In the whole world, except for Banat, animals have a race, but no nationality. In Banat, however, animals are also endowed with this exclusively human feature, a clear distinction being made between the German’s and the Romanian’s cat. The German’s cat is the pride of the household. Big, fat, with shiny hair, it strolls along in front of its master. The German wife feeds it on the table as if it were a real family member. […] The Romanian’s cat is absent. Its place is under beds and chairs and it never faces its masters. Its hair is always disheveled, and you can count its ribs from a distance. The Romanian keeps the cat to catch mice, not to lie down in the middle of the house. […] Judging by so many “national” features noticed in those cats, how many of you, my dear readers, could not tell which is the German’s and which is the Romanian’s cat?” (Nemoianu quoted by Vultur, 2000:65-6, my transl.)

Posted with permission of Lidia Bradley, the founder of www.memoria.ro who says "We are constantly adding interviews about Banat on our site and plans for additional English summaries about the other interviews. A search for "Banat" would yield articles related to that region."