In Europe we are all foreigners

60 kilometers from Sibiu you find the truth of Romania. In Iacobeni there is the “House of Silence” of Father Don Demidoff. An oasis of civilization and recreation next to the basilica from the 14th century among many gypsy villages.

Press releases by: DepescheDonDemidoff

In Europe we are all foreigners. They can hardly wait, the Romanians. At last, at last we will be Europe. Won’t we?

On January 1, 2007, heaven will open and it will rain manna and gold and silver. Won’t it? No chance! We need Europe? But actually Europe needs us: the Romanian mineral resources, the slavery wages, the country being a military protection zone against the Russian lion and the wonderful untouched Romanian nature.

Does Brussels actually know how it looks like in Romania?

In Europe we are all foreigners.

Day-to-day there are top-class delegations visiting the country, even Sibiu. They stay in the expensive hotels, they move from one greeting to the next and do not get off the paved streets. They eat and drink only the crème de la crème and kiss the fine, smooth and manicured hands. And the Romanian audience says: Oh, that is Europe!

Have the ladies and gentlemen ever …?
Do the people in Brussels, Paris, Berlin and London really know, how it looks like in Romania? Do they actually want to know? Have you ever been to the only village at the end of the world, where there are no paved streets and at most a dusty way back? Have you ever kissed a dirty, furrowed, crooked hand of a gypsy or at least shaken or eaten from his „coca“ (flour and water directly burnt on a cooking plate), have the ladies and gentlemen ever been to a Romanian average hospital for a single night only? Do they know that there is no drinking water in most of the villages and even no purification plant? Do they know that many of the gypsy children are not able to go to school for lack of clothing? Do they know that the “popa” (Romanian priest) refuses them the sacraments like baptism, because they are not able to pay the “fee” for it? Are the priests in Romania not paid by the state? Of course they are. Have the European bureaucrats and capital aristocrats ever spent just one hour in the house of a gypsy (coteþ), on a mud floor, or together with four people in a dirty bed next to a stinking oven and windows without sufficient glass. Do they really know, how quickly people over here grow old, without sufficient medical care and hygiene? Do they have an idea, why men and women here at the age of 30 look like how in Germany they would not even look like at the age of 60?

The Romanian slaves
They will come with their factories and continue to exploit the Romanian „slaves“. The prices will continue to increase and the wages will remain, where they are now. And woe betide the Romanians, if they demand fair wages. The factories will be closed, like they have been closed brutally in Germany and wherever in Western Europe, and they will move on to the next people of slaves, which is prepared to be exploited. And they will brutally rape the local nature and cover with concrete for the tourist industry and not far from Sibiu thousands of American soldiers will convert the village of Cincu into a bordello. Good night, Romania!

The former German president, Roman Herzog, has called the enlargement of the European Union a „scandal and a total nonsense“. This sincere president has been insulted to be a denigrator of his own country. Some time the same will probably happen to me. But nobody will bar me from the clear “Sunday Word”, not even, if I have to appear at the criminal police in Sibiu due to false and ridiculously constructed accusations, as has happened this week. Is this the stupid way how they want to get rid of their critics?

Germany had decades to mentally get rid of the dictatorship and to exercise democracy. Romania is to learn and practise all that within a few years. Do they really not know, what has happened to orphans, who have been released at the behest of the European Union according to the “re-integration act”? They actually have ended up on the street again. Europe has demanded that corruption in this country has to be stopped. These false apostles. Long ago the oriental “Balkan” corruption has moved into Western Europe, but instead of stopping it this virus has been spreading there for a long time. Oh yes, the Italians became the world soccer champions. But in their own country (sic), Europe, the results of the soccer games were manipulated.

Oh, you holy hypocrisy

Oh, you holy hypocrisy. They have learned from the Romanians and the Bulgarians and the others outside of Europe and the drug called corruption is welcome. When will minionship and nepotism be stopped here? Never. And the many false, bought expertises. And the pathological deluge of laws. And the unbelievable bureaucracy, which nips any individual initiative in the bud. And the good grades of the pupils, which they have bought from their teachers and … and … And the incapable and the intellectually challenged, who end up in positions, which usually are reserved for academics. How welcome will all that be in the European countries?

Oh well, I forgot that nobody cares at all. Romania will be Europe. And that’s it. So that the worldwide dictatorship of the capital, the pathological globalism has its slaves even in this country. So that few rich become even richer and the many poor, even the gypsies, become even poorer.

