History of the Transylvanian Saxons 

Transylvania is Romanian !

I used to live with a German family with the mother side from Siebenbürgen. They were forced to moved during Cold War and found their new home in Bavaria

Transilvania is part of Romania since 1918

Which county?

Thank you for your comment! They were indeed only a small part of the German population in eastern and southeastern Europe, but with a very interesting and important history nonetheless!

Larger scale movement ? Do you mean Prussian germans?

@@abduvohidodiljonov9365 The most famous early movement was into the Sudentenland in former Czechoslovakia. But also the movement of Germans along the Baltic into East Prussia, Latvia, Courland, and Estonia was important. They are all gone now as consequences and aftermath of WWII.

Well, in Romania some of them still remained, including the president@@michaelroark2019

@@brb4903 Yes, that's true... but the president is not such a good one, regardless of his ethnic background. In point of fact, he was massively voted both as a mayor and as president on the grounds of his Transylvanian Saxon/German roots which many Romanians rightfully see as a positive aspect (which it is). However, he was (and still is) one of the worst Romanian presidents of all times, at least to me and other like-minded people, especially because he endorsed and allied himself with the PSD so much (the party which, as PCR, negatively marked the demographic decline of the Saxons in Transylvania as well as of the entire German population of Romania; not to mention what they and the Securitatea did to the anti-communist or non-communist or non-securist Romanians or Hungarians or Romanian citizens of other ethnic backgrounds).

I have a picture from Dedrad from NS times. A particularity of the village, is that the boys used to wear "Pfingsthose". Just search on google: "Deutsch-Zepling bilder siebenbuerger" and you will see more with the Tracht and so on. Nonetheless, the village doesn't look anymore like it looked in the times of your grandparents or so. it's completely destroyed. If you want to see a true, well-preserved Saxon village that still has that vibe, it has to be Deutsch-Weißkirch. All the best

same

how much percent are you

@@malikilahi6284 only 1/8, but it is my patrilinear line, so my surname is of that origin

@@limeliciousmapping4652 Nice, I have 30%

My results are so diverse its weird

I'm happy that I could help you with that 🙂

Thats really interesting! Do you still have relatives there?

@@metisdocumentaries in don't think so

Corona, Brassó, Braşov

Thank you for your advice! I hope that they don't remove it since it's clearly for educational porpuses. I am working on another video right now but I will definitely consider your suggestions for later videos. :)

the hungarians called them that because of the clothing and the name stuck.

Still around

At least they are still there and very active

Very sad... they went through dramas and traumas hard to be properly put into words. I know their history very well. They are very hard working, civilised, well mannered, and kind. At least the situation has slowly but steadily improved to some extent in Romania so that some of them are still around and others are re-visiting Romania and re-taking their rightful properties here. All the best!

@@christopherellis2663they went from 40% and even a majority of cities and counties to not even reaching two digits now a day. That’s not “still around”

yeah I guess they shouldn’t have been nazis, crazy concept I know

Fun fact is that the Romanians kicked out all germans in transylvania after they occupied the hungarian land after ww1

Thank you! :)

@@metisdocumentaries 😊☺️

I am working on another project rn but I definitely plan on doing a video about that topic!

That is true! It was very interesting to read all about that during my research for the video 🙂

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-jJW4_bR4eDU.html

Slavs? I think you are a bit wrong informed. There are Romanians, there are Hungarians and Szekély, there are Saxons and Landler, there are Gypsies, there are a few Armenians ... but Slavs? No, there are no Slavs. A little bit there are the Hutsuls in Maramures, but Maramures is not Transylvania anymore.

@Eles Andras There where communities of Slovaks, Rusyns, and Ruthenians (Ukrainians) who lived in Transylvania. It’s hard to deny the Slavic influences in Romania that exist along side the German ones.

@@goodstuff8156 , the top 10 things Romania has stolen ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-jJW4_bR4eDU.html

Thank you for your feedback, could you explain in detail what you think was wrong?

@@metisdocumentaries Mistake 1. [8:33] Romanians continued the nationalistic and anti-minority politics of the Hungarians and even intensified them. - Quite the contrary, Romanians granted so many rights to the minorities that the status of ethnic Romanians in Transilvania remained problematic, as Hungarian nobles continued to own much of the land and the Saxons to control the crafts and industry. This even contradicts the later statement that Saxons controlled 90% of the industry and 75% of the commerce in Transilvania.

@@metisdocumentaries No. 2. Ethnic Germans in Transilvania also comprising the Swabians, voted for the union with Romania after WW1. The economy grew steadily in the following years, not at all stagnating, as did the size of the german population, reaching over 700 000 people in 1930. Even the royal family was German at that time :) The economical stagnation and the emigration the video talks about happened only after WW2.

