Danube Swabians
Encyclopedia
The Danube Swabians is a collective term for the German-speaking population who lived in the former Kingdom of Hungary
, especially alongside the Danube
River valley. Because of different developments within the territory settled, the Danube Swabians cannot be seen as a unified people. They include the Germans of Hungary
, Satu Mare Swabians
, the Banat Swabians
, and the Vojvodina Germans
in Serbia's Vojvodina
who called themselves Schwoweh, and Croatia
's Slavonia
(especially in Osijek
region). The Carpathian Germans
and Transylvanian Saxons
are not included within the Danube Swabian group.
). Although there were significant colonies of Carpathian Germans
in the Spiš
mountains and Transylvanian Saxons
in Transylvania
, German settlement throughout the rest of the kingdom had not been extensive until this time.
During the 17th-18th centuries, warfare between the Habsburg Monarchy
and the Ottoman Empire
devastated and depopulated much of the lands of the valley, referred to geographically as the Pannonian plain. The Habsburgs ruling Austria
and Hungary
at the time resettled the land with people of various ethnicities from the Austro-Hungarian Empire of the Habsburgs including Magyars, Czechs, Slovaks
, Croats
, Serbs
, Romanians
, Ukrainians
, and Germanic settlers from Swabia
, Hesse
, Franconia
, Bavaria
, Austria
, and Alsace-Lorraine
. However, despite their origin, they were all referred to as Swabia
ns by their neighbor Serbs, Hungarians, and Romanians. The Batschka settlers called themselves Schwoweh, the plural of Schwobe in the polyglot
language that evolved there. The majority of them went on board in Ulm Swabia
and came to their new destination on the Danube with a kind of boats called Ulmer Schachteln.
in 1683. The settlement was encouraged by nobility whose lands had been devastated through warfare, and by military officers including Prince Eugene of Savoy
and Claudius Mercy. Many Germans settled in the Bakony (Bakonywald) and Vértes
(Schildgebirge) mountains north and west of Lake Balaton
(Plattensee), as well as around the town Buda
(Ofen), now part of Budapest
. The area of heaviest German colonization during this period was in the Swabian Turkey
(Schwäbische Türkei), a triangular region between the Danube river, Lake Balaton, and the Drava
(Drau) River. Other areas settled during this time by Germans were Pécs
(Fünfkirchen), Satu Mare (Sathmar), and south of Mukachevo (Munkatsch).
After the Banat
area of Central Europe
was annexed from the Ottomans by the Habsburgs in the Treaty of Passarowitz
(1718), plans were made to resettle the region, which became known as the Banat of Temesvár (Temeschwar/Temeschburg), as well as the Bačka
(Batschka) region between the Danube and Tisza
(Theiss) rivers. Fledgling settlements were destroyed during another Austrian-Turkish war (1737–1739), but extensive colonization continued after the suspension of hostilities. The resettlement was accomplished through private and state initiatives. After Maria Theresa of Austria
assumed the throne as Queen of Hungary in 1740, she encouraged vigorous colonization on crown lands, especially between Timişoara and the Tisza. The Crown agreed to permit the Germans to retain their language and religion (generally Roman Catholic). They steadily redeveloped the land: drained marshes near the Danube and the Tisza, rebuilt farms, and constructed roads and canals. Many Danube Swabians served on Austria's Military Frontier
(Militärgrenze) against the Ottomans. Between 1740 and 1790, more than 100,000 Germans immigrated to the Kingdom of Hungary.
The Napoleonic Wars
ended the large-scale movement of Germans to the Hungarian lands, although the colonial population increased steadily and was self-sustaining through reproduction. Small daughter-colonies developed in Slavonia
and Bosnia
. After the creation of Austria-Hungary
in 1867, Hungary established a policy of Magyarization
whereby minorities, including the Danube Swabians, were induced by political and economic means to adopt the Magyar language and culture.
Beginning in 1893, Banat Swabians began to move to Bulgaria
, where they settled in the village of Bardarski Geran
, Vratsa Province
, founded by Banat Bulgarians
several years prior to that. Their number later exceeded 90 families. They built a separate Roman Catholic church in 1929 due to conflicts with the Bulgarian Catholics. Some of these Germans later moved to Tsarev Brod
, Shumen Province
, together with a handful of Banat Bulgarian families, as well as to another Banat Bulgarian village, Gostilya
, Pleven Province
.
Between 1941 and 1943, a total of 2,150 ethnic German Bulgarian citizens were transferred to Germany as part of Adolf Hitler
's Heim ins Reich
policy. These included 164 Banat Swabians from Bardarski Geran and 33 from Gostilya.
After the treaties of Saint-Germain
(1919) and Trianon
(1920) following World War I
, the Banat was divided between Romania
, Yugoslavia
, and Hungary
; Bačka was divided between Yugoslavia
and Hungary
; and Satu Mare went to Romania. Before World War II
, the biggest populations of Germans in the Vojvodina
were at Hodschag, Werbass, and Apatin
.
Although precise figures are not available, scholars believe that there may have been approximately one million ethnic Danube Swabians in the region before World War II. In 1935 the scholar Paul Gauss asserted there were around 500,000 in Hungary, 450,000 in the Vojvodina, and between 230 to 300,000 in the Romanian Banat area, with an additional 60,000 in Satu Mare (Sathmar).
by Nazi Germany
, and in the German occupied Banat
the Swabian minority was granted a status of superiority over the other ethnic groups in the Yugoslav population. The Baranja and Bačka
Swabians reverted to Hungary, to their general disappointment. The Danube Swabians were already under heavy Nazi influence by that time and served as the Axis fifth column
during the invasion of Yugoslavia, although many served in the royal Yugoslav army in the brief war against the Nazis in April, 1941 . The Independent State of Croatia
(1941-1945), a fascist puppet state
created within Axis
-occupied Yugoslavia, was home to 182,000 Danube Swabian Volksdeutche ("Folksdojčeri" in Serbo-Croatian
). In addition, the Danube Swabian minority were granted a separate autonomous region of Banat within German-occupied Serbia (another part of occupied Yugoslavia), in which they ruled over the Slavic majority (Danube Swabians formed around 20% of the population). "With rare exceptions", the Yugoslav Danube Swabians collaborated wholeheartedly with the occupation, supplying more than 60,000 troops for German military formations both voluntarily and under duress, and actively participating in the brutal repression of the Yugoslav partisans.