All of us, you and me, will be foreigners in Europe, in our own country.
Remember my words, remain faithful to me. And please raise your voice, too, in order that everything is going to be alright yet. No, not everything is going to be alright. Unfortunately. I wish I could sing another song. God bless you!


Yours,

Father Don Demidoff ICCC
Priest of the Independent Ecumenical Catholic Church of Iacobeni
*International Council of Community Churches USA
Parinte al Copiilor strazii Cincu/Priest of the street children

Sibiu – European Capital of Culture 2007Hermannstadt alias Sibiu, one of the most wonderful medieval cities in Romania, has been a sleeping beauty for many decades, which is awakening now. The city gets dressed up, in order to be a dignified European Capital of Culture in 2007. The historical Hermannstadt/Sibiu with its medieval houses of manufacturers and patricians and its spacious esplanades is worth seeing already now in its obviously most exciting period of total renewal.

By Anna Galon

The valuable structural condition from several centuries never has been damaged by enemies, but by the arrogance of the communist dictators, who rather preferred to build grey standard satellite areas around the historic district instead of caring for the preservation of the architectural treasure. Until few years ago the center looked miserable and decayed. “50 years of communism have scarred the city”, Klaus Johannis says, who has been the mayor of Sibiu since 2000. The Transylvanian Saxon, who was overwhelmingly confirmed in his office last year, wants to heal these scars in record time. He therefore has declared almost the whole city a construction site, not only the squares and alleyways are paved, but even 70 house fronts are going to be restored. “I am glad that the changes are already evident. Many buildings and quarters have regained the attraction for which Hermannstadt/Sibiu had been known“, Johannis says. The 101 hectares of medieval architecture have even impressed the UNESCO, which is now checking the possible acceptance of the historic city to the world heritage list.For the restoring activities and the expansion of the infrastructure Hermannstadt/Sibiu is ready to pay about 22,5 millions Euros alone this year, an enormous sum for Romania, where the average wages are at 150 Euros. The city fathers are supported by the Romanian ministry of culture, which now regards Hermannstadt/Sibiu as the calling card for the whole of Romania. The booming town is to representatively win favor in the West for this country, which is seeking for entry into the European Union by January 1, 2007. Due to that Hermannstadt/Sibiu has been granted several millions of Euros by the Romanian government for the extension of its airport.

Even the German speaking foreign countries contribute to the revival of the town
Concerning the cultural and economical revival of Hermannstadt/Sibiu the agile mayor Johannis, whom the Romanians give credit for his „German virtues“ punctuality, accuracy and diligence, even counts on support from the German speaking foreign countries. Since Johannis has taken office German enterprises like Continental, Brandl or ThyssenKrupp, which employ young people from Hermannstadt/Sibiu in their local branches and therewith strengthen the purchasing power, have been praising the noticeable pro-business climate of the town. The GTZ (Gesellschaft für technische Zusammenarbeit, Organization for technical cooperation) has rendered outstanding services to the restoration of the historical city for several years. Siemens facility management & services, a department of Siemens Austria, executes the order of renovation of street and building lighting. 


Only the German tourists discovering Hermannstadt/Sibiu on a grand scale are still missing. Adventurous individual travelers have already known it for some time, for some years even culture loving package tourists and families venture to come. They enthusiastically walk around the nine museums of the town and wonder why they have not yet earlier discovered this richness of culture. After all here is the oldest public museum of Southern Europe, the Brukenthal Museum, opened in 1817. It was established by the governor Baron Samuel of Brukenthal (1721 – 1803), a Transylvanian Saxon civil servant and passionate collector, who brought together a considerable art treasure during his life time. Today the museum incorporates an art gallery, a copperplate room, a numismatic collection, a library and a collection of minerals. In 1968 eight valuable paintings were stolen from the museum, of which four were discovered in the USA 30 years later and given back, including „Ecce homo“ by Titian.

