Germans in Bulgaria
Encyclopedia
Germans are a minority ethnic group
in Bulgaria
. Although according to the 2001 census they only numbered 436, the settlement of Germans in Bulgaria has a long and eventful history and comprises several waves, the earliest in the Middle Ages
.
, as Bulgaria lies on the direct land route from Western
and Central Europe
to the Levant
and the Holy Land
. They were usually met with hostility as they were negatively disposed to the Orthodox
population of the Byzantine Empire
(which ruled Bulgaria at the time of the First
and Second Crusade
s) and the Second Bulgarian Empire
. Crusaders led by the Frankish
noble Renier of Trit
established the short-lived Duchy of Philippopolis
around what is today Plovdiv
, but in 1205 the Latins were routed by Kaloyan of Bulgaria
in the Battle of Adrianople
, their emperor Baldwin IX of Flanders
was captured by the Bulgarians and died in Tarnovo
. Kaloyan's daughter Maria
was betrothed to the second Latin Emperor
, Henry of Flanders
, who she is thought to have poisoned.
Groups of Saxon
ore
miner
s (called саси, sasi in Bulgarian) are known to have settled in the ore-rich regions of Southeastern Europe. In the 13th-14th century, Germans from the Upper Harz
and Westphalia
settled in and around Chiprovtsi
in modern northwestern Bulgaria (then part of the Second Bulgarian Empire
) to extract ore in the western Balkan Mountains
, receiving royal privileges from Bulgarian tsar Ivan Shishman
. According to some theories, these miners established Roman Catholicism
in this part of the Balkans
before most of them left following the Ottoman
invasion, the rest being completely Bulgarianized (by marrying Bulgarian women) and merging with the local population by the mid-15th century. Along with spreading Roman Catholicism, the Saxons also enriched the local vocabulary with Germanic
words and introduced a number of mining techniques and metal-working instruments to Bulgaria.
Germans are also thought to have mined ore in the Osogovo
and Belasica
mountains (between Bulgaria and the Republic of Macedonia
), as well as around Samokov
in Rila
and various parts of the Rhodope Mountains
and around Etropole
, but were assimilated without establishing Catholicism there.
After their expulsions from Hungary
(1376) and Bavaria
(1470), Germanic-speaking Ashkenazi Jews
settled in the Bulgarian lands. For their history, see History of the Jews in Bulgaria
.
in 1878 and its restoration as a sovereign monarchy
, all four Bulgarian monarchs were of German descent: Prince Alexander I
of Battenberg
, as well as Ferdinand, Boris III
and Simeon II
, all three of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
. German intellectuals, such as architects Friedrich Grünanger
and Viktor Rumpelmayer
, arrived in Bulgaria to foster its cultural development.
Until World War II
, there also existed a small but notable rural German population in several villages scattered in northern Bulgaria. Banat Swabians
(part of the larger group of the Danube Swabians
) from Austria-Hungary
began to settle in the village of Bardarski Geran
, Vratsa Province
, beginning with seven families in 1893, with their total number later exceeding 90 families. In 1936, they numbered 282. In Bardarski Geran, the Germans built a separate Neo-Gothic
Roman Catholic church around 1930 due to conflicts with the local Banat Bulgarians
, who had founded the village in 1887. In 1932, a German school was established in Bardarski Geran. In its peak year, 1935, it had a total of 82 students, of whom 50 Germans and 32 Bulgarians.
Other Danube Swabian colonists from the Banat settled in another Banat Bulgarian village, Gostilya
, Pleven Province
, as well as in Voyvodovo, Vratsa Province
, which they shared with Evangelist
Czechs, Slovaks
and Banat Bulgarians. Another notable German colony was Tsarev Brod
(old name Endzhe), Shumen Province
, founded before 1899, where the Germans lived with many other nationalities and had a private German school. In the beginning of the 20th century, it was inhabited by around 70 German families, and consisted of Dobrujan Germans
, Bessarabia Germans
and Banat Swabians. On the eve of World War II, Germans in Tsarev Brod constituted the bulk of the village's 420 Catholic parish
ioners.
