The
Settlement of the Germans
The migration of German settlers
into the Croatian and Slavonian areas prior to the
occupation by the Turks, had its origins in the beginning of
the 16th century, chiefly in the towns and
cities, made up tradesmen, artisans, miners, and merchants
who came from all areas of Germany. The settlers arriving
after the liberation from the Turks, again consisted of the
same urban classes but the majority now were peasant
farmers. In both cases they came in response to invitations
from the nobles and landlords. At times, of course, some
individuals came on their own, taking the risks that were
involved.
Prior to the
coming of the Turks, the first Germans who arrived were
priests and missionaries, most of them monks on missions to
extend the boundaries of the Roman Catholic Church and later
to stamp out heresy. At the end of the 8th
century the land was part of Charlemagne’s Empire and
remained so until the coming of the Magyars. In this period
the local population was Christianized and the central
leadership provided for this was in Bavaria.
There is a strong
possibility and some evidence that the south Slavs are of
Gothic origin, especially the Bosnians. Many of the names
of the higher clergy in the Middle Ages are German. All of
this was contemporary with Stephen I of
Hungary and his Bavarian queen who
also brought German monks, priests and missionaries.
Nikolaus of Guns in Hungary
was later the Banus (Governor) of Croatia from 1280 to 1281.
After the Tatar
invasion and the recall of their armies back to Asia, Bela
IV of Hungary in 1243, invited Germans to settle in
Hungary promising freedom from some
feudal taxes. His brother Kolomann who was Count of
Slavonia gave special privileges to German monks at Weretz.
The German population was increasing in the area. Varasdin
is the first and oldest German settlement in Croatia and was established earlier
than 1209. In 1231 Germans were also reported living in
Vukovar, Petrinja, Samobor, Agram, Kreuz and Kopreinitz.
The shoemakers of Agram were well known and the shoemaker’s
quarter was known as the “German village.” Immigrants like
these soon filled the land and settled as both small and
large groups. The emergence of all of the cities and towns
in Croatia and Slovania can be traced
back to them. They also brought new ideas and farming
concepts to the peasant population. There were never any
totally German communities. In the early history of the
towns Germans played a leading role but as they became
outnumbered they attempted to guarantee their rights by law
before they were totally swamped. This lasted for a much
longer period in those communities into which a steady
stream of German settlers continued to arrive: Agram and
Varasdin. This now continuing flow of Germans now also
included military personnel as the Turks became a threat
throughout the Balkans. In 1579 they were involved in the
re-establishment of the fortress at Karlstadt. In 1645 it
was reported that there were 300 German families living in
the city.
This tradition of
“German towns” in
Croatia would continue well into the
19th century and 20th centuries and
there were continuing migrations of German settlers, but
only in those towns that were not occupied by the Turks.
The Germans simply disappeared in these areas. The Germans
that could be found there later arrived after the Turks had
been driven out.
But how much of
the German migration in the Middle Ages consisted of peasant
farmers? It is difficult to tell. There are some areas in
Srem that have names of possible former German villages.
The Germans working in the mines were probably Zipser Saxons
from Upper Hungary (Slovakia), who
brought their own community organization with them. They
were especially present in Bosnia. In 1463 the Turks conquered Bosnia and that was the end of the
German mining communities.
It was a totally
new situation after the Turks were driven out of Croatia, Slavonia and Srem.
In 1700 there were
fewer than 14,000 people living in all of
Slavonia after the Turks were through with it.
To all intents and purposes one could say that Srem was
totally uninhabited. The remaining towns contained most of
the surviving population.
The first stage of
reconstruction and redevelopment of the land was repairing
and expanding the towns and fortresses to withstand any
reappearance of the Turks. The need was for construction
workers and skilled artisans. There were none. Esseg and
Peterwardein and their fortresses needed immediate attention
and as a result the two cities became the first of the new
German towns after the expulsion of the Turks. In 1690
Esseg was granted its municipal rights and charter. The
influx of merchants and skilled artisans who came primarily
from the Austrian territories continued throughout the 18th
century. Essegg maintained its German character well into
the 20th century although they were a minority of
the population.
Semlin located at
the confluence of the
Sava and Danube Rivers received its first
German settlers in 1721 after the Peace of Passarowitz.
There was another large influx of new German settlers after
the Peace of Belgrade in 1739. Germans coming down the
Danube arrived in Belgrade and moved on from
there to towns in Srem. Peterwardein and Karolowitz
experienced large growth in their German populations.
German sections of towns had names to that effect. It was
the norm. Germans from Belgrade
were the founders of Neusatz (Novi
Sad). New Vukovar in effect was the
German part of the town, settled with 33 families between
1723 and 1725. There was a high rate of mortality among the
German settlers because of the climate and summer epidemics
of all kinds.
