North of the Marosch Lies Glogowatz

North of the Marosch Lies Glogowat= z

By Anton Zollner for former Danube Swabian villages of the Arader area

            <= /span>On the north bank of the Marosch, about 7 km (4.4 mi= ) east of Arad, lies the once almost pure German community Glogowatz (today Vladimirescu). The locality is crossed by the Highway DM 7 (Nadlak-Arad-Deva-Hermannstadt; Nădlac-Arad-Deva-Sibiu) and the track of the historic “Elektrischen” (electric; Arad-Gyorok-Pankota; Arad-Ghioroc-Pîncota). Today, the streetcar from Arad runs on this track. The railroad line Arad-Deva-Bucharest runs north of Glogowatz.

            <= /span>In the vicinity of the village, rise five artificial hills whose origin is not known. They gave the communit= y the Hungarian name Öthalom (five hills).&= nbsp; The name “Glogowatz” is of Slavic origin; probably, Serb= ian soldiers of the military frontier brought it along at the beginning of the = 18^th century. In the Middle Ages, the earthen fortress Orod, which was destroyed in 1247 by the Mongols, was situated in Glogowatz.

            <= /span>According to Dr. Hans Gehl= (village monograph), the first 16 German families were settled by the major leaseholder Michael Lovász von Eötvenes; an additional 24 famil= ies from Franconia came in 1756. After the Serbian and Romanian par= t of the population was resettled, additional German families came to the village from 1765 to 1771.

            <= /span>From 1756 to 1765, Glogowatz was a filial of the Catholic Arad parish. After 1765, a separate parish was founded; four years later, one built a church which was dedicated to S= t. Johann von Nepomuk (patron saint of the Banat).&nbs= p; In 1770, the church register books were started. In the year 1865, the church toget= her with numerous houses fell victim to a fire. The ruins were pulled down in 1886= and the present house of God erected in their place. According to Luzian Geier (in “Neue Banater Zeitung”; New Bana= ter Newspaper), a school was set up in Glogowatz in 1766; it remained a Roman Catholic denominational school until 1941.

            <= /span>In the year 1930, the village population of 4,463 persons consisted of 3,882 G= ermans, 487 Romanians, 84 Hungarians and ten others. In 1977, it still consisted of 3,8= 38 Germans, 568 Romanians, 221 Hungarians, 61 Gypsies and 35 others. With the census of 1992, from the village population embracing 5,559 persons, only 229 still declared German nationality.

            <= /span>In February 1990, the place forum of the Germans was founded. The teacher Renate Weber was chair= person at that time. An area of the mayor’s office was set up as forum headquarters. With help of the Banater Foundatio= n for International Cooperation, the headquarters of the forum was equipped with a television and a video recorder; the former teacher from Saderlach (Zădăreni) Anton Wild donated the books= for the library.

            <= /span>At Pentecost 1994, kermis was celebrated in Glogowatz again. The place forum was the organizer; support came from the community. The kermis already began on Saturday with the putting up of the kermis tree. On Sunday mornin= g, the 11-man band of Anton Dörner accompanied the kermis procession with twe= lve couples dressed in traditional costume to the church where Dean Franz Pettla celebrated the divine service. In the afternoon, the costume procession marched to the fairgrounds;= the kermis ball was the conclusion. The next and up to now last kermis was celebrated at Pentecost 1997. This time, the organizers were the= place forum and the study group Banat-Jungakademiker e.V. (Young People with a University Education Registered Association).

        &= nbsp;   The economic situation of Glogowatz to this day is characterized by the difficu= lt new beginning after 1989. The fertilizer combine was shut down on the 1^st of November 1990. Drought and the Marosch flood of J= une 1998 caused serious damage to the economy. The community only finds its feet economically again with difficulty.

From: “Donauschaben-Zeitung” (Danube Swabian Newspaper, Sindelfingen), October 2003, page 9

English Translation by George P. Bretträger (translator notations in red)