Danube Swabians
The Danube Swabians (German: Donauschwaben; sometimes Donau Schwabians in English) is a collective term for Germans who lived in the lands of the Kingdom of Hungary, especially in the Danube (Donau) river valley. The Transylvanian Saxons are not included within the Danube Swabians.
During the 16th-18th centuries, warfare between the Hungarians and Austrians against the Ottoman Empire devastated and depopulated much of the Kingdom of Hungary, especially the Banat and Vojvodina regions. Beginning in the 18th century, the Habsburgs encouraged German settlement on crown land. This settlement was especially vigorous in the Banat area around Timişoara (Temeschwar) during the reign of Maria Theresa.
Most Danube Swabians came from Swabia, Franconia, Bavaria, Austria, and Alsace-Lorraine. However, they all became known as Swabians.
The Danube Swabians had their largest settlements in Backa (Batschka), in Swabian Turkey (Schwäbische Türkei) in southern Hungary, in the Banat, and in Satu Mare (Sathmar), all lands of the Habsburg Monarchy which reigned in Austria and Hungary. After the treaties of Saint-Germain (1919) and Trianon (1920), the Banat was divided between Romania, Yugoslavia, and Hungary; Backa was divided between Yugoslavia and Hungary; and Satu Mare went to Romania. Swabian Turkey remains in Hungary. Germans also settled heavily around the town Buda (Ofen), now part of Budapest.
Because of the different development of the countries with areas settled by Germans, the Danube Swabians can not be seen as a unified people. They include Hungarian Germans, Satu Mare Swabians, the Banat Germans, and Yugoslav Germans.
During the Second World War, many fled from the Red Army or were dispelled between 1945 and 1948. Many of the Germans from Yugoslavia were held in camps in inhuman conditions or killed. From 1945 - 1948, the Germans in Hungary were dispossessed and forced to "return" to Germany. The Germans in Romania were not dispelled but were deported within Romania. They left Romania from 1970-1990 and went to West Germany. After being forced from their settlements, and also from 1920 on, many Danube Swabians migrated to the United States of America, Brazil, Canada and Australia.
- Some of this article is translated from of 21.6.05
See also
- Expulsion of Germans after World War II
- Ethnic German
- Volksdeutsche
- Volga Germans
- Transylvanian Saxons