German Language and Culture
in Romania (1918-1933).
“Post-Imperial” Realities, Public Discourse and Cultural Fields
Preliminary Work Plan
I. Introduction.
1. Concept and method
2.
2.1. Romania of 1918. War and Peace with the Central Powers.
2.2. Cultural option – political option. The dynastic Matter
2.3. Elites and masses/ the Germanophiles and the pro-Entente sympathisers in Romania. The public opinion and the German-Austrian military occupation.
2.4. Saxons / Swabians in Transylvania and Banat; the German speaking Jews and ethnic Germans in Bucovina: dispersed loyalties at the end of the war.
2.5. The Germans from Bessarabia between revolution and the union with Romania.
3. Germany and Austria/ Germans and Austrians in the collective imaginary of Greater Romania (1918-1933). An Imagological study
II. German Language and Culture in the Romanian Society between 1918-19
4.
4.1. Constitutional and legal regulations referring to the linguistic regime in the Romanian state.
4.2.Language/ethnicity/ culture. A critical examination of statistics and censuses regarding the use of German as a "language of communication". Bi- and multilingualism in Greater Romania.
4.3. German language and culture - the subject of political and ideological debates and controversies in Romania (1918-1933).
5.
5.1. German language and culture in the Romanian public and private education system. Distribution, chairs, curricula. Teachers (representative figures, studies, career path) / generalities.
5.1.1 In the “Romanian Old Kingdom”
5.1.2 In the former provinces of the Hungarian Crown. The case of Hungarian private education.
5.1.3 In Bucovina
5.1.4 In Bessarabia.
5.2 German Studies at the University. Academic status, chairs, competitions. Frequency (attendance), BAs, PhDs. Studies Profile, Curricula. Professors/ Assistants (representative figures, studies, career course).
5.2.1 Bucharest. Iasi.
5.2.2 Cluj. Chernivtsi.
5.2.3 German language and culture in other state and private higher education institutions (polytechnic schools, commercial academies, Romanian and Hungarian theological institutes, etc.).
5.2.4 German Lecturers
5.3 Academic mobility: Romanian students in German and Austrian Universities. Statistics. Representative figures (career course).
6.
6.1 Import of books and scientific publications from Germany and Austria into the academic and public libraries in Romania.
6.1.1. Case studies in the “Romanian Old Kingdom”.
6.1.2. Cases studies in the incorporated provinces.
6.2. Subscriptions to the information press in Germany and Austria in the academic and public libraries in Romania.
6.3. Networks of book and press imports from Germany and Austria to Romania. Romanian bookstores with German press and book offer (case studies).
7.
7.1 Academic connections of the Romanian scientific schools in Germany and Austria.
7.1.2 Philology, historiography, philosophy, psychology, pedagogy, sociology, anthropology (case studies).
7.1.3 Mathematics and natural sciences (case studies).
7.1.4 Law, economics (case studies).
7.1.5 Medicine (case studies).
7.1.6 Technical sciences (case studies).
7.2 Romanian scientific publications: contributions and citations of authors from Germany and Austria (case studies).
7.3 Technology imports from Germany and Austria into the Romanian economy / industry (case studies).
7.4. Ideological transfer from Germany and Austria. Case studies (liberalism, social democracy, agrarianism, racist theories).
8.
8.1 German-Romanian and Romanian-German Dictionaries. Lexicography.
8.2 Translations and translators from German into Romanian (and other languages spoken on Romanian territory) in volumes and periodicals.
8.2.1 Literary fiction.
8.2.1.1 Classic Literature
8.2.1.2 Modernist literature
8.2.1.3 Formula fiction
8.2.2 History, philosophy and humanities, theology, law, economics.
8.2.3. Other fields.
8.3. The information regarding German culture and literature in cultural periodicals and in the Romanian press.
9.
9.1. The German drama in the repertoire of the Romanian theaters.
9.2. Import of German films.
9.3. The German musical repertoire in the Romanian opera houses and philharmonics.
9.3.1. German / Austrian musical entertainment / operetta on Romanian stages.
9.4. The presence of the German fine arts in exhibitions from Romania.
9.5. Sports teams and sportsmen from Germany / Austria in sports competitions in Romania.
III. The cultural evolution among the German-speaking minorities in Romania between 1918-1933.
10.
10.1. The political premises for the integration of the German minority in the Romanian state after 1918.
10.2. The institutional and legislative framework: The Proclamation from Alba Iulia, The treaty for the protection of minorities, The Constitution of 1923. Other legislative stipulations.
10.3 The League of Nations and the protection of the German minority.
11.
11.1. Communities with German roots in Greater Romania. Statistics based on census, settlement, history, cultural and religious tradition. Regional and zonal spread, distribution in rural and urban areas.
11.1.1. Transylvania
11.1.2. Banat
11.1.3. Bucovina
11.1.4. Bessarabia
11.1.5. Sătmar
11.1.6 German-speaking communities in “the Romanian Old Kingdom” and Dobrogea.
11.2 German-speaking Jews from Bucovina
12.
