The plurality of ethnic backgrounds in the area was obvious to us from the first contact.  The Supp family, living in the centre of Slatina-Timis, descended from the Swabian German immigrants.  The Milotta family were German Bohemians and lived in the German-speaking hamlet Alt Sadowa or Sadova Veche.

The Swabians:

The Banat had a low population density, Romanians and Serbs, until the conquests of the Habsburgers and the Turks in 1716.  Maria-Theresa initiated a colonization program oriented towards the strengthening of the border areas, the exploitation of land and forest and the expansion of the Roman Catholic faith.  From various regions in Germany and Luxembourg the emigrants drew together close to the Danube in Ulm with their horses and their carts.  In Ulm, a city in the Swabian region in south-west Germany, the Danube became more navigable and they boarded rowing boats and rafts to reach the Banat.  As a result the colonists were collectively known as the Swabians.  The journey lasted up to 12 weeks and many emigrants from the mountainous Southern Germany underwent a terrible ordeal aboard these craft. 

The first 15,000 colonists died as a result of the Turkish invasions and the bubonic plague.  The second wave of 75,000 colonists were decimated by malaria, cholera and dysentery.  The third wave of 60,000 colonists fared better and transformed the Banat into the breadbasket of Europe.  The saying “Die Ersten fanden den Tod, die Zweiten lebten in grosser Not und erst die Dritten hatten Brot” leaves little to the imagination.  The majority were of peasant origin, the second or third sons of a peasant family, that lacking property had few prospects in their home country.  They received financial support from Maria-Theresa and tax breaks but were obliged to raise arms in defense should the Turks invade.  Several hundred thousand Germans settled in the Banat over the course of 3 centuries.

Timisoara saw a German majority in the 19th century.  Both Johny Weissmuller (Tarzan) and Hertha Muller (Nobel Prize for Literature 2009) have Swabian roots. 

Bergland Germans

The richness of resources to be found in the Banat mountains, including precious metals, iron and copper ores, had not escaped the Austrians.  As early as 1703, even before the Ottomans had been pushed out, Austrian colonists with specific mining experience had been sent to the region.  The majority came from Austria though significant numbers also came from Bayern, Wurttemberg and Baden.  Many new villages sprung up overcoming difficult circumstances only to be destroyed by a renewed Ottoman attack in 1737-39.  The Habsburgers established their Military Frontier which acted as a buffer zone between the Habsburger and Ottoman empires including numerous fortifications stretching from Caransebes through to the Danube in Orsova and Pancevo.  It is still possible to visit the historical barracks in Caransebes:  the interior courtyard is notable for its beauty and the building also houses an ethnic museum.

The populus was strictly monitored and citizens required a passport or permits to travel outside their municipalities.  Colonists enjoyed numerous benefits: their own land, exemption from taxes and religious freedom.  On the other hand they had a lifelong obligation to the military and could be called upon at any time.  The military frontier existed until 1872 and Slatina-Timis formed a part of that chain.  Soldiers were stationed there and there appears to have been no shortage of harassment of both the colonists and the indigenous population by the administration and army leadership.

More mineworkers were brought in from Steirmark and Oberosterreich.  Furnaces were constructed in Bocsa, Resita, Sasca, Otelu Rosu and also dams and electrical power plants from 1907.  In 1790 coal seams were discovered in Steierdorf (Anina).  The Banat became a region filled with heavy industry and in many cases the ruins of this industrial past still remain.

Bohemian villages in the Banat

The start of the 19th century saw the demise of the Bohemian glass industry.  Large numbers of glassblowers, charcoal burners and woodcutters lost their jobs.  The commander of the Austrian military frontier saw an opportunity to further strengthen the border area.  In 1827 many Bohemians (a German-speaking area that today is part of the Czech Republic), more specifically, citizens from Klattau (Klatovy) and Pilzen set out for the Banat.  The Romanians called these colonists “Pemi”.  The first group of 56 families boarded ships in Vienna and travelled along the Danube approximately to Moldova Noua.  The journey continued by ox and cart to the Timis valley.  They wintered in Slatina-Timis in barracks constructed where Sadova Veche is now situated.

In the spring of 1828 there where a much larger influx of 506 families.  They headed into the mountains in the direction of Semenic.  In the same year 4 villages were founded in those inhospitable steps: Weidenthal (Brebu), 126 families; Wolfswieze, 99 families; Wolfsberg (Garana), 98 families and Lindenfeld with 36 families.  In addition to not needing to pay for the land and receiving tax breaks the settlers were also provided with financial loans, to be paid back at a later date.  They had arrived in a very wild region and they needed to clear the mature forests, cut and prepare the wood for building houses.  When it later became apparent that the ground was not very fertile and the death rate was high they eventually receiver permission in 1833 to leave their villages and to settle in the valleys and plains of the Banat.  It was then that Alt Sadowa was founded by 45 families.

Sadova village (Sadova Noua) was has remained at current location at an altitude of 437m on the slopes since its inception in 1467.  On the old ‘Josephine map’, dating from 1769, no village can be seen at the site of the current day Sadova Veche.  It is known that Romanians from the mountain village Sadova Noua descended into the valley and had inhabited the winter garrison.  They were obliged to return to their old houses in Sadova Noua.  45 Bohemian/German families settled in Alt Sadova (Sadova-Veche).

There were a number with bloodied noses due to the fact that the exploitation in the mountains had failed to take off, however life in the valleys also presented the settlers with many shortcomings.  One year later in 1834 117 families decided to return to the abandoned villages in the mountains to find what little they had left had since been plundered.  In Garana 53 families returned; Brebu Nou 46 families; and 18 families to Lindenfeld.  In Weisefeld, the highest settlement and lacking in good sources for water, nobody returned.  Life was tough and the profits marginal however this time they did succeed in creating a livable community.  In 1864, 30 years later, Emperor Franz Joseph I remitted the initial loans.

In 1872 the military fortifications were dismantled and the region came under control of the Hungarians.

After the close of WWI the Banat region fell to Romanian control.  High taxation left the peasants almost without perspectives.  The young sought work in Timisoare or Resita.  During the revolution in 1989 the inhabitants left in droves mainly choosing to settle in Germany.  Only a few remained.  In 1910 580 Germans were registered in Alt Sadowa, in 1977 still 522 heads.  In 2002 there were only 301 residents and these were almost all Romanian.

The mountain villages Weidenthal (Brebu Nou) and Wolfberg (Garana) became holiday villages for the affluent from Resita and Timisoara. 

Lindenfeld was deserted entirely and has become a ghost town