The local collaborationist authorities were forced to make it illegal to draft Danube Swabians. However, of the approximately 300,000 strong Danube Swabians minority in occupied Yugoslavia (182,000 in the NDH
, 350,000 in Vojvodina
, 500,000 in Romania
and 500,000 in Hungary
), approximately 100,000 eventually entered service in various German and Axis military organizations, most notably in the two locally formed Waffen-SS
volunteer divisions, the 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division Prinz Eugen
, and the 22nd SS Volunteer Cavalry Division Maria Theresa
(which was made-up of Hungarian Danube Swabians ). The 7th SS Prinz Eugen in particular, one of the most infamous SS units of World War II
, was to be responsible for the massacres of tens of thousands of Yugoslav civilians, as well as brutal reprisals resulting in the desolation of entire areas. The 7th SS Prinz Eugen was principally engaged in fighting the Partisans, the Allied
resistance military of Yugoslavia, often in cooperation with the Chetniks
, the royalist Yugoslav forces. The division became notorious for its numerous atrocities against the Yugoslav civilian population, particularly during the battles of the Neretva and Sutjeska (1943), including the killing of all captured prisoners and wounded. The division was also responsible for large-scale atrocities committed in the area of Nikšić
in Montenegro
:
Although these formations were initially formed as volunteer units, ultimately conscription had to be imposed by SS officials under the dubious legal pretext that occupied Serbia was deutsches Hoheitsgebiet and the archaic Tiroler Landsturmordung (Tyrol General Levy Act) of 1872 was introduced. The 7th SS Prinz Eugen was thus formed as a volunteer formation, but historians have demonstrated that later in the war the local German authorities of Banat came under significant pressure from the German authorities. Essentially coercion was used to recruit more troops. Dr Guenther Reinecke, chief of the Hauptamt SS-Gericht (SS legal office) wrote to Himmler that the Prinz Eugen was "no longer an organization of volunteers, that on the contrary, the ethnic Germans from Serbian Banat were drafted, to a large extent under threat of punishment by the local German leadership, and later by the SS Erganzsamt."
During the Nuremberg trials
, a photograph of SS troopers (of low rank) decapitating a Yugoslav civilian with a woodsman's axe was shown. When asked to account for the atrocities of the 7th SS, the SS Oberstgruppenführer Paul Hausser
(second in command of the SS) stated in explanation that the division was composed primarily of Yugoslav Germans, many trained (under conscription) in the pre-war royal Yugoslav army. Of about 100,000 Danube Swabians who served in the various SS units, approximately 29,000 were killed. This total includes 2,000 POWs from the 7th SS Prinz Eugen who were summarily executed by the Allied
Yugoslav troops as Yugoslav citizens collaborating with the enemy.
In 1944, a joint advance of the Yugoslav Partisans, and the Soviet Red Army
saw the liberation of northern areas of German-occupied Yugoslavia, which were home to the Danube Swabian minority. In Yugoslavia in particular, with rare exceptions the Danube Swabian minority "collaborated wholeheartedly with the occupation". Consequently, on November 21, 1944 the Presidium of the AVNOJ
(the Yugoslav parliament) declared the German minority in Yugoslavia collectively hostile to the Yugoslav state. The AVNOJ Presidium issued a decree that ordered the government confiscation of all property of Nazi Germany
and its citizens in Yugoslavia, persons of German nationality (regardless of citizenship), and collaborators. The decision acquired the force of law on February 6, 1945. The many reasons for this announcement are still inaccessible to historians, but the expropriation of Swabian agricultural lands to facilitate collectivization appears to have been a prime reason.
During the Second World War, many of the Germans sent the youngest and the oldest of their families to Germany. From 1945-48, many Germans in Hungary
were dispossessed and forced to emigrate to Allied-occupied Germany. In the Batschka which had been part of Hungary
from 1941, Schwowisch villages were emptied forcibly in March of 1945 and the old and the young were imprisoned in Yugoslavian starvation camps in Gakovo
, Kruševlje
, Rudolfsgnad (Knićanin), Molidorf (Molin), Bački Jarak
, Krndija
, Valpovo
and Sremska Mitrovica
. . Those able to work were used as slave labor throughout the countryside. Of a pre-war population of about 350,000 in the Vojvodina
the 1958 census revealed 32,000 left. Officially, Yugoslavia denied the forcible starvation and killing of their Schwowisch populations, but reconstruction of the death camps reveals that of the 170,000 Danube Swabians interned from 1944 to 1948, about 50,000 died of mistreatment. Since only families with the very young (under three), very old, and mothers were interned and starved, many others were unaccounted in slave labor settings throughout the countryside; but their death rates were probably much lower. The Germans in Romania were not deported but were instead dispersed within Romania
. Many left Romania for West Germany
between 1970-90, and this trend increased in 1990. Beginning in 1920 and especially after World War II, many Danube Swabians migrated to the United States
, Brazil
, Canada
, Austria
, Australia
, and Argentina
. Some of them, descending from French-speaking or linguistically mixed families from Lorraine
, had maintained for some generations the French language, and a specific ethnic identity, later labelled as Banat French, Français du Banat, and were resettled in France around 1950.
The Danube Swabian culture is a melting pot of southern German regional customs
, with a large degree of Balkan and mostly Hungarian influence. This is especially true of the food, where paprika
is heavily employed, which led to the German nickname for Danube Swabians as Paprikadeutsche. The architecture is neither Southern German nor Balkan but is unique to itself. The houses, often made of stamped mud and straw walls or mud bricks, are ubiquitous throughout the Vojvodina
region. Georg Weifert was responsible for developing one of the most famous beers in the Serbia/Yugoslavia region and later became an important banker and politician in Belgrade
(his image currently features on the Serbian
1000 dinar note).
(Schwowisch in the Batschka). In reality, it contains elements or many dialects of the original German settlers, mainly Swabian
, Franconian
, Bavarian, Rhinelandic
/Pfälzisch, Alsatian
, and Alemannic
, as well as Austro-Hungarian administrative and military jargon. Loanwords from Hungarian
, Serbian, or Romanian are especially common regionally regarding cuisine and agriculture, but also regarding dress
, politics, place names, and sports. Other cultures of influence include Serbian
and Croatian
, Russian
(for communist concepts), Romanian
, Turkish
(Hambar
), English
(for football), and general Balkan and South Slavic
loanwords like Kukuruts (corn) or "Grumbiere" {potatoes} [this is not accurate: 'Kukuruz' is used in Austria and 'Grumbiere' derives from 'Grundbirne' (lit. 'Ground pears') and is common in Allemanic and Rhenish German dialects] B. The plural of loanwords is in most cases formed in the Danube Swabian way. Conjunctions and adverbs from the respective contact languages may be integrated as well.
