Moldova: Returning to Bessarabia

It's dusk and three villagers herd their sheep along a solitary road. An old woman puts a cover over a steaming loaf of bread she’s just pulled from her aged stone oven. The opening scenes of the film, "Going home, going back to Marienfield" were shot recently. But it's easy to imagine that village life hasn't changed in the 200 years since German settlers first came to Bessarabia, a historical region which now falls in Moldova and Ukraine (see map).

During World War II, many ethnic Germans were forced to leave the area, while others were deported to the Soviet Union. Today, the descendants of the Bessarabia Germans are spread all over the world. A German association organizes trips to the old villages where a few Bessarabian Germans still remain but otherwise the story of the Bessarabian Germans has largely been forgotten - in Germany as well as in the region itself.

The German embassy in Moldova had asked for a film to be made not only to commemorate the arrival of the settlers, but to also raise awareness among Moldovans about this little known apsect of their history. In response, DW Akademie joined forces with TV journalists from the national public broadcaster Teleradio Moldova (TRM) to produce a documentary film. "We soon realized that this couldn't be a historical documentary since the national archives didn’t have such material," says German film director Irene Langeman, who headed the year-long DW Akademie project. Langeman produced the film together with seven TRM journalists. "They had never heard about the Bessarabian Germans and were incredibly interested in the project," she says. "We had to look for traces ourselves and they were thrilled when we tracked down some of the descendants."

A shared homeland

The film gently records encounters between those who still live in the region, and those who return to retrace their past. Artur Schaible and Olga Schüppel were born in Marienfeld but now live in Germany. The film follows them as they walk through the village of their birth, visiting places they knew as children and places their parents had spoken of. The Moldovan villagers are welcoming. Some can even remember the time when Bessarabian Germans were forced into big black cars and never returned. The filmmakers were moved by these personal accounts. "The story of the Bessarabian Germans is a turbulent one, where settlers become exiles," says Irina Craciun, one of the filmmakers from TRM. "We're proud that the film was able to capture and convey these emotions."

Mathis Winkler, head of DW Akademie’s Asia and Europe division, is also pleased with the project, which was sponsored by the German Foreign Office. "The film highlights one of the forgotten chapters of European history and also provides the foundation for a new documentary department for our partner, TRM," he says. "It will enable TRM to better fulfill its mandate as a public broadcaster."

At the start of the project in 2013, TRM journalists were given a hands-on introduction to the fundamentals of documentary filmmaking. They participated in four training modules where they learned how to develop a concept, conduct in-depth research, film and edit. "Switching from TV journalism to a documentary style of storytelling was a major challenge for the participants," recounts Irene Langemann, especially because documentary filmmaking has become less important in Moldova.

"I discovered new ways of expression," says Irina Craciun, who worked on the film as an scriptwriter and producer. "I now realize how important sound is for capturing a scene. Even abandoned houses can tell stories and we were able catch this on film." Learning how to approach and compose a film, she says, will help her in her work as a TV journalist.

After 15 intensive days of production, the team received well-earned recognition. "Going home, going back to Marienfeld" premiered in the Moldovan capital Chișinău in May as part of the one-week bicentennial celebrating the German settlement of Bessarabia. Moldova's prime minister, Iurie Leancă, and German Bundestag vice-president, Ulla Schmidt, attended the screening.


"Going home, going back to Marienfeld" ("Nach Hause, nach Marienfeld") is a Teleradio Moldova production sponsored by the German Foreign Office. The modules on filmmaking were held between April and December 2013 and were conducted by DW Akademie. The documentary was premiered in Chișinău on May 12, 2014 in the movie house, Gaudeamus, and has since been shown several times on Moldovan television.