00:01 In the Transylvanian villages of Western Romania, time seems to havestood still. Life has changed little since the Middle Ages, when thesecommunities were built by German settlers. Over the last ten years though,entire villages have emptied. Their inhabitants have left for Germany in searchof a better life.00:21 Emilie Safia is the only ethnic German left in her village, Nocrih(PRON. NOCREE)

00:26 She is now sole custodian of the Evangelic Church; the guardian of its key.

00:35 Emilie does her best to look after things, but she suffers from arthritis and has trouble letting herself in, let alone maintaining thebuilding.

00:47 Nocrih's church used to be crowded every Sunday, but a dwindlingcongregation and lack of ministers have seen it fall into disuse.

00.55 Some churches receive money from people living in Germany, but not every community can be helped.

01.02 Emilie misses her German-speaking friends but says she's too old toemigrate. She hopes instead to move to a home for elderly ethnic Germans innearby Sibiu. In the meantime, she mourns the loss of a community.

01:16 EMILIE SAFIA, GERMAN SPEECH WITH ENGLISH TRANSLATION:

"What can you do when everyone is gone? It's very sad. And also the cemetery is a sad place. I buried my husband there; we had talked about it long before."

01:32 When the ethnic Germans were here, their homes and villages were neat and orderly, and well-maintained.01:38 Now the remaining population lives in poverty. Jobs are few and far between and there's little money left over for upkeep of the villages. Many of the people living in Nocrih are gypsies - Romania's biggest ethnic group. Thebuildings they inhabit are often overcrowded or falling into disrepair.

01:59 Gateposts and window-frames are left to rot, and missing roof tiles aren't replaced. The place has a rundown feel about it. Some Romanians believe that without more care and attention, villages like Nocrih will effectively cease to exist.

02:12 The mayor, Emil Anghel, says the village doesn't get enough financial assistance. He says people in Germany have raised money to help other Germancommunities here, but not Nocrih.

02:24 EMIL ANGHEL, MAYOR OF NOCRIH, ROMANIAN SPEECH WITH ENGLISH TRANSLATION:
"I have done a lot of things, but we don't have the money. We do what we can."

02:35 This is the nearby town of Sibiu, the heart of the ethnic German communities of Transylvania. For around 800 years, descendants of German migrants made up about a quarter of the regional population.

02:46 Over the past century, though, their numbers plunged dramatically. The vast majority of those who remain are elderly.

02:56 The control they once had over trade and manufacturing has disappeared. In the local economy their traditional skills are sorely missed.

03:05 The German Democratic Forum represents those ethnic Germans who remain. It holds regular meetings in Sibiu. Since Romania's revolution and the death of communist President Nicolae Ceausescu, life for these people has been a lot easier, socially as well as politically.

03:21 They've also benefitted from German government aid. Berlin has poured millions of dollars into Romania. The motive is not entirely altruistic.  Germany is keen to stem the huge tide of immigration.

03:35 With help from abroad, the Forum is trying to work towards a better future for its community, one that offers hope to people who've suffered a huge sense of loss.

03:45 PAUL PHILIPPI, HONORARY PRESIDENT OF THE GERMAN DEMOCRATIC FORUM:
"The feeling is, as I told you before with the old people, sadness. They all look back how it was, but those who are organised in the German Forum they are people who look forward, who want to motivate the youth, the young people, to not only to remain here, but also to try to begin, to work here for a new beginning."

04:18 UP NATSOT FOR SINGING

04:22 Until more young people can be persuaded to remain, looking after the elderly is a problem.

04:26 One new way in which aid has helped is the building of a residential home for German-speakers whose families have left Romania.

04:35 Its residents have individual flats, a communal dining room and a chapel. Their links with Germany are maintained through the home's volunteer workers, some of whom are German. (PAUSE)

04:46 The 600-year-old Brukenthal School also gets money from Germany, although hardly any of its pupils are ethnic Germans.

04:57 The school's excellent academic record has made it popular with Romanians eager to take advantage of German teachers and German equipment.

05:06 Not all schools in Romania possess so many computers, if any at all. Another advantage for the pupils is that German is taught here, helping them to compete in the international job market.

05:17 Alexandra Fratila is the only ethnic German pupil in Brukenthal. She feels at home in Romania, but enjoys the western-style education offered here.

05:26 Dan Anton also welcomes the opportunities provided by the school's German connections.

05:33 ALEXANDRA FRATILA, BRUKENTHAL PUPIL:

"This is my country and I feel at home here, I have my friends and I love being here with them. I wouldn't go anywhere else, or in Germany or in another country to live."

05:48 DAN ANTON, BRUKENTHAL PUPIL:

"Here, the German influence from teachers, from the West, because they came after 1990 a lot of pupils and teachers came to the school and teach us other methods, how to learn".

06:10 Schools like this are one of the few influences helping German culture to survive.

06:14 Headteacher Gerald Hermann believes Germanic traditions will continue.

06:19 GERALD HERMANN, HEADTEACHER OF BRUKENTHAL SCHOOL, GERMAN SPEECH WITH ENGLISH TRANSLATION: "After the large-scale emigration between 1990-92, the situation has changed. Nowadays, our pupils largely come from Romanian-speaking families. Why? Because parents and pupils think that they will have better chances of getting a job; because the lessons in the school are of a higher level; and because we offer a wide range of activities outside of school like, for example, special work groups. Maybe, also, to keep the tradition of education in German as something special in Romania."

06:55 Despite the exodus, some ethnic Germans have returned to their Romanian villages. They discovered the west was not the paradise they had expected.

07:04 Maria Luise Roth-Hooper was forced to leave Romania in 1969 for political reasons, but returned after the revolution. She tries to help other returnees.

07:14 MARIA LUISE ROTH-HOOPER, PUBLISHER: "They thought that western Germany is a paradise and there everybody has much money and everybody can live very well and some of them are very disappointed that it is not so and the people in Germany do not wait for them."

07:38 As yet, only a small number of ethnic Germans have returned to Romania. Germany, the Democratic Forum and Brukenthal School are doing what they can, but even with a tradition that stretches back eight hundred years, there can be little hope for the of future Transylvania's German communities.

ENDS 08.01