The Germans have been a constant presence in the history of Alba Iulia. Although they were never numerous, they formed an influential and respected community in the population of the city. The community had a relatively heterogeneous structure, comprising Transylvanian Saxons and Germans who had emigrated to Alba Iulia from various provinces of the Habsburg Empire. The German community has gradually diminished, and currently represents a modest proportion of the population of the city.
From medieval and premodern times, there is almost no information about the German community in Alba Iulia, except for German names recorded in the account registers of the city. We have no data on the number of Germans, and it is not possible to identify a distinct area in which they dwelt, suggesting they probably lived dispersed among the other inhabitants of the city. The available documents are not helpful in clarifying their origin, indicating only the distinction between Saxons (Szasz) and Germans (Nemeth). We can only suppose that they arrived from the German areas in search of a better life or business opportunities. Some were mercenaries in the service of the princes and others were craftsmen and merchants.
The Saxons were the first Transylvanians to adopt the Reformation, accepting Martin Luther’s doctrine around the middle of sixteenth century; thus it can be assumed that the Germans of Alba Iulia followed this path. Although the oral history of the Lutheran community of Alba Iulia bears the conviction that Protestant Germans had their own church in the time of the Principality, no proof has found to substantiate this.
From the eighteenth century, with the incorporation of Transylvania into the Austrian Empire, information on the German community increases. At the end of nineteenth century, Rubin Patiția wrote, based on the community’s oral history, that the Germans of Alba Iulia were descended from German workers brought by the military authorities from the provinces of the empire to participate in the construction of the Vauban fortress.
The resettlement of the medieval city to an eastern emplacement included the creation of a distinct neighbourhood for Germans – Teutsche Stadt (German city) – located in the southern area, between Heiuș and Maieri. The creation of a distinct sector for Germans may support the hypothesis that in the first decades of eighteenth century there was a significant German population.
The first precise information regarding the Lutheran Germans in Alba Iulia dates from 1766, when the community had 181 registered individuals, growing to 382 in 1832.
We know that at the end of the eighteenth century, in the German community cemetery, which was adjacent to the Catholic cemetery, the Lutherans had a small timber chapel for funeral services. For prayer and other religious rituals, the members of the community had to commute to Sebeș.
The situation changed in 1790, when the authorities granted the Lutherans the right to build a prayer house with their own resources. The little wooden church was constructed in 1793, partially using materials from their chapel. A religious service was held there four times a year by a pastor who would travel over from Sebeș. In 1795, a German language confessional school was established. The teacher was a certain Simonis, from Bistrița.
In 1805, the parish house was built, which also served as school. Not long afterwards, an organisation was established to campaign for a new, larger church to replace the wooden one. In 1819, the authorities ceded to the Lutherans a plot near the parish house. The plot was in a wet and marshy area, so construction had to be delayed while terrain was drained. The church was built between 1824 and 1826, and in 1853, on its western side, a bell tower was added. In 1827, a new building for the school was erected. This new building used partially unfired bricks and the wood of the former church.
In 1850, the German community consisted of 748 individuals, their number growing steadily and reaching 1,229 in 1880, which made 16,74% of the total of 7,338 inhabitants. Not all the Germans of Alba Iulia were Lutheran. In 1880, the Lutheran community numbered 318 persons, while the other 911 Germans were Catholics or of other allegiance. These may have been members of the administration and officers of the imperial army, Austrians or from other ethnic groups.
After 1 December 1918, the German community of Alba Iulia diminished to 618 persons, as measured in 1930. In the first decades of the Communist regime, the number of Germans continued to drop, and afterwards increased slightly, reaching 700 in 1977. After 1989, due to the massive emigration of Transylvanian Saxons to Germany, the number of Germans decreased steadily. In 2002, Alba Iulia had 147 Germans. According to the census of 2011, there were 115 Germans living in Alba Iulia, representing 0.18 % of a total of 63,536 inhabitants. (C.A.)
