In Germany and other countries live 529 people born in Alexanderhausen

Current status of Alexanderhauseners Worldwide

by Hans Schuch, Banater Post, 15 June 2020
Translated by Nick Tullius

          Once upon a time ... That's how all fairy tales begin. What follows here, could also be considered a fairy tale if it were not the bitter truth. It all started in 1833, the year of birth of our old hometown Alexanderhausen, today’s Romanian Şandra.

          Alexanderhausen is an inland settlement, which means that the settlers came from the surrounding villages. When the place was founded, there were 140 families. Ten years later, the population had increased to 1231. My parents received from our priest Dr. Maticza the booklet "The Dying People". The author, who wrote under the pseudonym Uncle Franz, expressed his concerns that the Banat Swabians would die out due to the low birth rate and the diseases known at the time. Despite high losses (Alexanderhausen was affected in the 1880s with over 80 deaths per year), however, the extinction did not occur. What the above circumstances did not succeed in doing, was accomplished by two world wars.

          Today, nine Germans still live in the village, but only six of them were born in Alexanderhausen. In 1930, 1722 Germans and 132 Romanians lived in Alexanderhausen, in 1977 only 710 Germans, but already 1394 Romanians and 41 citizens of other nationalities. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, in 1992, only 84 Germans remained, although the population had risen to 2,139.

          In 1992 the Hometown Community Association (H.O.G.) set up electronic  records of all people born in Alexanderhausen, as well as of all those who had moved in, and their descendants. In total, there were 1,819 people. Of these, 1409 lived in Germany, 144 in Romania, 106 in Austria, 84 in Canada, 57 in the USA and 19 in other countries.

          Today, a total of 2784 people live in Alexanderhausen, 2729 Romanians, 9 Germans, 13 Hungarians and 20 Roma. That is around 1000 inhabitants more than in 1945, but our Banat-Swabian dialect is rarely heard. In a few years, German will only be spoken by Romanians as a foreign language.

          There are currently 1309 Alexanderhauseners listed in our register, including 1055 Living in Germany. Only 458 of them were born in Alexanderhausen. In Romania there are 69 Alexanderhauseners, in Austria 91, in Canada 59, in the USA 29, in other countries 12. In addition to the 458 there are 71 who were born in Alexanderhausen now living in other countries. Since the vast majority of these people are over 60 years old, one can imagine how long there will still be Alexanderhauseners in the world.

          In recent years the H.O.G. has tried to maintain the good relations with our beautiful former home village. Since 2000, the mayors of the village have always attended our meetings. Alexanderhausen itself celebrates May 3rd, the birthday of the village, as we once did. We are pleased that the village administration sees our beautiful church not only as a monument, but also as a reminder of us Banat Swabians. And we are also pleased that our compatriot Franz Bujor represents the Germans in the village council.

          As sad as in Alexanderhausen, it also looks in other Banat villages, even worse in some, where there are no longer any German inhabitants.

Hans Schuch