Donauschwaben/Danube Swabians

[Aeternitas]

The Donauschwaben are people of German heritage. Their ancestors left Germany in the eighteenth century and settled in southeastern Europe along the Danube River, in what is today part of Yugoslavia, Hungary and Romania. There they converted the swamplands of the Danube Basin into fertile farmland. While living in their new homeland, they kept their German language, customs and traditions alive.

During and after World War II, many Donauschwaben perished in Yugoslavian and Russian concentration camps. All were dispossessed; many were uprooted and dispersed. Today, you can find Donauschwaben all over the globe.

The Donauschwaben Society of Cincinnati was founded in 1954. While being solid and proud citizens of the United States, Donauschwaben still strive to nurture the customs and traditions of their ancestors and to pass them on to the younger generation by their example.

The Society sponsors various activities for all ages, including singing, dancing, bands, sports and senior groups. At the current home on Dry Ridge Road in Colerain Township, they celebrate such traditional events as the Strauss Ball, Donauschwaben Day, Oktoberfest and Kirchweih, as well as many other festivities in the old world tradition.

The Cincinnati Donauschwaben Society is open to all people who respect and appreciate the values and cultural activities of the Donauschwaben.http://www.donauschwaben.com (http://forums.skadi.net/redirector.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dona uschwaben.com)

Information about the Danube Swabian coat of arms:
http://www.genealogienetz.de/reg/ESE/banatbw.gif

The coat of arms of the Danube Swabians was created by Hans Diplich in 1950. The imperial eagle is a symbol of the Holy Roman Empire under Germanic kings. The wavy line symbolizes the Danube River, on which or along which, the German settlers traveled to Hungary. The crescent moon is the symbol of Islam, representing the Turkish occupation of Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries. The sun is the symbol for Christ. The fortress represents the city of Temeschburg (Timisoara). Its six towers represent the six main settlement regions for the Danube Swabians: Central Hungarian Highlands, Swabian Turkey, Slavonia-Syrmia, Batschka, Banat and Sathmar. The fortress stands on the fertile farm land made arable and productive by the Danube Swabians.
The inscription reads "Semper atque semper liberi ac indivisi" or "Forever Free and Undivided." This motto probably refers to the fact that the Donauschwaben were free persons and no longer peasants bound to a lord. "Undivided" refers to their feeling of being "one people" despite being separated into different countries after WWI and after the diaspora around the world after WWII.Source (http://forums.skadi.net/redirector.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gene alogienetz.de%2Freg%2FESE%2Fdsctarms.htm l)

Folk dress:

Danube Swabian men's and women's tracht, from the historic house of the parents of Stefan Jäger, Hatzfeld (Jimbolia), Romanian Banat.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a0/DSMaennertracht.jpg/400px-DSMaennertracht.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/9d/DSFrauentracht.jpg/400px-DSFrauentracht.jpg

Donauschwaben links:

Donauschwaben Research Exchange (DRE) (http://forums.skadi.net/redirector.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bana ters.com%2Fbanat%2Fintro.html)
Preserves the Donauschwaben heritage and the Donauschwaben communities around the world.

Donauschwaben Villages Helping Hands Project (DVHH) (http://forums.skadi.net/redirector.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dvhh .org%2F)
Publishes historical and genealogical information on the Donauschwaben villages and provides a repository of information specific to Donauschwaben genealogy.

The Working Group of Danube-Swabian Researchers (AKdFF) (http://forums.skadi.net/redirector.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gene alogienetz.de%2Fvereine%2FAKdFF%2Findex-e.htm)
The "Working Group of Danube Swabian Family Researchers" or in German, "Arbeitskreis donauschwaebischer Familienforscher" is a society of over 700 members with headquarters in Sindelfingen, Germany, and specializing in Donauschwaben genealogy research. The goal of most researchers is to find the ancestors who were the original settlers in southern Hungary, and to find out where they lived in the old German states prior to migration.

