www.baberjon.de

We got off the train in T on a Saturday afternoon and, after checking in at our hosts I got a bike and off I was to the cemetery, where I still had two hours with good light for taking pictures. Two hours which were enough to see the seriousity of the situation, where I made up my mind to find the Mayor of the village, who kindly gave me an appointment at 8:00 pm on Sunday, in his office at the city hall ( which is in renovation but already looks very good from the inside). The Sunday morning I've spent visiting the Church (there was no Sunday mass, which the priest from Sânnicolaul Mare celebrates on turns in the surrouding villages; I couldn't meet him anyway, since he was on a holiday in Austria), the Parish House and the family which hosts the Heldenbild, then, in the afternoon, I've dragged myself in an incredible heath through the cemetery again. Before 8:00 pm I was in front of the city hall, and sat down to wait. Shortly afterwards somebody looking like a guard came and opened the entrance, so I knew that the Mayor hasn't forgotten me. Then a car stopped, with a very nice woman telling me that her husband has got an emergency (something was burning), and we agreed for 9:00 pm. So I tied again my big Indian scarf to a turban to protect me from the sun, jumped on my bike and rode (feeling like Lawrence of Arabia :-) to the Neroer Gasse, of which I've promised an internet friend a picture. At 8:55 pm I was back, washed my hands and my face at a fountain, dried them with the same scarf, and entered the Mayor's office.

At the Mayor's Office in T (for Triebswetter or Tomnatic)
We got off the train in T on a Saturday afternoon and, after checking in at our hosts I got a bike and off I was to the cemetery, where I still had two hours with good light for taking pictures. Two hours which were enough to see the seriousity of the situation, where I made up my mind to find the Mayor of the village, who kindly gave me an appointment at 8:00 pm on Sunday, in his office at the city hall ( which is in renovation but already looks very good from the inside). The Sunday morning I've spent visiting the Church (there was no Sunday mass, which the priest from Sânnicolaul Mare celebrates on turns in the surrouding villages; I couldn't meet him anyway, since he was on a holiday in Austria), the Parish House and the family which hosts the Heldenbild, then, in the afternoon, I've dragged myself in an incredible heath through the cemetery again. Before 8:00 pm I was in front of the city hall, and sat down to wait. Shortly afterwards somebody looking like a guard came and opened the entrance, so I knew that the Mayor hasn't forgotten me. Then a car stopped, with a very nice woman telling me that her husband has got an emergency (something was burning), and we agreed for 9:00 pm. So I tied again my big Indian scarf to a turban to protect me from the sun, jumped on my bike and rode (feeling like Lawrence of Arabia :-) to the Neroer Gasse, of which I've promised an internet friend a picture. At 8:55 pm I was back, washed my hands and my face at a fountain, dried them with the same scarf, and entered the Mayor's office.
It took me two minutes to realize that he was somebody worth speaking with. Danut Miculescu, originally a civil engineer from Timisoara, has already spent many years in T, a place he considers his second home. He told me about his achievements during the last three years, about his plans (which depend on the budget) and about the problems he is facing in a place where the population is new, coming from different parts of the country, thus not having constituted a community yet - a situation similar to the first years after the arrival of the first colonists, our ancestors. One of his pains is to see the weeds in the streets, so he once showed the villagers at the local cinema (now closed) a film - which Anton Palfy made in the 1970ies, from the tower of the church - asking them what they think about the carefully manicured vegetation in the once tidied up streets. Some followed the example, others still think about it. Then it was my turn to speak. I told him about the situation in our cemetery, where the old names on the stones disappear. I told him that such a historical park was an enrichment for this (so big and prosperous but otherwise so poor in historical monuments) village. I also told him how unique in Romania this cemetery was, with so many French names on the stones. He immediately agreed to this, since the departing French Ambassador in Bucharest has not so long ago visited this cemetery, as well as TV Romania International. He thanked me genuinely for making him understand the importance of this cemetery and also for opening his eyes in regard of the vandalism going on there, about which he had not yet been informed. He told me that he was going to investigate the matter the first thing on Monday morning. I told him that the Orthodox priest did not allow Baptists, Gypsies and Catholic Hungarians to bury their dead in the Orthodox cemetery - which made him angry, since the Orthodox cemetery was a public domain, not the property of the Orthodox Church, and the priest had no right to refuse the burial of anybody, of whatever religion. Then he explained to me that our cemetery, together with the church, were the property of the Catholic Church, that he had no authority over the selling of the grave sites there. To this, I replied that it was our task, of the descendants of the Donauschwaben, to deal with the Catholic Church, to ask them to stop our priest from selling the graves of our ancestors. My question was, in view of the steadily growing non Orthodox population, if there was a terrain available to make a new cemetery for them, in case the Orthodox priest continues his practice of denial against them. To this, the Mayor laughed and said "Yes". We both laughed, since I knew as well how much terrain there was around. We shook hands at 10:30 pm, agreeing that we'll stay in touch. This after 90 pleasant minutes, which made me feel again at home in T. Riding home on the bike, through the illuminated streets, I was stewing over what the formula was when addressing the head of the Vatican - just in case.