Journal Analele Banatului N.S. Archaeology-History

Philippe Henri Blasen

Darstellung der Deutschen und der deutschen Minderheiten Rumäniens in den rumänischen Schulbüchernfür Geschichte und für Erdkunde der 3. bis 10. / 12. Klasse 1948 – 1989: Eine Periodisierung / The representation of the Germans and German minorities in the Romanian school history books (grades 3–10/12), between 1949 and 1989. A chronology

Jan. 1, 2014

Abstract

On the basis of the primary and secondary school textbooks of communist Romania, this study evidences and periodises the evolution of the image of the two German states and of the German minorities of Romania throughout the Romanian communist regime, from 1948 to 1989. The study establishes that the image of the two German states and that of the German minorities were negative during the first half of the communist regime and positive during the second half. However, the negative image of the German minorities faded already in 1958 and became positive as from 1962, whereas the negative image of the Federal Republic of Germany remained nearly unchanged until 1968, when it overthrew the image of the German Democratic Republic, which had been until then the German model state. The study brings up the hypothesis that the image of the German minorities of Romania depended on the intern ideological changes, whereas the image of the two German states was related to the changes of diplomatic relations.