Banat Swabia

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Settlement area of ​​the Banat Swabians in the political order after the First World War.
Danube Swabian settlement in the Carpathian Basin .

The Banat Swabians are a German population group in the Banat . They are combined with other German-speaking minorities from this region of Southeast Europe under the collective term Danube Swabia . Their ancestors were settled by the Austrian Court Chamber from different parts of southern Germany and Lorraine in the Pannonian Plain , which was partially depopulated and devastated after the Turkish wars . They were also known as the "Hungarian Germans" before the First World War . Until 1918, the Banat, together with the other settlement areas of the Danube Swabians, such as Batschka to the west, Swabian Turkey (today southern Hungary), Slavonia and the Sathmar region (today northwest Romania, Satu Mare district ) belonged to the Austrian Empire or to the monarchy Austria-Hungary . Since the end of the First World War, the Danube Swabians in the Romanian part of the Banat have been called Banat Swabians .

history

Origin of the term

The term Donauschwaben has a predominantly political history. It was coined in the early 1920s by the Graz geographer Robert Sieger and published in 1922 by the historian Hermann Rüdiger . The term was confirmed in 1930 by the Foreign Ministry of the Weimar Republic . As a result, the Danube Swabians were recognized as of German descent. After the Trianon Peace Treaty in 1920, the Banat was divided among the newly created successor states of Hungary , Yugoslavia and Romania. The larger north-eastern part is now part of Romania, a third in the south-west belongs to Serbia and a small strip in the hinterland of the city of Szeged remained with Hungary. The new borders cut ties that had grown for centuries (also between Serbs and Romanians ).

Denomination, origin, recruitment and support of the settlers

Ulm Box
Historical illustration

Initially, in the course of the confessionalization policy of the Viennese court, only settlers of the Catholic faith were allowed in the Banat. Confessional ties were only broken under Emperor Joseph II . The majority of the settlers came from Franconia , Bavaria , Austria , Alsace , Lorraine , Luxembourg , Baden and the Rhine Palatinate . Smaller groups from Central Germany and the Sauerland are also detectable. Only a small part came from Swabian regions in the area of ​​the former Upper Austria . It is not clear why the name "Swabia" was still able to prevail. One statement refers to the fact that the majority of the emigrants were registered and embarked in the Swabian city of Ulm and were transported with Ulmer boxes on the Danube to Apatin , in order to reach their settlement areas on foot.

Most of the settlers came from a rural environment and were second and third born from poor farming families who saw little opportunity in their traditional homeland without their own land or capital . During Maria Theresa's time they received noticeable financial support and long-term tax breaks. The latter were many times higher for married people because otherwise the surplus of men would have been too large. Also craftsmen , teachers , doctors , etc., were funded. Many Swabian emigrant groups were accompanied by pastors or bathers . In return, the settlers during the settlement period were obliged to take up arms in the event of an Ottoman war of aggression .

The recruitment of new settlers was not limited to the German-speaking area, for example, the (numerically much smaller) ethnic group of the Banat Czechs emerged . Smaller groups of French , Spanish and Italians were also among the settlers.

For an example of the conditions for recruiting and the competition among advertisers see also: Johann Osswald

Settlement

Between 1692 and 1786 around 150,000 (115,000 publicly and 35,000 privately recruited) people settled in the region around what was then Timişoara . The organized settlement of the Banat began after 1718, when Austria took over the Banat from the Ottoman Empire in the Peace of Passarowitz . In order to make the newly acquired province, which was only sparsely populated after many years of war, usable and to develop it economically, under Emperor Charles VI. the first settlers recruited. Besides Germans, these were mainly Serbs .

The settlement took place in several waves from 1722 and dragged on for over 100 years. The influx was organized by the Austrian administration and the population and spatial planning policy was carried out systematically. The large trains were supplemented by sporadic immigration. During this time, the conditions in the regions of origin, the conditions of immigration and the professional composition of the settler groups changed. Besides full and half sessions also were district courts awarded.

The political and economic motives behind the Habsburg settlement were to consolidate power and make a profit through tax revenue. The system common at the time made the wealth and prosperity of a country dependent on the size of its population. The imperial court alone decided on the use of the tax revenue.

Under the rule of Maria Theresa (1740–1780) and Joseph II (1780–1790), the Austrian administration spent 7 million guilders for 60,000 German colonists.

In the German-language literature of the 19th and early 20th centuries, the colonization of the Banat was often described as a consistently successfully implemented project by the competent Austrian authorities. The benefit of the settlement was controversial in government circles because of the costs and there were various problems. The financial and material incentives sometimes only attracted colonists who were not willing to work, so that in 1764 inspectors were specially commissioned to monitor the behavior of the settlers.

From 1744 to 1768 there was an additional form of settlement, the Temeswarer Wasserschub : twice a year tramps, dissolute women , poachers, smugglers and rebellious farmers were removed from their home regions and settled in the Banat for moral purification. The water surge had a bad reputation and made it difficult to recruit colonists.

On his inspection tour through the Banat in 1768, Emperor Joseph II noted in his travel records numerous serious deficiencies and grievances for which the administration of the province was responsible. In addition to corruption , these included the poor choice of locations and, in some cases , the oversize of the villages, the lack of wood and water and the dilapidation of many of the colonist houses.

As a result, Maria Theresa issued orders in 1772 that regulated a large number of details of the settlement, such as the design of the villages, the size of the land to be allocated and the salaries of teachers and mayors .

Villages, cities and streets were designed on the drawing board and their symmetry reflected the absolutist building culture of the time. The settlers found the Banat as an almost deserted swampy landscape , criss-crossed by forests . Epidemics (including the plague ), fevers and hunger accompanied the newcomers in the first few years. But within two to three generations, the area was recultivated - an enormous feat of strength that was accompanied by many setbacks such as wars, epidemics, hunger and numerous victims. The saying “Death for the first, need for the second, bread for the third” has been handed down among the Banat Swabians to characterize the development work. The containment of the swamps through the sewer system of the multi-armed river Bega was decisive for the success . The arable soil obtained from black earth turned out to be extremely fertile and established the relative prosperity of the Banat Swabians in the 19th century. The area was considered the breadbasket of Austria-Hungary. The Timisoara fortress became a flourishing city and the cultural center of the Banat Swabians. In the late 19th century, the expansion of rail connections heralded industrialization .

