Scoutmaster Europe Journal 2002
Report # 6
7/23/2002
Hi Everyone,
The last thing I told you about was my trip along that gravel road to the mountain town of Ramit. Now I will switch gears and get back to Dracula. His hometown, that is, where he was born, is called Sighisoara (pronounced: shig-eesh-hora). The Dracula legend supposedly relates to a Count named Vlad Tepes who was born in Sighisoara. Vlad liked to impale people. That form of punishment was common back in the 1400's, and although Vlad did what everyone else did, he seemed to enjoy it more. There are pictures and stories that recount his "never" sitting down to a good meal without several Turks impaled and suffering nearby. The name Dracula comes from the fact that his father's name was "Dracul," meaning dragon. "Draculea" means son of "Dracul" in Romanian. Tepes, his second name actually means impaler.
So it seems that Dracula was not a blood sucking vampire. Where are Boris Karloff and Bela Lagosi when you need them? Certainly, they are not in Sighisoara. The towns along a long plateau were settled by Saxons from the Fraken region of Germany (like Franconia Road back home). The King of Hungary invited the Saxons to settle here in the 1100's, and their towns were strengthened during the 14th and 15th centuries to defend them against the Turkish invaders from the south. Each community built a fortified church high up on a hill; that is, the Saxons built thick walled-in little towns with a churches in the middle. Large square towers were also constructed along the walls. Sighisoara is just such a place. It's surprisingly well preserved, and draws a lot of visitors.
The bell tower in the church is now an historical museum with all the artifacts of life dating back to about 1600, not much earlier. The most interesting thing to me about the place is it's relation to the Boy Scout Astronomy Merit Badge! It turns out that Dr. Hermann Oberth lived most of his boyhood in Sighisoara. The Boy Scout Merit Badge requires scouts to tell a short history of rocketry, and tell about the contribution of famous men, like Goddard, von Braun, and Oberth. So here I am learning about Oberth in a 14th century fortified church tower in Romania! Oberth wrote the book on rocketry, and people like Goddard built their rockets based on Oberth's ideas. After WWII we brought German scientists including Werner von Braun and Hermann Oberth to America to help us build NASA, and design our early workhorse, the Saturn.
Now, another thing that I learned in that historical museum has to do with criminal justice. It turns out that only certain towns had the privilege to practice criminal justice granted to them. Towns that could practice criminal justice had four small steeples at the four corners of their main church steeple. The steeples are shaped like pyramids, only taller and thinner. Each face of the steeple is a long, triangle. The four small steeples meant that the town had the privilege to: 1) try, 2) punish, 3) imprison, and 4) execute. Now isn't the law great?
There are several other things to see and do in Sighisoara like learn all about the ancient forms of torture, and eat lunch in Vlad's birth house. I did both. Then as usual, I headed away from the well known and went to visit some of the Saxon fortress churches that are more remote. The place I liked best was called Biertan, a World Heritage site. It's amazingly well preserved, and inside the church were several remarkable objects. There is an alter with 28 panels each with a hand painted religious scene as well as a large 19th century organ. One of the people in the church demonstrated a door lock constructed in the 17th century. The key was half a meter long, and the lock mechanism not only bolted the door, it also caused iron bars to lock up and down and on both sides of the door. There are some locksmiths in New York City who could make a lot of money selling locks like these.
On a sour note, the Saxons descendents have, for the most part returned to Germany. Life in Romania is hard and those emigrating must have felt more economic and political opportunity awaited them in Germany.
Philip Sternberg