Open Access

Cristina Andreea Iacob

• The novel written by the priest Schlattner, a Romanian born citizen of German origin, caught the attention of the German speaking world in 1998, the year of its publication. This novel describes the Saxon nation in Transylvania before World War II with its way of living, education, church, preachers and teachers, traditions and habits. The action takes place on August 23, 1944 when Romania turns against Germany. The story-teller, a teenager, remembers aspects of his family, which are the same with those of the whole community. The family stands for the whole community. Three generations are living under the same roof, which is typical for the middle class. Grandparents, parents and children are members of the same community, but they do not share the same beliefs. These characters are representatives of their own history and of the period of time when they lived. The grandparents had the opportunity to live in Hungary and also in Italy, but they chose to return to Transylvania. The parents are very different one from another. The mother stays at home and looks after the children. The father is a business man who has to support the family, but also to survive with his small family business on an insecure market. He is a typical example of an open-minded man without prejudices. The five children are of different ages, therefore with different preoccupations. Felix, the story-teller, is quite interesting for the reader. He tries to live in a community full of traditions, but also wants to stand up to the demands of the time. He works as a horde leader in the local Hitler-organization, but he fails. The servants also live in the same house, but they do not belong to the family. Nobody knows their last names, but without them the family wouldn’t be able to live properly. The essay ends with a conclusion about the narrator’s family, which can be seen as a model. Such families actually existed in small towns. Schlattner wrote this story in order to inform the next generations about their history and to reinforce the idea that the Saxon world as we knew does no longer exist.