However, wealth was unevenly distributed. In the country a distinction was made between rich and poor farmers, artisans and servants, but some also lived “worse than a dog”. In order to defend themselves against the feudal Hungarian state, at the beginning of the 20th century more and more Banat farmers came together with financial support from the Transylvanian Saxons to form cooperatives based on the Raiffeisen model . In Timisoara, in addition to a German bourgeoisie as an upper class , a German proletariat working on construction sites or in factories was formed .

Magyarization

The development of Timisoara to the cultural center of the Banat Swabians was overshadowed by the integration of the Temescher Banat into the Kingdom of Hungary in 1867 and the subsequent aggressive Magyarization policy of the Hungarian government after the Austro-Hungarian Compromise . This was characterized by massive efforts towards the linguistic and cultural assimilation of all national minorities.

The Banat farmers fought back and founded the Hungarian German People's Party , initially illegal, in Werschetz ( Serbian : Vršac ) in December 1906 , with which they campaigned for the preservation of their national identity and demanded instruction in their mother tongue. The Transylvanian Saxon Rudolf Brandsch , a member of the Hungarian Reichstag since 1910, supported the Banat Swabians in their fight against the increasing Magyarization pressure. He worked with Adam Müller-Guttenbrunn , who was also an opponent of Magyarization.

Brandsch was particularly committed to the cooperation of politicians from all German minority groups. The leading Transylvanian-Saxon politicians (the so-called blacks ) pursued a policy of supporting the respective government faction in exchange for easing the Magyarization pressure in the Saxon settlement area and viewed cooperation with other German minority politicians rather skeptically.

These circumstances, but also the economic situation, caused many Banat Swabians to take part in the first wave of emigration to America and Canada between 1885 and 1910; they settled in North Dakota and Saskatchewan , Alberta , for example . Emigration reached record levels as early as the 19th century.

Interwar period

After the First World War, the Banat Swabians were essentially divided into three political factions:

On November 1, 1918, Otto Roth, the new Civilian People's Commissar and member of the Hungarian Social Democratic Party , proclaimed the Banat Republic from the balcony of the Timisoara town hall . The military commissioner and people's councilor Albert Bartha should take over the administration. The republic was seen as an attempt to save the multiethnic Banat from being divided between Hungary, Serbia and Romania after the collapse of Austria-Hungary. The short history of the republic ended on November 15, 1918 with the invasion of Serbian troops, who took over the administration.

The memorandum of the Banat Swabian delegation to the peace conference in Paris on August 19, 1919 expressed the will of the "Swabian people" to its chairman, Georges Clemenceau, to unite the entire undivided Banat with the Kingdom of Romania.

“The National Assembly held by the Swabians of the Banat in Timisoara on August 10, 1919 authorized us to represent the interests of the Swabian people within the Romanian delegation before the peace conference. This meeting was called by the leading men of the national institutions of the Banat Swabians, and the representatives of all the communities inhabited by Swabians were present. [...] We are the spokesmen for the unanimously freely and directly expressed will of a nation of 500,000 souls, which makes up 31.5 percent of the total population of the Banat, which in agreement with the Romanian inhabitants of the province (592,049 souls, 37 percent of the total population ) calls for the unification of the Banat with Romania. Of a population of 1,582,133 souls, 68 percent, that is 1,090,349 inhabitants, demand this union with the Romanian Kingdom. After the Romanians, the Swabian people form the largest national unit in the Banat. [...] The other important point of the resolution of the Banat Swabian People's Assembly concerns the wish that the Banat should remain undivided, not divided between two or more states, that is to say that it should be completely annexed to Romania. "

The division of the Banat under the Treaty of Trianon

The Treaty of Trianon of 1920 sealed the end of the Danube monarchy. As a result, most of the Banat was absorbed in Romania. Kaspar Muth made a declaration of loyalty to the new fatherland on August 8, 1920 as a member of the Romanian parliament.

The annexation to Romania initially had positive effects on the Banat Swabians, especially culturally, because with the end of Hungarian rule, Magyarization also ended. For the first time since 1867, German-language school lessons were possible again, for example at the Banatia or at the Nikolaus-Lenau-Lyceum . Cultural life flourished. There was again a German theater in Timisoara and several German-language newspapers in Romania. The educational policy initiatives resulted in a noticeable decline in the Magyar heritage, which, for example, led to the almost complete suppression of German identity among the 45,000 Sathmar Swabians.

The Banat Swabians wanted their own political organization capable of acting. Together with the other regional German population groups in the Romanian state, mainly the Transylvanian Saxons, the Bukowina Germans and the Sathmar Swabians, a “community of fate” was felt. In 1919 the regional German minorities united to form the new political and cultural interest group, the Association of Germans in Romania . In 1921, the Banat Swabians founded the rather Catholic-conservative German-Swabian national community , which according to the aims of the German national minority leadership as a non-partisan interest group was to represent the German people in the eastern Banat and in Sathmar County further north . However, the German-Swabian national community only had limited opportunities, and their work also suffered from the dispersed situation of the Germans in the East Banat. Therefore, the Catholic Church , which under Bishop Augustin Pacha (1870–1954) looked after the cultural life of the German ethnic group, played an important role.

The connection to Romania brought a short phase of economic stagnation , but the upswing soon set in. The agricultural cooperative system , part of the Hungarian heritage, with more than 250 associations recently played a major role . In the interwar period, the Banat Swabians were significantly involved in exports of agricultural goods, so the share of Banat Swabian agriculture in the country's pork exports in 1940 was 51 percent. In 1919 the cooperatives merged with the Swabian banking system into the Swabian Agricultural Association , which, together with the Banat German Cultural Association founded in the same year, represented a German - national opposition movement to the German-Swabian national community .

