|
The Volksdeutsche are German people who emmigrated to East and South Europe, but kept their language and customs. German minorities used to live throughout Eastern Europe and Russia. They were incouraged to emmigrate by Austrian emperors to help secure their control over lands liberated from the Ottoman Turks. Some Russian Tsars incouraged German German immigration to help develop and modernize their vast country. Catherine the Great (herself a German) played a major role here and thus German populations have existed in Russia for several centuries. These German minorities lived in these countries for centuries, dut many did not assimilate or drop the German language. Often they even mainatin separate schools. While the Austrian-Hungarian Empire existed many lived in the political structure of a German-speaking Austrian monarchy, but this changed in 1918-19 with the collapse of the Austrian Empire as well as the loss of German territory. Many Germans found themselves under th control of newly independent countries. When the NAZIs came to power in 1933, the Volksdeutsche proved a useful political issue and a way of justifying German territorial claims. The history and situation of the Volksdeutsche varied idely from country to country. Some like the Sudeten Germans or th Germans in Silesia were indestinguishable from actual Germans. Others like the Volksdeutsch in Russia had developed a desinctive culture. Some even had begun to los the Germn language. We are unsure at this time as to just how the Volk Deutsch dressed dressed, but hope to obtain information on this as we develop additional information on the Volksdeutsche.
The term Volksdeutsche means litteraly "German people". The correct translation of "Volksdeutsche" should be "Ethnic Germans". The term "German People" is translated as "Deutsches Volk". Volksdeutsche (this is the plural term) were people who had no German citizenship and were living in Poland, Russia or the Ukraine.
The term began to be used in the early 20th century to apply to those Germans living outside the Reich (German Empire) who were referred to as Reichdeutsche. The term was not generally used fopr any German living outside the Reich, but instead took on cultural connotations. The term "Volksdeutsche" was generally used by Germans to describe the Germans who settled in Central Eastern Europe: especially Poland and Russia, but also in areas such as the Baltics, Romania, and Yugoslavia. They were large groups forming communities, not individuals. Catharine the Great, herself a German princess when she married the Tsar, invited German farmers to settle lands that were empty after the Seven Yeatrs War (1763). These are the Volga Germans. They were not only offered the land, but also a whole list of privileges. They could continue living as Germans in their own communities, being Lutherans, Mennonites or Catholics in an Orthodox country. They also were exempt of military service and did not have to pay taxes. No wonder that thousands of poor German farmers went to Russia. They established colonies along the Volga, but also near Odessa, on the Crimea, in Wolhynia and even in the Caucasus mountains. Many of these Germans lived in isolatio and had few contacts ith Germans. In some cases they retained destinctive clothing styles and archaic language patterns. The Volga Germans loosing their
privileges under Czar Alexander II in the 1860s and many emigrated to Canada and the United States, especially the Mennonites. But about 2 million stayed in
Russia and thus after 1917 became Soviet citizens.
There were a number of destinctive terms for the Volksdeutsche from different areas. The Germans from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were called "Balts" or "Baltic Germans". The Germans from Romania were called: "Saxons". (Siebenbürger Sachsen). The Germans from Yugoslavia and Hungary were called "Danube Swabians" or "Swabians" (Donau Schwaben). The Germans from Czechoslovakia were called " Sudeten Deutsche". There were also the Carpahian Germans. The Germans from the Dolomites in Italy are called "Tyroleans". The Germans in Russia were concentrated around the Voga and called Volga Germans.
Some estimates suggest that the Volsdeutsche totaled about 10 million people at the advent of World War II. The NAZIs used the Volksdeutche extensively for political purposes before the War. Most were pro-NAZI as the NAZIs offered the proscept of overthrowing the Versailles Treaty and annexation to the Reich. Not all The Volsdeutsch were pro-NAZI, but most in the Sudeyyenland and Poland were. We are less sure about other countries. Germans in the Sudetenland were used by the NAZIs to stir in trouble before Munich. After World War II began the NAZIs became usuing it to describe foreign-born Germans in occupied countries who applied for German citizenship. Not all of the Volksdeutsche wanted to be German citizens, many identified more with their adopted countries. The German occupation authorities used the ethnic Germans in the occupation. They were more familiar with local conditions and had needed language skills. The NAZIs also used them to form Selbstschutz (self-defense units). Selbstschutz units were formed in Czechoslovakia and Poland before the War and after the Germans occupied other countries. Some of these units were involved in terrible attrocities, especially actions against Jews in Poland.
The "Volksdeutsche" are the Germans who settled in Eastern Europe: especially Poland and Russia beginning in the reign of Catherine the Great--herself a German princess. German communities were also founded in other countries. They were large groups who formed their own separate communities. The history of the Volksdeutsche varies greatly from country to country in Eastern Europe.