The orthodox cathedral is based on the Hagia Sophia

The tower of the guildhall connects the great with the small market. From the tower you look out on a sea of red roofs of the concentrically grown Hermannstadt/Sibiu with its four esplanades. The towers of the four bigger churches protrude above the sea of roofs. Obviously the Protestant city parish church – its construction had begun in 1320 – is the most impressive building of the town. During the centuries the churchgoers have treaded out a hollow into the stony aisle between the close benches, in the so-called Ferula the memorial plates of important characters of the town are exhibited. The orthodox cathedral, a red and yellow brick building with a big dome and four turrets, is based on the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. The Catholic city parish church and the reformed church are also situated in the center. Four religious cults and several national minorities have always been living together in Hermannstadt/Sibiu. Still in 1930 almost half of the town population was of German origin. Today mostly Romanians are living in Hermannstadt/Sibiu, 3.400 Hungarians, about 2.700 Transylvanian Saxons and about just as many Roma.Hermannstadt/Sibiu has even plenty to offer for people who are keen on adventure and party. During spring and summer months the city vibrates, the streets are full of life until late at night. Hermannstadt/Sibiu is famous for its festivals, which are internationally casted and especially popular with young people. There are the Jazz festival, the theater festival in May and the medieval festival in late summer, when the mayor himself appears in a historical outfit.The town is populated by young peopleThe town is very young. 30.000 students attend the local university and several private academies, a considerable number of cafés, bars and clubs have been opened. The restaurants in the cellars of the historic city are particular charming.“For a tour through all our good bars you need several days at least“, Radu Coica says. He is 27 years old and together with his team offers thematic guided tours through Hermannstadt/Sibiu and trips to Transylvania. His advice for people coming to Sibiu is to not only catch culture, but to also try other activity offers as well. “There are very beautiful hiking trails through the Carpathian mountains, around Sibiu it is even possible for you to play paintball, go skiing in Winter and much else.“ Cristian Valentin Cismaru (29), director of a travel agency, also points out to the geographically convenient location of Sibiu. “From here you are able to make trips into any direction of the country seven days a week.“Therefore the title „European Capital of Culture“ is not only an honor for the town, which is just awakening from its hundred-year-long sleep, but even a positive lever. It is to help creating sustainable culture and tourism offers, Cristian Radu says, in order that Sibiu remains a permanently shining spot on the map of Western tourists. The president of the “European Capital of Culture-office”, which is responsible for the organization of this event, likes to joke: Hermannstadt/Sibiu being a Capital of Culture will not start before 2008. Next year we just celebrate the birthday of a new born child. Important is, how it will be going on after 2007.

The town is populated by young people
The town is very young. 30.000 students attend the local university and several private academies, a considerable number of cafés, bars and clubs have been opened. The restaurants in the cellars of the historic city are particular charming.

“For a tour through all our good bars you need several days at least“, Radu Coica says. He is 27 years old and together with his team offers thematic guided tours through Hermannstadt/Sibiu and trips to Transylvania. His advice for people coming to Sibiu is to not only catch culture, but to also try other activity offers as well. “There are very beautiful hiking trails through the Carpathian mountains, around Sibiu it is even possible for you to play paintball, go skiing in Winter and much else.“ Cristian Valentin Cismaru (29), director of a travel agency, also points out to the geographically convenient location of Sibiu. “From here you are able to make trips into any direction of the country seven days a week.“

Therefore the title „European Capital of Culture“ is not only an honor for the town, which is just awakening from its hundred-year-long sleep, but even a positive lever. It is to help creating sustainable culture and tourism offers, Cristian Radu says, in order that Sibiu remains a permanently shining spot on the map of Western tourists. The president of the “European Capital of Culture-office”, which is responsible for the organization of this event, likes to joke: Hermannstadt/Sibiu being a Capital of Culture will not start before 2008. Next year we just celebrate the birthday of a new born child. Important is, how it will be going on after 2007.

The birthday party begins in the night of New Year’s Eve

This of course does not mean that there will not be an adequate „birthday party“. The office is still improving the final cultural program, a pre-version already promises lots of musical, theather, dancing and other cultural events. Action starts in the night of New Year’s Eve. “There will be a great show taking place on different spots. The whole city will have the feeling being part of the opening party”, Radu promises. Moreover, he discloses, the eyes of Hermannstadt/Sibiu will contribute to this show: all of them will shine brightly that night and welcome the year of the cultural capital.

Entry:
EU citizens with a passport may stay in Romania for three months (tourist visa). For further information please contact the German consulate general in Sibiu: www.hermannstadt.diplo.de

Travel information:
The airline Carpatair flies from Dusseldorf, Stuttgart, Munich to Sibiu from Monday through Saturday (www.carpatair.de). The state airline Tarom flies daily from Munich and four times a week from Vienna directly to Sibiu (www.tarom.de).

