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Robert Zellinger de Balkany

Iclod, 4 Aug 1931 – Geneva, 19 Sep 2015

6 facts1 source

Facts and their sources

A life in time

  1. 4 Aug 1931

    Born in Iclod

  2. 19 Sep 2015

    Dies in Geneva, aged 84

Family

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Partner

During his lifetime

He lived through 9 decades. Pick one to hear and see what it was like around Iclod.

General history, not a record about the family: each item says where it comes from.

The 1930s · Robert is born in Iclod

In the news1929–1936

1929 crisis leads to mass unemployment

The 1929 global economic crisis caused unemployment to soar from 8,000 people to 93,000 by 1936. Many industries, especially textiles, never recovered, forcing the government to finally devalue the Swiss franc by 30% in 1936.

What people wore

Heavily decorated traditional shirt

A specialized traditional shirt worn by leaders in Brașov was covered with 40,000 sequins and weighed nearly 10 kg.

Daily life

Cooking and heating in provincial kitchens

In provincial towns, many kitchen walls functioned as chimneys, allowing families to stay warm during winter by leaning against them. Cooking was typically done on a stove or range, often using wood as fuel.

In the news1939–1948

1939 Wahlen Plan increases food self-sufficiency

To prepare for the Second World War, the government introduced the Wahlen Plan in 1939 to increase food self-sufficiency by doubling arable land for crops like potatoes. Rationing of staple foods was implemented and remained in place until 1948.

Music

Signaling with the tulnic alphorn

In western Transylvania, young women used the tulnic, a wooden alphorn up to nine feet long, to signal to each other across valleys.

In Europe1933

Hitler comes to power

Hitler became chancellor of Germany in January 1933 and within months had made himself dictator.

Getting around

Trains and buses modernized Romanian travel

In the 1920s and 1930s, the train became the backbone of Romanian mobility, though rural travel often still relied on oxcarts or walking due to limited road infrastructure. A journey from Bucharest to Brasov was a multi-hour experience, and local bus lines began to emerge as a faster, albeit still slow, alternative for village-to-town travel.