The Great Depression of the 1930s that triggered on Black Friday also hit the Banat hard. The consequences of the Romanian land reform had a particularly negative impact on the situation of small and medium-sized farms in the economic crisis between 1929 and 1933/34, and the measures taken by the Romanian government against the minorities provoked a situation within the German ethnic group of the East Banat, which was similar to the one in Transylvania. As a result, numerous Banat Swabians sought long-term happiness as cheap labor in countries such as Argentina , Brazil or the United States .

The majority of the Banat Swabians had sympathy for Germany after they came to power in 1933. Many welcomed the rise of the “ Third Reich ” to economic and military power. A “national awakening” took place, with the Banat Swabians now increasingly turning their attention to Germany and the National Socialist ethnic group policy, not least because of the ideological rapprochement between the Romanian royal dictatorship and the Third Reich. In Romania there were increasing national tensions, which at the beginning of the 1930s favored the strengthening of the National Socialist renewal movement . The renewers among the Banat Swabians formed themselves in the Young Swabian Movement or in the Free German Community and no longer agreed with the consensus policy of the old ethnic group leadership. In this internal area of ​​conflict, there was a split between the old leadership, to which the moderate, Catholic-oriented innovators turned, and the radical renewal wing, which joined the Association of Germans in Romania . Above all, there was resistance from church circles against the innovators who, after the constitution of the Nazi -influenced German ethnic group in Romania in 1940, dissolved all political associations, party-political and ideological harmonization , the anti-church worldview of the National Socialist leadership elite and the withdrawal of the denominational school system sought to oppose.

Second World War

Areas with a German population, Romania, 1945 - Banat Swabians compared with the Transylvanian Saxons.

During the Second World War , many Banat Swabians fought as citizens of Romania in the Romanian army only on the side of the Axis powers . The first single entries of Romanian Germans in the Waffen-SS took place in 1937-1939, on May 1, 1940 there should have been a total of 110 men. On May 12, 1943, Berlin and Bucharest concluded an agreement according to which “ ethnic German ” Romanian citizens could now be recruited into the Wehrmacht and SS units . In their appeals, however, the leadership of the ethnic group did not issue the recruitment as a voluntary report, but rather as a general recruitment of the "able-bodied men of the German ethnic group". The Romanian German recruits had no influence on the majority of the briefing in the Waffen-SS instead of the Wehrmacht.

This circumstance went back to Reich German powers, on which the Wehrmacht and SS had already reached an agreement in November 1941 and May 1942. According to this, “Volksdeutsche” were the only recruiting pool for the Waffen-SS, while “ Reichsdeutsche ” continued to be subordinate to the Wehrmacht. The ratio of Romanian German Waffen SS to Wehrmacht men was around 10: 1 towards the end of the war. The historian Paul Milata came to the conclusion that the majority of the 63,000 Romanian German Waffen SS men, including many Banat Swabians, volunteered. “Your entry was less a politically and culturally conditioned intoxication, but the result of a sober consideration of the possible and known alternatives in the threefold area of ​​tension between Berlin, Moscow and Bucharest. Joining the Waffen SS was not only a gesture of support for Nazi Germany, despite or because of Hitler, but also a reaction to the nationalist system of Romania from 1918 and a clear testimony against the Soviet Union with its Stalinist character. "

→ see also: Foreign volunteers of the Waffen-SS

When the Third Reich controlled Romania militarily and siphoned it off economically, it conspicuously favored the German minority in return. Most recently, all political parties except for the German ethnic group were banned. Under the dictatorial ruling Ion Antonescu, the German ethnic group was the only authorized political organization from January 1941 for more than three years. It had an effective and intergovernmentally secured group legal autonomy, especially in the school and cultural sector. From the point of view of the rest of the Romanian people, regardless of which political group, this was an affront and a humiliation.

In September 1944, parts of the German minority were evacuated from the Banat because it threatened to become a military area.

post war period

Situation in Yugoslavia

The participation of the “ethnic Germans” in the war against Yugoslavia served the Tito partisans as a reason for the AVNOJ resolutions of November 21, 1944, which expropriated the Germans in Yugoslavia. The civilian population also participated in the pogroms (mass shootings, arrests, mistreatment, looting, rape and forced labor) of the Serbian partisans . Not only Wehrmacht soldiers but entire villages were taken into Soviet captivity and Yugoslav internment camps . On November 29, 1944, the commandant for the Banat, the Batschka and the Baranja issued an order for all German men between the ages of 16 and 60 to be interned in camps. By spring 1945 around 90% of the Yugoslav Germans had been interned. The resolution ordered, among other things, central labor camps for men who were able to work, local camps for the population of entire localities and internment camps for women, children and the elderly who were unable to work. The majority of the alleged (German) war criminals had already fled Vojvodina with the Wehrmacht, which was in retreat. Old and sick men, women and children were left behind. A total of 214 people among the Danube Swabians could be classified as war criminals. The report of a control commission set up by the Presidium of the Council of Ministers for the Banat on May 15, 1945 stated that the "internment of the Germans" was not lawful in any of the camps and that there was mistreatment, rape and personal enrichment of military and civilians People came. There were shootings; Medical care in the camps was inadequate; Tens of thousands died of malnutrition and disease. In January 1946, the Yugoslav government requested the Western Allies to expel the 110,000 Yugoslav Germans who had remained in the country to Germany. However, this was refused. In 1948, smaller groups were able to leave or flee. After the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany , Yugoslavia organized the departure of a large part of the surviving Danube Swabians.

In 1940, around 550,000 Danube Swabians lived in Yugoslavia, compared with only 50,000 in 1980. Their number is currently estimated to be less than 10,000.

