At its peak, Seligstadt used to have around 800 villagers. Predominately Saxons, but also Romanians, Hungarians and Roma lived here together in peace and quiet. After the “Exodus” of the Transylvanian Saxons (after 1989), the number decreased to less than a quarter.
Just one Saxon is still here today: Sofia Tonca, who was born here in 1921, and who will never leave her beloved Seligstadt. She has once been on a visit in Germany, she tells us, but the air there was “too thick”, it is much lighter and fresher in Seligstadt than anywhere else in the world. Mrs. Tonca has a lot to tell about the old times, as she grew up and went to school. She is always happy to receive visitors in her house on the Main Road No. 160. After listening to her stories, walking through the village, you will see the ruined houses left and right with different eyes. You will be able to imagine what kind of life used to be here. Today it is the quiet and seclusion that draws people into the village, the slowness of time in this remote place.
It could as well be the 19th century: the farmer work their fields by hand, and the daily rhythm is dictated by the cow and sheep herds, which are led along the streets early in the morning and in the evening, to graze on the rich meadows surrounding the village. Geese gaggle untroubled on the side of the road, and elder people rest on the benches at their gates and tell stories.