Liebling, Timiș 3.37

Liebling is a commune in Timiș County, Romania about 30 km south of Timișoara. It is composed of three villages: Cerna, Iosif and Liebling.HistoryThe village was built by German settlers in 1786 during the third great immigration of Germans during this period under Emperor Joseph II and settled with Protestants.The community name derives from the administrator Baron Nikolaus von Vecsey. Apparently the commissioner of the colony wanted to name the village Veczehaza in honour of the Baron. The Baron declined this proposal and replied: "Nein, er soll Liebling heißen, denn die Protestanten sind meine Lieblinge." (No, it should be called Liebling, as the Protestants are my favorites.)In 1880 there were 4,085 people, including 719 ethnic Romanians and 3,318 German-speaking Danube Swabians. In 1926, after the village and region were annexed to the Kingdom of Romania, 16 Romanian families from Transylvania were settled here. By 1941 there were 5,086 people, including 886 Romanians and 4,086 Danube Swabians. However over 2000 people (mostly German speaking) fled the advancing Soviet army on 22 September 1944 with their Pastor Andreas Nagelbach. The Soviets deported over 100 German speakers to work in the USSR where about half died. The Communist regime settled over 2000 Romanians in the empty houses.