Ambassador Cord Meier-Klodt on Germans who left communist Romania:They are longing for their birthplaces

The Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany, Cord Meier-Klodt, on Monday evening said that the departure of some of the members of the German community from the communist Romania meant a trauma for them, with many of the people who had to deal with this difficult process of leaving their country still missing their native places.

"Try to picture a minority who lived here for 800 years, a minority that became very attached to its territory, a minority that resisted against the aggression of Tartars, Turks and others, having the fortified churches as a symbol (....) and a minority that was the first ethnic group having declared its loyalty to the Romanian modern state in January 1919, only one month after the Great National Assembly. And also, as we well know it, a minority that, after all the ordeals that we have mentioned, had to flee the country overnight, fortunately not in its entirety, but in a large number," said the German diplomat, at the launch of the book "Five Romanian Germans," by Marilena Rotaru, held in the lobby of the Romanian Athenaeum.

He emphasized that, despite the trauma they suffered, these people felt the longing for their native places even more.

"It cannot be but a trauma and it was a trauma and a painful inner fight in the hearts of those who left and those who remained, a fight that, fortunately, and I am entitled to say this, has become easier in the past couple of years. This is a positive sign. However, during this long and very difficult process, there have been people who were longing for their birthplaces and, it seems, they even felt the longing stronger and stronger," said Cord Meier-Klodt.

Speaking about Marilena Rotaru's book, the German Ambassador said the author approaches "the personal and very special side" of those interviewed, who share their longing for their mother country Romania, which they left during the communist regime.

Speaking at the launching of the book, alongside the author, were the head of the Vremea Publishing house, Silvia Colfescu, and the general manager of the "George Enescu" Philharmonic in Bucharest, Andrei-Radu Dimitriu.

The book is part of the prestigious collection of the Vremea publishing house "Facts, Ideas, Documents, "Five Romanian Germans" being a book of dialogues made by Marilena Rotaru with five Germans who left Romania and consider themselves, despite the ordeals they went through, exiled Romanians: painter Friedrich von Bomches, sculptor Ingo Glass, painter and scenographer Ion Sigismund Ipser, culture philosopher Walter Biemel and economy expert Wilfried H. Lang.