The action of the partisans and the communist leadership against the Yugoslav German population was a bitter consequence of the often brutal behavior of some of the Yugoslav Germans - in particular the murders that the 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division “Prinz Eugen” committed against partisans and civilians had, as well as the involvement of the auxiliary police deployed in many German settlements and the "German team" in the vicinity of "ethnic German" communities and their share in hostage arrests and executions - but also because of their close collaboration with the occupying power and their superior position during the occupation . The involvement in the shooting of hostages or in the burning of fields and villages during the war and civil war had fatal consequences for the Yugoslav Germans and was proof of the partisans' consistently aggressive and disloyal attitude. The partisans wanted to retaliate against all opponents of the “people's liberation struggle”, while the communist leaders wanted total power. The number of “ethnic German” partisans and their supporters was so small and the membership in the German ethnic group was so extensive that only a few “ethnic Germans” were exempt from repression. After four years of German occupation, the pent-up need for retaliation against the Danube Swabian population was released, after which the ethnic Germans were collectively considered war criminals.

Situation in Romania

The Kingdom of Romania, initially an ally of the Axis Powers , switched to the Allies on August 23, 1944 . The now unhindered approach of the Red Army and the failure of the last, orderly evacuation efforts led to a precipitous wave of refugees in the direction of the German Reich . It is assumed that the number of evacuated Banat Swabians was higher than the 12,500 people named by the Main Office of the Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle at the time. The total number of Germans who fled from what is now Romanian territory between the end of August and the beginning of October was around 100,000. The first point of contact for the refugees was Austria. From there, many went on to Germany, the USA or back home again. About 10,000 succeeded in settling in France .

Overnight all Romanian Germans were seen as potential enemies of the state. The German minority was accused of collective guilt , a term common at the time. In 1945 Romania came completely under Soviet influence. The head of the Romanian Communist Party was Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej .

In January 1945, a large part of the German-speaking population of working age between 17 and 45, with around 33,000 people affected, were deported to the Soviet Union for several years (mostly 5 years) for forced labor . Around 5,000 people, around 15 percent of those affected, did not survive being abducted to the Soviet Union .

The Bărăgan in Romania
(1) Bărăganul Călmățuiului
(2) Bărăganul Ialomiței

The decision to expropriate German farmers through the agricultural reform in March 1945 was supported by all political parties active at the time. The Agrarian Reform Act No. 187 was published in the Official Gazette ( Romanian Monitorul oficial ) on March 23, 1945 , the application provisions on April 12. All members of the German ethnic group in Romania (DViR) were affected , excluding those who had served in the Romanian army. 75 percent of the Romanian German population lived in rural areas, of which around 95 percent were expropriated. “Agrarian reform” was the measure that hit the community hardest and resulted in the relocation of young people to the cities in search of employment opportunities.

The Romanian Germans who remained in the country (as well as those who fled to the west) lost all civil rights, but were given them back in 1948. In 1951, as part of the deportation to the Bărăgan steppe , several thousand families were deported to the southeast of Romania and forced to build new villages there. Of 40,320 people, 9,410 were of German ethnicity, the other ethnic groups concerned were predominantly Romanians, Serbs, Bulgarians and Hungarians. The majority were allowed to return in 1955. Furthermore, the state-controlled immigration of non-Germans into the Banat through internal colonization had far-reaching effects on the historically grown settlement structures, the institutionalized community life and the traditional ways of life of the Banat Swabians.

Teaching in German was permitted again in 1948, and appropriate schools were set up in town and country as part of the school reform. In addition to the permitted church services, this was an important prerequisite for maintaining national identity in the communist state. In 1953 the state-subsidized German State Theater Timişoara was established . Romania was thus an exception among the Eastern Bloc countries. In contrast to Poland, for example, German was allowed to be spoken on the street without being locked up. One explanation for the concession lies in the planning of the Germans, who are valued as workers, for socialist construction.

By decree of 1954, the farmers got back the houses and farms expropriated in 1945, but in the course of the general forced collectivization of agricultural production goods without cattle, land or tools, the houses usually in a desolate condition. This did not automatically apply to all those affected and in some cases only after a lengthy legal process. Likewise, the disenfranchisement was lifted by the Romanian state, which again regarded the Germans as full citizens with the same rights and duties.

From 1957 the German-language Neue Banater Zeitung was published in Timisoara, which in 1993 became part of the Allgemeine Deutsche Zeitung for Romania . Radio Timisoara broadcast a daily program in German from 1956 to 1985.

Tens of thousands of young Banat Swabians have used the courses offered by the universities over the years, some with scholarships , while others have been denied access to certain schools and professions due to their ethnic origin. Many Banat Swabians were involved in the development of Romania into an industrial country as skilled workers, masters, technicians, engineers, constructors, accountants and operations managers and thus contributed technically to the accelerated industrialization policy. They were valued not only in business, but also in health care, education and research. The development of Romania into an industrialized country was, however, connected in a fatal manner with planning errors, with arbitrary decisions by the officials, with rural exodus, supply shortages and environmental destruction.

At this time, the final exodus of the Germans from Romania began. Although the families of most of the Banat and Danube Swabians had been in the country for about ten generations and had decisively shaped the culture , agriculture and urban development, the disenfranchisement, discrimination and economic hardship experienced in large parts of the population led to an irreversible desire to emigrate led to a massive third wave of emigration that also affected the Transylvanian Saxons .

Ceaușescu era

In 1965, the early regime under Nicolae Ceaușescu in Romania slowly dissolved its dependency on the Soviet Union and opened the country to the west, which temporarily relaxed minority and cultural policy. The Banat Swabians slowly began to shed fear and resignation, especially the younger generation developed a stronger group self-confidence and a cultural dynamic. Since 1968 the regime allowed the state-controlled association of Germans integrated into the institutional system of the “socialist mass organizations” . Until the mid-1970s, the party made temporary cultural concessions, which were then gradually restricted or lifted, for example between 1971 and 1974 in the school and press sectors. By the end of the 1970s, Ceaușescu developed into a nationalist and sharp opponent of the ethnic minorities .

