Project background
I started the documentary project about the deportation of the Romanian Germans to Soviet forced labour camps in 2012. I had first visited Romania in 2010 in order to explore the German communities from Transylvania which were descendants of settlers originating, amongst others, from the region around Luxembourg, my home country. In fact, to this present day, the Transylvanian Saxons speak a Moselle Franconian dialect that strongly resembles Luxembourgish. It was during this ‘reconnaissance trip’ that I heard for the very first time about the deportation of the German minority in 1945. And I realised that, even to most Romanians, this event was largely unknown. Although the deportation had been a topic of research in academia and had been explored in literary and cinematic works, I did not come across any existing comprehensive photographic body of work about this chapter of Romanian history.
The life experiences and memories of elderly people have always piqued my curiosity and I have enjoyed listening to their stories since my early childhood. Equally fascinating I find the idea of exile – whether forced or freely chosen (as in my own fortunate case) – and how individuals survive, adjust to and manage to preserve their identities while in exile. This project seemed to provide ample opportunity and material to satisfy both these interests. Hence, over the following three years, I decided to look up over 40 former deportees from all over Romania. I photographed the survivors in their homes and recorded their memories. The outcome of the project consists of a series of portraits which, on one hand, reflect the cultural identity of a minority and, on the other, the traumatic experiences which the deportees endured in the labour camps. The recorded testimonies not only lend a voice to the portraits, but they are also meant to reflect the collective memory of the deportation.
In 2013, the project was awarded the ‘Europa Grant for Cultural Journalists‘ by the Romanian Cultural Institute, Bucharest.
Historical background
The territory of nowadays Romania has counted German-speaking communities among its population for over 800 years. The Transylvanian Saxons immigrated as early as the 12th century to what was then part of the Kingdom of Hungary. From the 18th century onwards, German-speaking settlers set up communities in other regions of the country; Banat Swabians (incl. Swabians from the Banat Mountains), Satu Mare Swabians and Bukovina Germans among others. Most of these communities were part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until the collapse of the latter. Following World War I, the German settlements were absorbed into the newly-created Greater Romania.
In June 1941, under the dictatorship of Antonescu, Romania entered World War II on Germany’s side. In anticipation of an imminent invasion by the Soviet Army, Romania switched sides on August 23rd, 1944, and ended the war fighting alongside the Allied forces.
On December 16th, 1944, by signing “Secret Command No. 7161ss of the State Committee for Defense” Stalin ordered the mobilisation and detainment of able-bodied ethnic German civilians from the territories of Romania, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria – ‘liberated’ by the Red Army – and their subsequent deportation to Soviet labour camps as a form of World War II reparations: men and women between the ages of 17-45 and 18-30 years respectively. Among a total of 112,000 deportees, the Romanian Germans represented the largest community; by the end of January 1945, an estimated 70,000 Romanian Germans had been carried off in cattle wagons to the Soviet Union. Many deportees died from the harsh labour conditions in freezing temperatures and from insufficient nutrition. Deportees who became unfit for work in the first year were usually sent back to Romania; in later years, medical transports headed to the Soviet-occupied zone in Germany. All those who survived the hunger and misery of the first few years in the camps were released and sent back to Romania in late 1949.
I started the documentary project about the deportation of the Romanian Germans to Soviet forced labour camps in 2012. I had first visited Romania in 2010 in order to explore the German communities from Transylvania which were descendants of settlers originating, amongst others, from the region around Luxembourg, my home country. In fact, to this present day, the Transylvanian Saxons speak a Moselle Franconian dialect that strongly resembles Luxembourgish. It was during this ‘reconnaissance trip’ that I heard for the very first time about the deportation of the German minority in 1945. And I realised that, even to most Romanians, this event was largely unknown. Although the deportation had been a topic of research in academia and had been explored in literary and cinematic works, I did not come across any existing comprehensive photographic body of work about this chapter of Romanian history.
The life experiences and memories of elderly people have always piqued my curiosity and I have enjoyed listening to their stories since my early childhood. Equally fascinating I find the idea of exile – whether forced or freely chosen (as in my own fortunate case) – and how individuals survive, adjust to and manage to preserve their identities while in exile. This project seemed to provide ample opportunity and material to satisfy both these interests. Hence, over the following three years, I decided to look up over 40 former deportees from all over Romania. I photographed the survivors in their homes and recorded their memories. The outcome of the project consists of a series of portraits which, on one hand, reflect the cultural identity of a minority and, on the other, the traumatic experiences which the deportees endured in the labour camps. The recorded testimonies not only lend a voice to the portraits, but they are also meant to reflect the collective memory of the deportation.
In 2013, the project was awarded the ‘Europa Grant for Cultural Journalists‘ by the Romanian Cultural Institute, Bucharest.
Historical background
The territory of nowadays Romania has counted German-speaking communities among its population for over 800 years. The Transylvanian Saxons immigrated as early as the 12th century to what was then part of the Kingdom of Hungary. From the 18th century onwards, German-speaking settlers set up communities in other regions of the country; Banat Swabians (incl. Swabians from the Banat Mountains), Satu Mare Swabians and Bukovina Germans among others. Most of these communities were part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until the collapse of the latter. Following World War I, the German settlements were absorbed into the newly-created Greater Romania.
In June 1941, under the dictatorship of Antonescu, Romania entered World War II on Germany’s side. In anticipation of an imminent invasion by the Soviet Army, Romania switched sides on August 23rd, 1944, and ended the war fighting alongside the Allied forces.
On December 16th, 1944, by signing “Secret Command No. 7161ss of the State Committee for Defense” Stalin ordered the mobilisation and detainment of able-bodied ethnic German civilians from the territories of Romania, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria – ‘liberated’ by the Red Army – and their subsequent deportation to Soviet labour camps as a form of World War II reparations: men and women between the ages of 17-45 and 18-30 years respectively. Among a total of 112,000 deportees, the Romanian Germans represented the largest community; by the end of January 1945, an estimated 70,000 Romanian Germans had been carried off in cattle wagons to the Soviet Union. Many deportees died from the harsh labour conditions in freezing temperatures and from insufficient nutrition. Deportees who became unfit for work in the first year were usually sent back to Romania; in later years, medical transports headed to the Soviet-occupied zone in Germany. All those who survived the hunger and misery of the first few years in the camps were released and sent back to Romania in late 1949.