Carpathian Germans

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The German-speaking population in Slovakia and the Carpathian -Ukraine is referred to as Carpathian Germans (sometimes also Mantaks ) . The term was coined at the beginning of the 20th century by the historian and ethnologist Raimund Friedrich Kaindl and refers to the Carpathian mountain range .

Concept history

Initially, those Germans in the k. u. k. Understood dual monarchy , who settled in the "dispersion" away from the closed German-speaking area: in Galicia and Bukovina , in the Hungarian half of the empire (especially Slovakia and Transylvania ), in Bosnia and Herzegovina . However, with the territorial changes resulting from the Paris suburb agreements in 1919/20, this definition became unusual. Since then, the term has increasingly only referred to the western and central Carpathians (Slovakia and Karpato-Ukraine).

history

German-Ukrainian gravestones in the cemetery of Ust-Tschorna (Koenigsfeld) , Transcarpathia

colonization

German settlers settled Slovakia from the 12th to the 15th century, especially after the " Mongol Storm " (1241). Settlement reached its peak in the 14th century. In the area of Pressburg (Bratislava) there were probably Germans a little earlier. They mainly settled older Slovak cities (especially Pressburg), market and mining settlements and were mostly recruited by the kings as specialists (craftsmen, miners). Until about the 15th century, the ruling class of all Slovak cities consisted almost exclusively of Germans.

The three main settlement areas were Pressburg and the surrounding area, the German-speaking islands in the Zips ( Zipser Sachsen ) and the Hauerland . In addition, from the 18th century in the Carpathian Ukraine in the Teresva or Mokryanka Valley and near Munkatsch there were two other small German-speaking islands. Together, however, the inhabitants of the five settlement areas did not represent a homogeneous group, and often they did not even know each other.

20th century

The numerically largest population of Carpathian Germans lived in Pressburg / Bratislava . Immediately after the establishment of Czechoslovakia in August 1919, 36 percent Germans, 33 percent Slovaks, 29 percent Magyars and 1.7 percent others were counted; Jews were recorded by language.

Although the Carpathian Germans, like many Slovaks, were exposed to strong Magyarization pressure in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries , the Germans still made up the majority of the population in many places. After the end of the First World War, most of the Carpathian Germans pleaded for Slovakia to remain with Hungary, then for Slovak autonomy within Czechoslovakia . After 1918 the situation for the Carpathian Germans changed fundamentally, because with the elevation of Pressburg to the state capital and the influx of Slovaks, despite the departure of many Hungarians, they became a minority in the population. The situation was similar in the other settlement areas.

Memorial plaque for the displaced

Most of the Carpathian Germans had fled from Slovakia to the German Reich before the end of the Second World War or were evacuated by the German authorities. This was not least a reaction to the Slovak national uprising in the late summer of 1944, when the partisans carried out atrocities on Germans and the SS on Slovaks.

Most Germans were evacuated from the Zips between mid-November 1944 and January 21, 1945 thanks to an initiative by Adalbert Wanhoff and the preparations of the Episcopal Office of the German Protestant Church before the advancing Red Army to Germany or the Sudetenland . The Germans from Bratislava were evacuated in January and February 1945 after long delays, those from the Hauerland fled their places at the end of March 1945. The Red Army reached Bratislava on April 4, 1945.

After the end of the war on May 8, 1945, around a third of the evacuated and fled Germans returned to Slovakia. From August 2, 1945, along with the Sudeten Germans in the Czech Republic and with the Hungarians in southern Slovakia, they were deprived of their Czechoslovak citizenship by the Beneš Decree No. 33. They were interned in assembly camps (in Bratislava- Petržalka (Eng. Engerau), Nováky , Handlová ). In 1946/47 around 33,000 Germans were finally expelled from Slovakia as a result of the Potsdam Agreement , while around 20,000 people were able to stay in Slovakia due to special circumstances. Of around 128,000 Germans in Slovakia in 1938, around 20,000 (16%) remained in 1947.

