Josef Volkmar Senz

Josef Volkmar Senz (born February 22, 1912 in Apatin , Batschka , Kingdom of Hungary , Austria-Hungary , † 2001 in Straubing ) was a German homeland and folk researcher.

Life

Senz was the son of the "Lebzelters and wax puller" Franz Senz and Anna born. Baumgartner. He attended the elementary school in Apatin and then the Serbian-run teacher training institute in Sombor , where he received the teacher diploma in 1931. Until the breakup of Yugoslavia in April 1941, he worked as a teacher in Sonta , from 1935 also in Bački Gračac ( German  Filipowa ). In 1935 he married Margarethe Ams. Senz gave lectures on local history before teachers' conferences and published articles on educational journals such as “Our School” ( Novi Sad , German Neusatz , from 1928), in “Schwäbischer Volkserzieher” ( Vrbas , German Neuwerbaß , from 1939) under the editorship of Adalbert Karl Gauss and in “Volksdeutscher Erzieher” ( Budapest , from 1942).

After the Balkan campaign (1941) , the Batschka came under the sovereignty of Hungary , which had allowed its German minority to use the German language of instruction more widely in primary schools and German secondary schools. The reorganization of the German primary school system in Hungary led to the establishment of a national school authority in Budapest, in which Senz held the post of the national school board for the primary school system from 1941 to 1943. In December 1943 he was drafted into the Hungarian army. After the Second World War he fled with his wife and their two small children and worked as a teacher in Deggendorf and Schwimmbach until 1953 ; from 1953 until retirement in Straubing.

In 1947, Senz brought together Danube Swabian teachers of all types of schools from the “ Nachtrianon home countries ” and founded the “Arbeitsgemeinschaft Donauschwäbischer Lehrer” (ADL) with them, which he himself led until 1982. From 1955, Senz brought out the "Donauschwäbische Lehrerblätter", which offered didactically prepared teaching aids on culture, folklore and history of the Danube Swabians for use in schools in their new home countries. In the "Apatiner Gemeinschaft" founded in 1949 he edited around one hundred editions of the "Apatiner Heimatblätter" until 1984. In 1970, Senz began his research, documentation and publication work on archiving Danube Swabian history. He initiated the conceptual framework for this with the "Working Group for Danube Swabian Homeland and Folk Research". His collection “Danube Swabian Archive” consisted of four book series. His “Contributions to Danube Swabian Folk and Local Research” counts 150 titles, many of which he published or supervised as a publisher. In the newspaper "Der Donauschwabe" he wrote 580 articles about events in Danube Swabian history. In addition, he wrote 181 contributions and essays on the history of the Danube Swabians. On June 17, 1978, Senz founded the “Donauschwäbische Kulturstiftung - Foundation of Private Law - Munich”, of which he remained chairman until 1988 and then remained associated as honorary chairman.

Publications

• Brief history of the Danube Swabians (1940)
• History of the Danube Swabians (1955)
• Apatiner Heimatbuch (1966)
• The school system of the Danube Swabians in the Kgr. Yugoslavia
• Danube Swabian teacher and research work (1973)
• Germans in Batscherland (1984)
• Book collection Donauschwäbisches Archiv , six book series with 211 titles

Prizes and awards

• 1978: Federal Cross of Merit
• 1981: Danube Swabian Culture Prize of the State of Baden-Württemberg
• 1982: Adam Müller Gottenbrunn plaque from the Süddeutsche Kulturwerk
• 1982: Prince Eugen Medal Vienna
• 1983: Merit pin in gold of the Danube Swabians in the USA
• 1991: Federal Cross of Merit, 1st class

literature

• Rotraud and Ingomar Senz : A life for the Danube Swabians: a portrait of Josef Volkmar Senz and his work. Verlag der Donauschwäbischen Kulturstiftung, 1999. ISBN 3-92627-636-3 , 212 pp.

Web links

• Danube Swabia in Upper Austria: Josef Volkmar Senz

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Dr. Ingomar Senz.