@@metisdocumentaries No. 3. The money paid by the German government for the Saxon emigrants and the mentioned "gifts" were for the Ceausescu regime, not for Romanians. He was an imposed dictator, not a representative of the people. Romanians suffered more than Saxons during that regime, but they had no chance to escape to Germany. In conclusion, the German minority is clearly the most respected in Romania, but this does not mean we can denigrate other ethnics fo that reason.

Hello Morosanu. First of all, thank you for your detailed answer. I want to apologize if any of my statements in the video offended you, that was not my intention. Since I am a German speaker, I rely mostly on German and English sources while doing my research. It could be possible that some of my German sources are a bit biased regarding topics that include ethnic Germans. If that’s the case, please don’t mistake that for my own opinion. To # 1: It’s true that many rights were granted to them on paper, but that doesn’t mean that they got all of them in the end. For example, the “Nationsuniversität”, the own political and juridical entity of the Saxons, that existed for roughly 450 years, was permanently abolished by the Romanian government. (Although it was already temporarily abolished and weakened by the Austrians and Hungarians before). It possessed and oversaw a lot of forests and real estate in the region and the government seized those properties with little to none compensation. That took away the main funding source for many cultural projects of the ethnic German group, like the German speaking schools for example. I know and agree, that the status of the Germans before all of that, was way better than that of the Romanians in the region. The Saxons had more rights than them even though they were in the minority. But it was nevertheless a new and worse situation for them, since they had this special status for so many generations and didn’t know anything else. In 1932, the government of Romania also issued a law that would have required all companies in the country, to have at least 60% of Romanians in leading positions and at least 75% in the other positions. It was however not implemented after massive protests of the minority groups. Now I can’t say with 100% certainty, which government treated them better in the end, since I didn’t live in Transylvania at that time, my sources stated that it was a bit worse under the Romanians, but that doesn’t mean that it really was that way. You seem to be right about the percentages on the economy though! I checked a few other sources and they contradict the one that I used while making the video. It seems like the percentages are roughly correct, but apply only to the south of Transylvania, where the majority of the Germans were situated. I’m sorry for that. To #2: It is true that they voted for the Union with Romania, that’s why I said in the video that they hoped for a better treatment under the Romanians compared to the Hungarians. Some sectors of the economy boomed after WW1, you are right about that, that’s why I mentioned that there also existed a small group of rich industrialists that did well during this time. But, the vast majority of the Transylvanian Saxons, as well as the other ethnic groups in Romania, were farmers, and especially Saxons and Hungarians were victims of the Romanian land reforms in 1921, when lands of large landowners were redistributed to small landowners. Many of the new farms were just too small and economically unviable, even before the great depression. There was just not enough capital invested in the agricultural sector and the loans that were granted, had insanely high interest rates which led to many borrowers defaulting on their loans. And when the great depression came, it obviously also hit Romania very hard. The massive price drops, especially for agricultural products, was another blow for the country’s farmers. (Most Saxons were farmers) I found a good site that specializes on the inter war economy of Romania here: www.nbs.rs/export/sites/NBS_site/documents/publikacije/konferencije/seemhn_conf/SEEMHN_14_Rumunija.pdf The population did grow a bit, that’s correct, but it was never as high as 700.000. That’s sadly a mistake in many sources as I found out. 700.000 is the number of ALL ethnic Germans in Romania, not the Transylvanian Saxon group. Yes, the royal family was of German descent, as were many other royal families in Europe, but I don’t see exactly what that would have to do with the Transylvanian Saxons? To #3: I totally agree with you on that! That’s why I especially mentioned that the cars and hunting rifles were for Ceausescu. I’m sorry if it made the impression that I meant the Romanians were responsible for all of that. I know that they sadly lived and suffered under Ceausescu and his communist dictatorship as well. So when I talked about Romanians or the Romanian government during that section I always meant the Regime, not the people. Romania was also one of the only countries in eastern Europe that didn’t banish their ethnic German minorities following WW2, and that shouldn’t be forgotten!

Your forefathers came to Hungary I am certain of that, NOT to Romania where you enjoyed a German life for around 800 years. However, after WW1 there was a change of management, aka Romania took over and literally eradicated the German community nice and slowly. In the 1940s, some estimates say it was as high as 700K Germans and by 2021 it was just 22K. In fact, in 2011, the ethnic Germans numbered 40,000 now down to 22,000. Nearly another 50% down in just 10 years. In just 100 years the German community nearly disappeared, while for 800 years under Hungarian rule, it was steady/growing. I just had an argument with Transylvanian Saxon and he said that the Romanians have been nice to them, unlike the Hungarians. The guy was totally clueless about what the Romanians had done to the community. He even said there were no mass deportations and no properties confiscated. He seemed to be totally brainwashed by Romanian propaganda. He did go to school in Romania as well as in Germany. He even served as a soldier in the German army. He kept on saying I don't what I am saying. He kept on saying only Hungarians deported ethnic Germans, NOT Romanians. I also told him that is true, and I am not denying it. My great-grandmother was deported, however, she and her brother were part of the Nazi war machine, hence why they were punished. I said look at the numbers of the ethnic Germans in Hungary, even with the deportations in the 40s, we number around 180K- 200K and still increasing as more Hungarians with German background are embracing their heritage. There is mini-renaissance to the German community with the help of the Hungarian government as they are trying to make up for their mistake, we even have the only German-speaking university in Budapest outside German-speaking countries in the world. Not to mention, there are plenty of ethnic German Hungarians living abroad that are not included in the Hungarian census. This includes me, my brother, and my mum for example. So the numbers would be at least 300K - 400K. I also knew plenty of ethnic German Hungarians in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand etc. I lived in all these countries and every second or third Hungarian immigrant had a German background of some sort.