12.1. The image of the other (Romanian, Hungarian, Jewish, etc.) in the public discourse (political, journalistic, literary) of the Germans in Romania (1918-1933).
12.2. The image of the German from Romania (Saxons, Swabians, etc.) in the public discourse (political, journalistic, literary) of the Romanian, Hungarian, Jewish speakers. (1918-1933).
13.
13.1 The German language as native language in Greater Romania
13.1.1 Standard German and dialects. Statistic reports regarding the preferential
usage, social variables.
13.1.2 Regional and local dialects. Location, characteristics.
13.2. Linguistic interferences with the contact languages and dialects (Romanian, Hungarian, Serbian, Russian, Ukrainian, Yiddish etc.)
14.
14.1 Cultural fields of the German-speaking communities.
14.1.1. Traditional / regional identities. Between localism and synthesis.
14.1.2. Politics, ideology and identity: Kulturamt des Verbands der Deutschen in Rumänien (The cultural office of the Association of Germans in Romania). Towards a supra-regional identity.
14.1.3 Identity reflection. Common self-consciousness / regionalist-specific views. National / nationalist ideology, myths of cultural / racial superiority. Case studies (anthropology / eugenics).
14.2 Institutions and channels of identity legitimization.
14.2.1 The Church
14.2.1.1Institutional status of the German churches in Greater Romania. The relationship with the Romanian churches.
14.2.1.2 The Protestant Church.
14.2.1.3 The Catholic Church. The Relations with the Romanian and the Hungarian languages.
14.1.4 Other Cults.
14.2.2. Private school institutions.
14.2.2.1. Legislative Framework
14.2.2.2. Religious and secular education in German. Distribution, programs, schoolbooks.
14.2.3. Associations, projects, scientific publications.
14.2.3.1 Philology / Folklore (case studies).
14.2.3.2. History (case studies).
14.2.4. Press, publishers, libraries, libraries, professional theater groups.
14.2.4.1. Transylvania.
14.2.4.2. Banat, Partium, Satmar.
14.2.4.3. Bucovina.
14.2.4.4. Bessarabia, Dobrogea.
14.2.4.5. The Romanian“Old Kingdom".
14.2.5. Folk culture.
14.2.5.1. Folkloric celebrations. Traditions and customs.
14.2.5.2. The traditional costumes.
14.2.5.3. Non-professional musical and theatre ensembles (case studies).
14.2.6. The sport movement of the German minorities (by regions).
14.2.6.1. Case studies: gymnastics, mountaineering, others.
14.2.6.2. German sports media.
15.
15.1. "High" cultural production.
15.1.1. Original literature: themes and motifs, genres, traditionalism and modernism, localism and cosmopolitanism, ideological options, literary language (Standard German / dialects).
15.1.2. The criteria of the canon: between aesthetics and ideology. The common tendency: elite and masses. Opinion leaders (magazines, critics).
15.1.3. Local literary models / "metropolitan" literary models. The influence of the contemporary German and Austrian literature. Cultural transfers.
15.1.4. German-language authors from Romania published in the publishing houses from Germany and Austria.
15.2. Centers of the German culture in Romania.
15.2.1. Timișoara / Temesvar.
15.2.2. Brașov / Kronstadt.
15.2.3. Sibiu / Hermannstadt.
15.2.4. Bucharest
15.2.5. Other centers
15.3. The competition of the German-speaking cultural fields in Bucovina-Cernăuți / Czernowitz: German-speaking Jews / ethnic Germans. The phenomenon of Deutschsprachige Judendichtung (German-speaking Jewish literature).
16.
16.1. The local German-speaking cultural fields and the Central-European German-speaking space.
16.1.1. "Images" of the "Center" in the collective mental of the German-speaking population in Transylvania, Banat, Bucovina, Bessarabia, etc.; reference (positive or negative) to the recent imperial past.
16.1.2. Circulation of people, books, ideas from and to Germany and Austria. German-speaking students from Romania in German and Austrian universities (case studies).
16.1.3. Intellectual careers shared between Romania and Germany and Austria respectively (case studies).
16.1.4. Assumed affiliations with the German "external" metropolises. Collective level / individual level (case studies).
16.2. The German minority in Romania after the First World War in the conceptual representations of Mitteleuropa and Auslandsdeutschtum (Middle Europe and the Germans from foreign countries).
16.2.1. Cultural diplomacy promoted by the governments of the Republic of Weimar with regard to the German minority in Romania. Mutual contacts, long-term political objectives.
16.2.2. Ideological and cultural infiltrations from the national German groups from Germany and Austria amongst the German minority in Romania. The pan-German offer and option.
IV. A perspective towards the period 1933-1940.
17.
17.1. 1933 - A “threshold of the epoque” also in Romania?
17.2. German language and culture in the Romanian society after 1933.
17.3. Cultural evolutions amongst the German-speaking minorities in Romania after 1933.