A German community was also present in Southern Dobruja
, a region before 1913 and since 1940 part of Bulgaria, and particularly in the village of Ali Anife (Kalfa), today Dobrevo
, Dobrich Province
, which was inhabited by Dobrujan Germans since 1903 and in 1943 still had 150 Catholics. It was briefly named Germantsi (“Germans”) in the 1940s. German sources list its population in 1939 as 285, of whom 129 Germans. Those colonists came from Kherson
and Crimea
(see Crimea Germans
) in modern Ukraine
. They built a church described as a "magnificent Catholic place of worship unmatched in the district"; the church was inaugurated on 23 October 1911.
Besides rural populations, Germans also settled in Bulgaria's larger cities as part of the group of the so-called "Lower Danubian Levantines", the Western
and Central Europe
ans in the vibrant port and merchant cities of northern Bulgaria, such as Ruse, Varna
, Veliko Tarnovo
, Svishtov
and Vidin
. In the 1860s and 70s, the Austrian
citizens in Ruse numbered 200–300. The first Bulgarian census in 1883 counted 476 Germans in Ruse alone, making them the fifth-largest ethnic group in that city.
The bulk of the German population in Bulgaria was resettled within the borders of the Third Reich
according to Hitler's Heim ins Reich
policy. As a result, 2,150 ethnic German Bulgarian citizens were deported from the country in 1943, including 164 from Bardarski Geran and 33 from Gostilya. Only a handful of Bulgaria's rural German population remained: for example, in 2003 there were only two elderly German women remaining in Bardarski Geran, Maria Dauerbach and Franziska Welsch; they had not been deported because they had married local Bulgarians.
Ethnic group
An ethnic group is a group of people whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage, often consisting of a common language, a common culture and/or an ideology that stresses common ancestry or endogamy...
in 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...
. Although according to the 2001 census they only numbered 436, the settlement of Germans in Bulgaria has a long and eventful history and comprises several waves, the earliest in the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
.
Early settlement
Many Germans passed through Bulgaria during the eastern CrusadesCrusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars, blessed by the Pope and the Catholic Church with the main goal of restoring Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem...
, as Bulgaria lies on the direct land route from Western
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
and 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...
to the Levant
Levant
The Levant or ) is the geographic region and culture zone of the "eastern Mediterranean littoral between Anatolia and Egypt" . The Levant includes most of modern Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and sometimes parts of Turkey and Iraq, and corresponds roughly to the...
and the Holy Land
Holy Land
The Holy Land is a term which in Judaism refers to the Kingdom of Israel as defined in the Tanakh. For Jews, the Land's identifiction of being Holy is defined in Judaism by its differentiation from other lands by virtue of the practice of Judaism often possible only in the Land of Israel...
. They were usually met with hostility as they were negatively disposed to the Orthodox
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
population of the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
(which ruled Bulgaria at the time of the First
First Crusade
The First Crusade was a military expedition by Western Christianity to regain the Holy Lands taken in the Muslim conquest of the Levant, ultimately resulting in the recapture of Jerusalem...
and Second Crusade
Second Crusade
The Second Crusade was the second major crusade launched from Europe. The Second Crusade was started in response to the fall of the County of Edessa the previous year to the forces of Zengi. The county had been founded during the First Crusade by Baldwin of Boulogne in 1098...
s) and the Second Bulgarian Empire
Second Bulgarian Empire
The Second Bulgarian Empire was a medieval Bulgarian state which existed between 1185 and 1396 . A successor of the First Bulgarian Empire, it reached the peak of its power under Kaloyan and Ivan Asen II before gradually being conquered by the Ottomans in the late 14th-early 15th century...
. Crusaders led by the Frankish
Franks
The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
noble Renier of Trit
Renier of Trit
Renier of Trit was the first Frankish duke of Philippopolis from 1204 to 1205. He was a knight from Trith-Saint Léger, Hainaut, on the Fourth Crusade....
established the short-lived Duchy of Philippopolis
Duchy of Philippopolis
The Duchy of Philippopolis was a short-lived duchy of the Latin Empire founded after the collapse and partition of the Byzantine Empire in 1204. It included the city of Plovdiv and the surrounding region. It was liberated for a short time by Emperor Kaloyan of Bulgaria in 1207 but was lost by his...
around what is today Plovdiv
Plovdiv
Plovdiv is the second-largest city in Bulgaria after Sofia with a population of 338,153 inhabitants according to Census 2011. Plovdiv's history spans some 6,000 years, with traces of a Neolithic settlement dating to roughly 4000 BC; it is one of the oldest cities in Europe...