[Lagergeld]

http://www.totenbuch-donauschwaben.at/

This is a Death Book compiled of those killed and missing of the Germans in Yugoslavia. My mother's side of the family are from there and I have found the names of some extended family in it, including an uncle.

[Standhaftigkeit]

I'm Donauschwabe.

[Siebenbürgerin]

I'd like to post some pictures of the Banat Swabians, which are a sub-branch of the Danube Swabians.

The Banat Swabians are an ethnic German population in Southeast Europe, part of the Danube Swabians, who immigrated over 200 years ago from different parts of Southern Germany into the Banat, since it had been sparsely populated after wars with Turkey. This formerly strong and important German minority has now become quite small, many of its members having returned to Germany as a result of the Second World War and again for economic reasons after 1990. The Banat was divided between several countries by the Treaty of Versailles of 1919, and the Treaty of Trianon of 1920: the greatest part was included into Romania, a smaller part into Yugoslavia, and a small strip in the area of Szeged into Hungary.

Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banat_Swabians (http://forums.skadi.net/redirector.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikip edia.org%2Fwiki%2FBanat_Swabians)

Here the pictures:

http://www.banater-schwaben-berlin.de/Fotogalerie/Feste/Schw%E4b-Tracht-gr.jpg

http://www.banater-schwaben-berlin.de/Fotogalerie/Feste/Schw%E4b-Braut-gr.jpg

http://www.banater-schwaben-berlin.de/Fotogalerie/Feste/Klasse-Tracht-gr.jpg

http://www.banater-schwaben-berlin.de/Fotogalerie/Feste/B%E4ndertanz-gr.jpg

http://www.banater-schwaben-berlin.de/Fotogalerie/Feste/Kindergarten-gr.jpg

http://www.banater-schwaben-berlin.de/Fotogalerie/Feste/Trachtenzug-gr.jpg

http://www.banater-schwaben-berlin.de/Fotogalerie/Feste/Kirchweih-gr.jpg

http://www.banater-schwaben-berlin.de/Fotogalerie/Feste/Trachtenfest-gr.jpg

http://www.banater-schwaben-berlin.de/Fotogalerie/Trachten/Tracht-Guttenbrunn-gr.jpg

[andrea]

Hymne Der Donauschwaben

1. Seid gegrüßt ihr deutschen Brüder,
Wachet auf, es ruft die Zeit!
Lasst uns rühmen, lasst uns preisen
Unsres Volkes Einigkeit!
Wir sind eines Volkes Söhne:
Deutsche Sprache; deutsche Art,
Die die Väter hochgehalten,
Haben treu wir uns bewahrt.



2. Ob wir in der Batschka wohnen,
In der schwäbischen Türkei,
Buchenwald und Schildgebirge
Unsre treue Heimat sei,
Das Banat Slawonien, Syrmien,
Ofner Bergland sei der Ort,
wollen niemals wir vergessen,
jenes schöne Dichterwort:



3. "Deiner Sprache, deiner Sitte,
Deinen Toten bleibe treu!
Steh in deines Volkes Mitte,
Was sein Schicksal immer sei!
Wie die Not auch droh und zwinge,
Hier ist Kraft, sie zu bestehn.
Trittst du aus dem heil’gen Ringe,
Wirst Du ehrlos untergehn."



4. Das ist deutschen Mannes Glaube,
Das ist deutschen Frauen Ehr.
Das ist deutschen Kindes Zierde,
Das ist deutschen Volkes Wehr.
Deutscher Treue Lied erklinge
Rings im schönen Donauland!
Schwabenvolk, im Glück umschlinge
Ewig dich der Eintracht Band!

[Vista]

It would be intersting if all these people claiming German ancestry in Eastern Europe go through genome wide snp scans to see in which group etnic they´d genetically cluster with. I´ve heard there are lot of people claiming German etnicity in these countries despite having lost lingustic, cultural let alone ancestral ties to Germany long time ago.

After the Volga-German hoax I´ve somewhat become suspicious to these "Germans" in former Soviet countries, atleast in regards to those who never emigrated back to Germany.