Lot of Romanians died in Siberia too. From rep of Moldova many were deported even in Kazakhstan. Remember we jointly fought at Stalingrad. Romanians even to the death (some brigades had over 95%death toll, higher than those of germans despite being better dressed for winter) since the germans oficers disregarded the romanian reports and also did not provide the promised ammunition. Romania did not get rid of saxon , they choose to leave, romanians could not, they left later (5 mil of us). I remind you that the president is also a german and had 2 mandates (max ).

The horrible atrocities of deportation and forced labour were done by the Communists (in the case of the German population it was directly by the Soviet army directive, which occupied Romania), which were installed to rule Romania by the Soviets against the will of the people. Remember that millions of Romanians and all ethnicities were also persecuted and hundreds of thousands were deported or sent to labour camps. Then and later on, during Ceaușescu's rule nobody was allowed to leave the country and they would try to discourage the ethnic Germans from leaving by making their life very hard, even though they would get money from them. My grandfather was a foremen in a steel mill in Hunedoara, he had a German friend who was working in his team and he helped him avoid persecution before leaving for West Germany. I remember as a kid in the 90s when he was coming back to visit Romania and my Grandparents (I think I got a camera with Kodak film from Mr Kepp). Generally people get along well despite of the different ethnicities, nowadays in Transylvania and Banat regions I think there is also a bit of a melting pot effect as a lot of Romanians have at least one ancestor who had probably a different ethnicity.

It's waaay more than just that draga mea 😘

Sorry, but Transylvania shouldn't be Romanian, and shouldn't be Hungarian, Transylvania is of the Transylvanians.

@@Etelezoli , just in your mind.

@@durasdual7467 If it would be just in my mind, Transylvania wouldn't have a flag for so long time (which is, bye the way, of colour of blue-red-yellow). Probably you are not Transylvanian, or you don't have Transylvanian spirit, that's why you are so ignorant.

@@Etelezoli And who are the "Transylvanians"? Ah yes, Romanians and Hungarians...

Transylvania was definitely way richer than the kingdom of Romania, what you say is just bs propaganda. Transilvania was the only industrialised region with good infrastructure in Romania in 1925, the rest were and still are a complete strain wreck

nie ma potrzeby żeby ślązacy mieli jakąkolwiek autonomię

As if they were that silly to trust the home-making rats... But they were!

At least they let them go back and made profit

Tell me u miserable magyar, what happened to the germans living in Hungary after 1918, when they were about 20 % of population of Hungary? Who did they betray? How did they almost disappear?

I wish that bloodthirsty racist savages like you would stop bringing genocide to the region.

Ironically a lot of them assimilated into the Hungarian Székely population or went to Hungary. My grandfather was also related to them and if you look at Louis C.K (his original name was also Székely)his red facial hair makes it clear he's also related to the Saxons. In Hungary it was a common thing if you lived with a certain group of people your family name reflected that, f.ex. my grandmother descended from a family that lived in areas populated by Serbs or were Serbs so their family was called Rácz. I think the same thing might have happened with C.K.-s family. You probably have more Saxons than you think. If they consider themselves Hungarian, well i guess people have to live with it.

@@gabork5055 Louis C.K. is the man & honestly his wiki page looks like a joke in itself. For one, the Székely name, secondly says he's American - Mexican and following the events of 2017, we conclude that he's pretty much a pervert ! 😆 ye, I love this guy ! and honestly, I have nothing personal against the Székely community in RO ( that would be foolish ) But I do oppose those who act like stinking separatists, talking of autonomy and such. Both our people have suffered enough... enough with trying to wipe each other off, trying to subvert the national flag and erase the language... those days should be in the past or in Putler's Russia ! hai noroc ! ..if it doesn't fall on death ears. 🍻

All of Europe wishes that the Romanians go to India, Afghanistan or Africa... England to steal for a living... Hopefully in 100 years all Romanians disappear from Europe.

@@CaraTibi < this specimen right here needs to go away, as far away as possible. we don't need fascists like him around RO.