, but in 1205 the Latins were routed by Kaloyan of Bulgaria
Kaloyan of Bulgaria
Kaloyan the Romanslayer , Ivan II , ruled as emperor of Bulgaria 1197-1207. He is the third and youngest brother of Peter IV and Ivan Asen I who managed to restore the Bulgarian Empire...
in the Battle of Adrianople
Battle of Adrianople (1205)
The Battle of Adrianople occurred on April 14, 1205 between Bulgarians under Tsar Kaloyan of Bulgaria, and Crusaders under Baldwin I. It was won by the Bulgarians after a skillful ambush using the help of their Cuman and Greek allies. Around 300 knights were killed, including Louis of Blois, Duke...
, their emperor Baldwin IX of Flanders
Baldwin I of Constantinople
Baldwin I , the first emperor of the Latin Empire of Constantinople, as Baldwin IX Count of Flanders and as Baldwin VI Count of Hainaut, was one of the most prominent leaders of the Fourth Crusade, which resulted in the capture of Constantinople, the conquest of the greater part of the Byzantine...
was captured by the Bulgarians and died in Tarnovo
Veliko Tarnovo
Veliko Tarnovo is a city in north central Bulgaria and the administrative centre of Veliko Tarnovo Province. Often referred to as the "City of the Tsars", Veliko Tarnovo is located on the Yantra River and is famous as the historical capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire, attracting many tourists...
. Kaloyan's daughter Maria
Maria of Bulgaria, Latin Empress
Maria of Bulgaria was the second Empress consort of Henry of Flanders, Latin Emperor of Constantinople.-Family:She was a daughter of Kaloyan of Bulgaria. Her mother may have been his wife Anna of Cumania. She went on to marry Boril of Bulgaria, a nephew of her first husband. Her paternal uncles...
was betrothed to the second Latin Emperor
Latin Empire
The Latin Empire or Latin Empire of Constantinople is the name given by historians to the feudal Crusader state founded by the leaders of the Fourth Crusade on lands captured from the Byzantine Empire. It was established after the capture of Constantinople in 1204 and lasted until 1261...
, Henry of Flanders
Henry of Flanders
Henry was the second emperor of the Latin Empire of Constantinople. He was a younger son of Baldwin V, Count of Hainaut , and Margaret I of Flanders, sister of Philip of Alsace, count of Flanders....
, who she is thought to have poisoned.
Groups of Saxon
Saxons
The Saxons were a confederation of Germanic tribes originating on the North German plain. The Saxons earliest known area of settlement is Northern Albingia, an area approximately that of modern Holstein...
ore
Ore
An ore is a type of rock that contains minerals with important elements including metals. The ores are extracted through mining; these are then refined to extract the valuable element....
miner
Miner
A miner is a person whose work or business is to extract ore or minerals from the earth. Mining is one of the most dangerous trades in the world. In some countries miners lack social guarantees and in case of injury may be left to cope without assistance....
s (called саси, sasi in Bulgarian) are known to have settled in the ore-rich regions of Southeastern Europe. In the 13th-14th century, Germans from the Upper Harz
Harz
The Harz is the highest mountain range in northern Germany and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. The name Harz derives from the Middle High German word Hardt or Hart , latinized as Hercynia. The legendary Brocken is the highest summit in the Harz...
and Westphalia
Westphalia
Westphalia is a region in Germany, centred on the cities of Arnsberg, Bielefeld, Dortmund, Minden and Münster.Westphalia is roughly the region between the rivers Rhine and Weser, located north and south of the Ruhr River. No exact definition of borders can be given, because the name "Westphalia"...