This attitude did not prevent him from using the German minority profitably. The ransom of Romanian Germans took place on two levels. The regime received a "bounty" financed by the Federal Republic of Germany at the time for every person wishing to leave the country, initially staggered according to age and level of education. In one of the last payments in August 1989, the price per person was DM 8,950. This paved the way for tens of thousands to West Germany . In addition, however, it was common that families willing to leave the coveted exit papers by a Foreign Exchange - bribes to local authorities had to buy. The possession of foreign currency was forbidden in Romania, however, so those wishing to leave the country often found themselves in an illegality dilemma. This is taken as an indication that this procedure was covered by the highest authority in the state and politics. Those who did not want to or could not pay had to wait many years and often in vain for their application to be processed. Payment was not always a guarantee of success either. After the exit permit had been issued, those wishing to leave had to sell their land and house according to fixed tariffs. After leaving the country, many of those affected were obliged to repay some considerable amounts to relatives who had advanced the bribes. Nevertheless, the desire to emigrate continued to increase among the Banat Swabians in the 1980s. The extreme economic crisis of the time, further restrictions on minority rights and state projects such as the program to systematize the villages contributed to this.

Another possibility to leave the country was the illegal and dangerous flight by land or through the Danube across the border into Yugoslavia, which was more liberal at the time. In the 1980s, attempts to cross the border via the “Yugoslav Canal” took on considerable proportions. Dozens of “cross-border commuters” were picked up and imprisoned every night. The prison term was two to three years in prison. However, the prisons soon became overcrowded, so amnesties were regularly issued for these prisoners. Despite the almost hermetic closure of the border, many refugees were able to find freedom in this way.

In the final phase of the communist regime, increasing pressure emerged with the undisguised goal of “total Romanization” through assimilation, administrative tutelage and tampering with the minorities. Through further directed immigration from other parts of the country, an increasing infiltration of the villages in the minority regions took place. There have been many attempts to seduce parts of the roughly 2 million Roma , who are scattered all over the country, by being forced to settle in houses in rural areas that have been cleared by resettlers.

In the 1980s, around 200,000 Romanian Germans turned their backs on the country.

resistance

Resistance to the communist regime came from the Action Group Banat , which was founded in 1972 as a critical and solidary literary group . The group, consisting of Albert Bohn , Rolf Bossert , Werner Kremm , Johann Lippet , Gerhard Ortinau , Anton Sterbling , William Totok , Richard Wagner , and Ernest Wichner , dealt critically with issues of political reality, the reform of the system from within, and the tradition of Swabia in the Banat apart. The group was followed and eventually disbanded by the Romanian secret police, the Securitate , and some of its members were arrested. After 1975 most of the former members of the Banat Action Group joined forces with the authors Helmuth Frauendorfer , Roland Kirsch , Herta Müller , Horst Samson and Werner Söllner to form the Adam Müller-Guttenbrunn literary circle .

With Carl Gibson , Erwin Ludwig and Fenelon Sacerdoțeanu , a total of twenty fellow campaigners, mainly Banat Swabians, founded the Timisoara branch of the Romanian Free Trade Union SLOMR ( Romanian Sindicatul Liber al Oamenilor Muncii din România ) based on the model of the Polish trade union Solidarność . The organization was immediately crushed by the state and the initiators were arrested.

The Romanian Revolution began in Timișoara and led to the fall and execution of Nicolae Ceaușescu in late 1989.

After the Romanian Revolution

After the revolution there was a final wave of emigration of almost all Germans remaining in Romania. It subsided after a few years. Today, every year only a tiny number of Banat Swabians find their way to Germany as repatriates . The minority of around 750,000 Germans in Romania previously shrank to around a tenth of their previous population. Only in a few isolated cases did emigrants return to Romania, for example as entrepreneurs with economic ambitions, as committed educators , or as part of development projects . In the 2002 census , 25,244 people in the districts of Timiș , Arad and Caraș-Severin claimed to be German (other sources speak of 19,000 Banat Swabians in 2002), compared with 237,000 (1930), 171,022 (1948), and 138,000 (1977 ). In 2012 there were still 36,000 people of German origin living in the whole of Romania.

Todays situation

The emigration at the turn of the century and in the crisis years of the 1930s; participation in combat operations in World War II; Flight , deportation and displacement as well as emigration during the communist era and after the Romanian Revolution in 1989 made the Banat Swabians in Romania shrink to a small minority. In the period from 1950 to 1999, a total of 428,666 Romanian Germans took part in the resettlement, in 1990 alone 111,150 Romanian Germans emigrated. The emigration is accompanied by a slow decline of their traditional building fabric in the settlement area.

The Allgemeine Deutsche Zeitung für Romania is a German-language weekly newspaper and the Deutsches Staatstheater Timisoara is a state-subsidized German theater. The Nikolaus-Lenau-Lyceum in Timișoara and the Theoretical Lyceum Adam Müller-Guttenbrunn in Arad are German-speaking high schools. The political representation of the German-speaking groups in Romania is the Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania (DFDR).

Most of the emigrated Banat Swabians were absorbed by the German and Austrian companies. Your representatives there are the Landsmannschaft der Banat Swabians in Germany and the Association of Banat Swabians in Austria . They are umbrella organizations of numerous hometown communities . Especially in southern Germany and in the vicinity of Vienna , where most of the Banat Swabians live today, there are associations that are dedicated to maintaining customs and dialect and providing ideal and financial support for those who have stayed in Romania. These associations are networked in umbrella organizations and see themselves as representing the interests of politics. As the mouthpiece of the Banater Swabians, the newspaper Banater Post appears monthly with a monthly circulation of 15,000 copies in 2020.

