Foray into the past, following the Germans in Banat! An interesting open lesson at UVT, with professor Anton Sterbling

The Conference Center of the Polytechnic University of Timișoara hosted on Wednesday, April 24, 2024, the conference “Auf den Spuren der Deutschen im Banat – Aufbruch in die Moderne” (Following the footsteps of the Germans in Banat – The beginnings of modernity), held by Prof. Dr. Anton Sterbling, sociologist, writer and founding member of the Banat Action Group.

The event was organized by the Faculty of Communication Sciences within UPT, in collaboration with the Romanian-German Cultural Society from Timișoara, under whose auspices the German Cultural Center operates. In the opening of the conference, prof. univ.dr.eng. Sorin Mușuroi, conveyed the greeting of the rector of UPT addressed to the participants, spoke about the history of the Swabians from Banat, about their relationship with the Polytechnic, emphasizing that “such events cultivate the spirit that made Timișoara famous”.

The welcome speech from the Faculty of Communication Sciences, which this year celebrates its 30th anniversary, was addressed by prof.univ.dr. Daniel Dejica, its dean, who stated that “in UPT, science and culture joined hands”.

During the conference, the writer and professor Anton Sterbling spoke about the modern character of German expression literature in Banat, about the establishment of the “Aktionsgruppe Banat” Group, and also presented his latest book, “Rückkehr aus dem Klimadelirium und die merkwürdige Begegnung mit Nikolaus Lenau in Wien” (2024), recently published by Pop Verlag in Ludwigsburg, Germany.

Anton Sterbling is a university professor, sociologist, writer and founding member of the Banat Action Group. After completing his sociology studies in Germany, he was a professor at the University of Mannheim, the University of Hamburg, the University of Heidelberg, the University of Bonn and the Hochschule der Sächsischen Polizei in Saxony. He wrote more than 60 scientific and literary books, edited more than 40 volumes and published more than 700 articles in specialized journals, newspapers and anthologies.

In June 2022, the Politehnica University of Timișoara was, together with the Romanian-German Cultural Society from Timișoara and the BCUPT Library, a partner of the international conference “Der Wille zur Veränderung – das ist die Realität – 50 Jahre Aktionsgruppe Banat”, organized at the initiative of the Deutsches Kulturforum Östliches Europa (German Culture Forum for Central and Eastern Europe), on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Banat Action Group.

The Politehnica University of Timișoara also hosted, in 2019, a book launch – “The whip of contempt. The story of a stigmatized”, by Franz Xaver Kappus, a writer and journalist of German ethnicity born in Timișoara and who became famous throughout the world primarily as the recipient of the letters of the great poet Rainer Maria Rilke (“Letters to a young poet”), published in 1929 -, event attended by two co-founding members of the Banat Action Group (Aktionsgruppe Banat), William Totok and Werner Kremm, who carried out the introductory study, respectively the translation from German.

Through the events organized together, the Faculty of Communication Sciences of the Timișoara Polytechnic University, the Romanian-German Cultural Society of Timișoara and the German Cultural Center aim to promote the cultural values ​​of the Germans in Banat and to contribute to the valorization of the multi-ethnic cultural heritage of this region.

The conference was organized by lect.univ.dr. Ana-Maria Dascălu-Romitan, teaching staff at the Department of Communication and Foreign Languages ​​of UPT, president of the Romanian-German Cultural Society in Timișoara, and part of the series of events Auf den Spuren der Deutschen im Banat (In the footsteps of the Germans in Banat)