Many German words used by speakers of Danube Swabian dialects may sound archaic. To the ear of a Standard German speaker, the Danube Swabian dialect sounds like what it is: a mix of southwestern German dialects from the 18th century. Due to relative isolation and differing proximities to nearby German speakers (Austrians
and Transylvanian Saxons
), the language varies considerably, with speakers able to distinguish inhabitants of neighboring villages by the words they use for such things as marmalade
(Schleckle being one variant), or by how many (usually Hungarian) loanwords they employ. Herman Ruediger, a German sociologist, reports that in his trips throughout the Batschka in the 1920s, he noted that Danube Swabians from widely separated villages had to use standard high German to communicate with each other because their speech was so different.
first, especially when writing, for example Butscher Jakob (see photo of memorial). Danube Swabian villages tend to have relatively few family names as the villagers stem from only a few families, but usually the same family name does not appear in more than a couple of villages, meaning that there are many Danube Swabian family names. The names come from throughout southern Germany, from assimilated Hungarians, and occasionally from Balkan and Italian origins. There are usually no middle name
s, but often double first names, if a distinction can be made. The variety of first names is few, since children were usually named after grandparents or godparents. Popular names for women include: Anna, Barbara, Christina, Katharina, Magdalena, Maria, Sophia, Theresia, and many two-name combinations thereof. Popular names for men include: Adam, Christian, Friedrich, Georg, Gottfried, Heinrich, Jakob, Johann, Konrad, Ludwig, Mathias, Nikolaus, Peter, Philipp (or Filipp), and Stefan (or Stephan). With so few names in villages, other modifiers or nicknames were almost always used to distinguish people. The modifiers were often size related (e.g., "Kleinjohann" or "Little Johann"), occupation related, or location related (usually by prefixing the streetname).
designed in 1950 by Hans Diplich has been adopted by many Danube Swabian cultural organizations. Its blazon is "Parti per fess wavy 1 Or, an eagle displayed couped Sable langued Gules; 2 parti per fess Argent and Vert, a fortress Argent roofed and turreted Gules surmounted with Sun and Crescent waning Or; chief wavy Azure".
It depicts:
Austria
Luxembourg
Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary comprised present-day Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia , Transylvania , Carpatho Ruthenia , Vojvodina , Burgenland , and other smaller territories surrounding present-day Hungary's borders...
, especially alongside the Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
River valley. Because of different developments within the territory settled, the Danube Swabians cannot be seen as a unified people. They include the Germans of Hungary
Hungary Germans
Germans of Hungary are the German-speaking minority of Hungary commonly called the Danube Swabians . Danube Swabian is a collective term for a number of German ethnic groups who lived in the former Kingdom of Hungary...
, Satu Mare Swabians
Satu Mare Swabians
The Satu Mare Swabians are a German ethnic group that lives near the city of Satu Mare in Romania, and forms part of the broader group known as Danube Swabians. Most were originally farmers in Upper Swabia who came to Hungary/Partium during the 18th century East Colonisation...
, the Banat Swabians
Banat Swabians
The Banat Swabians are an ethnic German population in Southeast Europe, part of the Danube Swabians. They emigrated in the 18th century to what was then the Austrian Banat province, which had been left sparsely populated by the wars with Turkey. This once strong and important ethnic Banat Swabian...
, and the Vojvodina Germans
Ethnic groups of Vojvodina
There are many ethnic groups in Vojvodina.-Serbs:*Serbs – Serbs constitute an absolute majority of people in Vojvodina. According to the 2002 census, there were 1,321,807 Serbs in Vojvodina or 65.05% of the population...
in Serbia's Vojvodina
Vojvodina
Vojvodina, officially called Autonomous Province of Vojvodina is an autonomous province of Serbia. Its capital and largest city is Novi Sad...
who called themselves Schwoweh, and Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
's Slavonia
Slavonia
Slavonia is a geographical and historical region in eastern Croatia...
(especially in Osijek
Osijek
Osijek is the fourth largest city in Croatia with a population of 83,496 in 2011. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja county...
region). The Carpathian Germans
Carpathian Germans
Carpathian Germans , sometimes simply called Slovak Germans , are a group of German language speakers on the territory of present-day Slovakia...
and Transylvanian Saxons
Transylvanian Saxons
The Transylvanian Saxons are a people of German ethnicity who settled in Transylvania from the 12th century onwards.The colonization of Transylvania by Germans was begun by King Géza II of Hungary . For decades, the main task of the German settlers was to defend the southeastern border of the...
are not included within the Danube Swabian group.
History
Origins
Beginning in the 12th century, German merchants and miners began to settle in the Kingdom of Hungary at the invitation of the Hungarian monarchy (see OstsiedlungOstsiedlung
Ostsiedlung , also called German eastward expansion, was the medieval eastward migration and settlement of Germans from modern day western and central Germany into less-populated regions and countries of eastern Central Europe and Eastern Europe. The affected area roughly stretched from Slovenia...
). Although there were significant colonies of Carpathian Germans
Carpathian Germans
Carpathian Germans , sometimes simply called Slovak Germans , are a group of German language speakers on the territory of present-day Slovakia...
in the Spiš
Spiš
Spiš is a region in north-eastern Slovakia, with a very small area in south-eastern Poland. Spiš is an informal designation of the territory , but it is also the name of one the 21 official tourism regions of Slovakia...
mountains and Transylvanian Saxons
Transylvanian Saxons
The Transylvanian Saxons are a people of German ethnicity who settled in Transylvania from the 12th century onwards.The colonization of Transylvania by Germans was begun by King Géza II of Hungary . For decades, the main task of the German settlers was to defend the southeastern border of the...
in Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
, German settlement throughout the rest of the kingdom had not been extensive until this time.
During the 17th-18th centuries, warfare between the Habsburg Monarchy
Habsburg Monarchy
The Habsburg Monarchy covered the territories ruled by the junior Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg , and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine , between 1526 and 1867/1918. The Imperial capital was Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when it was moved to Prague...
and the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
devastated and depopulated much of the lands of the valley, referred to geographically as the Pannonian plain. The Habsburgs ruling Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
and Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
at the time resettled the land with people of various ethnicities from the Austro-Hungarian Empire of the Habsburgs including Magyars, Czechs, Slovaks
Slovaks
The Slovaks, Slovak people, or Slovakians are a West Slavic people that primarily inhabit Slovakia and speak the Slovak language, which is closely related to the Czech language.Most Slovaks today live within the borders of the independent Slovakia...
, Croats
Croats
Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...
, Serbs
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
, Romanians
Romanians
The Romanians are an ethnic group native to Romania, who speak Romanian; they are the majority inhabitants of Romania....
, Ukrainians
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
, and Germanic settlers from Swabia
Swabia
Swabia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany.-Geography:Like many cultural regions of Europe, Swabia's borders are not clearly defined...
, Hesse
Hesse
Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...
, Franconia
Franconia
Franconia is a region of Germany comprising the northern parts of the modern state of Bavaria, a small part of southern Thuringia, and a region in northeastern Baden-Württemberg called Tauberfranken...
, Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, and Alsace-Lorraine
Alsace-Lorraine
The Imperial Territory of Alsace-Lorraine was a territory created by the German Empire in 1871 after it annexed most of Alsace and the Moselle region of Lorraine following its victory in the Franco-Prussian War. The Alsatian part lay in the Rhine Valley on the west bank of the Rhine River and east...
. However, despite their origin, they were all referred to as Swabia
Swabia
Swabia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany.-Geography:Like many cultural regions of Europe, Swabia's borders are not clearly defined...
ns by their neighbor Serbs, Hungarians, and Romanians. The Batschka settlers called themselves Schwoweh, the plural of Schwobe in the polyglot
Polyglot
Polyglot may refer to:*Polyglot , someone who uses many languages*Polyglot , a book that contains the same text in more than one language*Polyglot , a computer program that is valid in more than one programming language...
language that evolved there. The majority of them went on board in Ulm Swabia
Swabia
Swabia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany.-Geography:Like many cultural regions of Europe, Swabia's borders are not clearly defined...
and came to their new destination on the Danube with a kind of boats called Ulmer Schachteln.
Settlement
The first wave of resettlement came as the Ottoman Turks were gradually being forced back after their defeat at the Battle of ViennaBattle of Vienna
The Battle of Vienna took place on 11 and 12 September 1683 after Vienna had been besieged by the Ottoman Empire for two months...
in 1683. The settlement was encouraged by nobility whose lands had been devastated through warfare, and by military officers including Prince Eugene of Savoy
Prince Eugene of Savoy
Prince Eugene of Savoy , was one of the most successful military commanders in modern European history, rising to the highest offices of state at the Imperial court in Vienna. Born in Paris to aristocratic Italian parents, Eugene grew up around the French court of King Louis XIV...
and Claudius Mercy. Many Germans settled in the Bakony (Bakonywald) and Vértes
Vértes Mountains
Vértes is a mountain range in north-western Hungary, in the Central Transdanubian region, between the ranges Bakony and Gerecse.The Vértes Mountains are part of the Transdanubian Mountains. Area of the Vértes occupies 314 km2. It is about 30 km long and 11-12 km wide...
(Schildgebirge) mountains north and west of Lake Balaton
Lake Balaton
Lake Balaton is a freshwater lake in the Transdanubian region of Hungary. It is the largest lake in Central Europe, and one of its foremost tourist destinations. As Hungary is landlocked , Lake Balaton is often affectionately called the "Hungarian Sea"...
(Plattensee), as well as around the town Buda
Buda
For detailed information see: History of Buda CastleBuda is the western part of the Hungarian capital Budapest on the west bank of the Danube. The name Buda takes its name from the name of Bleda the Hun ruler, whose name is also Buda in Hungarian.Buda comprises about one-third of Budapest's...
(Ofen), now part of Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
. The area of heaviest German colonization during this period was in the Swabian Turkey
Swabian Turkey
The term Swabian Turkey describes a region in southeastern Transdanubia in Hungary delimited by the Danube , the Drava , and Lake Balaton inhabited by an ethnic German minority...
(Schwäbische Türkei), a triangular region between the Danube river, Lake Balaton, and the Drava
Drava
Drava or Drave is a river in southern Central Europe, a tributary of the Danube. It sources in Toblach/Dobbiaco, Italy, and flows east through East Tirol and Carinthia in Austria, into Slovenia , and then southeast, passing through Croatia and forming most of the border between Croatia and...
(Drau) River. Other areas settled during this time by Germans were Pécs
Pécs
Pécs is the fifth largest city of Hungary, located on the slopes of the Mecsek mountains in the south-west of the country, close to its border with Croatia. It is the administrative and economical centre of Baranya county...
(Fünfkirchen), Satu Mare (Sathmar), and south of Mukachevo (Munkatsch).
After the Banat
Banat
The Banat is a geographical and historical region in Central Europe currently divided between three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania , the western part in northeastern Serbia , and a small...
area of Central Europe
Central Europe
Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...
was annexed from the Ottomans by the Habsburgs in the Treaty of Passarowitz
Treaty of Passarowitz
The Treaty of Passarowitz or Treaty of Požarevac was the peace treaty signed in Požarevac , a town in Ottoman Empire , on 21 July 1718 between the Ottoman Empire on one side and the Habsburg Monarchy of Austria and the Republic of Venice on the other.During the years 1714-1718, the Ottomans had...
(1718), plans were made to resettle the region, which became known as the Banat of Temesvár (Temeschwar/Temeschburg), as well as the Bačka
Backa
Bačka is a geographical area within the Pannonian plain bordered by the river Danube to the west and south, and by the river Tisza to the east of which confluence is located near Titel...
(Batschka) region between the Danube and Tisza
Tisza
The Tisza or Tisa is one of the main rivers of Central Europe. It rises in Ukraine, and is formed near Rakhiv by the junction of headwaters White Tisa, whose source is in the Chornohora mountains and Black Tisa, which springs in the Gorgany range...
(Theiss) rivers. Fledgling settlements were destroyed during another Austrian-Turkish war (1737–1739), but extensive colonization continued after the suspension of hostilities. The resettlement was accomplished through private and state initiatives. After Maria Theresa of Austria
Maria Theresa of Austria
Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina was the only female ruler of the Habsburg dominions and the last of the House of Habsburg. She was the sovereign of Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Bohemia, Mantua, Milan, Lodomeria and Galicia, the Austrian Netherlands and Parma...
assumed the throne as Queen of Hungary in 1740, she encouraged vigorous colonization on crown lands, especially between Timişoara and the Tisza. The Crown agreed to permit the Germans to retain their language and religion (generally Roman Catholic). They steadily redeveloped the land: drained marshes near the Danube and the Tisza, rebuilt farms, and constructed roads and canals. Many Danube Swabians served on Austria's Military Frontier
Military Frontier
The Military Frontier was a borderland of Habsburg Austria and later the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, which acted as the cordon sanitaire against incursions from the Ottoman Empire...
(Militärgrenze) against the Ottomans. Between 1740 and 1790, more than 100,000 Germans immigrated to the Kingdom of Hungary.
The Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
ended the large-scale movement of Germans to the Hungarian lands, although the colonial population increased steadily and was self-sustaining through reproduction. Small daughter-colonies developed in Slavonia
Slavonia
Slavonia is a geographical and historical region in eastern Croatia...
and Bosnia
Bosnia (region)
Bosnia is a eponomous region of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It lies mainly in the Dinaric Alps, ranging to the southern borders of the Pannonian plain, with the rivers Sava and Drina marking its northern and eastern borders. The other eponomous region, the southern, other half of the country is...
