Sibiu (rom. Sibiu, hung. Nagyszeben) is a city in central Romania. With almost 147,000 inhabitants it is the capital of the Sibiu County. It is located in the historical region of Transylvania and is an important place of the German speaking minority of the Transylvanian Saxons. Sibiu is located about 275 km northeast of Bucharest, the capital of Romania.
Cluj-Napoca (German: Klausenburg, Hungarian: Kolozsvár) is a major city in the Transylvanian county of Cluj in northwestern Romania. It is the second largest city in Romania with about 324,000 inhabitants.
Budapest (population 2023: 1,686,222) is the capital and largest city in Hungary. It is located in the center of the country, on the Danube. Budapest was formed from the merger of the cities of Buda on the left bank and Pest on the right bank of the Danube. Pest was already the capital of Hungary from the beginning of the 11th century and from the 13th century often alternated in this function with Buda. When the both cities were merged as Pest-Buda during the revolution in Hungary in 1848, they already formed a single entity. After the restoration of the monarchy (from 1526 as part of the Habsburg Monarchy), however, this merger was abolished in 1849 and re-established 1873. In this context the Hungarians replaced the Germans as the majority in the city. After the collapse of the Habsburg Monarchy in 1918, Budapest remained the capital of a now independent Hungary. After Hungary's entry into the Second World War on the side of the German Reich in 1941, most of the city's Jews were ghettoized in 1944 and later deported to concentration camps or murdered. The 1956 popular uprising against Soviet tutelage in Hungary began in Budapest. In connection with the uprising and its suppression, the capital lost around 70,000 people. Today, Budapest is not only the country's largest economic and cultural center, but also one of the most important in East Central Europe.
Lwiw (deutsch Lemberg, ukrainisch Львів, polnisch Lwów) ist eine Stadt in der Westukraine in der gleichnamigen Oblast. Mit knapp 730.000 Einwohner:innen (2015) ist Lwiw eine der größten Städte der Ukraine. Die Stadt gehörte lange zu Polen und Österreich-Ungarn.
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Galicia is a historical landscape, which today is almost entirely located on the territory of Poland and Ukraine. The part in southeastern Poland is usually referred to as Western Galicia, and the part in western Ukraine as Eastern Galicia. Before 1772, Galicia belonged for centuries to the Polish-Lithuanian noble republic, and subsequently and until 1918 - as part of the crown land "Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria" - to the Habsburg Empire.
As a front-line physician, Dr. Hager fought his own battles with cholera, typhoid, smallpox and frostbite. His front-line experiences and fervent personal commitment to the preservation of human life – as evidenced by numerous awards that have been preserved to this day – shaped the Sibiu physician, instilling in him a deep sense of humanity.
Christmas with the Enemy
Khotyn is a city in southwestern Ukraine. It had about 11,000 inhabitants in 2004 and is located northeast of Chernivtsi, in the historical region of Bessarabia. It is especially known for its late medieval fortress near a historical crossing over the Dniester River. Due to this strategically important location, Khotyn was the scene of repeated significant battles over the centuries with a correspondingly frequent change of rulers. Before World War II, it was also an important center of Jewish life in Bessarabia.
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"We talked about the professors there [in Berlin], about common experiences at the front, like typhus and leave. After the dinner and a lot of Polish schnapps, the Russian military personnel went back to their positions. [...] I didn't think I would ever hear from him again."
Transylvania is a historical landscape in modern Romania. It is situated in the center of the country and is populated by about 6.8 million people. The major city of Transylvania is Cluj-Napoca. German-speaking minorities used to live in Transylvania.
Arad is a city in western Romania. The city is inhabited by about 160,000 people and is in the northern part of the historical Banat region, or in the southern part of the Kreish region. Within Romania, Arad belongs to Transylvania.
Moscow (population 2024: 13,146,907) is the capital of the Russian Federation and the most populous city located entirely in Europe. It is situated in the west of the country. Moscow is also the capital of the Central Russian Federal District. The administrative unit “City of Federal Significance Moscow” includes several other towns and has a population of 13,258,262. The city is by far the most important political, economic, scientific, and cultural center of the country.
Moscow was founded around the 11th/12th century. The construction of the fortification (Kremlin) is dated to the beginning of the second half of the 12th century. In the 13th century, Moscow became the capital of a sub-principality of the Grand Duchy of Vladimir. In the 14th century, the princes of Moscow established themselves as rulers of the entire Rus. However, from 1247 to 1480, it was required to pay tribute to the Golden Horde, which devastated Moscow in 1238. In 1571, the city, which was almost entirely built of wood, was burned down by Tatar troops. By this time, however, Moscow was already the undisputed center of power in Russia. In 1687, the city's first college was opened, followed by its first university in 1775. Peter the Great moved the capital to Saint Petersburg in 1712. Weakened by unrest and plague, Moscow's development lagged behind that of the new capital. The invasion of Napoleon's troops in 1812 brought a deep cut in Moscow's development, with the city's population setting their houses on fire to repel them. The rapid reconstruction gave Moscow a modern cityscape.
After the October Revolution and the relocation of the capital back to Moscow in 1918, the city experienced an enormous expansion of its public infrastructure, and numerous prestigious buildings were erected until World War II. However, the expansion of residential space was never able to keep pace with population growth. This growth could not be slowed down, even by various restrictions on in-migration, some of which are still in force today. However, the city also grew through incorporations, particularly in 1960 and 2012.
In 1980, Moscow hosted the Summer Olympics. In the years that followed, however, the growing crisis in the Soviet Union also affected the city, which, following decentralization movements in the republics and unrest in Russia itself, was ultimately directly affected by the attempted coup in 1991. After the final collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991, Moscow remained the capital of Russia. Since then, the city center in particular has been increasingly characterized by modern, prestigious buildings. Other features of the city's development in the post-Soviet era include the reconstruction of churches destroyed or repurposed during the Soviet era, the renovation of pre-Soviet buildings in the city center, and the expansion of transport infrastructure on the outskirts.
"I got as far as his office, and to legitimize my presence there, I showed Elanski two photographs of my father and Elanski at the command post on that Christmas of 1917. Elanski expressed his pleasure again and again and invited me to his home. However, because I was under constant surveillance, this visit never took place."
However, the meeting helped to refresh the friendship: "Elanski sent gifts of books to Sibiu."
Romania is a country in southeastern Europe with a population of almost 20 million people. The capital of the country is Bucharest. The state is situated directly on the Black Sea, the Carpathian Mountains and borders Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Ukraine and Moldova. Romania was established in 1859 from the merger of Moldova and Wallachia. Romania is home to Transylvania, the central region for the German minority there.
The Soviet Union (SU or USSR) was a state in Eastern Europe, Central and Northern Asia that existed from 1922 to 1991. It emerged from the so-called Soviet Russia, the successor state of the Russian Empire. The Russian Soviet Republic formed the core of the union and at the same time its largest part, with further constituent republics added. Their number varied over time and was related to the occupation of other countries (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), Soviet republics that existed only for a short time (Karelo-Finlandia) or the division or merger of Soviet republics. In addition, there were numerous autonomous republics or other territorial units with an autonomy status that was essentially limited to linguistic autonomy for minorities.
Before its formal dissolution, the USSR consisted of 15 Soviet republics with a population of approximately 290 million people. At around 22.4 million km², it was the largest territorial state in the world at the time. The Soviet Union was a socialist soviet republic with a one-party system and an absence of separation of powers.
