nr. 13/2002 - SSI Erasmus – ISHA Bucharest

ERASMUS № 13 / 2002
the implementation of economical, language and educational-cultural measures,
which implied in fact a regression of the position of the minorities17 . In February
1938, the Government led by Octavian Goga acknowledged the People’s
Community of the Germans in Romania as the sole representative of the German
community; later, they were awarded 12 seats in the National Representation,
the Carlist Parliament18 , a kind of predecessor of the Grand National Assembly.
Before the presentation of the extremist movements, it should be mentioned,
that, for a short period of time, beginning with the tenure of the Prime Ministership
by Nicolae Iorga (April 1931-July 1932), generally known for his friendly
feelings towards the Germans in Romania, an office of Undersecretary of State
for the problems of the minorities was created. It had more a consultative mission,
but it is of great importance for the relation State-Minority, that Rudolf Brandsch
was the choice made for this function19 .
The extremist groups occurred at the beginning of the thirties. A gap between
politicians elected in the Parliament and leaders like the former officer Fritz
Fabritius, the founder, already in the early twenties, of Selbsthilfe – Self Help, an
organization aiming the economical cooperation and self-support among the
Saxons in Transylvania, which turned into a political movement. It was first a
classical conservative party, but at the beginning of the thirties it transformed into
a national-socialist organization20 . The parliamentary representatives were
criticized because of their collaboration with the dominant nation parties, but that
was just the new rule of the game. Loosing privileges, and, after the great
economical crisis obliged to support own schools and Church due to the lack of
money of the Romanian government, many of the Saxons felt betrayed. The
inflict of a supplementary tax, in order to support these vital institutions for the
maintenance of the identity of the German group in Romania, simply offered an
excellent motive for a protest movement, which built up on the basis of Fabritius’
organization. The Movement for Renewal (Erneureungsbewegung) stated, that
the Germans should find a way inside their own community21 . That did not imply,
by no means, the autonomy or independence from Romania: even when extremeright
movements claimed the organization of the ethnic minority on nationalsocialist
basis, they still remain loyal to Romania, described as the homeland22 .
Later, the party led by Fabritius changed its name into National Socialist Revival
Movement of the Germans in Romania-NEDR (1934), and already in 1933 won
the leadership of the Transylvanian Saxon Diet, in Sibiu23 .
Similar to what could be called “the group of democratic politicians”, the
extreme right wing was not united from the beginning. Disidences and separate
groups were formed, among them the Party of the German People (Deutsche
Volkspartei), run by Waldemar Gustav Bonfert, whom had strong connections
with the NSDAP. The union of these two movements took place in 1938, at a
suggestion came from Berlin24 .
A few words ought to be said about the doctrines of the Germans in Romania
national-socialists: they used to speak about the health of the race, about Volk/
people and to isolate themselves on the political stage, use a rhetoric of violence,
but less real violence; the religion was in a way prohibited, but the Church (Lutheran
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