Culture

language

Traditional costume of the Banat Swabians, example from Sălbăgelu Nou (Eichenthal)

The German and Banat Swabian dialect groups that exist side by side on the language island of Banat and are based on the origin of the original settlers are:

The Banat Swabian language form developed in the primary language equalization only within the speakers in localities, later also in the secondary equalization within regions. The linguistic material reflects the close interweaving of the German part of the population with the popular life of the Romanians, Hungarians and Serbs who live on the same soil, whose languages ​​have found a not insignificant expression in the German dialects of the Banat, but the reverse is also the case. The long membership of the House of Habsburg, the occasional Magyarization, Romanian nationalism and other factors have left their mark on the dialects.

The Institute for Danube Swabian History and Regional Studies in Tübingen researches and documents together with the history and regional studies also the dialects of the German settlement areas in Southeastern Europe.

Important representatives of language research are Anton Peter Petri , Hans Gehl and Anton Schwob .

singing

Since the end of the 19th century, following the example of the German song boards, more and more choral societies have been formed in villages and towns in the region. Most were male choirs, mixed choirs performed as church choirs. The clubs often joined the Singers Association and periodically organized singing festivals with singing competitions. In the localities, the clubs often appeared on festive occasions and conversations. They saw it as a "duty of honor" to appear at name days and funerals of singers or choirmasters.

The German-speaking choral tradition led to the foundation of the "Deutsche Liedertafel" (1856) and a men's choir (1862) in Timisoara. The "Schubert-Liederkranz", founded there in 1924, took part in the 10th German National Singers Festival that same year along with around 200,000 German singers from Europe and overseas. The choral tradition came to a standstill during World War II and the post-war period .

At the time of the Socialist Republic of Romania , Nikolaus Berwanger , chairman of the district council of the working people of German nationality , campaigned for the establishment of a German-speaking choir to revive the singing tradition in the Banat. As a result, the Schubert Choir Timişoara was founded on February 20, 1969 in the festival hall of the Nikolaus-Lenau-Lyceum in Timisoara , based on the model of the “German Song Board” .

Customs

The rural working year began with the commencement of field work after the winter break, and the Catholic church year already with Advent. Both turning points are reflected in the world of life and imagination of the Banat people. However, the formative influence of agricultural activities and the customs associated with the church year lost its validity among the craftsmen and the urban population, as well as among the rural population through the expropriation of agricultural property in 1945, and for the entire population with the increasing influence of the media . Important traditional stations of the Banat calendar are New Year and early spring , Epiphany , Shrovetide , Holy Week , Easter and Pentecost , Corpus Christi , Kirchweih , St. Nicholas Day , Advent and Christmas .

The popular belief stretched from reading signs and divination , " Beschreien " and " Need " on fertility - and growth spells , wards and good luck to superstition for births, marriages and death as a transition stage and end of life.

Personalities

Significant personalities from the ethnic group of the Banat Swabians are included in the list of Banat Swabian personalities .

  • Postage stamp Romania, 1998: left Adam Müller-Guttenbrunn , poet and theater director, born in Zăbrani ( German  Guttenbrunn ) in 1852 , author of the novel The Great Swabian Train from 1913.

  • Postage stamp Romania, 1998: left Nikolaus Lenau , poet, born 1802 in Lenauheim . On the right in the picture a Swabian house in the Banat.

  • Postage stamp Romania, 1998: left Stefan Jäger , painter, born in Tschene in 1877 . His best known picture is the immigration of the Swabians into the Banat from 1910. On the right in the picture Swabian costumes.

See also

Further information also here:

Timișoara • History of Timișoara • Timiș County • Banat • List of villages in the Banat

literature

  • Johann Wolf: Banat German dialect lore . Editura Kriterion, Bucharest 1987, p. 373 .
  • Hannelore Baier: History and Traditions of the German Minority in Romania: Textbook for the 6th and 7th grade of schools with German language of instruction, 2nd edition . Central, 2005, ISBN 973-87076-1-7 .
  • Walther Konschitsky, H. Hausl: Banater Volksgut: Fairy tales, sagas and Schwänke, Volume 1 of Banater Volksgut . Editura Criterion, 1979.

Web links

Commons : Banater Schwaben  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Sources for Banat genealogy

Germany

  • Stefan Stader: Collection of Danube Swabian colonists . AKdFF - Working Group Danube Swabian Family Researchers eV, Goldmühlestrasse 30, Sindelfingen.
  • Documentation working group: The suffering of the Germans in communist Yugoslavia, Volumes I-IV (4 volumes) . Donauschwäbische Kulturstiftung, Goldmühlestr. 30, Sindelfingen.
  • Hans J. Prohaska: The Banat sleeping cross calculations, family history sources for Banat genealogy a. Settlement history 1766–1804, IFA Stuttgart library, call number: 5/1032 . Park Ridge, 1982.

Austria

Luxembourg

United States

Individual family stories

Willi Wottreng: “European history from below and from the edge. A family saga leads to Hungary and Lorraine ”, in: Gray spots in family stories. Two studies on Jenic milieus in the early modern period, Chalamala-Verlag, Zurich 2018, ISBN 978-3-033-06675-5 , pages 47–110.

