Multiethnic history, legends, traditions — stories you can read at home or listen to on the trail.
MultiethnicThe story of the Banat Swabians: from the 18th-century colonization aboard the "Ulm Boxes" and villages raised from swamps, to the kirchweich feast, to the deportations to the USSR and Bărăgan and their ransom in German marks under the Ceaușescu regime.
HistoryJohnny Weissmüller, the future Tarzan, was born in 1904 in Freidorf, near Timișoara. From polio to six Olympic medals and 67 world swimming records, all the way to Hollywood glory — the story of the city boy who became the lord of the jungle.
HistoryAn essay on radio as a weapon of propaganda — from Radio Berlin in interwar Banat to the liberating role of Radio Free Europe under communism — and on the price paid by those who chose the truth.
HistoryThe story of Andreas Gebhardt, an apprentice from Săcălaz who set out into the world in 1908, stole a ship in Philadelphia and became, in 1911, king of Timor Island — a fabulous Banat destiny worthy of Jules Verne.
HistoryIn Otelec, in Banat, a brick wall built from villagers' stories recreates the Iron Curtain — life under communism, Radio Free Europe, Serbian television, the petty traffic, and escapes across the border, told as a memorial of freedom.
HistoryThe Jimbolia railway station, opened in 1857, was Banat's gateway to Europe — the Orient Express, kings and queens passed through here. Under communism it became an escape point towards Yugoslavia, where daredevils risked everything to pierce the Iron Curtain.
LegendsTwo women with spectacular destinies from the Timiș border with Serbia: the Duchess of San Marco, born Countess Nacu, who built the manor in Comloș, and Ana Cumpănaș from Lunga, the "woman in red" who caused a sensation among American gangsters.
