Records from the Scene: Negotiating the Expropriation of the Theresianum Roman Catholic Orphanage in Interwar Sibiu and Beyond

Abstract

Abstract

Abstract The Theresianum Roman Catholic Orphanage in Sibiu was founded in the eighteenth century, and during the Dualist period, Hungarian was adopted as the language of instruction in its school, though it was located in a region inhabited predominantly by Saxons and Romanians. After the First World War, the Romanian state claimed the building, and in 1921, state officials placed undue pressure on the Catholic orphanage and opened the “Principele Mircea” war orphanage despite the headmaster’s resistance. This case study examines the expropriation of the orphanage, drawing on the collection of documents preserved by headmaster János Badilla, which offer unique insight into the negotiations between state officials – from the local level of the orphanage to the highest political circles in the capital. The ownership to the Theresianum was part of the international negotiations that took place between Romanian delegates and the Holy See to regulate the state-church relationship. The restitution of the orphanage also played a vital role in the Romanian state’s negotiations with delegates from Hungary concerning the wealth of the Gojdu educational foundation as it pertained to the future of Romanian students – since the foundation’s assets were located in Budapest. The Hungarian delegates called for the restitution of the Theresianum in exchange for granting the state access to Gojdu foundation’s wealth. Consequently, in 1937 the orphanage was fully restored to its former owners.