When I came back to Alexanderhausen from the
Serbian camp, school had already begun. I went
to a Romanian school as German was not taught in
1945. Apart from ‘thank you’, ‘good morning’ and
‘dog’, I couldn’t speak a word of Romanian, and
nor could my mother, my grandparents nor most of
the rural people. Nevertheless, things went very
well at school, although it has never been
explained to this day how a lesson could take
place when the couple teaching could not speak a
word of German and, as mentioned, the
schoolchildren could speak no Romanian. Our
fellow Romanian pupils couldn’t speak German
either. From the second year on, we had
additional lessons in German for a couple of
hours in the afternoons. The German teacher,
Frau Grawisch, was still very young and came
from Alexanderhausen.
We
went to school together with the colonist
children, but I don’t remember spending any free
time with them, except for the Headmaster’s
children who had not come as settlers but as
followers of them. When I reached the fourth
year (the 1948 school reform), German lessons
were introduced to our village, too, although
unfortunately only for the first four years. The
children whose parents could afford to do so,
e.g. families where the father had returned,
could attend schools in the larger villages like
Billed, Bogarosch or Perjamosch, where lessons
were in German from the fifth to seventh years.
Our
school, although in a small village of about 470
houses, had a large schoolyard where the boys
could play football. There were also two tall
climbing frames connected by a balcony (it was
also used as a goal for football), and other
gymnastic apparatus, as well as a volleyball
court where ‘Völkerball’ was also played.
Different education methods were in force in
those days. Even today I feel sorry for my
fellow pupils who didn’t learn much either
because they couldn’t or because they had to go
to work and didn’t have time to learn anything.
So they were punished. Even though I managed to
avoid punishment most of the time there was one
occasion when my hands had thick red weals on
them. I had forgotten my needlework one day in
the second or third year. So I was caned on the
hands even though I would have needed only five
minutes to go and fetch the missing item. It was
the only caning I ever got. This was in the
Romanian school and the teacher was the wife of
the headmaster. Such methods were not used by
our German teachers any more after 1945.
Then there was the time when infectious
illnesses were rife. We itched. This was a skin
infection, often on the hands, which spread
easily. Before the bell rang for class, we had
to check our colleagues’ hands and fingernails
to see whether they were clean, as many of the
children came from less civilized parts of the
country. I think these good measures were also
thanks to our German teachers. Head lice were
also common and these were easily transmitted.
My young cousin had them once. Grandma sat there
with a very thick comb made of horn and combed
the insects out, but the eggs (called ‘nits’)
had to be removed, too, so the hair was washed
in paraffin. I was so ashamed as people could
smell it.
When I was in the fourth year (1948), lessons
were then officially in German, but only up to
the fourth year in Alexanderhausen. We had a
very good form teacher - Hans Grawisch. One day,
a sandwich was lying on the floor. None of us
bent down to pick it up. When it was still lying
there after the break, we all had to write 100
times, ‘You do not find bread on the street’,
which certainly made an impression on not only
me. Shower cubicles were also installed so we
could shower at school. I don’t know of any
house which had a bath with running water at
that time.
A
small store was set up in the school during
break where we could buy any necessary school
equipment from the pupil who had just been put
in charge. This was a good idea as we learned to
deal with money at the same time.
At
that time it was compulsory to attend school for
seven years. Many children had to work, even
though we lived under a socialist regime and
child labour is only equated with capitalism.
As
money was tight in many homes, we children also
used to earn a couple of pennies. During school
holidays after the fourth year we would go
collecting sugar beet. We left home on foot at
six in the morning and got back at six in the
evening. We had to do other work, like digging
and sorting onions and other such things, on the
State farms when we were children. Later on I
also did other work in the fields during the
summer holidays and it was hard work. So I’m not
surprised that agriculture took a downturn once
there was no self-interest left.
