 Flag used by Carpathian Germans' Territorial Association[1] | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 4,690 (2011 census)[2] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Bratislava,Košice,Spiš,Hauerland | |
| Languages | |
| Slovak,German | |
| Religion | |
| Roman Catholicism55.5%,Atheism21.0%,Lutheranism14.2%, and9.3 other religions | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Germans Austrians Germans of Hungary Germans of Romania |
Carpathian Germans (German:Karpatendeutsche or Mantaken,Hungarian:kárpátnémetek orfelvidéki németek,Slovak:Karpatskí Nemci,Ukrainian:Карпатські німці,Romanian:Germani carpatini) are a group ofethnic Germans inCentral and Eastern Europe. The term was coined by the historianRaimund Friederich Kaindl (1866–1930), originally generally referring to theGerman-speaking population of the area around theCarpathian Mountains: theCisleithanian (Austrian) crown lands ofGalicia andBukovina, as well as theHungarian half of theAustro-Hungarian monarchy (includingSzepes County), and the northwestern (Maramuresch) region ofRomania. Since theFirst World War, only the Germans of Slovakia (theSlovak Germans orSlowakeideutsche, including theZipser Germans) and those ofCarpathian Ruthenia inUkraine have commonly been calledCarpathian Germans.
Germans settled in the northern territory of the medievalKingdom of Hungary (then calledUpper Hungary, today mostly Slovakia) from the 12th to the 15th centuries (seeOstsiedlung), mostly after the 1241Mongol invasion of Europe. There had probably already been some isolated settlers in the area of Pressburg (Pozsony, today'sBratislava). The Germans were usually attracted by kings seeking specialists in various trades, such as craftsmen and miners. They usually settled in older Slavic market and mining settlements. Until approximately the 15th century, the ruling classes of most cities in present-day Slovakia were almost exclusively composed of Germans.[citation needed]
The main settlement areas were in the vicinity of Pressburg and some language islands in Szepes County (Hungarian:Szepesség; German:Zips; Latin:Scepusium, todaySpiš region inSlovakia) and theHauerland regions.[3] The settlers in the Szepes County were known asZipser Sachsen (ZipserSaxons, Hungarian:cipszerek). WithinCarpathian Ruthenia, they initially settled around Taracköz (German:Theresiental, todayTeresva inUkraine) and Munkács (German:Munkatsch, todayMukachevo inUkraine).
The Carpathian Germans, like the Slovaks, were subjected to policies ofMagyarization in the latter half of the 19th and the early the 20th century. Furthermore, many Carpathian Germans voluntarily magyarized their names to climb the social and economic ladder.[4]
On 28 October 1918, the National Council of Carpathian Germans in Késmárk (German:Käsmark, todayKežmarok,Slovakia) declared their loyalty to the Kingdom of Hungary, but a Slovak group declared it to be part ofCzechoslovakia two days later.[citation needed]
During theFirst Czechoslovak Republic (1918–1938), Carpathian Germans had a specific political party, theZipser German Party (1920–1938), led by Andor Nitsch, who was elected from 1925 to 1935 on a common Hungarian-German list for parliamentary elections. In 1929, the more nationalist-orientedCarpathian German Party (KdP) was formed in Bratislava, which later made a common list at the 1935 parliamentary elections with theSudeten German Party;Konrad Henlein became its leader in 1937, withFranz Karmasin as deputy. In 1935, both parties obtained a seat in both parliamentary assemblies. In 1939, the KdP was renamed theGerman Party, withFranz Karmasin as führer, who had become in October 1938 state secretary for German Affairs in theSlovak Republic (1939–1945), led by Tiso.[5][6][7]
The status of the Slovak Republic as aclient state ofNazi Germany duringWorld War II made life difficult for Carpathian Germans after the war. Nearly all remaining Germans had fled or were evacuated by the German authorities before the end of the war. Most Germans from Spiš were evacuated to Germany or theSudetenland before the arrival of theRed Army. The evacuation was mostly the initiative of Adalbert Wanhoff and prepared the diocese of the GermanEvangelical Church between mid-November 1944 and 21 January 1945. The Germans from Bratislava were evacuated in January and February 1945 after long delays, and those of the Hauerland fled at the end of March 1945. The Red Army reached Bratislava on 4 April 1945.
