7th to 9th November, 2022
Cordial exchange with partners of the Union of former Bărăgan deportees
The promise was made on the 2021 conference “Peace and Agriculture” which both Romania and Germany hosted in cyberspace (link to conference report 2021) because on-site events had to be canceled due to the pandemic: “Once the pandemic situation will permit it, we will visit you in the Banat!”
This promise was finally fulfilled between 7th and 9th November of 2022: A small German PeaceBread delegaton with Dr. Marion Schenk from managing office and Anton Blöth and Udo Folgart of the board visited the southeast European country, i.e. in Timișoara (Temeschwar) to meet the partners in the European PeaceBread network, the Union of former Bărăgan deportees. Before this meeting, discussions were held in Bucharest, among others with the President of the German-Romanian chamber of industry and commerce, Mr. Andreas Lier.
It was an affectionate meeting and an intensive interchange of experiences with the Romanian friends of the Union of former Bărăgan deportees. Their sorrowful story of deportation in the early 1950s (Wiki Link), the yearning and commitment under the communist regime and even after the Romanian revolution in 1989 (which was much less peaceful than in Germany) keep the members of the Union together.
Scientific rehabilitation, support in laying claims for compensation, and maintenance of memories and community are the essential activities of the Union, thus was explained the German delegation by the Union’s chairman Petru Mirclov during an information meeting. About 20 members of the Union met with their guests at the Adam Müller Gutenbrunn house in Timișoara, the center of the Banat, a historic region which is now divided by Romania, Hungary and Serbia.
The cultural diversity of the Banat was the symbol of the subsequent visit to the Banat village museum with its historic buildings, which was followed by a wine-tasting and sociable get-together at the end of the German delegation’s visit to the largest Romanian vineyard.