[Heidnat]

Thanks for this page. My granny was wearing kleider like ones displayed on the picture above.Thank you for posting this.
Here is one more link:
http://www.haus-donauschwaben.de/wordpress/

[Siebenbürgerin]

Danube Swabians

http://www.pr-inside.com/images/pics/168739-danube-swabians.png

Danube Swabians being led away by Russian forces, painting by Stefan Jäger, from the historic house of his parents, Hatzfeld (Jimbolia), Romanian Banat.

The Danube Swabians (Donauschwaben) is a collective term for Germans who lived in the former Kingdom of Hungary, especially in the Danube River valley.

Because of varying development within the territory settled, the Danube Swabians cannot be seen as a unified people. They include the Germans of Hungary (Ungarndeutsche), Satu Mare Swabians, the Banat Swabians (Banater Schwaben), and the Danube Swabians in Serbia's Vojvodina (Wojwodinedeutsche). After the creation of Austria-Hungary in 1867, Hungary established a policy of Magyarization whereby minorities, including the Danube Swabians, were induced by political and economic means to adopt the Magyar language and culture.

Source: Rajkumar Kanagasingam, author of "German Memories in Asia"

books.google.com/books?id=MrBi0ghiZN0C&dq=german+memories+asia


Our talks on war-torn issues of the Jaffna Peninsula digressed into various issues of Stuttgart in Germany, which was a home for Turks and other minorities.

In recent years, the German-speaking countries of Europe have been confronted with demographic changes due to decades of immigration. These changes have led to
renewed debates in Germany about who should be considered German. Turks, Italians, Greeks, and people from the Balkans in southeast Europe form the largest single group of non-ethnic Germans in the country.

In addition to the non-ethnic Germans, traditionally considered ethnic Germans also form a significant portion of the immigrant population. The ethnic Germans are foreign-born and often retain the cultural identities and languages of their native countries in addition to being Germans. The repatriation provisions made for this group of Germans are unique and have a historical basis, since these were areas where their ancestors traditionally lived.

Danube Swabians and Volga Germans are the major group of these ethnic Germans who immigrated or were forcibly sent back to Germany from their adopted lands by their ancestors several centuries ago.

The Danube Swabians (Donauschwaben) is a collective term for Germans who lived in the former Kingdom of Hungary, especially in the Danube River valley. Because of varying development within the territory settled, the Danube Swabians cannot be seen as a unified people. They include the Germans of Hungary (Ungarndeutsche), Satu Mare Swabians, the Banat Swabians (Banater Schwaben), and the Danube Swabians in Serbia's Vojvodina (Wojwodinedeutsche).

The Carpathian Germans and Transylvanian Saxons are not included within the Danube Swabian group.

Danube Swabians had an interesting history of origin. Beginning in the 12th century, German merchants and miners began to settle in the Kingdom of Hungary at the invitation of the Hungarian monarchy. Although there were significant colonies of Carpathian Germans in the Spis mountains and Transylvanian Saxons in Transylvania, German settlement throughout the rest of the kingdom had not been extensive until this time.

During the 17th-18th centuries, warfare between the Habsburg Monarchy and the Ottoman Empire devastated and depopulated much of the lands of the valley, referred geographically as the Pannonian plain. The Habsburgs ruling of Austria and Hungary at that time resettled the land with people of various ethnicities including Magyars, Slovaks, Croats, Serbs, Romanians, Ukrainians, and Germans.

The German settlers came at this time from Swabia, Hesse, Franconia, Bavaria, Austria, and Alsace-Lorraine. However, despite their origin, they were all referred to as Swabians.

The first wave of resettlement came as the Ottoman Turks were gradually being forced back after their defeat at the Battle of Vienna in 1683. The settlement was encouraged by the nobility whose lands had been devastated through warfare, and by military officers including Prince Eugene of Savoy and Claudius Mercy.

