DVHH | Kleinjetscha in Banat

Kleinjetscha in Banat

Village History: based on the 2001 Kleinjetscha family book by Dietmar Giel unless otherwise noted.

Background

Kleinjetscha is located in the 11,000-square-mile area called the Banat. When Kleinjetscha was founded, the Banat was part of the Habsburg Empire. The area has changed hands two times since. More recently, in 1920, the two-thirds of the Banat that includes Kleinjetscha became part of Romania.

before 1860

Part of the Habsburg Empire

1860-1920

Part of Hungary

since 1920

Part of Romania

Beginnings

1769

Settlement by German-speaking people was planned, and the village took the name Kleinjetscha. The first colonists began arriving from Lorraine, Alsace, Luxembourg, Rhineland-Palatinate, and Austria.

The town was laid out in eight blocks, separated by streets lined with acacia trees. Two main roads intersected Kleinjetscha: one connected Gertianosch in the south with Billed in the north; the other connected Großjetscha in the northwest with Beregsau in the southeast.

The church, school, and tavern were to be located in the center of the village; the mills on the outskirts; and the raised cemetery—planted with chestnut, pine, and fir trees—at the edge of the village on either side of the road to Billed. Grapes, wheat, corn, rye, oats, barley, sugar beets, and hemp were to be planted in the surrounding fields.

Map after Giel 2001
(click map to enlarge)

1770

Johann Biero, the first village teacher, arrived from Luxembourg and began instructing the children in reading and writing.

1771

Farmers		76
Professionals		17
Married Women		90
Widowed Women		6
Sons		97
Daughters		87
Others		4
TOTAL		377

By the second year of the settlement, 99 houses had been built, and there were 377 inhabitants.

Table after Giel 2001

1772

The first priest, Peter Graff from Oberweißenbach in Rhineland-Palatinate, established a Roman Catholic parish in Kleinjetscha and, from his own funds, constructed the school and chapel building.

1813

The Roman Catholic Church was dedicated on April 24, a magnificent baroque structure with a high-vaulted nave and pointed steeple serving as a bell and clock tower. On the interior were a main alter and two side alters, a stone slab floor, heavy wooden benches, and a spiral staircase leading to the choir and tower.

Expansions &
Improvements

1831

Thirty-three new homes were built to accommodate additional German settlers.

1840

A new, larger school was built.

1957-1959

Seventy-five new homes were built along the road to Gertianosch to house the post-World War II influx of Romanian colonists.

1964

Eight classrooms were added to the school.

1978

The roads to Gertianosch, Billed, and Großjetscha were paved.

Catastrophic
Events

1811

Fire

37 homes, the chapel, and the inn destroyed

1823

Hail Storm

most crops destroyed

1831

Cholera Epidemic

76 people died

1863

Drought

wells dried up; crops and trees damaged

1865

Fire

80 homes and the church steeple destroyed

1866

Cholera Epidemic

24 people died

1870-1880

Malaria Outbreaks

most households suffered

1914-1918

World War I

35 died in military service

1943-1945

World War II

32 died in military service; 3 others also died

1945-1948

USSR Deportation

127 men and women deported on January 18, 1945, to Soviet labor camps; 27 died in the USSR

1951-1956

Baragan Deportation

145 men, women, and children deported on June 18, 1951, to the Baragan-Steppe in eastern Romania; 8 died there

Poplulation

In spite of the high mortality rate, the village population grew steadily from the 377 inhabitants of 1771. Between 1830 and 1890, over 5300 children were born. Kleinjetscha remained almost exclusively a German community until after World War II. Today, it is a community of mostly Romanian people; few if any ethnic Germans remain.


1880
1900
1930
1941
1966
1977
1992
2002

TOTAL	German	Romanian	Hungarian	Other
1770	1742	16	9	3
1531	1506	6	18	1
1131	1095	18	8	10
1076	1012	25	30	9
1241	543	661	6	31
1213	383	783	11	36
1113	20	1018	37	38
1154	7	1055	38	54

Table after Romanian Wikipedia Iecea Mică entry

See also the English translation of Father Zenz's presentation at the 200th anniversary celebration
of the founding of Kleinjetscha

contributed by Kathy Plourde

(click above image to go to
the complete translation)

The Celebration of the 200^th Anniversary of Kleinjetscha
1769 – 1969
By Pfarrer Adam Zenz
Kleinjetscha
October 25, 1969
Translation by Kathy Plourde with the assistance of Matt Potje and Alfred Schmidt

. . . Drop by drop, time goes by in the sea of eternity.

As if in a mirror, I see five to six generations back in the past of the community and as if in an echo, I hear the voices of the stately ranks of these generations, who since the time of settlement stayed and left, how they spoke and what they suffered.

It was the year 1769, that is two hundred times that spring has come over the fields and meadows of this community with all its splendor of flowers and birdsong, the joy and awakening of life.

Two hundred times, it has become summer since the first wheat sheaves were brought in and two hundred times that the blessings of the autumn harvest were stored safely in attics and cupboards, in cellars and in sheds. Since then, however, the cold winter has peacefully blanketed the work-weary departed of your family in the cemetery with its white wings. . . .

References:

Giel, Dietmar (2001). Familienbuch der katholischen Pfarrgemeinde Kleinjetscha im Banat: 1772-2000. Friedrichsdorf: Zentralstelle für Personen- und Familiengeschichte.