RSS
Bernd Fabritius is first Transylvanian ethnic German elected to Bundestag
Bernd Fabritius, the first leader of the Transylvanian Saxons - or ethnic Germans - elected to the Bundestag in Sunday's polls in Germany told Agerpres in an interview that the fact he was from Romania counted a lot and added he had not forgotten his native country.
Born in Agnita, the central Sibiu county, Fabritius returns to the county city of Sibiu almost every month and not for a moment does he forget he, in the Bundestag, represents the interests of 700,000 ethnic Germans - Saxons and Swabians - who left Romania.
'The campaign was interesting, because there were in Germany a lot of topics that were debated in detail and which ultimately led to a very nice win of the Christian Democratic Party', he says.
'It helped me a lot (being from Romania - editor's note), the very good training I got in Sibiu, I was a student of Brukenthal High School and it helped me a lot, as had the competence I gained there for bilateral relations. Immediately after the high school graduation exam, I left for Germany, where I studied. But I came back to Romania for a doctor's degree in Compared European Law', Fabritius added.
The Association of Germany's Transylvanian Saxons represents around 300,000 Saxons from the central Romanian region.
'I was not voted for directly, I was voted for on the Christian Democratic Party's list. The vote of the Romanians in Germany counted, of course', Fabritius stressed.
The most important project proposed by Fabritius for the German-based Saxon community targets the some 1,000-2,000 persons aged between 85 and 90, who had been deported to forced labour to Russia in 1945 and who up until now have been excluded from the Romanian laws. At Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta's insistence, the Law no. 211 from 2013 began being implemented, so as to include such deported ethnic Germans to giving them allowances aimed as damages, Fabritius explained. It was a very important piece of legislation that showed that Romania is assuming the historical past.
'I am a German from Romania. If you mean Romanian, the nationality, I am not a Romanian, I am a German. I have Romanian roots, I feel like a Saxon coming from Romania', Fabritius said.