Many Germans settled in the Bakony (Bakonywald) and Vértes (Schildgebirge) mountains north and west of Lake Balaton (Plattensee), as well as around the town Buda (Ofen), now part of Budapest. The area of heaviest German colonization during this period was in the Swabian Turkey (Schwabische Turkei), a triangular region between the Danube River, Lake Balaton, and the Drava (Drau) River. Other areas settled during this time by Germans were Pécs (Fünfkirchen), Satu Mare (Sathmar), and south of Mukachevo (Munkatsch).

After the Banat area of Central Europe was annexed from the Ottomans by the Habsburgs in the Treaty of Passarowitz (1718), plans were made to resettle the region, which became known as the Banat of Temesvar (Temeschwar / Temeschburg), as well as the Backa (Batschka) region between the Danube and Tisza (Theiss) rivers.

Fledgling settlements were destroyed during another Austrian-Turkish war (1737-1739), but extensive colonization continued after the suspension of hostilities. The resettlement was accomplished through private and state initiatives.

After Maria Theresa of Austria assumed the throne as Queen of Hungary in 1740, she encouraged vigorous colonization on crown lands, especially between Timisoara and the Tisza. The land steadily rejuvenated: marshes near the Danube and the Tisza were drained, farms were rebuilt, and roads and canals were constructed. Many Danube Swabians served on Austria's Military Frontier (Militargrenze) against the Ottomans. Between 1740 and 1790 more than 100,000 Germans immigrated to the Kingdom of Hungary.

The Napoleonic Wars ended the large-scale movement of Germans to the Hungarian lands, although the colonial population grew steadily and was self-sustaining.

Small daughter-colonies developed in Slovenia and Bosnia.

After the creation of Austria-Hungary in 1867, Hungary established a policy of Magyarization whereby minorities, including the Danube Swabians, were induced by political and economic means to adopt the Magyar language and culture.


Source: Rajkumar Kanagasingam, author of "German Memories in Asia"

books.google.com/books?id=MrBi0ghiZN0C&dq=german+memories+asia

The source for the article:
http://www.pr-inside.com/danube-swabians-r815013.htm

[rainman]

Interesting. I live in Cincinnati. There are quite a few little vestiges of German culture left over from what was at one time a predominately German city. However I find them all mostly useless for someone that wants to connect on a folk level. The celebrations and groups are about as German as St. Patricks day is Irish.

For example we have a large Oktoberfest but it is just a celebration involving dressing in Germanic costumes and drinking beer. If you voiced any real pride in your Germanic heritage you probably would not be very accepted in these groups or during these celebrations.

I mean you basically have to say "I love multiculturalism and this is just another celebration of the wonders of diversity". If you get what I'm saying. Like I bet if you joined that Swabian society and told the members you only date people of Germanic heritage they would probably call you a racist and ask you to leave. The whole thing is superficial.

There are also incredibly beautiful examples of Germanic architecture in Cincinnati. Most of it crumbling and neglected and now inhabited mostly by non-whites. The once beautiful "over the rhine" which was named after the rhine valley in Germany and was once an ethnic German area of the city is now the worst area of cincinnati and is inhabited with %99 blacks and has drug dealers on every corner and high rate of homicides.

I don't want to sound overly negative but if anything if you have pride in German folk and come to Cincinnati your heart will probably be broken. Which is about the same with just about any formerly Germanic area (including England and Germany).

But I see nothing of value in these groups or celebrations. Anybody can find an exuse to get drunk or dress up in some costume but we really need people that take the preservation of the culture and people more seriously. Which is hard because most groups that have any interest in such are irrational hate groups that do more to destroy the folk than to help them.

[Todesengel]

Interesting, thanks for the info. We have the Landsmannschaft der Donauschwaben e.V. (Territorial Association of the Danube Swabians) in Germany. There's a description of the banner on fotw too:

Jens Pattke reported in the German vexillology mailing list about the flag of one of the Landsmannschaften (territorial or country associations) of Vertriebene (refugees from former German territories or formerly German-inhabited regions in Eastern Europe). He explained that the Landsmannschaften of the Sathmar Swabians, the Banat Swabians and the Danube Swabians share the same coat-of-arms, which shows the German imperial eagle, a blue wavy fess representing the river Danube and the fortress of Temeschburg (Temesvar / Timisoara) with six towers representing the six main Danube-Swabian districts:


Central Hungarian Highlands
Swabian Turkey
Slavonia-Syrmia
Batschka
Banat
Sathmar


The fortress stands on the fertile farmland made arable and productive by the Danube Swabians and is flanked by the Islamic crescent and by the sun, a symbol for Christian faith and at the same time for Prince Eugene of Savoy (Prinz Eugen). The coat-of-arms was proposed in 1950 by Hans Diplich. The Danube Swabians place it on a plain white hanging flag.
http://www.fahnenversand.de/fotw/flags/de%7Dlm_ds.html

http://www.fahnenversand.de/fotw/images/d/de%7Dlm_ds.gif

This is the banner of the Landsmannschaft der Banater Schwaben e.V. (Territorial Association of the Banat Swabians) from Germany.

http://www.fahnenversand.de/fotw/images/d/de%7Dlm_bs.gif

[Annikaspapa]

Like I bet if you joined that Swabian society and told the members you only date people of Germanic heritage they would probably call you a racist and ask you to leave. The whole thing is superficial.

I read this and had to smile. I'm familiar with a number of Donauschwaben individuals and organizations - on both sides of the Atlantic. It has always been a bit of an inside joke/point of wonder amongst others in my social circle that - at the very least - the particular group I'm most acquainted with (in the US), has a pattern of forming relationships with (and marrying), almost exclusively, other Schwobs. This still seems prevalent among the first and second generation of American born offspring of the post-war immigrant Donauschwaben. It can be a bit amusing trying to follow the web of relationships as A's cousin marries B's sister, who has a cousin that is the granddaughter of A's uncle H - the brother of K, that's wed to B's grandmother, that... A small collection of surnames is enough to cover all the multitude of Schwobs in North America.


But I see nothing of value in these groups or celebrations. Anybody can find an exuse to get drunk or dress up in some costume but we really need people that take the preservation of the culture and people more seriously. Which is hard because most groups that have any interest in such are irrational hate groups that do more to destroy the folk than to help them.

I'm not familiar enough with the Cincinnati Donauschwaben, or their involvement with Cincinnati's (civic, I presume) Oktoberfest to pass judgment, but I can assure you that if any group of latter 20th century "German" immigrants to the States has made a serious effort to preserve their cultural heritage and traditions, it is the Danube Swabians.

[Leichtweis]

My father is a Donauschwabe. He was born in Osiek(that at a time was more then half german) in eastern Croatia while both his parents families had lived a little north of it in southern Hungary. Both Croatian(or Hungarian) and German were their mother tongues. My father's family moved to Speyer in south-western Germany(an area from wich a lot of Donauschwaben originally hailed from) in 1957.

[Dagna]

A Discussion on Danube Swabians

Our talks on war-torn issues of the Jaffna Peninsula digressed into various issues of Stuttgart in Germany, which was a home for Turks and other minorities.

In recent years, the German-speaking countries of Europe have been confronted with demographic changes due to decades of immigration. These changes have led to renewed debates in Germany about who should be considered German. Turks, Italians, Greeks, and people from the Balkans in southeast Europe form the largest single group of non-ethnic Germans in the country.

In addition to the non-ethnic Germans, traditionally considered ethnic Germans also form a significant portion of the immigrant population. The ethnic Germans are foreign-born and often retain the cultural identities and languages of their native countries in addition to being Germans. The repatriation provisions made for this group of Germans are unique and have a historical basis, since these were areas where their ancestors traditionally lived.

Danube Swabians and Volga Germans are the major group of these ethnic Germans who immigrated or were forcibly sent back to Germany from their adopted lands by their ancestors several centuries ago.

The Danube Swabians (Donauschwaben) is a collective term for Germans who lived in the former Kingdom of Hungary, especially in the Danube River valley. Because of varying development within the territory settled, the Danube Swabians cannot be seen as a unified people. They include the Germans of Hungary (Ungarndeutsche), Satu Mare Swabians, the Banat Swabians (Banater Schwaben), and the Danube Swabians in Serbia's Vojvodina (Wojwodinedeutsche).

The Carpathian Germans and Transylvanian Saxons are not included within the Danube Swabian group.

Danube Swabians had an interesting history of origin. Beginning in the 12th century, German merchants and miners began to settle in the Kingdom of Hungary at the invitation of the Hungarian monarchy. Although there were significant colonies of Carpathian Germans in the Spis mountains and Transylvanian Saxons in Transylvania, German settlement throughout the rest of the kingdom had not been extensive until this time.

During the 17th-18th centuries, warfare between the Habsburg Monarchy and the Ottoman Empire devastated and depopulated much of the lands of the valley, referred geographically as the Pannonian plain. The Habsburgs ruling of Austria and Hungary at that time resettled the land with people of various ethnicities including Magyars, Slovaks, Croats, Serbs, Romanians, Ukrainians, and Germans.

The German settlers came at this time from Swabia, Hesse, Franconia, Bavaria, Austria, and Alsace-Lorraine. However, despite their origin, they were all referred to as Swabians.

The first wave of resettlement came as the Ottoman Turks were gradually being forced back after their defeat at the Battle of Vienna in 1683. The settlement was encouraged by the nobility whose lands had been devastated through warfare, and by military officers including Prince Eugene of Savoy and Claudius Mercy.

Many Germans settled in the Bakony (Bakonywald) and Vértes (Schildgebirge) mountains north and west of Lake Balaton (Plattensee), as well as around the town Buda (Ofen), now part of Budapest. The area of heaviest German colonization during this period was in the Swabian Turkey (Schwabische Turkei), a triangular region between the Danube River, Lake Balaton, and the Drava (Drau) River. Other areas settled during this time by Germans were Pécs (Fünfkirchen), Satu Mare (Sathmar), and south of Mukachevo (Munkatsch).

After the Banat area of Central Europe was annexed from the Ottomans by the Habsburgs in the Treaty of Passarowitz (1718), plans were made to resettle the region, which became known as the Banat of Temesvar (Temeschwar / Temeschburg), as well as the Backa (Batschka) region between the Danube and Tisza (Theiss) rivers.

Fledgling settlements were destroyed during another Austrian-Turkish war (1737-1739), but extensive colonization continued after the suspension of hostilities. The resettlement was accomplished through private and state initiatives.

After Maria Theresa of Austria assumed the throne as Queen of Hungary in 1740, she encouraged vigorous colonization on crown lands, especially between Timisoara and the Tisza. The land steadily rejuvenated: marshes near the Danube and the Tisza were drained, farms were rebuilt, and roads and canals were constructed. Many Danube Swabians served on Austria's Military Frontier (Militargrenze) against the Ottomans. Between 1740 and 1790 more than 100,000 Germans immigrated to the Kingdom of Hungary.

The Napoleonic Wars ended the large-scale movement of Germans to the Hungarian lands, although the colonial population grew steadily and was self-sustaining.

Small daughter-colonies developed in Slovenia and Bosnia.

After the creation of Austria-Hungary in 1867, Hungary established a policy of Magyarization whereby minorities, including the Danube Swabians, were induced by political and economic means to adopt the Magyar language and culture.

http://ezinearticles.com/?German-Memories-in-Asia---A-Discussion-on-Danube-Swabians&id=562028

[Lagergeld]

My father is a Donauschwabe. He was born in Osiek(that at a time was more then half german) in eastern Croatia while both his parents families had lived a little north of it in southern Hungary. Both Croatian(or Hungarian) and German were their mother tongues. My father's family moved to Speyer in south-western Germany(an area from wich a lot of Donauschwaben originally hailed from) in 1957.

My maternal grandmother hailed from Osijek (in German 'Esseg').