Welcoming words by Prof. Dr. Paul Philippi Chairman of Honour of the Democratic Platform of the Germans in Romania

It is a well known fact, conveyed mainly by German literature, that Protestant parsonages are meeting places. They have been meeting places until the recent past – this can be confirmed by innumerable citizens of the ex-GDR who spotted Romania as a hiking place during the Communist period. Did they find Romania because of the lack of other holiday destinations? In any case, as backpackers they found out the Transylvanian villages with their fortified churches. They found shelter in the Protestant parsonages and on many occasions food and drink too despite the bans by the authorities. They found opportunities for inspiring conversations, for the exchange of experience and for making good connections that even held on after the year 1989.. more