The relationship between religious and national identity in the case of Transylvanian Saxons (1933–1944)

Abstract

Hitler's coming to power in Germany had its key consequences upon the fate of the German minorities in Central and Eastern Europe. The German community in Romania constituted no exception. After 1933, a process of radicalization can be noticed in the case of the Transylvanian Saxons, one of the several German-speaking groups in Romania. The phenomenon has already been analyzed in its political and economic dimensions, yet not so much in its social ones. This article looks at the latter aspect, its argument being that the Nazification of the Transylvanian Saxon community can be best comprehended by using a conceptual framework developed by political scientist Donald Horowitz in the early 1970s. The analysis uses a series of contemporary sources (diaries, issues of the official periodical of the Lutheran Church in Transylvania, Kirchliche Blätter), but also a wide range of secondary sources, academic and literary. Consequently, the article shows that especially after 1933, the Lutheran affiliation, highly relevant for the production and reproduction of the traditional model of Transylvanian Saxon identity, shifted from the status of a criterion of identity to a mere identification indicium. At the same time, the attraction of a (Pan-) German identity, with its Nazi anchors, became stronger and the center of gravity for Transylvanian Saxon identity radically moved towards German ethnicity, in its National-Socialist understanding.

Slovenski duhovniki in njihovo delovanje v slovenskih društvih na Hrvaškem v prvi polovici 20. stoletja

“…V ohranjanju jezika in kulture manjšinske skupnosti pa imajo poseben položaj prav etnične župnije; vpliv duhovnikov na vernike je bil pozitiven v smislu, da so se bolj zavedali svojih korenin (Martha 2007, 150). Obstaja torej posebna vez med delovanjem Cerkve in narodno identiteto: pri ohranjanju manjšinske identitete so duhovniki skupaj z migranti manjšinsko skupnost v določeni državi ustvarjali na svojstven način, saj so delili skupno usodo, kulturo, jezik in izkušnje (Cercel 2011;Zucchi 1983). Izkušnje formiranja in vključevanja v etnične župnije, kjer se je manjšinski jezik uporabljal vsakodnevno, so pozitivno vplivale na migrante, da so lažje sprejemali svojo nacionalno identiteto in jo ohranjali (Zucchi 1983).…”

Divorces in a Multiethnic and Multiconfessional Environment. A Case Study on the Transylvania in the 20th century

“…One such example is that of the Saxons, in whose case there was a diminishment of the «Saxon» identity related to Transylvania in favour of an affiliation to the broader German community. 3 In this context of unrest and turbulence, the city of Cluj was invested with special significance. The Romanian history of Cluj began when the city was taken over by the Romanian administration.…”

“The Effect of an Ethnic Minority. The Power of Example – Germans in Romania Reviewed by Ioana HAPCA

“…The topic of the volume is a very interesting one given the fact that very few studies really analyse German ethnics after the 1990s exodus (cf. Michalon, 2003aMichalon, , 2003bAnghel, 1999Anghel, , 2012Anghel, , 2013Anghel, , 2016Anghel, , 2018Cercel, 2012aCercel, , 2012bCercel, , 2014Cercel, , 2017Kührer-Wielach, 2016;Baier, 2015, etc. ), and there are even fewer that gave credit studying such a variable and sensitive subject like the rebirth of Germany or its cultural transfer.…”