by Hans Kopp

“Schwenkelbrunnen: A drinking water well (Brunnen) which was provided with a counterweighted crossbeam (Schwenkel)” "Hutweide: Community Meadow" The Schwenkelbrunnen and the Hutweide, are two Hungarian landmarks the Donauschwaben identified with as cultural identities in their new land and left behind with their homes, towns, churches, cemeteries and loved ones in the many death camps.  The Schwenkelbrunnen a simple live giving well dug to obtain ground water, often 30 to 50 feet below the ground surface, lined with fire bricks, provided with a simple mechanical counterweighted crossbeam on top of vertical support beam for mechanical advantage allowing the user to howl up water effective and quickly to provide water for their animals as well as themselves. The Hutweide was the community meadow laid aside as pasture for the purpose of all farm animals grazing.  Farm animal like the cows would be led up or down the streets and picked up by the herders who tended the cows during the day at the pasture.  In the evening, the cows were led back into town and found their own way home, mostly by themselves.  Certain sections of the pastures were set aside for pigs as well as sheep and horses, however on limited bases.  Separate designated pastures existed for pork bellies and wool industries.	The typical Schwenkelbrunnen in the Hungarian landscape. Apatin, Batschka
Cowhands take care of the cows for the small farmers of the town during the day, at the commune meadow, “Hutweide,”since there were no grazing areas in the towns of the Danube Swabians like here in Sathmar.
The Schwenkelbrunnen in the early years of the settlement in Apatin.
Horses satisfying their thirst at a trough in India, Syrmia.
A typical idyllic Hutweide with Schwenkelbrunnen and cows grazing in Ernsthausen, Banat.
A typical Schwenkelbrunnen near the town of Apatin showing farms nearby also referred to as Salasch by the Donauschwaben.
Besides the customary Schwenkelbrunnen we also find the “Radbrunnen” actual with a wheel hence the name wheel fountain.
The fountain with the pump usually found its way to the more modern home often without a farm business where quantity use of the water was not an issue.
A typical Salasch where group of Donauschwaben seem to have a great time celebrating, the Schwenkelbrunnen provided this idyllic background.
The “Carpathian Buffalo” was burdened for heavy loads, however he often had his own mind and would stop working whenever he pleased especially on a hot day after a rain, the buffalo would just simply go down and you could go home because the buffalo would not get up until he was ready.
The familiar site on the “Hutweide,” the “Schwenkelbrunnen” is only a reminder to the traveler, that the land of the Donauschwaben is abandoned like the Schwenkelbrunnen here in Ulmbach – Neupetsch.
A typical landscape painted by the Donauschwaben artist Dr. Oskar Sommerfeld, 1885-1973 from Indija, Syrmia (today’s Vojvodina, Serbia) showing a Schwenkelbrunnen in the settlements of the Donauschwaben in Hungary.

Excerpts from the book “The Last Generation Forgotten and Left to Die” by Hans Kopp,
with additions for the study of the history of the Donauschwaben, their heritage, customs and social mores.
All Rights reserved. ISBN No. 0-9701109-0-1. Copyright 1999 and 2006
Reproduction of this material for resale is prohibited by law.
Special permission is granted to the “Donauschwaben Village Helping Hands Project"
to be published on their webpage as “An Illustrated History of the Donauschwaben”

[Published at www.dvhh.org, 8 Dec 2006]