. After the creation of Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
in 1867, Hungary established a policy of Magyarization
Magyarization
Magyarization is a kind of assimilation or acculturation, a process by which non-Magyar elements came to adopt Magyar culture and language due to social pressure .Defiance or appeals to the Nationalities Law, met...
whereby minorities, including the Danube Swabians, were induced by political and economic means to adopt the Magyar language and culture.
Beginning in 1893, Banat Swabians began to move to Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
, where they settled in the village of Bardarski Geran
Bardarski Geran
Bardarski Geran is a village in northwestern Bulgaria, part of Byala Slatina municipality, Vratsa Province. It is among the several villages founded by Banat Bulgarians returning from the Banat after the Liberation of Bulgaria from Ottoman rule in 1878, and is thus predominantly Roman Catholic...
, Vratsa Province
Vratsa Province
Vratsa Province , former name Vratsa okrug) is a Bulgarian province located in the northwestern part of the country, between Danube river in the north and Stara Planina mountain in the south. It is named after its main town - Vratsa...
, founded by Banat Bulgarians
Banat Bulgarians
The Banat Bulgarians are a distinct Bulgarian minority group which settled in the 18th century in the region of the Banat, which was then ruled by the Habsburgs and after World War I was divided between Romania, Serbia, and Hungary...
several years prior to that. Their number later exceeded 90 families. They built a separate Roman Catholic church in 1929 due to conflicts with the Bulgarian Catholics. Some of these Germans later moved to Tsarev Brod
Tsarev Brod
Tsarev Brod |ford]]") is a village in northeastern Bulgaria, part of Shumen municipality, Shumen Province. As of 2008, it has a population of 1,344 and the mayor is Stefan Zhivkov. The village lies at , 224 metres above mean sea level in the eastern stretches of the Danubian Plain...
, Shumen Province
Shumen Province
-Religion:Religious adherence in the province according to 2001 census:-Transportation:Shumen lies on the main route between Varna and Sofia and is served by numerous trains and buses serving the city. The city is also very well connected with Istanbul which serves the large Turkish community in...
, together with a handful of Banat Bulgarian families, as well as to another Banat Bulgarian village, Gostilya
Gostilya
Gostilya is a village in central northern Bulgaria, located in Dolna Mitropoliya municipality, Pleven Province. It was founded in 1890 by 133 families of Roman Catholic Banat Bulgarians from Stár Bišnov and Ivanovo in what was then Austria-Hungary...
, Pleven Province
Pleven Province
Pleven Province is a province located in central northern Bulgaria, bordering the Danube river, Romania and the Bulgarian provinces of Vratsa, Veliko Tarnovo and Lovech. It is divided into 11 subdivisions, called municipalities, that embrace a territory of 4,333.54 km² with a population, as...
.
Between 1941 and 1943, a total of 2,150 ethnic German Bulgarian citizens were transferred to Germany as part of Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
's Heim ins Reich
Heim ins Reich
The Heim ins Reich initiative was a policy pursued by Adolf Hitler starting in 1938 and was one of the factors leading to World War II. The initiative attempted to convince people of German descent living outside of the German Reich that they should strive to bring these regions "home" into a...
policy. These included 164 Banat Swabians from Bardarski Geran and 33 from Gostilya.
After the treaties of Saint-Germain
Treaty of Saint-Germain
The Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, was signed on 10 September 1919 by the victorious Allies of World War I on the one hand and by the new Republic of Austria on the other...
(1919) and Trianon
Treaty of Trianon
The Treaty of Trianon was the peace agreement signed in 1920, at the end of World War I, between the Allies of World War I and Hungary . The treaty greatly redefined and reduced Hungary's borders. From its borders before World War I, it lost 72% of its territory, which was reduced from to...
(1920) following World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, the Banat was divided between Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
, and Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
; Bačka was divided between Yugoslavia
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a state stretching from the Western Balkans to Central Europe which existed during the often-tumultuous interwar era of 1918–1941...
and Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
; and Satu Mare went to Romania. Before World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the biggest populations of Germans in the Vojvodina
Vojvodina
Vojvodina, officially called Autonomous Province of Vojvodina is an autonomous province of Serbia. Its capital and largest city is Novi Sad...
were at Hodschag, Werbass, and Apatin
Apatin
Apatin is a town and municipality in the Vojvodina administrative region of Serbia, located in the West Bačka District, at . The town of Apatin is the administrative, economic, cultural, educational and tourist centre of the municipality of Apatin...
.
Although precise figures are not available, scholars believe that there may have been approximately one million ethnic Danube Swabians in the region before World War II. In 1935 the scholar Paul Gauss asserted there were around 500,000 in Hungary, 450,000 in the Vojvodina, and between 230 to 300,000 in the Romanian Banat area, with an additional 60,000 in Satu Mare (Sathmar).
World War II, expulsion, and current situation
In 1941 Yugoslavia was invaded and occupiedInvasion of Yugoslavia
The Invasion of Yugoslavia , also known as the April War , was the Axis Powers' attack on the Kingdom of Yugoslavia which began on 6 April 1941 during World War II...
by Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
, and in the German occupied Banat
Banat
The Banat is a geographical and historical region in Central Europe currently divided between three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania , the western part in northeastern Serbia , and a small...
the Swabian minority was granted a status of superiority over the other ethnic groups in the Yugoslav population. The Baranja and Bačka
Backa
Bačka is a geographical area within the Pannonian plain bordered by the river Danube to the west and south, and by the river Tisza to the east of which confluence is located near Titel...
Swabians reverted to Hungary, to their general disappointment. The Danube Swabians were already under heavy Nazi influence by that time and served as the Axis fifth column
Fifth column
A fifth column is a group of people who clandestinely undermine a larger group such as a nation from within.-Origin:The term originated with a 1936 radio address by Emilio Mola, a Nationalist General during the 1936–39 Spanish Civil War...
during the invasion of Yugoslavia, although many served in the royal Yugoslav army in the brief war against the Nazis in April, 1941 . The Independent State of Croatia
Independent State of Croatia
The Independent State of Croatia was a World War II puppet state of Nazi Germany, established on a part of Axis-occupied Yugoslavia. The NDH was founded on 10 April 1941, after the invasion of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers. All of Bosnia and Herzegovina was annexed to NDH, together with some parts...
(1941-1945), a fascist puppet state
Puppet state
A puppet state is a nominal sovereign of a state who is de facto controlled by a foreign power. The term refers to a government controlled by the government of another country like a puppeteer controls the strings of a marionette...
created within Axis
Axis Powers
The Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...
-occupied Yugoslavia, was home to 182,000 Danube Swabian Volksdeutche ("Folksdojčeri" in Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian or Serbo-Croat, less commonly Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian , is a South Slavic language with multiple standards and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro...
