The German Population In The Passport

The German minority Müller focuses on in The Passport is one close to her heart. Müller grew up in the Banat region of Romania in which her novel takes place, and she identifies as part of the German minority she describes. Müller felt obliged, even born, to tell her story, the story of her parents, and the story of her people. In a radio interview, Müller said, “I have no other landscape other than the one I know, the one I came from. [My] literary characters reflect what happens to the human being in a totalitarian society or system. And I believe this is not a topic that I chose, but rather one that my life has chosen for me” (Ticudean, 2012). Müller recognizes the need for the kind of literature she writes, and thus, has accepted her duty to illuminate to the rest of the world the tragedy endured by her people.
The history of the German population in the region of modern-day Romania goes back to the 11th century. The first Germans colonized Transylvania when Romania was ruled by the

She represents the memory of the Second World War by including that during the war, Windisch’s wife, Katharina, was in a labor camp in Russia. Likewise, Windisch a prisoner of war. She includes sweeping references to Ceaușescu’s communist regime, the most notable being Windisch’s daughter Amalie’s lesson about Ceaușescu in the school in which she works. In the lesson, she says, “Our fatherland is called the Socialist Republic of Romania. Comrade Nicolae Ceaușescu is the General Secretary of our country, the Socialist Republic of Romania” (Müller, 2009, p. 52). Her lesson shows the efforts to Romanize the country at work. The lives of Windisch, Katharina, and Amalie as well as lives of Banat Germans, Romanians, and East Europeans were all heavily influenced by the events and the manifestations of the 20th century, and for the most part, their lives were influenced