Tourist-Information:
Centrul de Informare al Turistilor,  Str. Nicolae Balcescu 7, Tel: 269-211110
E-Mail: turism@sibiu.ro.
Cultural and city information you may also find on the website of the travel agency „Reky Travel Club“ (www.reky-travel.de)

Books:
Anselm Roth: City Guide Sibiu, Hora-Verlag Hermannstadt, 2005, 11,80 (Abroad)

Accomodation:
Hotel Împaratul Romanilor, Str. Nicolae Balcescu 4, directly in the center of the historic city, prices from 56 Euros.
E-Mail: hir@rdslink.ro

Hotel Continental, Calea Dumbravii 2-4, from 55 Euros. E-Mail: sibiu@continentalhotels.ro

Hotel Palace Dumbrava, at Jungen Wald, Str. Padurea Dumbrava 1, from 34 Euro. E-Mail: hotel_palace@directnet.ro

Hotel Parc, Str. Scoala de Înot 1-3, from 58 Euros. E-Mail: office@hotelparcsibiu.ro

Jugendherberge (Youth hostel) Old Town in a historical house at the Small Market (Piata Mica) 26, from 12 Euros. E-Mail: contact@hostelsibiu.ro

A list of further guest houses and motels you will find at www.sibiu.ro/ro/hoteluri.htm

By Burkhard Straßmann „Die Zeit“ (German weekly paper “The time”) All German, even the neo-German, has come into vogue in Sibiu in Romania, the former Hermannstadt.A riddle: What is the name of the third European Capital of Culture? Number one is Luxemburg, of course. Even less known might be the Romanian Sibiu, a town of 160.000 inhabitants in the heart of Transylvania, in the middle of nowhere. And here is number three: Hermannstadt. A town so German like brown bread. It has the same geographical data like Sibiu, but is totally different. If you want to visit Sibiu/Hermannstadt you have to choose between “Buna ziua”, as recommended in the guide, or “Grüß Gott”. Both are possible. Both have their own consequences. Sibiu. Abandoned factories form the outer area around the town. Then crumbling slab buildings. Shabby green spaces. Broken streets. Old villas, which had their better times before communism. The hotel Continental, a concrete block, the pride of the bad years. And of course the lively emporium Dumbrava, where you may buy many kinds of kitsch and East Asian container goods. In Sibiu it is the same like in the rest of Romania: You have to grind out the beauties, the charms of the towns. All the way there the holy sidewalks are blocked by parking cars; you have to worry about your heels and ankles. But then you arrive at the Strada Nicolae Balcescu, and look: it is a pedestrian area! Clean, paved, painted, trendy cafés, Raiffeisenbank, shoe shops. Like in Krefeld, just Schlecker is missing. „Grüß Gott, Hermannstadt!“ Hermannstadt was lucky. Because the German history of the town had built confidence German enterprises began to invest here earlier than in other parts of the country. Entering the town at the industrial park the Hannoveran tyre manufacturer Continental waves his logo. On the right hand side the Mülheim discount Plus allures with its small prices. And there even is a natural foods store. In the hotel the guest is welcomed in German, in the bathroom he finds a soap made by Palmolive and Head&Shoulders shampoo. „Now come, savior of the heathens!“ Service in the Protestant city parish church at the Huet market next to the historic city wall. In gothic height the gas heating is hissing above the heads of the worshipers. The middle-class Hermannstadt is singing and praying. Not different from Bremen or Luneburg. Amazing is how crowded the church is. That young people are praying, too. And how well-behaved the children are. Pastor Hans-Georg Junesch preaches about those, „who have gone”, and he does not mean the dead, but the emigrated, the droves of Romanians of German origin, who have left their country after the turnaround. He talks about “us, the remained”, about injustice of 50 years of communism. And about a new beginning, the hope, which John the Baptist once spread. Today there was a hope of the future once again, this time a “Johannis”, whom the people expect justice from.Johannis – he is the German mayor. Klaus Johannis is considered as the figure of light in Sibiu/Hermannstadt. The German, married to a Romanian, became mayor in 2000 and in 2004 had been re-elected with sensational 88.7 percent of the votes. The Romanian majority had purposefully elected a Mr. Clean with the reputation of being solid, reliable and incorruptible. People do not build their hopes on their own politicians any more: The Saxon is going to make it. It is hard to believe. This man attracts German investors and European support money. The whole drinking water supply and the canalization have been renewed step by step, they had digged up even wooden pipes in some cases! The first houses have got – a Romanian miracle – a power connection with a protective earth. In the near future there will be a circutious road. And: you may trust the taxi drivers!How soft pastor Junesch pronounces the „r“: This makes you recognize the „Saxon“. For inscrutable reasons all Germans, who have come to Transylvania during the centuries from wherever, but not from Saxony, are called Saxons – with a sharp „S“ at the beginning. They had rather come from Luxembourg, somewhat explaining the coupling of the capitals of culture Luxembourg and Sibiu. There are still “Saxons”, which are able to talk to Luxembourgers in a dialect similar to the Moselle Franconian. But all of them are able to speak: German, a strange, oldfashioned German, which is about “breadwinning” and “straightforwardness”, without any Anglicisms. In the West this kind of language was spoken in the times of Adenauer, when women still met for tea and cookies. Service is over, they are going to stroll around. Stroll around? Stroll around the streets without being afraid of losing time? For that you must be able to forget that you are in one of the poorest countries of Europe, where teachers earn 200 Euros per month and the old have to use up their whole pension for heating. The perfect house fronts of Sibiu make it easy for the visitor to overlook the poverty.The roofs have almond-shaped eyes, a local characteristic. The Saxons call their main place „Big Ring“. Amply dimensioned and in a cheerful mix of different styles, with its colorful barocqe and neo-classical facades the Piata mare reminds of the cities of small towns in Palatinate or Frankonia. Save that from the roofs windows look down like almond-shaped eyes, a local characteristic. The historic city core is pleasantly conservative concerning advertisement and screaming shop windows. Everybody who is anybody and who can afford the racking rents lives here again: the mayor, the bishop, the party of the Saxons “Democratic Forum of the Germans”. Every house has its own history. Thus the baroque palace of the governor of Transylvania, Samuel Brukenthal, reminds of the times, when Maria Theresia’s influence came down to here. Today it hosts one of the best art collections of South Eastern Europe, including paintings of van Dyck, Rubens, Cranach and Rembrandt.