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After the war, one third of the evacuated or fugitive Germans returned to Slovakia. However on 18–19 June 1945, in thePřerov incident inCzechoslovakia, 71 men, 120 women and 74 children (265 Germans) who were Carpathian Germans fromDobšiná were murdered while they were passing throughHorní Moštěnice, nearPřerov railway station. After being taken out of the train by Czechoslovak soldiers, they were marched outside the city to a hill "Švédské šance", where they were forced to dig their own graves and then were shot.[8] The massacre did not become publicly known until the fall of the communist regime in 1989.[9]
On 2 August 1945, Carpathian Germans lost the rights of citizenship,[10] byBeneš decree no. 33, and they were interned in camps such as in Bratislava-Petržalka,Nováky, and in KrickerhauHandlová. In 1946 and 1947, about 33,000 people were expelled from Slovakia under thePotsdam Agreement, and around 20,000 persons were allowed or forced to remain in Slovakia because they were able, on petition, to use the "Slovakisation" process,[4] which meant that they declared themselves as Slovaks and either changed their names to Slovak equivalents or simply Slovakized them,[4] and others were simply forced to remain because their skills were needed. Out of approximately 128,000 Germans in Slovakia in 1938, only some 20,000 (15.6% of the prewar total) remained by 1947. The citizenship rules of the Beneš decrees were revoked in 1948 but not the expropriations.
According to national censuses, there were 6,108 (0.11%) Germans in Slovakia in 2007, 5,405 in 2001, 5,414 in 1991 and 2,918 in 1980. A Carpathian German Homeland Association has been created to maintain traditions,[11] and since 2005, there is also a museum of culture of Carpathian Germans in Bratislava.[12] There are two German-language media that are assisted financially by the Slovak government:Karpatenblatt (monthly) andIKEJA news (Internet). There is also minority broadcasting in German on the Slovak radio.[13][14] After the war, their countrymen, now living in Germany and Austria, founded cultural associations as well. There is also a Carpathian German Landsmannschaft ofNorth America.[15]
Amongst prominent member ethnic Germans in postwar Slovakia isRudolf Schuster, the country's second president (1999–2004). Others e.g.
The isolation of the German from countries in which German has been standardised (Germany,Austria, and to some extent,Switzerland) has caused many obscure German dialects to continue to exist in Slovakia, but many are in danger of extinction.
In the Upper and LowerZips regions (and later in Romania), theZipser Germans spokeZipserisch. A community of speakers remains inHopgarten and speaks a distinctive dialect,Outzäpsersch (German: Altzipserisch, literally "Old Zipserish"). In Dobsina, they spoke what they calledDobschauisch orTopschauisch. In Metzenseifen (Medzev), they spoke Mantak, but only a few dozen people speak it today. The German schools were closed after World War II in all former German-speaking towns, and children were forced to learn Slovak. German was not to be used in the workplace or even publicly on the street.[citation needed]
The German minority in Slovakia has more or less always constantly been decreasing since the late 19th century onwards, according to the official Slovak national censuses. After 1947, their numbers gradually shrank even more in the wake of the expulsion of ethnic Germans from Czechoslovakia after World War II.[citation needed]
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
|---|---|---|
| 1880 | 228,799 | — |
| 1910 | 198,385 | −13.3% |
| 1921 | 139,900 | −29.5% |
| 1930 | 148,214 | +5.9% |
| 1938 | 128,000 | −13.6% |
| 1947 | 24,000 | −81.2% |
| 1961 | 6,266 | −73.9% |
| 1980 | 4,093 | −34.7% |
| 1991 | 5,414 | +32.3% |
| 2001 | 5,405 | −0.2% |
| 2011 | 4,690 | −13.2% |
| Sources: Slovak national censuses and Encyklopédia Slovenska | ||
The Carpathian and otherGerman groups in Romania are currently represented by theDemocratic Forum of Germans in Romania (DFDR/FDGR). Carpathian/Zipser Germans are mostly to be found inMaramuresch (across theRodna Mountains and withinMaramureș County more specifically),Bukovina, and elsewhere sparsely throughoutTransylvania. In general, in Maramureș, the Zipsers were colonised in mining areas.
The same applies for Bukovina, where Zipsers were also miners and lumberjacks. For example, in southern Bukovina (i.e. present-daySuceava County in northeastern Romania), several former Zipser German rural settlements includeIacobeni (German:Jakobeny),Cârlibaba (German:Mariensee/Ludwigsdorf), andFundu Moldovei (German:Louisenthal).[16]
The Carpathian/Zipser Germans' settlements are located towards the Carpathian Mountains, westward in Bukovina and Suceava County. There were mostly mining communities. Today, sparse German communities still live in Bukovina/Suceava County, both Zipsers andBukovina Germans, but their numbers are drastically dwindling.[citation needed]
In Maramureș,Vișeu de Sus (German:Oberwischau) is still home to a small community of Zipser Germans (according to the2011 Romanian census) who are also politically represented in the town's council by one councillor stemming from the Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania (DFDR/FDGR).[citation needed]
