President Klaus W. Johannis and wife Photo: Ileana Johnson |
It was an
honor to meet the Romanian President – my Dad, who died in 1989 as the result
of the communist tyrannical state, seven months before Ceausescu’s regime was
toppled, would have been proud of what I am doing, writing, speaking, and promoting
liberty, the beautiful and fascinating country of my birth, its rich history,
its people, and its rich cultural traditions and heritage.
A leader of
the Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania (2002-2013) and of the National
Liberal Party (2014), Johannis was a high school teacher and school inspector
before entering politics as the mayor of the city of Sibiu in 2000. He was
re-elected in a landslide in 2004, 2008, and 2012. He turned the city of Sibiu
into Romania’s number one tourist destination, voted the European Capital of
Culture in 2007. Johannis, fifth President of Romania, assumed office on December
21, 2014.
President
Johannis is a Transylvanian Saxon, a German minority who settled in this part
of Romania in the 12th century. He is the fourth president of German
origin from Eastern Europe in the post-communist era, after Slovakia’s Rudolf
Schuster, and Hungary’s Ferenc Mádl and Pál Schmitt.
Johannis’
parents, sister, and niece have moved to Würzburg in 2014 but he chose to
stay in Romania where his ancestors had moved to 850 years ago. A graduate of Babeș-Bolyai
University in Cluj-Napoca in Physics (1983), Johannis taught high school Physics
in Sibiu at the famous Samuel von Brukenthal Gymnasium, the oldest
German-speaking school in Romania. Johannis and his English teacher wife, the
former Carmen Lăzurcă, have no children, and are members of the Evangelical
Church of Augustan Confession in Romania, a German-speaking Lutheran church in
Transylvania.
After the Romanian National Anthem, "Deșteaptă-te, române!," the
Ambassador George Maior welcomed the president and introduced to him the very politically
involved Romanian intellectual community from Washington and the surrounding
states.
President Klaus Werner Johannis’ brief address to the
crowd of 150 specially invited guests and the Romanian press traveling with him
centered on the scope of his visit. He thanked the Romanians gathered to meet
him and explained that it was his idea to meet the Romanians living in the U.S.
“I thank you that you came,” he said.
“The conference addressed the nuclear security which
preoccupies us, especially if we take into account the nuclear terrorism that
threatens all of us.”
He talked about the many meetings he attended, “We were
seen at the White House last night, met with President Barack Obama, Vice
President Biden, and other dignitaries.”
“We have a strong strategic partnership with the United
States, politically, militarily, and economically.” He explained that there are
over 100 military exercises planned with Romanian and American soldiers and that
there is strong collaboration on security issues.
He admitted that on the economic front there is room for
more American and Romanian investors. “You are investing here but we wish that
you were in the country, but you can play a role of ambassadors for Romania.
You came here for different reasons, jobs, family, career, etc. Because you
came here tonight, it is evidence that your heart is in great measure at home.
Take Romania’s message to the last village in U.S. that we want to go further
together.”
A reception followed during which President Johannis and
his wife graciously met everyone briefly and took pictures with those in
attendance.
I am an American by choice but there is always Romanian
blood in my veins and love for Romania in my heart and I hope the two countries
will remain friends for a long time.
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