Authors

David Borchin¹;  ¹ Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu - Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies and Research, Romania

Discussion

The capital city of the historical region of the Banat had been a melting pot of various ethnicities, primarily Germans, Hungarians, Romanians, Jews, and Serbs since the 18th century. Throughout the 19th century, Germans and Jews, in particular, shared a close relationship, as the latter had a tradition of multilingualism that included German. After the city was incorporated into Romania following the end of World War I, both communities collaborated to safeguard their interests against the Romanian state. However, this collaboration ended after Hitler came to power in Germany, as Jews began to boycott German services and products, with Germans retaliating by boycotting Jewish businesses. 

This paper aims to build upon the foundational word of Hildrun Glass, as presented in Zerbrochene Nachbarschaft [Broken Neighbourship], by examining German-Jewish relations in Timişoara during the course of the Second World War. The sources include newspapers in German, internal reports of National Socialist organizations, as well as Romanian police reports. These sources reveal that the relationship between these two communities became hostile as a result of the Nazification of the city's German population. The year 1943 emerged as a turning point, marked by the Jewish community secretly celebrating the defeat at Stalingrad and the German community, particularly its youth, responding by throwing rocks at Jewish homes, shattering their windows.