The Volksdeutsche were part of the Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, but there history there was considerably different than in other areas that came to comprise the Russian Empire. These Baltic countries until World War I (1914-18) and the Russian Revolution (1917) were part of the Tsarist Russian Empire, although the German presence predated their absortion by the Russians. Germans started colonizing northeastwards along the Baltic Sea at the end of the 13th century. First the noblemen of the Teutonic Order built fortresses and castles all along the Baltic coast, including Danzig (Gdansk), Memel (Klaipeda) and Reval (Tallin). Later merchants followed and settled in the ports and cities under the Hanseatic League. It is ironic that the original Prussians were a Baltic people, who were conquered by the Germans and actually wiped out completely--but not before giving those Germans their name: Borussians (Prussians). The rural population always remained Estonian, Latvian, or Lithuanian, but in the cities there was a large German minority. The Baltic people were conqured by the Tsar Peter the Great (1622-1725) during the Great Northern War (1700-21) with Sweden. Peter at the Battle of Poltava (1709) achieved one of the great military victories in Russian history. The "Baltic Barons" (the German knights) afterwards supplied an enormous amount of officers and administrators in the service of the Russian czars throughout the centuries. For example: several geographical names in Alaska derive from German-Baltic explorers when that part of the United States was still Russian: Wrangell Mountains, Kotzebue Sound, Hagemeister Island, etc. Hitler in 1939-40 after seizing Poland ordered the Baltic Volksdeutsche "heim ins Reich". Hitler in 1939-40 after seizing Poland ordered the Baltic Volksdeutsche "heim ins Reich". He proceeded to negotiate a treaty to bring the Baltic Germans back to the Reich. The Baltic Germans also provided a suitable population conviently available to persue German polivies in the East beginning with Germaizing Poland. The Baltic Germans had lived outside of Germany for centuries. Even so, most obeyed the Führer's orders, leaving their homes. The first group arrived in Danzig from Estonia October 20, 1939. They and the other Baltic Germand were assigned areas in occupied Poland to the south. The NAZIs inthe Warthegau and other areas of occupied Poland were expelling the Polish population in order to make room for them. From there the Baltic Germans were later expelled themselves, this time by the Poles at the end of the War. Most of them finally settled in West Germany. [Bade]
Czecheslovakia was before World War I a part of the Austo-Hungarian Empire with its Austrian monarchy. Large numbers of Germans lived in the border area with German in the Sudetan (southern) mountains and became known as the Sudeten Germans. When Czecheslovakia was formed as part of tha part of the Versailles Peace Treaty (1919), these Germans found hemselves a minority in a country now dominated by Czechs and Slovaks. The Sudenten Germans were different than many of the other Volksdeutsche in that they lived in German border areas and were used to a Government dominated by a German-speaking Austrian Government. In living style, language, and clothing the Sudenten Germans did not differ much from the Germans accross the border. Hitler of course used them in 1938 to threaten war, resulting in the Munich Agreement and the dismemberment of Czcheslovakia. The Sudeten Germans were not the only Germans in Czecheslovakia. The Czech capital Prague also used to have a sizable German-speaking minority (among them many Jews). Some of their writers became world-famous: Franz Kafka, Franz Werfel (The Song of Bernadette), Rilke
and the composer Gustav Mahler, and the scientist Gregor Mendel, who
happened to be a priest. There was another group of Germans in Czecheslovakia. A much smaller number were located in the Slovakian region of Czecheslovakia--the Carpathian Germans.
German farmers, merchants and craftsmen had settled in Hungary since the Middle Ages. Hungary was before World War I a dual monarchy. The Hapsburgs had inherited Hungary when the country's king was killed in a battle withb the Turks. The law books of many Hungarian cities were written in German, including Ofen (later called Budapest). The Germans in Hungary and Yugoslavia were called "Swabians". Many famous Hungarians, like Franz Liszt and Ignaz Semmelweisz, were actually Swabians. Liszt for example never learned to speak the Hungarian language, because in the village where he grew up he went to the German school and his parents did not know Hungarian either. As in other countries with large German settlements the Swabians had their own schools and organizations. Most of them were farmers, but every city used to have a large German community. After World War II, many Germans were expelled, but not all, like in Czechoslovakia or Yugoslavia. A sizeable number was allowed to stay and maintain their identity. Even the Communists published newspapers and books in German for the Swabian communities. Schwaben, a historic region in southwestern Germany, roughly corresponding to the present "land" of Baden-Württemberg.
