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from the Banater Post vol 8 April 20, 2002
In May of 2001 JoAnn Vanderheite, who grew up near Buffalo NY, USA realized a long cherished dream. She and her aunt, her father’s sister with son and daughter-in-law visited Schöndorf, the home of her grand- and great grandparents.
Like so many others today she was interested in genealogy. The more information she found the greater her desire became to see where the family originated.
In 1902 Johann Bermel from Schöndorf immigrated to the United States. He promised to send for his wife Theresa and their three children as soon as possible. His friend Hans Henkel, who was already in the States had let him know that plenty of well paid work was to be found in Buffalo, NY. Hans Henkel worked for Wurlitzer and Johann Bermel joined him there. It took only three years before Johann Bermel was able to send for his family. Very close to Buffalo in the town of Tonawanda was a German quarter where the Bermels found an apartment. Many Banater from Schöndorf and surrounding towns lived there. The new immigrants worked hard and bought their own houses very quickly. They opened workshops and stores. German was the language spoken in the streets, and the old customs were kept. With time the language of the new country was being used more and more and the third generation did not speak German any more.
JoAnn’s grandfather, the tailor Franz Radius immigrated in 1909 to Tonawanda from Schöndorf and opened a tailor shop. She remembers watching him there in his customary position, sitting on the worktable sewing. Some years ago she and all her cousins were together at their grandmother’s house looking through a big box full of old photographs. They wrote the names of the people in the pictures on the backside of those pictures and made copies. One cousin got grandmother talking about the “old times” and they recorded everything on tape.
As often happens when one works intensively in genealogy JoAnn Vanderheite became very aware of the fact that she had a big extended family. She worked on making contact with those living in the United States. The plan to travel to Schöndorf was carefully set up and finally realized. Via Budapest they drove to Arad. A note from JoAnn’s travel diary reads: When we drove from Arad to Schöndorf early one morning we met two shepherds with their flocks in Engelsbrunn. The scene looked like a picture from a fairy tale. This was the beginning of a trip into the past. As we approached Schöndorf it appeared dull and gloomy. The sky was gray, there were no people to be seen, only ducks and geese with their young waddled along Main Street. When we passed the cemetery we glimpsed the church spire between the chestnut trees.
Now our tension relaxed - everything was the way it ought to be! Everything I Had heard about Schöndorf seemed to lie right before my eyes. So it was still the same town, even though it was colorless and empty of people and vehicles. The most important site for us was the church. Grandmother had loved this church and we loved it also, immediately! It seemed to embody Schöndorf. Yes, the outside is weather beaten, but the inside is beautiful and lovingly cared for.
We climbed into the bell tower and found “our” bell. (The bell was donated in the year 1922 by JoAnn’s great grandparents Johann and Theresia Bermel, who were at that time already living in Buffalo. They found another bell donated by emigrants but the bell was situated in a way that it made it impossible for them to read the inscription.)
 Back to the diary: “Words cannot express our feeling at that moment and how strong the connection between the past and the present could be felt. Every time the bells sounded on this day they rang for us.”
JoAnn’s aunt discovered to her own amazement and surprise that the German dialect spoken in Schöndorf was still within her language memory, and she was able to communicate quite well with Michael and Anna Majer. Michael gave them the grand tour through town and was indefatigable in answering all their questions, showing them the homesteads that ere interesting to them and telling them about the life before 1939. Anna treated them to lovingly prepared and wonderfully tasty meals. Somehow they felt at home!
They went to the cemetery and from a polite distance watched a Rumanian burial ceremony at which the old hearse was used. They found some grave sites of members of their family, but many headstones are either so weathered that they cannot be read anymore or they are broken or fallen down. The cemetery presented a sad picture.
And more from JoAnn’s diary, “ and still Schöndorf has a certain beauty. I can see the town grandmother loved so much. There were hundreds of white butterflies at the cemetery and wild roses. But the town seems to be stuck in the last century. Very little has changed. Every evening the animals come home from pasture, people work in their gardens. Many of the houses that are still standing have been renovated or underwent structural changes.
The original layout plan of the town is nevertheless still unchanged like it is found in old books. The few changes include electricity, a black topped main street, running water but no canalization. The few people we saw were quiet and resigned. Some stared at us curiously, others offered a friendly greeting. The Majers belong to the few last Germans who once populated Schöndorf in great numbers. It is very clear that this town is becoming Rumanian. The German character of an orderly parish is lost. Some of the and the church, the surroundings, the white painted trees along the street are still there, and it is not too difficult to imagine how everything looked when grandmother lived here. I can imagine the sunny days, hear the birds, see the animals and the farm life taking place of which she spoke so often... Some things are still there, much is lost. It looks peaceful but rather poor. Schöndorf has survived many changes but somehow it seems timeless. The German character is still alive in the few Germans like the Majers. Proud and generous, practical and friendly like our grandmother was they embody what we always understood Schöndorf to be. The bells are its voice, the face is recognizable, but it wears a Rumanian costume.”
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