). In addition, the Danube Swabian minority were granted a separate autonomous region of Banat within German-occupied Serbia (another part of occupied Yugoslavia), in which they ruled over the Slavic majority (Danube Swabians formed around 20% of the population). "With rare exceptions", the Yugoslav Danube Swabians collaborated wholeheartedly with the occupation, supplying more than 60,000 troops for German military formations both voluntarily and under duress, and actively participating in the brutal repression of the Yugoslav partisans.
The local collaborationist authorities were forced to make it illegal to draft Danube Swabians. However, of the approximately 300,000 strong Danube Swabians minority in occupied Yugoslavia (182,000 in the NDH
Independent State of Croatia
The Independent State of Croatia was a World War II puppet state of Nazi Germany, established on a part of Axis-occupied Yugoslavia. The NDH was founded on 10 April 1941, after the invasion of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers. All of Bosnia and Herzegovina was annexed to NDH, together with some parts...
, 350,000 in Vojvodina
Vojvodina
Vojvodina, officially called Autonomous Province of Vojvodina is an autonomous province of Serbia. Its capital and largest city is Novi Sad...
, 500,000 in Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
and 500,000 in Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
), approximately 100,000 eventually entered service in various German and Axis military organizations, most notably in the two locally formed Waffen-SS
Waffen-SS
The Waffen-SS was a multi-ethnic and multi-national military force of the Third Reich. It constituted the armed wing of the Schutzstaffel or SS, an organ of the Nazi Party. The Waffen-SS saw action throughout World War II and grew from three regiments to over 38 divisions, and served alongside...
volunteer divisions, the 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division Prinz Eugen
7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division Prinz Eugen
The 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division Prinz Eugen. was formed on March 1942 from Volksdeutsche volunteers from Vojvodina, Croatia, Hungary and Romania, it was initially called the SS-Freiwilligen-Division Prinz Eugen....
, and the 22nd SS Volunteer Cavalry Division Maria Theresa
22nd SS Volunteer Cavalry Division Maria Theresia
The 22nd SS Volunteer Cavalry Division Maria Theresia. was a German Waffen SS cavalry division which saw action on the Eastern Front during the Second World War...
(which was made-up of Hungarian Danube Swabians ). The 7th SS Prinz Eugen in particular, one of the most infamous SS units of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, was to be responsible for the massacres of tens of thousands of Yugoslav civilians, as well as brutal reprisals resulting in the desolation of entire areas. The 7th SS Prinz Eugen was principally engaged in fighting the Partisans, the Allied
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
resistance military of Yugoslavia, often in cooperation with the Chetniks
Chetniks
Chetniks, or the Chetnik movement , were Serbian nationalist and royalist paramilitary organizations from the first half of the 20th century. The Chetniks were formed as a Serbian resistance against the Ottoman Empire in 1904, and participated in the Balkan Wars, World War I, and World War II...
, the royalist Yugoslav forces. The division became notorious for its numerous atrocities against the Yugoslav civilian population, particularly during the battles of the Neretva and Sutjeska (1943), including the killing of all captured prisoners and wounded. The division was also responsible for large-scale atrocities committed in the area of Nikšić
Nikšić
Nikšić is a city in Montenegro . In 2003 the city had a total population about 75,000.Nikšić is located in Nikšić plain, at the foot of Mount Trebjesa. It is the center of the municipality , which is the largest in Montenegro by area...
in Montenegro
Montenegro
Montenegro Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора , meaning "Black Mountain") is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the...
:
Although these formations were initially formed as volunteer units, ultimately conscription had to be imposed by SS officials under the dubious legal pretext that occupied Serbia was deutsches Hoheitsgebiet and the archaic Tiroler Landsturmordung (Tyrol General Levy Act) of 1872 was introduced. The 7th SS Prinz Eugen was thus formed as a volunteer formation, but historians have demonstrated that later in the war the local German authorities of Banat came under significant pressure from the German authorities. Essentially coercion was used to recruit more troops. Dr Guenther Reinecke, chief of the Hauptamt SS-Gericht (SS legal office) wrote to Himmler that the Prinz Eugen was "no longer an organization of volunteers, that on the contrary, the ethnic Germans from Serbian Banat were drafted, to a large extent under threat of punishment by the local German leadership, and later by the SS Erganzsamt."
During the Nuremberg trials
Nuremberg Trials
The Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals, held by the victorious Allied forces of World War II, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of the defeated Nazi Germany....
, a photograph of SS troopers (of low rank) decapitating a Yugoslav civilian with a woodsman's axe was shown. When asked to account for the atrocities of the 7th SS, the SS Oberstgruppenführer Paul Hausser
Paul Hausser
Paul "Papa" Hausser was an officer in the German Army, achieving the high rank of lieutenant-general in the inter-war Reichswehr. After retirement from the regular Army he became the "father" of the Waffen-SS and one of its most eminent leaders...
(second in command of the SS) stated in explanation that the division was composed primarily of Yugoslav Germans, many trained (under conscription) in the pre-war royal Yugoslav army. Of about 100,000 Danube Swabians who served in the various SS units, approximately 29,000 were killed. This total includes 2,000 POWs from the 7th SS Prinz Eugen who were summarily executed by the Allied
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
Yugoslav troops as Yugoslav citizens collaborating with the enemy.
In 1944, a joint advance of the Yugoslav Partisans, and the Soviet Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
saw the liberation of northern areas of German-occupied Yugoslavia, which were home to the Danube Swabian minority. In Yugoslavia in particular, with rare exceptions the Danube Swabian minority "collaborated wholeheartedly with the occupation". Consequently, on November 21, 1944 the Presidium of the AVNOJ
AVNOJ
The Anti-Fascist Council of the People's Liberation of Yugoslavia, known more commonly by its Yugoslav abbreviation AVNOJ, was the political umbrella organization for the national liberation councils of the Yugoslav resistance against the World War II Axis occupation, eventually becoming the...
(the Yugoslav parliament) declared the German minority in Yugoslavia collectively hostile to the Yugoslav state. The AVNOJ Presidium issued a decree that ordered the government confiscation of all property of Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
and its citizens in Yugoslavia, persons of German nationality (regardless of citizenship), and collaborators. The decision acquired the force of law on February 6, 1945. The many reasons for this announcement are still inaccessible to historians, but the expropriation of Swabian agricultural lands to facilitate collectivization appears to have been a prime reason.
During the Second World War, many of the Germans sent the youngest and the oldest of their families to Germany. From 1945-48, many Germans in Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
were dispossessed and forced to emigrate to Allied-occupied Germany. In the Batschka which had been part of Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
from 1941, Schwowisch villages were emptied forcibly in March of 1945 and the old and the young were imprisoned in Yugoslavian starvation camps in Gakovo
Gakovo
Gakovo is a village in Serbia. It is situated in the Sombor municipality, in the West Bačka District, Vojvodina province. The village has a Serb ethnic majority and its population is 2,201 .-Name:...
