nr. 13/2002 - SSI Erasmus – ISHA Bucharest

ERASMUS № 13 / 2002
man population living within the Romanian borders, although there were important
cultural, linguistic and political differences between different communities
(e.g. between Saxons, Suabians, the population in Bucovina or in the Old Kingdom).
1. A Demographic Overview. The census of 1930, the most reliable source
for the demographic evolution of interwar Romania, revealed, that 4,1 % of the
entire Romanian population (18,582,896), e.g. 745,421 persons belonged to the
ethnic German minority. In order to obtain an accurate structure of the population
and to split it between the Romanian majority and the ethnic minorities, two subjective
criteria were used: the kin (neamul) to which a person considered himself/
herself as part of, through historical ties, feelings and expectations 1 and the mother
tongue, according to citizens’ declaration. 2 . The results demonstrated the existence
of some differences between those having German as mother tongue and
those who ascribed themselves to the German ethnic minority, as it follows:
Province German Germanas
ethnic membership mother tongue
Bucovina 75,533 98, 812
Transylvania 237,416 237,881
Banat 275,369 281,067
The Satu Mare District 31,067 21,545
Bassarabia 81,089 80,568
Dobrogea 12,581 12,439
Moldavia and Wallachia 32,366 33,070
Total 745,421 765,382
Source: Theodor Schieder (gen. ed.), The Fate of the Germans in Rumania.
Bonn, 1961
Taking a look at the map 3 one may see, that the German minority is disposed
mainly in Banat, with Timisoara and Arad as centers, and Transylvania, where
they occupied especially the highlands near Sibiu, and the areas of the towns
Bistrita, Brasov, Cluj. Small settlements might be found in Southern Bassarabia,
Bucovina, Dobrogea, near Oradea, and in towns such as Bucharest, Ploiesti,
Craiova, Petrosani.
2. A survey of the legislation concerning ethnic minorities (1923-1940). It
should be pointed out a few laws or political programs, which influenced the life
of the German minority in Romania during the two decades between the two
world wars and in the events after the 23 rd of August 1944.
The normal starting point is the Resolution made up in Alba Iulia, in December
1918, and its importance for the political programs of the German ethnic groups,
which were forced not only to live in another state, but also to accept the status of
minority, in contrast to their status before the war, e.g. members of a dominant
nation 4 . Of great importance are the constitutions of 1923 and 1938, the
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