Remarks

  1. ↑ As a rule, the Germans in the Romanian part of the historical Banat are referred to as Banat Swabians . The Germans, who found themselves in Serbia after the Banat was divided into three, today often see themselves as Danube Swabians ”. However, she has also assigned literature to the Banat Swabians , for example in Thomas Casagrande: The Volksdeutsche SS Division “Prinz Eugen”. The Banat Swabians and the National Socialist war crimes. Campus, Frankfurt, 2003, ISBN 3-593-37234-7 ). In the small part of the Banat that remained Hungarian there was only a small number of German people whose situation is dealt with in the article Hungarian Germans .
  2. ↑ According to Yugoslav information

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Edgar Hösch, Karl Nehring, Holm Sundhaussen, Konrad Clewing: Lexicon for the history of Southeast Europe . UTB, 2004, ISBN 3-8252-8270-8 , pp. 201 .
  2. ↑ a b c d banater-schwaben.de , Josef Wolf : Who are the Banater Swabians - historical overview and current situation
  3. ↑ Route of Migration - Oberhundem Adolfsburg ( Memento from July 19, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ Places of origin of the Sauerland in the Banat (PDF; 459 kB)  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.migrationsroute.nrw.de
  5. ^ Johann Heinrich Schwicker : History of the Temeser Banats: historical pictures and sketches . Bettelheim, Groß-Betschkerek 1861, p. 370 .
  6. ↑ Adam Müller-Guttenbrunn : The great Swabian train . Staackmann, Leipzig 1913.
  7. ↑ birda.de , The Swabian Trains
  8. ^ Raoul Jacobs: Mandate and trust in international law . Universitätsverlag, Göttingen 2004, ISBN 3-930457-58-X , p. 258 .
  9. ↑ a b c d e f g Hans Fink : Letter to the editor, Banater Post. July 10, 2009, p. 5.
  10. ^ Johann Heinrich Schwicker : History of the Temeser Banats: historical pictures and sketches . Bettelheim, Groß-Betschkerek 1861, p. 455 .
  11. ^ Johann Heinrich Schwicker : History of the Temeser Banats: historical pictures and sketches . Bettelheim, Groß-Betschkerek 1861, p. 378 .
  12. ↑ Konrad Schünemann: A HAS DECIDED Magyar Intézet Történeti Évkönyve. Volume 2 (1932), pp. 199–219 ~ Austria's population policy under Maria Theresa. Volume 1 (no longer published), Berlin 1935, publications by the Institute for Research into German Ethnicity in the South and Southeast in Munich, Volume 6
  13. ↑ dvhh.org , Hans Dama : The Banat - a "Penal Colony" of Maria Theresia? in English, translated by Nick Tullius
  14. ^ Ragnhild Marie Hatton et al: Royal and republican sovereignty in early modern Europe . Cambridge University Press, 1997, ISBN 0-521-41910-7 , pp. 217 .
  15. ^ Johann Heinrich Schwicker : History of the Temeser Banats: historical pictures and sketches . Bettelheim, Groß-Betschkerek 1861, p. 393-395 .
  16. ↑ Márta Fata: travel records - Kaiser Joseph II. 2007 (lecture at the cultural conference of the Banat Swabian Landsmannschaft, Sindelfingen, November 2006).
  17. ↑ Franz Heinz : Trouble like a dog . Bucharest 1972.
  18. ↑ detatm.ro , website of the city of Deta (Romania)
  19. ↑ genealogy.ro , Banat's Historical Chronology for the last Millennium , in English
  20. ↑ a b sulinet.hu , The wording of the memorandum of the Banat Swabian delegation
  21. ↑ a b c d donauschwaben.net (PDF; 7.8 MB), Dr. Karl Kummer Institute, Peter Wassertheurer: History of the German ethnic groups in Southeast Europe. Settlement, National Coexistence , Expulsion, Integration , Reg.No. 84128, pp. 38-39.
  22. ↑ according to the Oberlandwirtschaftsrat a. D. Josef Prunkl
  23. ↑ Paul Milata : Between Hitler, Stalin and Antonescu: Romanian Germans in the Waffen-SS, Volume 34 of Studia Transylvanica . Böhlau, 2007, ISBN 978-3-412-13806-6 .
  24. ↑ Official Journal No. 91, July 23, 1941.
  25. ↑ Michael Portmann , Arnold Suppan : Serbia and Montenegro in the Second World War 1941-1945 . In: Austrian Institute for East and Southeast Europe: Serbia and Montenegro: Space and Population - History - Language and Literature - Culture - Politics - Society - Economy - Law . GRIN Verlag, 2006, ISBN 3-638-70869-1 , p. 76 .
  26. ^ A b Michael Portmann: Politics of Destruction. In: Danubiana Carpathica. Volume 1, 2007, p. 342ff.
  27. ^ Austrian historians working group for Carinthia and Styria: Genocide of the Tito partisans 1944–1948 . Hartmann, Graz 1990, ISBN 3-925921-08-7 , pp. 169 ff .
  28. ↑ Foreign Relations of the United States - Diplomatic Papers 1946 Vol.V, p. 135.
  29. ^ Immo Eberl , Konrad G. Gündisch, Ute Richter, Annemarie Röder, Harald Zimmermann : Die Donauschwaben. German settlement in Southeast Europe, exhibition catalog, scientific management of the exhibition Harald Zimmermann, Immo Eberl, and employee Paul Ginder . Ministry of the Interior of Baden-Württemberg, Sigmaringen 1987, ISBN 3-7995-4104-7 , p. 262-265 ( Internet publication ).
  30. ↑ Walter Engel : Alien in the Homeland: Resettlers from Eastern and Southeastern Europe on the way to Germany, issue 2 . Gerhart-Hauptmann-Haus (Düsseldorf) , German-Eastern European Forum. Laumann-Verlag, Dülmen 1993, p. 24 .
  31. ^ Bpb.de , Federal Agency for Civic Education , Germans Abroad
  32. ↑ Milovan Đilas : Revolucionarni rat. Književne novine, Belgrade, 1990, p. 410, in Serbian
  33. ^ A b c Marie-Janine Calic : History of Yugoslavia in the 20th century. CH Beck, Munich, 2010, p. 179.
  34. ^ A b Hans-Ulrich Wehler : Nationalities Policy in Yugoslavia , Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1980, ISBN 3-525-01322-1 , pp. 59f.
  35. ^ Zoran Janjetović : The Disappearance of the Germans From Yugoslavia: expulsion or emigration? In: Tokovi istorije. 1-2, 2003, p. 74, English.