Historic city: The small market © Primaria Municipiului Sibiu Soon it will be 1000 years ago that Hermannstadt/Sibiu had been founded by German settlers. The so-called Saxons came from the Moselle and built the castles and the fortified villages of Transylvania – one of those was Hermannstadt/Sibiu, which quickly developed to be the cultural center of the Saxons.The Germans had been called by the Hungarian Kings, in order to defend the empire against the Tartars and the Turks. In turn they got special rights and privileges. At the end of the 17th century Hermannstadt/Sibiu had become an impregnable bastion, part of the fortifications can still be seen.After World War I Hermannstadt/Sibiu became part of Romania, after World War II many Germans were deported to Russian work camps. Since the 1970’s many citizens of Hermannstadt/Sibiu have moved to Germany, so that today only 1.6 percent of the 170.000 inhabitants are still of German origin. Nevertheless their culture still plays an important role: officially Hermannstadt/Sibiu is bi-lingual and the city limits and street signs are also written in German. The party of the German minority (DFDR) makes up for the majority of the city council, mayor is Klaus Johannis. There are German kindergartens, primary schools and the German “Brukenthal Lyceum”. Once a week the “Hermannstädter Zeitung (Sibiu Newspaper)” is published. Sibiu/Hermannstadt is in Siebenbürgen („seven castles“/Transylvania). The name traces back to the seven castles the Saxons founded at the command of the Hungarian king in order to protect the border. In medieval times the region was called Transylvania (“behind the woods”), a term borrowed from Latin.  The Walachian prince Vlad III. Draculea was born as son of the princess Cneajna of Transylvania in the 15th century. He was an extremely brutal ruler – it is said that his favored execution method was impalement. Nevertheless, the vampire stories, which Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” link with Vlad Draculea, are pure fiction.Although the Walachian prince probably had never been there, the castle of Bran (Törzburg) is marketed as the castle of Dracula. It is situated Southeast from Sibiu in the South Carpatians. 

Sibiu/Hermannstadt – you must have seen it

Transylvania – wasn’t it the home of Dracula?