Nick, Thank you for sending this out! I've never heard these things before. Do you have any idea of the villages in the Yugoslavian part of the Banat had the same sort of structure? Thank you, Amy -----Original Message----- From: banat-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:banat-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Nick Tullius Sent: Tuesday, July 27, 2010 2:26 PM To: Banat-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [BANAT-L] Local Government/Administration It is important that North American readers not take these job designations literally (Richter="judge"; Geschworene="jurors") because these people were strictly involved in the administration of the village, not in any kind of court or judiciary. That raises the question: How was the law enforced? There was very little crime, but if two farmers had a dispute (say over an inherited piece of land) the case went before a "Stuhlrichter", a real judge sitting in Temeswar (or maybe in Perjamosch for the surrounding villages). I know that some farmers had to hire lawyers to represent them. We even had at least one home-grown lawyer in the village. The village also hired one or more "Nachtwächter" ("night guards") that were supposed to patrol the village during the night and watch out for any problems (such as vagrants, fires, disturbances, noise, etc.). There are many jokes about these guys sleeping somewhere, instead of actively guarding the village. Then the village hired one or more "Feldwächter" ("field guards") to watch over the cultivated fields. I know that in some villages the owners of vineyards guarded their ripening grapes by sleeping there or hiring somebody to guard the vineyard during the night. However, the official guardians of law and order on behalf of the Romanian government were the country constabulary called "Schandare" (in schwowisch) or "Gendarmen" (in standard German). We had a couple of those in our village and you had to respect them. They wore a greenish army-type uniform, and they carried guns (actually army-style long rifles, if I remember correctly). They could arrest people for a variety of reasons, lock them up over night, and then take them to Temeswar for further processing. During the deportation of our people to the Soviet Union in early 1945, they followed their orders to find and hold the Swabians that were on their lists, and deliver them to the Soviet troops. In communist Romania, the village policemen wore a different colour uniform and were officially called "Miliz" (militiamen). They still executed the orders of their superiors, and if a villager was careless enough to mention "the law" to one of them, he could easily get the answer: "Here, I am the law". Best regards, Nick Tullius -----Original Message----- From: banat-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:banat-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of gbrettrager@aol.com Sent: 25-Jul-10 23:58 To: Banat-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [BANAT-L] Local Gov According to Heimatbuch Glogowatz, local government consisted of the elected Richter, literally "judge," (mayor) assisted by the Gemeinderat (community council) consisting of elected Geschworenen, "jurors," (aldermen), plus Dorfpfarrer (pastor), plus Kirchenvater "father of the church," (usually oldest member of the parish), plus Portion-Einnehmer (treasurer) and state appointed notary or vice-notary. In addition, there were Klein Richter, "petty judges," (paid community servants). I doubt this was the structure after WW II. George ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to BANAT-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to BANAT-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message