settled in and around Chiprovtsi
Chiprovtsi
Chiprovtsi is a small town and municipality in northwestern Bulgaria, administratively part of Montana Province. It lies on the shores of the river Ogosta in the western Balkan Mountains, very close to the Bulgarian-Serbian border...
in modern northwestern Bulgaria (then part of the Second Bulgarian Empire
Second Bulgarian Empire
The Second Bulgarian Empire was a medieval Bulgarian state which existed between 1185 and 1396 . A successor of the First Bulgarian Empire, it reached the peak of its power under Kaloyan and Ivan Asen II before gradually being conquered by the Ottomans in the late 14th-early 15th century...
) to extract ore in the western Balkan Mountains
Balkan Mountains
The Balkan mountain range is a mountain range in the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula. The Balkan range runs 560 km from the Vrashka Chuka Peak on the border between Bulgaria and eastern Serbia eastward through central Bulgaria to Cape Emine on the Black Sea...
, receiving royal privileges from Bulgarian tsar Ivan Shishman
Ivan Shishman of Bulgaria
Ivan Shishman ruled as emperor of Bulgaria in Tarnovo from 1371 to 3 July 1395. The authority of Ivan Shishman was limited to the central parts of the Bulgarian Empire. His indecisive and inconsistent policy did little to prevent the fall of his country under Ottoman rule. In 1393 the Ottoman...
. According to some theories, these miners established Roman Catholicism
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
in this part of the Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
before most of them left following the Ottoman
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...
invasion, the rest being completely Bulgarianized (by marrying Bulgarian women) and merging with the local population by the mid-15th century. Along with spreading Roman Catholicism, the Saxons also enriched the local vocabulary with Germanic
Germanic languages
The Germanic languages constitute a sub-branch of the Indo-European language family. The common ancestor of all of the languages in this branch is called Proto-Germanic , which was spoken in approximately the mid-1st millennium BC in Iron Age northern Europe...
words and introduced a number of mining techniques and metal-working instruments to Bulgaria.
Germans are also thought to have mined ore in the Osogovo
Osogovo
Osogovo or Osogovska Planina is a mountain and ski resort between southwestern Bulgaria and northeastern Republic of Macedonia,...
and Belasica
Belasica
Belasica is a mountain range in the region of Macedonia in Southeastern Europe, shared by northwestern Greece , southeastern Republic of Macedonia and southwestern Bulgaria...
mountains (between Bulgaria and the Republic of Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
), as well as around Samokov
Samokov
Samokov is a town in Sofia Province in the southwest of Bulgaria. It is situated in a kettle between the mountains Rila and Vitosha, 55 kilometres from the capital Sofia...
in Rila
Rila
Rila is a mountain range in southwestern Bulgaria and the highest mountain range of Bulgaria and the Balkans, with its highest peak being Musala at 2,925 m...
and various parts of the Rhodope Mountains
Rhodope Mountains
The Rhodopes are a mountain range in Southeastern Europe, with over 83% of its area in southern Bulgaria and the remainder in Greece. Its highest peak, Golyam Perelik , is the seventh highest Bulgarian mountain...
and around Etropole
Etropole
Etropole is a town in western Bulgaria, part of Sofia Province. It is located close to the northern slopes of the Balkan Mountains in the valley of the Malki Iskar from Sofia.-History:...
, but were assimilated without establishing Catholicism there.
After their expulsions from 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...
(1376) and 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...
(1470), Germanic-speaking Ashkenazi Jews
Ashkenazi Jews
Ashkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim , are the Jews descended from the medieval Jewish communities along the Rhine in Germany from Alsace in the south to the Rhineland in the north. Ashkenaz is the medieval Hebrew name for this region and thus for Germany...
settled in the Bulgarian lands. For their history, see History of the Jews in Bulgaria
History of the Jews in Bulgaria
The history of the Jews in Bulgaria dates to at least as early as the 2nd century CE. Since then, the Jews have had a continuous presence in the Bulgarian lands and have played an often considerable part in the history of Bulgaria from ancient times through the Middle Ages until...
.
