessed 23 Jun 2021.
de Trégomain, Pierre. 2016. ‘Renversements sémantiques’: Mémoire des expulsions chez les Saxons de Transylvanie. In Fuite et expulsions des Allemands: transnationalité et représentations, 19e–21e siècle, ed. Dominique Herbet and Carola Hähnel, 89–102. Villeneuve d’Ascq: Presses universitaires du Septentrion.
Diner, Dan. 2007. Memory and Restitution: World War II as a Foundational Event in a Uniting Europe. In Restitution and Memory: Material Restoration in Europe, ed. Dan Diner and Gotthart Wunberg. New York: Berghahn Books.
Dobre, Florica, Florian Banu, and Luminița Banu. 2011. Acțiunea “Recuperarea.” Securitatea şi emigrarea germanilor din România (1962–1989). Bucharest: Editura Enciclopedică.
Fabi, Michael. 2008. Das Hilfskomitee der Siebenbürger Sachsen und evangelischen Banater Schwaben im Ringen um ‘Bleiben oder Gehen?’. In Grenzen leben – Grenzen überwinden. Zur Kirchengeschichte des 20. Jahrhunderts in Ost-Mittel-Europa, ed. Christian-Erdmann Schott, 55–89. Münster: Lit.
Klekowski von Koppenfels, Amanda. 2004. Second-Class Citizens? Restricted Freedom of Movement for Spätaussiedler Is Constitutional. German Law Journal 5 (7): 761–789.
Kligman, Gail, and Katherine Verdery. 2011. Peasants under Siege: The Collectivization of Romanian Agriculture, 1949–1962. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Milata, Paul. 2009. Zwischen Hitler, Stalin und Antonescu: Rumäniendeutsche in der Waffen-SS. Cologne: Böhlau.
Oltean, Ovidiu. 2017. From Privilege to Restrain: The Migration of Ethnic Germans from Romania and Poland. Cluj-Napoca: RCCMS. http://migrationcenter.ro/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Raport_cercetare_The-migration-of-ethnic-germans-from-romania-and-poland_Recasting_Migrants_Voices_report-1.pdf. Accessed 14 Jun 2021.
Preda, Gavriil, and Petre Opriș. 2008. România în Organizația Tratatului de la Varșovia. Documente (1954–1968). Vol. I. Bucharest: Institutul Național pentru Studiul Totalitarismului.
Siljak, Ana. 2001. Conclusion. In Redrawing Nations: Ethnic Cleansing in East-Central Europe, 1944–1948, ed. Philipp Ther and Ana Siljak, 327–336. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Traşcă, Ottmar. 2015. Andreas Schmidt and the German Ethnic Group in Romania (1940–1944). Euxeinos: 16–19.
Vultur, Smaranda. 2018. Germanii din Banat prin povestirile lor. Iași: Polirom.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Grama, E. (2023). A Conditional Restitution and Strategic Silences: The Shifting Political Value of Ethnic Germans in Communist Romania. In: Wylegała, A., Rutar, S., Łukianow, M. (eds) No Neighbors’ Lands in Postwar Europe. Palgrave Studies in the History of Experience. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-10857-0_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-10857-0_11
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-10856-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-10857-0
eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)