, Kruševlje
Kruševlje
Kruševlje is a small settlement in Serbia. It is situated in the Sombor municipality, West Bačka District, Vojvodina province. It is mostly populated by Serbs.-Name:...
, Rudolfsgnad (Knićanin), Molidorf (Molin), Bački Jarak
Backi Jarak
Bački Jarak is a town located in the Temerin municipality, in the South Bačka District of Serbia. It is situated in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina...
, Krndija
Krndija
Krndija is a hill and village in Slavonia, Croatia, extending eastwards from Papuk. It is located south of Orahovica and Našice and north of Požega....
, Valpovo
Valpovo
Valpovo is a town in Slavonia, Croatia. It is close to the Drava river in the region of Slavonia, northwest of Osijek. The population of Valpovo is 7,396, with a total of 11,570 in the municipality.-Demographics:...
and Sremska Mitrovica
Sremska Mitrovica
Sremska Mitrovica is a city and municipality located in the Vojvodina province of Serbia, on the left bank of the Sava river. As of 2002 the town had a total population of 39,041, while Sremska Mitrovica municipality had a population of 85,605...
. . Those able to work were used as slave labor throughout the countryside. Of a pre-war population of about 350,000 in the Vojvodina
Vojvodina
Vojvodina, officially called Autonomous Province of Vojvodina is an autonomous province of Serbia. Its capital and largest city is Novi Sad...
the 1958 census revealed 32,000 left. Officially, Yugoslavia denied the forcible starvation and killing of their Schwowisch populations, but reconstruction of the death camps reveals that of the 170,000 Danube Swabians interned from 1944 to 1948, about 50,000 died of mistreatment. Since only families with the very young (under three), very old, and mothers were interned and starved, many others were unaccounted in slave labor settings throughout the countryside; but their death rates were probably much lower. The Germans in Romania were not deported but were instead dispersed within Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
. Many left Romania for West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
between 1970-90, and this trend increased in 1990. Beginning in 1920 and especially after World War II, many Danube Swabians migrated to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, and Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
. Some of them, descending from French-speaking or linguistically mixed families from Lorraine
Lorraine (province)
The Duchy of Upper Lorraine was an historical duchy roughly corresponding with the present-day northeastern Lorraine region of France, including parts of modern Luxembourg and Germany. The main cities were Metz, Verdun, and the historic capital Nancy....
, had maintained for some generations the French language, and a specific ethnic identity, later labelled as Banat French, Français du Banat, and were resettled in France around 1950.
Culture
Customs
Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting and safeguarding customs duties and for controlling the flow of goods including animals, transports, personal effects and hazardous items in and out of a country...
, with a large degree of Balkan and mostly Hungarian influence. This is especially true of the food, where paprika
Paprika
Paprika is a spice made from the grinding of dried fruits of Capsicum annuum . In many European languages, the word paprika refers to bell peppers themselves. The seasoning is used in many cuisines to add color and flavor to dishes. Paprika can range from mild to hot...
is heavily employed, which led to the German nickname for Danube Swabians as Paprikadeutsche. The architecture is neither Southern German nor Balkan but is unique to itself. The houses, often made of stamped mud and straw walls or mud bricks, are ubiquitous throughout the Vojvodina
Vojvodina
Vojvodina, officially called Autonomous Province of Vojvodina is an autonomous province of Serbia. Its capital and largest city is Novi Sad...
region. Georg Weifert was responsible for developing one of the most famous beers in the Serbia/Yugoslavia region and later became an important banker and politician in Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
(his image currently features on the Serbian
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
1000 dinar note).
Language
The Danube Swabian language is only nominally SwabianSwabian German
Swabian is one of the Alemannic dialects of High German. It is spoken in Swabia, a region which covers much of Germany's southwestern state Baden-Württemberg, including its capital Stuttgart, the rural area known as the Swabian Alb, and Bavaria...
(Schwowisch in the Batschka). In reality, it contains elements or many dialects of the original German settlers, mainly Swabian
Swabian German
Swabian is one of the Alemannic dialects of High German. It is spoken in Swabia, a region which covers much of Germany's southwestern state Baden-Württemberg, including its capital Stuttgart, the rural area known as the Swabian Alb, and Bavaria...
, Franconian
Franconian languages
Franconian refers to a West Germanic dialect continuum spoken in the Rhineland, including Dutch at one end and all the transitional dialects between Dutch and standard German which do not fully participate in the High German consonant shift or German diphthongization of long vowels...
, Bavarian, Rhinelandic
Rhinelandic
Rhinelandic is a term occasionally used for linguistic varieties of a region on both sides of the Middle and Lower Rhine river in Central West Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. It has at least two distinct meanings which often can only be determined from the fine grain context in...
/Pfälzisch, Alsatian
Alsatian language
Alsatian is a Low Alemannic German dialect spoken in most of Alsace, a region in eastern France which has passed between French and German control many times.-Language family:...
, and Alemannic
Alemannic German
Alemannic is a group of dialects of the Upper German branch of the Germanic language family. It is spoken by approximately ten million people in six countries: Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, France and Italy...
, as well as Austro-Hungarian administrative and military jargon. Loanwords from Hungarian
Hungarian language
Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....
, Serbian, or Romanian are especially common regionally regarding cuisine and agriculture, but also regarding dress
Clothing
Clothing refers to any covering for the human body that is worn. The wearing of clothing is exclusively a human characteristic and is a feature of nearly all human societies...
, politics, place names, and sports. Other cultures of influence include Serbian
Serbian language
Serbian is a form of Serbo-Croatian, a South Slavic language, spoken by Serbs in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and neighbouring countries....
and Croatian
Croatian language
Croatian is the collective name for the standard language and dialects spoken by Croats, principally in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian province of Vojvodina and other neighbouring countries...
, Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
(for communist concepts), Romanian
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
, Turkish
Turkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
(Hambar
Hambar
A hambar is a corn crib or small building commonly used for storing and drying maize in the Balkans and the neighboring regions in the Pannonian...
), English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
(for football), and general Balkan and South Slavic
South Slavs
The South Slavs are the southern branch of the Slavic peoples and speak South Slavic languages. Geographically, the South Slavs are native to the Balkan peninsula, the southern Pannonian Plain and the eastern Alps...
loanwords like Kukuruts (corn) or "Grumbiere" {potatoes} [this is not accurate: 'Kukuruz' is used in Austria and 'Grumbiere' derives from 'Grundbirne' (lit. 'Ground pears') and is common in Allemanic and Rhenish German dialects] B. The plural of loanwords is in most cases formed in the Danube Swabian way. Conjunctions and adverbs from the respective contact languages may be integrated as well.