Higher Education
After the seventh school year, one could go on
to higher education. Many of school friends went
on to technical college, vocational school or
high school. In our 1987 monograph there were
accounts about some of these schools and their
graduates. Of course, the generation immediately
after the war also went to some of the Romanian
higher education schools as they had not been
fortunate enough to go to many Volksschule
classes. So some Alexanderhauseners achieved the
Abitur Certificate which was equal to the Matura
Certificate. As I don’t know all the names of
those graduates from our village, I will just
list a few of these Romanian schools: The Music
School; Textile Middle School (also had a German
section); Statistics Middle School (this was
dissolved but our fellow countrymen managed to
take their exams elsewhere); Boys’ Lyceum
‘Victor Babes’ etc. Apart from the High Schools,
there were schools which would only accept
people with a Matura, which some
Alexanderhauseners attended.
But
back to my memories. In 1952 I had to go to
Temeschburg to look for a school for myself as
my mother could only speak little Romanian. I
had only been there two or three times before.
As I had very good marks I was offered a place
in the Girls’ Lyceum (previously Carmen Silva)
without taking an entrance exam. In the first
year we still had a male Physics teacher,
otherwise all the teachers were female teachers
and we had a headmistress. On our graduation
photograph there are 15 teachers and 35
graduates. There was also a boarding house (Internat)
which was not expensive. We had to get up at a
set time and queue for breakfast. We had to work
a rota in the kitchen as we received breakfast,
sandwiches, a midday meal and supper. We were
taught in the classrooms, which were free after
2 p.m. We had to observe set breaks in the
afternoons, too, when we were given good, fresh
bread, which could be taken into the classroom,
and anything that we had brought from home to go
with it. We were only allowed to walk around the
schoolyard and we were only allowed into the
living quarters in closed groups after supper (7
p.m.) Anyone who wanted to study longer could
come into the dormitory with the later group at
9 p.m.. No lights were allowed in the
dormitories after 10 p.m.
We
were often all punished if one of us had done
something wrong. Then we would not be allowed to
go home to visit our parents, or to the dances
which were organized in the schools. We could
also be grounded on Saturday and Sunday as
punishment as only on these days and at certain
times were we allowed to leave the boarding
school. We also had to wear a uniform of dark
blue cotton with a white collar and an armband
with the name of the school and our personal
number. If we were caught in town doing
something wrong, or in the evening for those who
didn’t board, we could be reported. In the
beginning no hair perms were allowed either. An
offence could lead to being expelled from the
school. Of course, the boys didn’t stand for
this as much as the girls did. So, in the boys’
school, where my future husband was, there would
be acts of defiance. For example, they simply
walked out of school because the classrooms
weren’t heated. They even took things so far
that the female Russian teacher walked out of
class one day, never to be seen again. And this
was 1953!
Looking back, I feel that the strict school
rules were very reasonable as they led to very
few people committing criminal offences or
becoming addicts.
The
school had a large library with many German
classics amongst the books (a joy for such a
bookworm as I!) Friendships were forged there
which are still strong to this day, regardless
of nationality. We were three friends, two of
whom just happened to be German and the third
Hungarian, but we got on with all the others,
too, and the hatred which the dispossession of
the Germans in favour of the Romanians had
caused, was not noticed at school. I’ve just
remembered our really old pedagogue whom some of
us had to support. We had two large dormitories,
each for 40 - 50 people, and behind them was
another dormitory for the Textile Middle School.
Every week, some of us were put on duty to make
sure lights were put out promptly and to check
beds and rooms in the mornings (just like in the
army).
Books were often brought into the boarding
school and were passed around - some were even
forbidden, like Agatha Christie. In an area in
the big room divided off by partition walls
there were wash basins and wardrobes along the
walls. It was forbidden to keep any food in
these cupboards, but as it happened anyway,
there were mice. I can still see myself sitting
in the room, reading ‘The Count of Monte Christo’
with the mice dancing around. There were only
windows looking out onto the courtyard and not
into the dormitory. I never got caught. I can
also remember the first showers very well. It
was a room with about 20 - 30 showers and we
poor embarrassed children from the villages had
to strip completely. Even though we were only
girls we were very timid. Yes, times have
certainly changed a lot. These days nudity and
mixed saunas are taken for granted.
A
particular memory comes to mind from this era.
We were called into the great hall and the death
of Stalin was announced. Some of our colleagues
really cried. Some of them would have never been
able to go to such a school previously as their
parents were very poor. We only learned later
about the evil side of this man.
During the following student years, events in
other countries also affected us. At the time,
not everyone who was clever was allowed to
study. It depended on the parents. If your
father was a priest (Orthodox priests had to get
married and have a family) or had possessed a
few acres more before being dispossessed, then
the children were not allowed to study. There
were cases when such students were thrown out of
High School after the fourth to sixth semesters.
You could only get a scholarship if you achieved
above average marks in the exams. For special
achievements you received more.
Whereas before the war most youngsters from the
villages were trained to take over the farm or
for a trade, now parents wanted to give their
children something which could not be taken away
from them. And so many more of the farmers’
children went on to higher education. In order
to be allowed to study there were two
possibilities at the time: Either you had only
the highest mark (5) in all subjects, in which
case you were automatically awarded a place; or
else you took entrance exams in several subjects
(oral and written) such as Mathematics, Physics,
Romanian and Russian, depending on subject area.
At
the end of each semester there were exams in all
subjects. Those who failed half of the exams,
plus one, in the first year lost their study
place. With the scholarship you could board and
would also receive meal vouchers, i.e. full
board, and there was a bit of pocket money left,
too. In the second year we slept 20 to a room
(1956/57). This was great fun. As there wasn’t
enough room to study in the boarding house, we
used the High School library rooms instead.
There, you could borrow the necessary books for
the day at the same time. During the term there
was room; only when exams were due did things
become hectic. Out of us 20 students, two or
three had to queue daily at six in the morning
to be at the front of the row at 7 a.m. Then the
doors were opened and only those who could run
the fastest and aim their satchels and books
well enough, would get hold of a place. Many
will think back to those days with a smile, but
at the time, keeping your study place depended
on it, as without passing that semester’s exams
you were out. You could only re-sit exams for
the whole year (two semesters), and this only
once with special permission. In the second year
we had another 20 or so colleagues who had
failed. We also lost quite a few after the first
semester, especially Germans who had had all
their schooling in German and who now found it
hard dealing with subjects in Romanian. During
the last years we were given the opportunity of
studying in the empty classrooms. I still have a
picture of us begging for water as it was often
the case that the water pressure couldn’t reach
the top floor. Of course, there were no washing
machines, only a big wash room. There, we could
wash by hand. The showers were in the same room.
Amongst the 20 of us in the large dormitory,
which was close to the High School, was the
daughter of an ex-General who, together with her
boyfriend, belonged to a certain group which we
did not know about. And so one evening we
learned with amazement that an uprising against
the communist regime would take place in
Hungary, and in Romania too, students had
gathered for a meeting to push for certain
improvements. Under this cover, the said group
wanted to take things further. That evening in
the refectory support was expressed and this was
enough to send some of them to prison for seven
or eight years. This was communist democracy.
One hears tell that some of them never
re-appeared. The said female student was in
mechanical engineering and thereby lost her
study place. Her fiancée was sentenced to seven
years in prison. I’d put this story down to
fantasy at the time, but lo and behold, when I
got up next morning our first colleagues were
returning, as the exit doors were watched and we
were grounded. This resulted in all the windows
suddenly filling with girls’ heads and now we
could see how our unwitting male colleagues,
hurrying to their lessons, were being caught on
the street and put into trucks. This is how they
wanted to prevent unrest, as an uprising had
broken out in Hungary. Now, the boarding house
was in the centre of Temeswar and all at once
with one voice there was a shout, “We want the
boys!”. Within a quarter of an hour we, too,
were taken off in trucks as the soldiers had
already been mobilized. We couldn’t see where
they were taking us. We ended up in the
soldiers’ barracks which were situated on the
Hungarian border at the time. We were kept like
prisoners. We didn’t know where we were and only
at night were we able to go and eat in the
canteen. Our parents didn’t know where we were.
Luckily, many parents only heard about it after
the event. And now, loyal Party members and
colleagues kept coming to try and make us sign a
piece of paper under threat. Deeds were
denounced and condemned therein of which we knew
nothing. Nobody signed. A few days later, when
the rebellion in Hungary had been suppressed, we
were taken back. Interrogations went on long
afterwards.