I know from personal experience that there is still a small German minority in Southern Hungary. We toured the region 10 years ago and met some German speakers in the area around
Pécs/Fünfkirchen near the border with Yugoslavia. There were a few villages around
Villány/Wieland were they had some minority rights if only to a very limited extent. They said they belong to the same group of Germans as the Banater Schwaben in Serbia and Romania.
They complained of the lack of schooling in German which caused the younger generation to
gradually merge into the Hungarian majority. This seems to have been improved by the
establishment of a number of bilingual schools during the past decade.
The Polish kings invited German merchants, artists and craftsmen to live and work in Poland since the Middle Ages. Poland during the 17th and 18th centuries was dismembered by Austria, Prussia, and Russia. A new Polish state was created in the Versailles Peace Treaty (1919). Thus Germans who had once lived in Germany proper or Austrai-Hungary found themselves a minority in a new Polish state. Hostilities betwen the Poles and the new Soviet Red Army after World war I drove the border of Poland well into the east, bring many non-Poles including additional Volksdeutch, Ukranians, and other that had been rulled by the Tsar within the new Polish state. After the NAZI World War II occupation (September 1939) Polish citizens of German ancestry were allowed to claim German citizenship. Here there was no NAZI law governing this as different administrators used different approachees as to what was needed to proven German ancestry. Germans in Poland included ethnic Germans whose families had lived in Poland for centuries and had well established roots and attachmebnts to Poland. Other Germans found themselves in the new Polish state created by the Versailles Treaty They often had few ties to Poland and welcomed the NAZI invasion. Germans in occupied Poland faced the decession as to whether or not to sign the Volksliste. The Volksliste had four categories. Categories No 1 and No 2 were assessed ethnic Germans, while categories No 3 and No 4 were ethnic Poles. This was not only an issued faced by Germans. Some NAZI administrators were willing to very loosely just who was a German to speed up the process of Germinization. Thus some who were more Polish than Germany were able to sign the list. There were many advantages to signing. It meant improved rations as well as preventing property from being seized as part of the Germinaztion process. It also mean creating enemies. Those who signed were consider traitors by the Poles and those who did not sign became suspect by the NAZI authorities. The most significant immediate disadvantage was that the men in the family became eligible for conscription into the German military. After the NAZIs were driven out of Poland some of those who signed the Volksliste were tried by Polish courts for treason. The term Volksdeutsch is generally seen in Poland as synonymous with treason. Some indeed collaborated with the NAZIs and used the occupation to in effect steal from their Polish neigbors. Others actually worked with the Resistance. Volksdeutsche arec known to have made an important contribution in gathering intelligence fir the Polish Resistance. They primarily worked with the non-communist Resistance and thus there work was not recognized by the Communist Government after the War which actually persecuted some of these people along with the collaborators.
The Saxons of Transsylvania in Romania settled that area in the 12th century. These Germans in the 15th century fell under the rule of the Ottoman Turks. Germans moved into the area between the rivers Maros (Miersch) (North) Theiß (West) Danube (South) and in the south east bordered by the south capartian mountains. It's about the size as Belgium and the soil is very fertile. There're also important natural resources suach as coal and gold as well as other kinds of products. The area came under the conrol of Austria in 1718 and was
first settled by General Mercy. During the reign of Austrian Emperor Karl VI settlement was encouraged (especially during 1722-1726), Germans began moving into the area. The groups that settled in Transsylvania (Romania) were called " Saxons". Others became known as the "Banater Schwaben". Some of the first Germans were Austrain administrators, clerks,
tailors, merchantmen and most of all farmers from Lorraine, Palatinate and the Black Forest in the area. Emperess Maria Theresia gave considerable support to promoting German settlement (especially during 1766-70) as did other Austrian emperors. Many but not all Germans were expelled after World War II. Of the 500.000 Saxons in Rimania, about 100.000 still remain in Transsylvania (settled in the 13th century).
