Der Völkerbund und der Schutz der deutschen Minderheit in Rumänien

Abstract

The study analyzes the way in which the German minority in Romania related, in the period 1920–1933, to the system ensuring the protection of linguistic, racial and religious minorities that operated under the authority of the League of Nations. We note that, while the German minorities in other European states (Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia) were more active in their relationship with the League of Nations, sending petitions to Geneva, the sizable German minority in Romania did not turn to this “international court” in order to raise the problems it was facing in its relations with the Romanian state authorities. Although they were dissatisfied with the content of some laws adopted in the first interwar decade, the Germans in Romania did not refer to the League of Nations, as the Hungarian, Jewish or Russian minorities in Romania did, on issues related to agrarian reform and education laws. The German community in Romania chose the path of internal politics to make their demands known and pursue their economic, political and cultural objectives. Even if at certain moments the Germans in Romania considered the option of appealing to the League of Nations, this option had rather the role of “sensitizing” the ruling parties to the needs of the German minority. Nevertheless, I have identified and analyzed two petitions accepted by the League of Nations Secretariat, which are related, in a way, to the particular problems of the German minorities and to Romania’s post-imperial state status