Liberated Bulgaria (post–1878)
Following the Liberation of BulgariaLiberation of Bulgaria
In Bulgarian historiography, the term Liberation of Bulgaria is used to denote the events of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78 that led to the re-establishment of Bulgarian state with the Treaty of San Stefano of March 3, 1878, after the complete conquest of the Second Bulgarian Empire, which...
in 1878 and its restoration as a sovereign monarchy
History of Independent Bulgaria
The Treaty of San Stefano of March 3, 1878 provided for a self-governing Bulgarian state, which comprised the geographical regions of Moesia, Thrace and Macedonia. Based on that date Bulgarians celebrate Bulgaria's national day each year...
, all four Bulgarian monarchs were of German descent: Prince Alexander I
Alexander, Prince of Bulgaria
Alexander Joseph, Prince of Bulgaria GCB , known as Alexander of Battenberg, was the first prince of modern Bulgaria, reigning from 29 April 1879 to 7 September 1886.-Early life:...
of Battenberg
Battenberg
-Places:* Battenberg, Hesse, a town in Hesse, Germany* Battenberg, Rhineland-Palatinate, a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany* Battenberg Mausoleum, mausoleum of Prince Alexander of Battenberg in Sofia, Bulgaria...
, as well as Ferdinand, Boris III
Boris III of Bulgaria
Boris III the Unifier, Tsar of Bulgaria , originally Boris Klemens Robert Maria Pius Ludwig Stanislaus Xaver , son of Ferdinand I, came to the throne in 1918 upon the abdication of his father, following the defeat of the Kingdom of Bulgaria during World War I...
and Simeon II
Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
Simeon Borisov of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Tsar Simeon II or Simeon II of Bulgaria is an important political and royal figure in Bulgaria...
, all three of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha or Saxe-Coburg-Gotha served as the collective name of two duchies, Saxe-Coburg and Saxe-Gotha, in Germany. They were located in what today are the states of Bavaria and Thuringia, respectively, and the two were in personal union between 1826 and 1918...
. German intellectuals, such as architects Friedrich Grünanger
Friedrich Grünanger
Friedrich Grünanger was an Austro-Hungarian architect who worked primarily in Bulgaria.Born in Schäßburg in Austria-Hungary , Grünanger studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna architecture school between 1877 and 1879, under Friedrich von Schmidt...
and Viktor Rumpelmayer
Viktor Rumpelmayer
Viktor Rumpelmayer was a 19th-century Austro-Hungarian architect, whose style was a combination of French and Italian influences and the Viennese trends characteristic for the period...
, arrived in Bulgaria to foster its cultural development.
Until 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...
, there also existed a small but notable rural German population in several villages scattered in northern Bulgaria. 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...
(part of the larger group of the Danube Swabians
Danube Swabians
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...
) from 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...
began to settle 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...
, beginning with seven families in 1893, with their total number later exceeding 90 families. In 1936, they numbered 282. In Bardarski Geran, the Germans built a separate Neo-Gothic
Gothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
Roman Catholic church around 1930 due to conflicts with the local 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...
, who had founded the village in 1887. In 1932, a German school was established in Bardarski Geran. In its peak year, 1935, it had a total of 82 students, of whom 50 Germans and 32 Bulgarians.
Other Danube Swabian colonists from the Banat settled in 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...
, as well as in Voyvodovo, Vratsa Province
Voyvodovo, Vratsa Province
Voyvodovo is a village in Miziya municipality, Vratsa Province, Bulgaria, at . It was founded in 1900, mostly by Evangelist Czechs, but also by Slovaks, Banat Swabians and Banat Bulgarians, all settlers from the region of Banat, then in Austria-Hungary....
, which they shared with Evangelist
Evangelicalism
Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...
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...
and Banat Bulgarians. Another notable German colony was 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...
(old name Endzhe), 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...
, founded before 1899, where the Germans lived with many other nationalities and had a private German school. In the beginning of the 20th century, it was inhabited by around 70 German families, and consisted of Dobrujan Germans
Dobrujan Germans
The Dobrujan Germans were an ethnic German group, within the larger category of Black Sea Germans, for over one hundred years. German-speaking colonists entered the approximately 23,000 km² area of Dobruja around 1840 and left during the relocation of 1940...
