German Chancellor Angela Merkel who comes to Moldova on August 22 won’t have a separate meeting with the representatives of the German community. Tamara Svetova, head of the national Community of Germans, told Info-Prim Neo she didn’t expect much from the Chancellor’s visit in Chisinau because it will be a short one. “Angela Merkel will spend about two hours in Moldova, will deliver a speech at the Palace of the Republic, and will meet with the country’s leaders. Afterwards, she leaves and won’t meet with anyone else”, declared Tamara Svetova. According to the organization’s data, there are about 800 Germans living in Moldova. Most of them are in Chisinau Municipality and in the south of the country, while some live on the left bank of the Nistru. “Once, Germans lived in their own localities, but now they are 5-10 families in a village and are being assimilated”, declared Tamara Svetova, saying that the culture of ethnic Germans in Moldova is dying slowly, but surely. Tamara Svetova thinks that lessons of German should be organized for the ethnic Germans, but this requires space, time and personnel and, according to her, since local Germans have a hard life they don’t have the money to pay for these lessons. “When it comes to helping them, we search for financial resources and humanitarian aid to facilitate their life. In such situations, nobody is able to pay for classes and we don’t have money to pay the teachers’ wages”, said the head of the National Community of Germans. Tamara Svetova said that ethnic Germans in Russia face the same problems. “We sent letters to Chancellor Angela Merkel and to Russian authorities. Ethnic Germans in Russia must be helped because otherwise our culture will die. We’re waiting for an answer from Mrs. Chancellor and from Vladimir Putin. Afterwards, we’ll meet in Moscow and discuss all our problems”, said the leader of Germans in Moldova. Most of the ethnic Germans in Moldova are speakers of Russian. The only school with advanced classes of German is the Mihail Kogalniceanu Lyceum in Chisinau. Still, German is either the main or the second foreign language taught in many education institutions throughout the country, especially on the left bank of the Nistru. The Germans settled in Basarabia at the beginning of the 19th century (between 1814 and 1842). After World War II, they spread throughout Europe. Those who didn’t accept Russian citizenship were forced to return to their country, and that was the time when of the Germans who had previously settled in Moldova left.