Romania's significant Saxon (German) heritage is obvious in Southern Transylvania, home to 259 Saxon towns and villages. Saxons came to Transylvania during the mid 1100s from the Rhine and Moselle Rivers regions. Highly respected for their skill and talent the Saxons succeeded in gaining administrative autonomy, almost unmatched in the entire feudal Europe of absolute monarchies.

The result of almost nine centuries of existence of the Saxon (German) community in Southern Transylvania is a cultural and architectural heritage, unique in Europe. Transylvania is home to superb, well-preserved, quaint towns and fortified churches built between the 13th and 15th centuries by the Saxons. The region is often associated with the name Siebenbürgen (seven walled citadels in German) established and fortified by the Transylvanian Saxons:  Bistrita (Bistritz),   Brasov (Kronstadt),   Cluj (Klausenburg),   Medias (Mediasch),   Sebes (Mühlbach),   Sibiu (Hermannstadt)   and   Sighisoara (Schässburg)

Smaller towns and villages that also feature unique Saxon Heritage and deserve a visit include:   Biertan,  Câlnic,  Copsa Mare,  Crit,  Prejmer,   Harman,  Richis,  Rupea,   Saschiz,   Viscri.

Beginning in the late 1800s and lasting until the mid 1900s Romania's culture and arts acknowledged great French influences. Bucharest, the capital of Romania was known in the 1930s as "The Little Paris" or "The Paris of the East" and French was the second language in Romania.   However, Bucharest owes to its German-born king, Carol I, much of the systematization and modernization that occurred during late 1800s early 1900s.

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Timeline of the history of Saxons and Swabians in Romania

Documentary evidence shows that Germans have been present on the territory of present-day Romania for more than eight centuries; their numbers have grown or shrunk depending on the historical and political context.

  • The Saxons have lived in the central region of present-day Romania since the 12th century as a politically and religiously constituted community. They shared responsibility for the state on the basis of well-established rights and obligations. Today, the Landlers, descendants of Austrian Protestants deported to Transylvania in the 18th century, are also considered Saxons.

  • December 20, 1191 - the earliest religious organization of the Saxons the Provostship is founded in Hermannstadt (now city of Sibiu).

  • 1530': the great majority of the Transylvanian Saxons embrace the new creed of Martin Luther during the Protestant Reformation.

  • February 6, 1553: Saxon pastors elect the first superintendent of the Transylvanian Saxons' Evangelical Church, clergyman Paul Wiener, - the first Protestant bishop in Transylvania.

  • The Swabians of Satu Mare settled in the area around the city of Satu Mare in the early 18th century.

  • Banat region (western Romania) was colonized, at the beginning of the 18th century, by settlers from western Germany – the Banat Swabians.

  • Craftsmen from Styria (Austria) settled in the Banat Mountains in the 18th century.

  • Starting with the second half of the 18th century, German settlers known as tipseri lived in Maramureş.

  • After Austria annexed Bukovina (1774), Germans from various parts of Europe settled there. Their descendants were "resettled" by Hitler in Germany, and only a few of them returned after 1945.

  • At the beginning of the 19th century, Germans also settled in Bessarabia. During World War II, the Germans in this region, which had been ceded to the Soviet Union, were "resettled" in Germany.

  • The Saxons allied with the Transylvanian Romanians and side with the Austrian Empire in the context of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848.

  • German villages were also formed in Dobruja in the second half of the 19th century. Their inhabitants were "resettled" to Germany in 1940.

  • In the Romanian principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, Germans have lived in large numbers since the 18th century, working as merchants, craftsmen, and intellectuals, organized into church communities and associations.

  • February 1919, the Transylvanian Saxons also voted for the union of Transylvania with the Kingdom of Romania.

    • Between the two world wars, almost 800,000 ethnic Germans lived in Greater Romania. Their representatives formed their own faction in the Romanian Parliament.

    Germans from Bukovina, Bessarabia, and Dobruja were "displaced," and 63,000 Germans from Romania were enlisted in the German army based on an agreement between Romania and Germany.

    In the early years after World War II, Germans in Romania were collectively discriminated against, with most of them being expropriated. Until 1948, they had no political rights. In 1945, 75,000 Germans were deported to forced labor in the Soviet Union, from where most of those who survived did not return until 1949.

    The desire to emigrate among the German population in Romania grew, especially after 1970, due to the fact that the Federal Republic of Germany created favorable conditions for the reception of Germans. In 1989, there were still about 200,000 Germans living in Romania, but by the 2002 census, their number had dropped to 60,000.

    I Am Saxon

    Chronicles the history of the little-known Transylvanian Saxons. From their humble beginnings in the 12th century as immigrants to a remote and sparsely populated area in the southern basin of the Carpathian Mountains, the Saxons became renowned for their fine trade guilds and seven beautiful, fortified towns.
    But after eight hundred and fifty years, the Saxons were forced to evacuate - or have decided to leave - their homeland in Siebenbürgen (the land of the seven fortified towns).

    Transylvanian Saxons Events

    Each year, colorful events celebrate the extraordinary heritage and history of the Transylvanian Saxons. The most preeminent include:

    The "Haferland" Week - Transylvania Oat Country Festival
    Saptamana Haferland

    Transylvanian Saxons Global Meet-Up
    Intalnirea Sasilor din Transilvania

    “Urzelnlauf” / ”Lolelor” (Masks) Parade
    Parada Lolelor - Fuga Lolelor

    Kronnenfest
    Sarbatoarea Coroanei

    Heimattage
    a German word translating to 'home' or 'homeland'
    Zilele Culturale ale Germanilor din Banat