  36. ^ Michael Portmann, Arnold Suppan: Serbia and Montenegro in World War II. In: Austrian Institute for East and Southeast Europe: Serbia and Montenegro: Space and Population - History - Language and Literature - Culture - Politics - Society - Economy - Law. LIT Verlag, Münster 2006, ISBN 3-8258-9539-4 , p. 278.
  37. ↑ Thomas Casagrande: The Volksdeutsche SS-Division "Prinz Eugen" - The Banat Swabians and the National Socialist war crimes. Campus, Frankfurt am Main 2003, ISBN 3-593-37234-7 , pp. 194ff.
  38. ↑ zgv.de ( Memento of 19 July 2011 at the Internet Archive ), Center Against Expulsions , The fate of the Germans in Romania.
  39. ^ Documentation of the expulsion of the Germans from Eastern and Central Europe, Volume III, The fate of the Germans in Romania, ISBN 3-423-34185-8 .
  40. ^ Heinrich Freihoffer : The Banat and the Banat Swabians. Volume 2: The ordeal of the Banat Swabians in the twentieth century. Country team of the Banat Swabians from Romania in Germany, Munich 1983.
  41. ^ Horst G. Klein, Katja Göring: Romanian country studies . Gunter Narr Verlag, 1995, ISBN 3-8233-4149-9 , p. 43.
  42. ↑ Franz-Etienne.de: Historical review of the Banat Swabians
  43. ↑ adz.ro , ADZ , Hannelore Baier : Ackergrund, devices, wagons, houses. The agricultural reform of spring 1945 and its implementation in Großschubb. April 23, 2012.
  44. ↑ Christian-Erdmann Schott: Living in Limits - Overcoming Limits: On the Church History of the 20th Century in East Central Europe . LIT Verlag, Berlin / Hamburg / Münster 2008, ISBN 978-3-8258-1265-2 , p. 61.
  45. ↑ Kulturraum-banat.de ( Memento from August 3, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ), Wilhelm Weber : And above us the endless blue sky - the deportation of the Banat Swabians to the Baragan steppe
  46. ↑ Horst Förster (editor), Horst Fassel : Cultural dialogue and accepted diversity? Romania and Romanian language areas after 1918, Volume 8 of the series of publications by the Institute for Danube Swabian History and Regional Studies . Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-7995-2508-4 , p. 268 .
  47. ↑ banater-schwaben.de , Banater Post: "So far, I haven't found a single correct number" - Germany's chief negotiator on the ransom of Romanian Germans in the period 1967–1989 , January 5, 2010.
  48. ^ Siebenbuerger.de , Peter-Dietmar Leber : Buyback and bribe for departure , September 12, 2007.
  49. ↑ Spiegel.de , Der Spiegel , Rainer Traub, Olaf Ihlau : Now the Romanians are hoping for Gorbachev - The writers Herta Müller and Richard Wagner on the German minority in the Ceausescu state. May 4th 1987.
  50. ↑ Heldsdorf.de ( Memento of March 24, 2010 in the Internet Archive ), Karl-Heinz Brenndörfer: Escape from Romania , source: Dosarele Istorei No. 7/2003.
  51. ^ Horst G. Klein, Katja Göring: Romanian country studies . Gunter Narr Verlag, 1995, ISBN 3-8233-4149-9 , p. 46 .
  52. ^ Anton Sterbling: In the beginning there was the conversation. Reflections and contributions to the "Action Group Banat" and other works related to literature and art. Krämer, Hamburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-89622-091-2 .
  53. ↑ Ernest Wichner : A pronoun has been arrested. The early years in Romania. Texts by the Banat Action Group. Suhrkamp (edition suhrkamp 1671), Frankfurt am Main 1992, ISBN 3-518-11671-1 .
  54. ↑ William Totok : The compulsions of memory. Records from Romania. Junius, Hamburg 1988, ISBN 3-88506-163-5 .
  55. ↑ Reports of the International Labor Organization No. 218/1982 ( Memento of August 5, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), 222/1983 ( Memento of August 4, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), 233/1984 ( Memento of August 6, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), 236/1984 ( Memento from August 4, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  56. ^ Carl Gibson : Symphony of Freedom - Resistance to the Ceausescu Dictatorship: Chronicle and testimony of a tragic human rights movement, in literary sketches, essays, confessions and reflections . JHRöll, 2008, ISBN 978-3-89754-297-6 .
  57. ^ Kulturraum-Banat.de , Josef Wolf : Das Banat - The forgotten journey - A historical overview
  58. ↑ a b c Hannelore Baier, Martin Bottesch, u. a .: History and traditions of the German minority in Romania (textbook for the 6th and 7th grade in schools with German as the language of instruction) . Mediaș 2007, p. 19-36 .
  59. ↑ VLOE.at ( Memento from January 31, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), Association of the Volksdeutsche Landsmannschaften Austria , commemorative publication on the occasion of the ceremony "60 Years of Expulsion - 50 Years of VLÖ", November 19, 2004
  60. ↑ adz.ro , General German newspaper for Romania : The Germans and Hungarians reached historic lows , August 29 2012th
  61. ^ Kulturraum-banat.de , Ernst Meinhardt: The ransom of the Romanian Germans - What do German politicians say about it? What do the archives provide?
  62. ↑ Kulturraum-banat.de , Ernst Meinhardt, Interview with Dr. Hans Gehl , Research Associate at the Institute for Danube-Swabian History and Regional Studies Tübingen , March 5, 2002.
  63. ↑ Hans Gehl : Dictionary of Danube Swabian ways of life , entry Gesangsverein , Franz Steiner Verlag, 2005, ISBN 3-515-08671-4 , p. 344.
  64. ↑ Walter Tonța: An unforgettable musical experience. ( Memento from February 23, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) In: Banater Post , October 26, 2012.
  65. ↑ Kulturraum-banat.de , Hans Gehl : Banater Customs , July 7, 2006.
  66. ↑ Kulturraum-banat.de , Hans Gehl: Volksglauben - Superstition. Background information on Banat folklore traditions