40 years of global cohesion: Federation of Transylvanian Saxons offers numerous get-together festivals

The chairmen of the member associations from Transylvania (Martin Bottesch), Austria (Manfred Schuller), Canada (John Werner), USA (Denise Crawford) and Germany (Rainer Lehni) took part in the federation talks, as well as Reinhart Guib, Bishop of the Evangelical Church AB in Romania (EKR). The Federation Council unanimously decided to appoint Dr. Awarding Paul Jürgen Porr the Star of Honor of the Federation. The chairman of the Transylvanian Forum (1995-2013) and since 2013 chairman of the Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania has made a decisive contribution “to ensuring that cooperation in the federation is as we know it today”, stressed Rainer Lehni. “The successful integration of the Transylvania Forum into the structure of the federation is his credit.” Porr awarded at the Heimattag on Pentecost Sunday at 5 p.m. in Dinkelsbühl.

The panel discussion on Whit Monday will be dedicated to the 40th anniversary of the Federation (see editorial, top of this page). At the opening event of the Heimattag on Saturday at 11 a.m., in addition to the Bavarian Prime Minister Dr. Markus Söder, among others also representatives of all member associations of the federation each speak a greeting. In addition, Rebecca Horeth will give a lecture on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. about the Transylvanian Saxons in Canada.

The home day of the Transylvanian Saxons in North America is from 7.-8. Juli 2023 in Newscastle, Pennsylvania, celebrated in the USA. Manfred Schuller will deliver a greeting from his compatriots in Europe. As part of the Federation Culture Exchange visits a cultural group from Traun (Upper Austria) from 6th-20th July 2023 the US and Canada. Also Canada is hosting the Federation Youth Camp in July 2024.

This offers further opportunities for encounters Saxony meeting from 29.-30. Sep 2023 in Keisd and the big one Saxony meeting from August 2nd to 4th, 2024 in Sibiu. An important result of the most recent federation talks: The Alliance of Transylvanian Saxons and the Landsmannschaft of the Transylvanian Saxons in Canada will be co-organizers of the large Saxon meeting and will be represented on site. “We are very happy about that and it shows that it is a Saxon meeting of Transylvanian Saxons all over the world,” said Martin Bottesch.

Bishop Reinhart Guib reported on the elections for the new state consistory at the end of last year. With the election of regional church curator Dr. Carmen Schuster, the first woman to head this body in Sibiu, also hopes to strengthen the home church both internally, among the Transylvanian Saxons, and externally, into Romanian society. As successor to Pastor Dr. Bruno Fröhlich (Schäßburg), Dietmar Gross (Deutsch-Weisskirch) will in future represent the home church on the federal board of the Association of Transylvanian Saxons in Germany. Bishop Guib was also looking forward to the Inauguration of the parish church in Bistritz from 12.-14. May 2023, where numerous guests from the member countries of the federation are expected.

At the association in Germany, as everywhere else, the year 2022 was marked by the revival of community life, reported Federal Chairman Rainer Lehni. The 72nd Heimattag in Dinkelsbühl was a successful new beginning and had an impact on the state and district groups. Since then, many festivals have been celebrated, conferences and general meetings held. Since early autumn 2022, things have been running normally almost everywhere. However, some cultural groups have shrunk because some older activists have stopped. The Transylvanian Newspaper continue to report reliably not only about the activities in Germany, but also from the other countries of the federation.

Rainer Lehni described the cross-border cooperation at the Transylvanian Cultural Summer 2022, in which the association was represented by numerous cultural groups, and the online church services, which were organized together with the home church, as gratifying.

Siegbert Bruss