Carpathian Germans in Slovakia

Numerical development of the German-speaking population

Private sign “Dovidenia” / “Wiedersehen” at the exit of Medzev / Metzenseifen in the direction of Štós , 2014.
  • 1880: 228,799 / 221,771 (9.3% / 9.1%) - census, mother tongue, conversion to the area of ​​today's Slovakia (first number from Kronika Slovenska 2000, second number from Slovensko-ľud 1974)
  • 1910: 198,385 / 198,755 (6.8%) - census, mother tongue, conversion to the area of ​​today's Slovakia (first number according to Kronika Slovenska 2000, second number according to Slovensko-ľud 1974)
  • 1921: 139,900 (4.7%) - census, nationality
  • 1930: 148,214 (4.5%) - census, nationality
  • 1938: 128,000 (?%) - according to Encyklopédia Slovenska
  • 1947: 24,000 (0.7%) estimate
  • 1961: 6,266 (0.2%) - census, nationality
  • 1980: 4,093 (0.1%) - census, nationality
  • 1991: 5,414 (0.1%) - census, nationality
  • 2001: 5,405 (0.1%) - census, nationality
  • 2011: 4,690 (0.1%) - census, nationality

Current situation

According to a census, there are now fewer than 6,000 Germans living in Slovakia, but they have enjoyed all political rights since the Velvet Revolution . The Karpatendeutsche Landsmannschaft in Stuttgart works with the Karpatendeutsche Verein in Slovakia and its youth association and with the Slovak government. a. Maintenance of tradition. A major challenge is the assimilation of the middle and younger generations to the Slovak environment, which in most cases means the loss of the German language and customs.

However, there are still two Carpathian German villages, Hopgarten and Metzenseifen . In Hopgarten, the majority of the population is still German-speaking.

The most prominent member of this ethnic group is Rudolf Schuster , 1999–2004 Slovak President.

There is a collection of material on the Carpathian German dialects from the 1950s / 60s in the editorial office of the Sudeten German dictionary , which has not yet been scientifically processed.

literature

  • Alfred Cammann , Alfred Karasek : Folk tale of the Carpathian Germans. Slovakia . Part 1 and 2. Elwert, Marburg / Lahn 1981. DNB 550629505
  • Aurel Emeritzy & Erich Sirchich: Northern Carpathian Country - German Life in Slovakia. A picture documentation. Published by the Karpatendeutschen Kulturwerk, Karlsruhe, and the Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Karpatendeutschen, Stuttgart; Employee: Ruprecht Steinacker. Badenia, Karlsruhe 1979, ISBN 3-7617-0168-3 .
  • Ernst Hochberger: The big book of Slovakia . Hochberger, Sinn 2003, ISBN 3-921888-08-5 .
  • Johann Lasslob: Neuhau: A former German community in central Slovakia . Local community Neuhau of the German country team Slovakia, Sindelfingen 1980, ISBN 3-9800778-5-3 .
  • Ortfried Kotzian: The resettlers - The Germans from West Volhynia, Galicia, Bukovina, Dobruja and in the Carpathian Ukraine . Langen Müller, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-7844-2860-6 .
  • Nikolaus G. Kozauer: The Carpathian-Ukraine between the two world wars . Langer, Esslingen am Neckar 1979.
  • Ernst Schwarz : From the "Forest Germans" in Galicia . "Silesia" century BC III. Pp. 147-156.
  • Walter Ziegler (ed.): The expellees before the expulsion . Part 2. Ludicum, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-89129-046-2 .
  • Wojciech Blajer: Comments on the state of research on the Enklawen of the medieval German settlement between Wisłoka and San ( Forest Germans ). In: Późne średniowiecze w Karpatach polskich. Editor Jan Gancarski. Krosno 2007, ISBN 978-83-60545-57-7 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ portal.statistics.sk ( Memento from October 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF)