Humanities & Social Sciences
October 2018
Danube Swabians
German Settlers in Southeast Europe
by Gerhard Seewann, Michael Portmann
In the 18th century, ships regularly sailed downstream from German Danube ports. People who promised themselves a better future in Southeastern Europe allowed themselves to be embarked. Most of them came from the southwestern countries of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. Their destination was the Kingdom of Hungary, where after liberation from Turkish occupation manpower was needed. The immigrants were called “Swabians” regardless of their origin. They were economically successful and left their mark on large areas of the country. After 1918 these groups, now called “Danube Swabians”, belonged to three different states: Romania, Hungary and Yugoslavia. Starting in 1944, hundreds of thousands lost their homes and thousands their lives through flight, expulsion, persecution and deportation. The majority of the uprooted found refuge in southern Germany. Only the Swabians in Romania and a part of the Hungarian Germans were allowed to stay. Many of them came to Germany as late repatriates, the remaining ones today form active German minorities in their home countries.
