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A
Visit to Nitzkydorf
In
October of 1989, Duncan Gardiner, a
professional researcher, visited Nitzkidorf to seek information on
the Dassinger, Seffernick, and
Augustine families for Dorothy
Acton. At the time of this
visit, Roman was under the
Ceausescu regime. Two months
later, the dictator fell.
Report of Duncan
B. Gardiner
on Nitschkidorf, Rumania 1989
© Nitschkidorf Report
and Photos 1989
Duncan B. Gardiner,
Ph.D., C.G.
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1.
On Friday, 13 October
1989 I visited the
Bishopric; Str. Matei
Corvin Nr.2) in
Timisoara, Rumania and
spoke with Dr. Ferdinand
Cziza. He told me that
the Nitschkidorf parish
records are held in the
Timisoara Archives (Bodnaras
Str 8, Timisoara). I had
previously heard in
Vrsac, Yugoslavia, that
the Roman Catholic
bishop's duplicate
parish records for the
entire Banat may also be
there. While at the
Bishopric, I also spoke
with Sebantian Krauter
who appears to be the
appointed bishop of the
region. It appears he
could not use the title
officially in Rumania
because of government
policy. Sebastian
Krauter was born and
raised in Nitschkidorf
and gave me the name of
a contact in the town.
I
travelled to
Nitschkidorf later that
day. It is only some 20
miles from Timisoara,
but the road is not
paved. The last five
miles is so rutted and
uneven that maximum
speed was ten miles an
hour. Mr. Graszl turned
out to be a retired
tailor who was
choirmaster of the Roman
Catholic Church. He
speaks excellent German,
his native language. Up
until five years ago,
the congregation was
large enough to have a
choir, but Nitschkidorf
is now mostly Rumanian
non-Catholic. Mr. Graszl
was nice enough to open
the church for me and
allow me to take the
photographs which are
enclosed with this
report. He also played
the organ for me.
We
returned to his house
where he showed me a
kind of register of all
the German families
living in the village.
He had two Dassinger
family addresses, for
Franz Dassinger and
Georg Dassinger. I asked
him about Sefernick and
Augustin families, but
there do not appear to
be any living in
Nitschkidorf now.
On
the way to the cemetery
I chatted with two older
ladies and asked about
Dassinger families. One
of them knew of a Wendel
Dassinger who emigrated
to Canada, sometime
after World War II it
seemed, had two sons
there, one of whom had
died. She had no idea
what city or where an
address could be
obtained.
In
the cemetery I noted no
grave markers older than
the 1890's. There were
quite a few graves;
enough to make a
thorough search
impossible before the
end of the day. All the
markers are dazzling
white stone; there was
half a dozen ladies
scrubbing headstones
with soap and brush.
Most of the graves were
tended immaculately. I
asked about Dassinger
family graves and was
directed to Wendel
Dassinger's, photo
enclosed. It reads: Here
rests Wendel Dassinger,
died 8 April 1916 in his
52nd year. Rest in
peace." So he was born
in 1864 or 1863. I noted
no other Dassinger
graves. There appeared
to be several Augustin
head markers, but none I
could connect with data
you gave me and none
from before 1900.
The stone above the
church portal is
inscribed with the Roman
numeral 1825, the date
of its completion.
Apparently it was
dedicated on 7 Nov 1824.
Enclosed is a photograph
of a short history of
the church which hangs
in a frame just inside
the church. It was
written in Sept, 1987 by
Konrad Hellinger and
Georg Graszl. It
mentions that the
building is 30 meters
long and 13 meters wide
and burned to its bare
walls in 1911. The new
bell tower is in a style
somewhat different from
the original. (If you
want a complete
translation I will have
to have a 4X5 print
made.)
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As I was leaving
town, a middle-aged man asked for a
ride to Timisoara. He had a number
of packages, including a large
bottle of young white wine, which we
loaded into the trunk. On the way we
had an interesting conversation in
which he said that in order to join
his relatives in Germany he and his
wife would have to pay an inordinate
sum of money for an exit visa,
something like ten thousand dollars
if I recall. He said: "Yes, we're
just in one large prison here." I
hope things are easier for him now.
When we unloaded the trunk in
Timisoara we found the wine bottle
had overturned and spilled
fermenting wine onto the trunk
carpeting. The smell of that wine in
the hot sun as I drove to Bucuresti
and back, for a whole week, reminded
me of Nitschkidorf. That poor Opel
Cadett went through a lot: a rutted
road which threatened to break its
axles, a baptism in wine, and four
hubcaps stolen someplace in Rumania,
discovered only on my return to
Munich.
Before going to
Nitschkidorf I had sought out the
Archive on Bodnaras Street: No
street sign, no number on the
building. The man at the door would
let me enter no further than the
small vestibule and said I would
have to get permission from the main
archive administration in Bucuresti
to study there. This I had expected
and drove to Bucuresti the next day,
stopping the first night in a small
mountain town just south of Brasov.
Rumania turned out to be larger than
I had thought. One cannot drive that
fast because of the horse-drawn
wagons, sheep, bicycle riders, and
cows on the road. One sees an
occasional fox in the headlights.
In Bucuresti I first
visited the American Embassy to chat
with the Cultural Attache. In her
office was an American professor of
history who has a Fulbright grant to
do research. He had been there a
month and had not yet gotten
permission to use the archives. The
Cultural Attache had no great words
of wisdom for me.
The following day I
visited the central archive office,
not very far from the Hotel
Intercontinental, and submitted my
requests for information in writing.
The lady there spoke good French and
informed me that it usually takes
three to four months to get
permission to use the archives. I
asked whether the records I had
requested could be sent to me. She
said there was some possibility,
but, now that I think back on it, I
will not hold my breath.
I do intend to
follow up with a letter requesting
that the records be sent and will
form you of any results.
I left the country
with the feeling that despite some
very nice scenery and some friendly
people, I really did not want to go
back.
In case you would
like to write to the archives
yourself, here is the address:
Directia Generala a Arhivelor
Statului
Belevardul Gh. Gheorghiu-Dej 29
Bucuresti
Rumania
They may be able to
deal with English, but you might
have better luck writing in French.
In Stuttgart, two
weeks before going to Rumania, I
visited the Haus der Donauschwaben
and obtained two interesting
reference books. The first is
Donauschwabisches Ortsnamenbuch by
Isabella Regenyi and Anton Scherer,
published in 1980. The second is a
spiral-bound listing of all the
church registers which were
microfilmed before 1945 in the
Banat. It is called Die Banater Kirchenbucher, compiled by Josef
Schmidt and published in 1979. Both
are available from Haus der
Donauschwaben, Goldmuhlestrafse 30,
7032 Sindelfingen, West Germany.
Another useful reference is a set of
four mimeographed pages entitled Die Kirchenbucher der Banater Gemeinden
in den Staatsarchiven von Temeswar
und Arad (Rumanien), that is, Church
books of Banat parishes in the
Timisoara and Arad state archives,
available from the same source.
© 1989
Duncan B. Gardiner,
Ph.D., C.G.;
Permission granted to
DVHH.org to republish
his report on Nitschkidorf,
Rumania.
[Published at
www.dvhh.org, 05 Mar
2010]
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Duncan B. Gardiner
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