Catherine the Great (herself a German princess) invited German farmers to settle in Russia and they have been there ever since. Catharine invited German farmers to settle lands that were empty after the Seven Years War (1763). They were not only offered the land, but also a whole list of privileges. They could continue living as Germans in their own communities, being Lutherans, Mennonites or Catholics in an Orthodox country. They also were exempt from military service and did not have to pay taxes. No wonder that thousands of poor German farmers went to Russia. They established colonies along the Volga, but also near Odessa, on the Crimea, in Wolhynia and even in the Caucasus mountains. They were loosing their privileges under Czar Alexander II in the 1860s and many emigrated to Canada and the United States, especially the Mennonites. But about 2 million stayed in Russia, also when it became the Soviet Union. Many of the Russian Germans were Mennonites who started
emigrating to Canada and the United States at the end of the 20th century when the Tsar wanted to draft them into his armies. (The Mennonites do not bear arms). Originally the Mennonites were a Dutch protestant sect, founded by Menno Simons in 1536. Many of them went to build dikes and polders in the Vistula Delta around Danzig (Gdansk) and became Germanized. From there they went to Poland and Russia. I do not yet have a great deal of information on the Volga Germans. They appear to have been prosperous, both because of their industriouness and the rich land they farmed. Many were deeply religious ( Mennonites). I do not know how they fared after the Revolution. There land does not seem to have been colletivizd. They do not appear to have been heavily politicized. Unlike some Volksesdeutsche like the Seudeten Germans, there does not seem to have been any significant support for the NAZIs, in part because of their strong religious believes. A reader writes, "The Volga Germans actually had more contact with relatives and friends in Canada and Kansas than in Germany. They were not interested in going to Germany, because they were prosperous and had no use for the NAZIs." [Stueck] Stalin doubted their loyalty, on both ethnic and religious grounds. After NAZI Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, Stalin deported the Volsdeutsche to Siberia and Kasakhstan, where about 1 million ethnic Germans still live. They lost their once prosperous villages and farms were confiscated and divided into kolchozes. It is estimated that about 1 Million Volga Germans now are living in Kazakhstan where the soil is not nearly as good as along the Volga. Every month thousands of Russian Germans are moving to Germany where they are granted citizenship immediately on account of their heritage. Some of them don't speak German anymore and they have to prove that they are of German descent.
Yugoslavia was another new country ceated by the Versailles Peace Treaty. The largest part of Yugoslavia was Serbia. Additional areas of Yugoslavia (Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia) had been part of the Austro-Hugarian Empire. The Germans in Yugoslavia and Hungary were called "Swabians". I'm not sure to extent the Swabians cooperated with the NAZIs. The resistance in Yugoslavia was more active than in most occupied countries and great brutality was directed at various natioanl groups by the different resistance groups as well as NAZI pupet states. Only the communist led resistance groups led by Tito refrained from ethnic cleansing, although they brutally dealt with NAZI sysmpathizers as well as Yugoslavs as well as anyone they deamed as not sufficently suppotive. The communists were the only resistance groups that continued attacks on the German military forces in the face of vicious NAZI reprisals against civilians. I have few details at this time, but the communist partisans may have tareted the Swabians and given the hostility in Yugoslavia, many probably left Yugoslavia in 1944 with retreating German military forces.
The fate of the Volksdeutche is one of the many depressing stories of World War II. The irony is that while NAZIs who set out to ethnically clense newly acquired areas of the Reich, it was the Germans that were ethnically clensed from Eastern Europe. Those Germans expelled are today referred to in Germany as " Vertriebenen " (expelled ones). Nearly all lived in countries invaded and occupied by NAZI Germany. Many but not all participated in NAZI genocidal or explotive programs to colomie the occupied East. As a result, both the Russian Army and partisans targetted them as the Wehrmacht was forced to retreat. Many wisely fled with the Wehrmacht. Others were reluctant to leave the farms and towns where their families had lived for generations. After the Wehrmacht withdrew and after the end of the War, millions of these ethnic Germans were murdered, deported or otherwise ethnically cleansed. Many first hand accounts describe the violence directed at those of German ancestry. A great deal of documentation was gathered by the German Wehrmacht War Crimes Bureau. (Yes, the Wehrmacht was collecting evidence of war crimes.) There are many incidents of unimagined savegery. There were women crucified in Nemmersdorf and the wholesale murder of children. [De Zayas and Barber]
Bade, Klaus J. ed. Deutsche im Ausland. Fremde in Deutschland (C.H.Beck Verlag: Munich, 1992).
Ballas, Gerd. "Brebu Nou--Weidenthal," website accessed July 17, 2002.
De Zayas, Alfred-Maurice and Charles M. Barber. A Terrible Revenge: The Ethnic Cleansing of the East European Germans, 1944-1950.
Muller, Reinhard. Played a major role in compiling this page.
Stueck, Rudi. E-mail message, April 15, 2004.
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing German pages:
[Return to the Main German regional page]
[Return to the Main German terminology page]
[German choirs]
[German movies]
[German school uniforms]
[German royalty]
[German youth groups]
[German sailor suits]
[Lederhosen]
[Ethnic]
[Tights]
[Long stockings]
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Introduction]
[Activities]
[Biographies]
[Chronology]
[Clothing styles]
[Countries]
[Bibliographies]
[Contributions]
[FAQs]
[German glossaries]
[Images]
[Links]
[Registration]
[Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]