Many German words used by speakers of Danube Swabian dialects may sound archaic. To the ear of a Standard German speaker, the Danube Swabian dialect sounds like what it is: a mix of southwestern German dialects from the 18th century. Due to relative isolation and differing proximities to nearby German speakers (Austrians
Austrians
Austrians are a nation and ethnic group, consisting of the population of the Republic of Austria and its historical predecessor states who share a common Austrian culture and Austrian descent....
and Transylvanian Saxons
Transylvanian Saxons
The Transylvanian Saxons are a people of German ethnicity who settled in Transylvania from the 12th century onwards.The colonization of Transylvania by Germans was begun by King Géza II of Hungary . For decades, the main task of the German settlers was to defend the southeastern border of the...
), the language varies considerably, with speakers able to distinguish inhabitants of neighboring villages by the words they use for such things as marmalade
Marmalade
Marmalade is a fruit preserve made from the juice and peel of citrus fruits, boiled with sugar and water. The benchmark citrus fruit for marmalade production in Britain is the "Seville orange" from Spain, Citrus aurantium var...
(Schleckle being one variant), or by how many (usually Hungarian) loanwords they employ. Herman Ruediger, a German sociologist, reports that in his trips throughout the Batschka in the 1920s, he noted that Danube Swabians from widely separated villages had to use standard high German to communicate with each other because their speech was so different.
Naming
As is the custom in Hungary, Danube Swabians often put the surnameSurname
A surname is a name added to a given name and is part of a personal name. In many cases, a surname is a family name. Many dictionaries define "surname" as a synonym of "family name"...
first, especially when writing, for example Butscher Jakob (see photo of memorial). Danube Swabian villages tend to have relatively few family names as the villagers stem from only a few families, but usually the same family name does not appear in more than a couple of villages, meaning that there are many Danube Swabian family names. The names come from throughout southern Germany, from assimilated Hungarians, and occasionally from Balkan and Italian origins. There are usually no middle name
Middle name
People's names in several cultures include one or more additional names placed between the first given name and the surname. In Canada and the United States all such names are specifically referred to as middle name; in most European countries they would simply be regarded as second, third, etc....
s, but often double first names, if a distinction can be made. The variety of first names is few, since children were usually named after grandparents or godparents. Popular names for women include: Anna, Barbara, Christina, Katharina, Magdalena, Maria, Sophia, Theresia, and many two-name combinations thereof. Popular names for men include: Adam, Christian, Friedrich, Georg, Gottfried, Heinrich, Jakob, Johann, Konrad, Ludwig, Mathias, Nikolaus, Peter, Philipp (or Filipp), and Stefan (or Stephan). With so few names in villages, other modifiers or nicknames were almost always used to distinguish people. The modifiers were often size related (e.g., "Kleinjohann" or "Little Johann"), occupation related, or location related (usually by prefixing the streetname).
Coat of arms
A coat of armsCoat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
designed in 1950 by Hans Diplich has been adopted by many Danube Swabian cultural organizations. Its blazon is "Parti per fess wavy 1 Or, an eagle displayed couped Sable langued Gules; 2 parti per fess Argent and Vert, a fortress Argent roofed and turreted Gules surmounted with Sun and Crescent waning Or; chief wavy Azure".
It depicts:
- a black eagle representing the protection of the Emperor of AustriaEmperor of AustriaThe Emperor of Austria was a hereditary imperial title and position proclaimed in 1804 by the Holy Roman Emperor Francis II, a member of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, and continually held by him and his heirs until the last emperor relinquished power in 1918. The emperors retained the title of...
; - a blue ribbon representing the Danube River;
- a crescent moon representing the waning of IslamIslamIslam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
ic influence through the withdrawal of the Ottoman TurksOttoman TurksThe Ottoman Turks were the Turkish-speaking population of the Ottoman Empire who formed the base of the state's military and ruling classes. Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks is scarce, but they take their Turkish name, Osmanlı , from the house of Osman I The Ottoman...
; - the Sun representing both Prince Eugene of SavoyPrince Eugene of SavoyPrince Eugene of Savoy , was one of the most successful military commanders in modern European history, rising to the highest offices of state at the Imperial court in Vienna. Born in Paris to aristocratic Italian parents, Eugene grew up around the French court of King Louis XIV...
and the light of ChristianityChristianityChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
; and - a fortress representing the fortified city of Temeschburg (TimişoaraTimisoaraTimișoara is the capital city of Timiș County, in western Romania. One of the largest Romanian cities, with an estimated population of 311,586 inhabitants , and considered the informal capital city of the historical region of Banat, Timișoara is the main social, economic and cultural center in the...
).
Resources for genealogical research
Germany- Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen Stuttgart; (institute of foreign relations); church records (microfilm) of villages in the banat
Austria
- Theresianischer Kataster, Österreichisches Staatsarchiv, Finanz- und Hofkammerarchiv; Austrian archive
Luxembourg
- Institut Grand-Ducal, Section de Linguistique, d’Ethnologie et d’Onomastique, village chronics and family records
- Centre de Documentation sur les Migrations Humaines
- Nationalarchiv Luxemburg, Microfilms, notary records, church records
See also
- Expulsion of Germans after World War IIExpulsion of Germans after World War IIThe later stages of World War II, and the period after the end of that war, saw the forced migration of millions of German nationals and ethnic Germans from various European states and territories, mostly into the areas which would become post-war Germany and post-war Austria...
- Banat SwabiansBanat SwabiansThe Banat Swabians are an ethnic German population in Southeast Europe, part of the Danube Swabians. They emigrated in the 18th century to what was then the Austrian Banat province, which had been left sparsely populated by the wars with Turkey. This once strong and important ethnic Banat Swabian...
- Ethnic GermanEthnic GermanEthnic Germans historically also ), also collectively referred to as the German diaspora, refers to people who are of German ethnicity. Many are not born in Europe or in the modern-day state of Germany or hold German citizenship...
- VolksdeutscheVolksdeutscheVolksdeutsche - "German in terms of people/folk" -, defined ethnically, is a historical term from the 20th century. The words volk and volkische conveyed in Nazi thinking the meanings of "folk" and "race" while adding the sense of superior civilization and blood...
- Carpathian GermansCarpathian GermansCarpathian Germans , sometimes simply called Slovak Germans , are a group of German language speakers on the territory of present-day Slovakia...
- Baltic Germans
- Transylvanian SaxonsTransylvanian SaxonsThe Transylvanian Saxons are a people of German ethnicity who settled in Transylvania from the 12th century onwards.The colonization of Transylvania by Germans was begun by King Géza II of Hungary . For decades, the main task of the German settlers was to defend the southeastern border of the...
- Volga Germans
- Georg Weifert