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The Agraria in Neusatz
(Novi Sad) was seat of the Agrarian
movement that brought prosperity to the
Donauschwaben in Yugoslavia. It
also helped the Yugoslavian Kingdom
in
general, since loans were also given to
Serbian constituents and thus benefited
them also. |
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One of the
most important characteristics of the economic
life of the German minority in Vojvodina
(Slavonia, Srem/Syrmia, Batschka and Western Banat)
during the "in between war time" was their
"Agrarian Association." There were other
ethnic groups who developed associations in
these areas, but none of them reached such
height and wide spread success as did the
Germans.
The
"Agrarian Association" among the Germans goes
back to the 80’s of the 19th Century while the
expansion and a strong development took place
primarily after the First World War within the
framework of the "Kultur Bund" Cultural Society
the agricultural central of the "Agraria" which
was established in 1922 in Novi Sad (Neusatz),
and thus marked the beginning of a stronger
development of the German agriculture.
Existing and newly founded local cooperatives
began to attach themselves to the Agraria.
Their numbers increased constantly and a growth
period in large numbers was realized, especially
during the time of the large economic crisis in
1929-1933 and during the years prior to the
Second World War. During a time of the
worldwide economic crisis the Donauschwaben
overcame the stagnation with good advertisement
and organizational skills by the management of
the Agraria. |
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The Agraria
included the majority if not all
“Bauernvereine” farmers guilds of the
Donauschwaben in Yugoslavia.
The Agraria
also included other guilds such as the
craftsmen we see here in a parade.
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During these
years an infrastructure was created which during
the years prior to the Second World War stood in
connection with the economic growth and with the
help of the motherland realized great results.
In 1927 the Agraria was reorganized as the
business headquarters for the traffic of goods
and from then on up to the Second World War
vaulted the Donauschwaben into new unmatched
economic prosperity.
It pursued
two principal purposes: a) supplying her members
with receiving the best possible products and b)
concerning herself with the payments for the
sales of the products of her members. The
Agraria played a special role with the
circulation of the use of modern farm equipment
available in the motherland and fertilizer as
well as in the sales of wheat, maize and hemp,
the most important agricultural products of the
Donauschwaben in the Vojvodina. In 1940
the "Agraria" counted 141 local cooperatives
member organizations and 227 individual members,
who had use of a capital of 20,000,000 Dinar.
During this year, the German farmers sold
185,406 metric tons of wheat, 129,513 metric
tons of maize, hemp and wick in the value of
48,000,000 Dinar.
In 1927 the
Agraria created an independent loan department
and the agricultural central credit bank.
The Agraria pursued the purpose, to provide the
Donauschwaben farmers with advanced financial
loans to support and promote the idea of saving
and thus provide for a social security.
They created loans for their members with the
collateral based on thrust, in other words an
otherwise unsecured loan, something one never
heard off and probably never will. The
Agraria succeeded to help the farmer out of the
depression and the economic crises. It
allowed her members during the following years
to boost not only their economy but of the
entire country of Yugoslavia.
Besides the
Agraria, there were several other institutions
within the scope of Association. The most
important to mention would be the dairy and
cattle breeders industry, the hemp
sales-cooperative, the health, the residential
construction, water, craftsmanship cooperatives
installations. Immediately prior to the
beginning of the Second World War 95.5% of the
Donauschwaben families were a part of these
central cooperatives and thus almost all were in
connection with the "Kultur Bund" Cultural
Society or aligned with it.
[Published at www.dvhh.org, 25
Jan 2007] |
