Born in Bucharest to a Transylvanian Saxon family of partly Hungarian heritage, she completed secondary studies in her parents' native town of Sibiu.[2] As a former trader, her father was subjected to restrictions by Communist authorities, and the Gabanyi family residence in the Sub Arini area was confiscated by the state.[2]
In 1963, Gabanyi and her family were allowed, as ethnic Germans, to reunite with their relatives living in West Germany (all of whom had retreated with the Wehrmacht from Northern Transylvania at the end of World War II).[2] According to Anneli Ute Gabanyi, this was made possible by the efforts of her father, who had profited from détente in German-Romanian relations.[2] They settled in Munich, where she became an analyst for Radio Free Europe (1969); she was head of the station's Romanian Research Section until 1987.[1]
She has frequently visited her native country after the Revolution, and is a regular contributor to Sfera Politicii.
Works
Partei und Literatur in Rumänien seit 1945, München: R. Oldenbourg, 1975. ISBN3-486-49201-2
Die unvollendete Revolution: Rumänien zwischen Diktatur und Demokratie, München: Piper, 1990. ISBN3-492-11271-4
Systemwechsel in Rumänien: von der Revolution zur Transformation, München: R. Oldenbourg Verlag, 1998. ISBN3-486-56377-7
Vom Baltikum bis zum Schwarzen Meer. Transformationsstaaten im östlichen Europa, with Klaus Schroeder, München: Bayerische Landeszentrale für Politische Bildungsarbeit, 2002