, Bessarabia Germans
Bessarabia Germans
----The Bessarabia Germans are an ethnic group who lived in Bessarabia between 1814 and 1940. Between 1814 and 1842, 9000 of them immigrated from the German areas Baden, Württemberg, Alsace, Bavaria and some Prussian areas of modern-day Poland, to the Russian government of Bessarabia at the Black...
and Banat Swabians. On the eve of World War II, Germans in Tsarev Brod constituted the bulk of the village's 420 Catholic parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
ioners.
A German community was also present in Southern Dobruja
Southern Dobruja
Southern Dobruja is an area of north-eastern Bulgaria comprising the administrative districts named for its two principal cities of Dobrich and Silistra...
, a region before 1913 and since 1940 part of Bulgaria, and particularly in the village of Ali Anife (Kalfa), today Dobrevo
Dobrevo
Dobrevo is a village in the municipality of Dobrichka, in Dobrich Province, in northeastern Bulgaria.-References:...
, Dobrich Province
Dobrich Province
Dobrich Province is a province in northeastern Bulgaria, part of Southern Dobruja geographical region. It is divided into 8 municipalities with a total population, as of December 2009, of 199,705 inhabitants.-Municipalities:...
, which was inhabited by Dobrujan Germans since 1903 and in 1943 still had 150 Catholics. It was briefly named Germantsi (“Germans”) in the 1940s. German sources list its population in 1939 as 285, of whom 129 Germans. Those colonists came from Kherson
Kherson
Kherson is a city in southern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Kherson Oblast , and is designated as its own separate raion within the oblast. Kherson is an important port on the Black Sea and Dnieper River, and the home of a major ship-building industry...
and Crimea
Crimea
Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...
(see Crimea Germans
Crimea Germans
The Crimea Germans were ethnic German settlers who were invited to settle in the Crimea as part of the East Colonization.-History:From 1783 onwards, there was a systematic settlement of Russians, Ukrainians, and Germans to the Crimean Peninsula in order to weaken the Crimean Tatar population.The...
) in modern Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
. They built a church described as a "magnificent Catholic place of worship unmatched in the district"; the church was inaugurated on 23 October 1911.
Besides rural populations, Germans also settled in Bulgaria's larger cities as part of the group of the so-called "Lower Danubian Levantines", the Western
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
and 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...
ans in the vibrant port and merchant cities of northern Bulgaria, such as Ruse, Varna
Varna
Varna is the largest city and seaside resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and third-largest in Bulgaria after Sofia and Plovdiv, with a population of 334,870 inhabitants according to Census 2011...
, Veliko Tarnovo
Veliko Tarnovo
Veliko Tarnovo is a city in north central Bulgaria and the administrative centre of Veliko Tarnovo Province. Often referred to as the "City of the Tsars", Veliko Tarnovo is located on the Yantra River and is famous as the historical capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire, attracting many tourists...
, Svishtov
Svishtov
Svishtov is a town in northern Bulgaria, located in Veliko Tarnovo Province on the right bank of the Danube river opposite the Romanian town of Zimnicea. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Svishtov Municipality...
and Vidin
Vidin
Vidin is a port town on the southern bank of the Danube in northwestern Bulgaria. It is close to the borders with Serbia and Romania, and is also the administrative centre of Vidin Province, as well as of the Metropolitan of Vidin...
. In the 1860s and 70s, the Austrian
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...
citizens in Ruse numbered 200–300. The first Bulgarian census in 1883 counted 476 Germans in Ruse alone, making them the fifth-largest ethnic group in that city.
The bulk of the German population in Bulgaria was resettled within the borders of the Third Reich
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...
according to Hitler'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. As a result, 2,150 ethnic German Bulgarian citizens were deported from the country in 1943, including 164 from Bardarski Geran and 33 from Gostilya. Only a handful of Bulgaria's rural German population remained: for example, in 2003 there were only two elderly German women remaining in Bardarski Geran, Maria Dauerbach and Franziska Welsch; they had not been deported because they had married local Bulgarians.