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Robert Zellinger de Balkany

1931–2015

Born
4 Aug 1931, Iclod
Country of birth
Romania
Died
19 Sep 2015, Geneva
facts
6
sources
1
images and files
0

Facts and their sources

Tap a fact to see where it comes from.

A life in time

  1. Born · Iclod

    Birth, Iclod

  2. Died · Geneva

    Death, Geneva

What was it like?

The world around Iclod, 1931: who ruled, who else was alive, how people lived. This is general history, not a record about the family, and every item shows where it comes from.

Robert was born the same year as Mikhail Gorbachev, James Dean, and Robert Duvall.

Born the same year

  • Mikhail Gorbachev

    leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991 (1931–2022)

  • James Dean

    American actor (1931–1955)

  • Robert Duvall

    American actor and director (1931–2026)

  • Mário Zagallo

    Brazilian footballer (1931–2024)

  • Boris Yeltsin

    Soviet and Russian politician, 1st President of Russia (1931–2007)

  • Toni Morrison

    African American novelist, essayist, and academic (1931–2019)

Fashion

Festive attire for unmarried women

In the Bărăgan region during the interwar period, unmarried women often wore silk dresses in bright colors, silk stockings, and leather shoes on feast days to attract suitors.

Men's field work clothing

Men working in fields in the Bărăgan region wore handmade wool aprons (pistelcă) over their linen drawers (izmene) instead of traditional trousers.

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.

The importance of the hora dance

The hora was a vital weekly dance for village courtship, news exchange, and labor recruitment.

Getting around

Bus travel demanded frequent social stops

Early bus drivers in the 1930s often had to stop for thirty minutes at popular roadside pubs because passengers demanded refreshments, even if it meant risking a riot if the driver refused. These early bus journeys between villages and cities typically took 3 to 4 hours, depending on necessary mechanical tweaks and passenger-requested stops.

Dining habits on interwar Romanian trains

On long train journeys, passengers could either dine in first-class cars or buy food like bread, cheese, and hard-boiled eggs from women selling them from wicker baskets during brief 10 to 15-minute station stops. Third-class passengers often arrived covered in sooty grime from the steam locomotives, a reality they accepted as a natural cost of travel.

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.

Limited infrastructure in Bucharest housing

In 1935 Bucharest, 60 percent of buildings were not connected to the electricity grid, and water was frequently supplied by public wells rather than running water. Many suburban homes were simple earth-and-wood structures.

Food

Mamaliga as a staple rural food

In rural areas, families often relied on cornmeal porridge called mamaliga as a daily staple, sometimes consuming up to 3 kilograms per person during heavy work days. It was frequently eaten with simple side dishes like vinegar-sprinkled fried mamaliga, crushed garlic with pickles, or a fruit-based stew called chisälita.

Pork as the preferred meat

While meat was often a luxury reserved for holidays in poor households, pork was the most appreciated meat and a standard part of the diet for many urban workers by the 1930s. In 1935, a kilogram of pork cost between 26 and 56 lei, depending on the quality.

Prices and wages

Low wages and poverty

By 1938, many workers lived in poverty, as average monthly wages for a significant portion of the workforce were often under 1,125 lei, while basic expenses like rent for a three-bedroom apartment reached 1,600 lei.

The high cost of footwear

In the interwar period, a pair of shoes cost 605 lei, which made footwear difficult to purchase for many ordinary workers.

Work

Rise of domestic service in Bucharest

Domestic servants became the second largest employment category in Bucharest by the 1930s, accounting for nearly 25 percent of the active population. Despite this, the work was often considered shameful and was frequently performed by rural women who migrated to the city due to poverty.

Around 1923–1929

Factory wages and purchasing power

In 1929, a factory worker in Cluj earned 600 lei a week as a starting salary, while experienced shoemakers could earn up to 1,800 lei weekly. However, a low weekly wage of 300 lei in 1923 was often insufficient to cover even a family's basic bread expenses for a week.

News and letters

Development of Internal Airmail Services

By 1932, airmail services operated within Romania through the state-owned airline LARES, connecting major cities including Bucharest, Cluj, Iași, Galați, Constanța, Chișinău, Cernăuți, and Balcic. Sending correspondence by plane required the payment of a specific airmail surcharge.

Typical Mail Delivery Times and Methods

In the mid-20th century, mail was typically delivered by passenger trains, and shipments generally reached their destination in two to three days. Letter bags between post offices and train stations were often transported using hand-pulled carts or bicycles.

During their lifetime

  1. 1939

    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.

  2. 1947

    Currency reform replaces old lei

    Following severe inflation after World War II, a monetary reform on August 16, 1947, replaced old currency at a rate of 20,000 old lei for 1 new leu.

  3. 1950

    Massive property confiscation in 1950

    On April 19, 1950, Decree 92 resulted in the mass confiscation of private houses and lands by the state.

  4. 1950

    Massive rural-to-urban migration

    Between 1950 and 1970, about 30 percent of the population migrated from rural areas to cities to work in new factories.

  5. 1953

    Television begins test operations

    In 1953, television began test operations in Switzerland, marking the start of a new era in home entertainment.

  6. 1959

    Magic formula government established

    In 1959, the four largest political parties adopted the magic formula to permanently divide the seven government seats among themselves.

Family

Spouses