A massive
immigration of German peasant farmers did not take place
here as it did to the north of the Drava and
Danube
Rivers. After 1718 a
portion of the land was under the control and administration
of the Royal Chancellery and the Department of War while the
rest belonged to various nobles without the resources to
develop their holdings. There were other obstacles: most
of the land was thick forest wilderness; it did not appear
as if the land could be developed agriculturally; wolf packs
prowled the forests; security against robbers and brigands
was non-existent; settlers were offered few concessions or
inducements like freedom from taxes or military service;
many nobles had no interest in developing their estates and
wanted serfs to serve them at their bidding and not free
peasants; there were few government officials in the area to
whom the settlers could go for help and support; there were
no roads and the settlers would have to struggle with total
isolation.
In spite of these
kinds of difficulties, the Royal Chancellery organized a
settlement on the Crownlands at Kutjevo, located in southern Hungary, between 1785 and 1787 at
Josefsfeld-Kula and Josefsdorf-Porec. These were the only
government sponsored pioneer settlements in the vicinity.
The settlers came primarily from
Luxemburg,
Alsace, Lorraine and the Pfalz. Two other villages
were also established but could not be sustained. The
settlers in these communities all become Croatianized within
a generation or two.
Nor are the
settlement attempts under the auspices of the nobles in Srem
and Slavonia
very numerous. Deutsch-Mihaljevci was established on the
Mitrovac estate by the noble Franz von der Trenck in 1744.
Later in 1752, Lukasdorf-Lukac was founded by retired
soldiers. One of the settlements numbered 8 men, 7 women
and 33 children. In six months 5 men, 3 women and 13
children had died.
Characteristic of
all of these early efforts was the small number of people
involved. Only by an influx of later settlers could the
communities have survived. There was no economic base to
support the skilled artisans who had come with them and they
had to move on elsewhere.
More important
settlement work was undertaken during the Theresian phase of
the Schwabenzug in Slavonia. A whole line of farm villages were established
in the vicinity of Essegg: Krawitz in 1769,
Hirshfeld-Sarwasch in 1769 after Magyars and Slavs had left,
Deutsch-Rieddorf sometime in 1768/1769 next to the Hungarian village of Retfala, Terezovac-Suhopolje in 1770 and
Antonsdorf-Kapan in 1776.
There were other
German settlers on estates in Slavonia
that were not able to establish permanent settlements for
various reasons and merged with their Slavic neighbors.
In Srem the
following Theresian settlements were established under royal
auspices: Ruma, Sotting and Jarmin. All of these later
received an influx of German settlers. In Ruma the first
Germans came in 1746 and by 1784 there were 700 Germans
settled there. Most of the growth was due to the arrival of
newcomers.
During the
Josephinian settlement period the Prandau estates were
settled by Germans in 1786 at Josefsdorf-Josipovac. The
first immigrants came from south western
Germany who were later joined
by Germans from Bohemia. Settlers from Württemberg founded
Neustadt at Essegg in 1792.
The most important
settlements during this epoch were located in the Military
Frontier District. The earliest was Neu Gradiska in 1748
soon followed by Friedrichsdorf.
In 1783 Neu
Slankamen and later in 1787 Semlin received their first
German settlers. In 1806 there was a large influx of
Germans from Bohemia who moved into Neu-Salankamen that
greatly strengthened the community.
In 1791, after
many difficulties, Neu Pasua in eastern Srem, was settled by
Lutherans from Württemberg. At the same time a small German
enclave was established in the Croatian
village of
Neu Banovci, which was very
close to Neu Pasua. Only through the later migration of
German families from Neu Pasau was the future of the German
community in Neu Banovci assured.
At the same time,
(1790-1794) Karlowitz received 36 German families, Ruma
received 26 families and Bukovitz another 20 families. Most
of them came from Alsace, Lorraine,
Württemberg, Basel, Baden and Nassau (Hesse).
At the beginning
of the 19th century new communities were
established in the Military Frontier District to provide
fresh produce to the towns and troops. Siegenthal was
founded in 1816 to serve Semlin. (Later it would be called
Franztal.) The first settlers here came from Lazarfeld in
the
Banat. In 1819 close to Vinkovci, the Lutheran village of Neudorf was established. They were
Franconian pietists who had come from various Lutheran
settlements in the Batschka after having left Württemberg
originally. In 1828 Hessendorf was established in the
vicinity of Mitrovitz but there were too few Germans to
develop and ongoing German community.
At the beginning
of the 19th century the German settlements on
both sides of the Drava and Danube Rivers were experiencing a population
explosion and a lack of land for expansion. As a result
Srem and then later Slavonia
were the next areas of expansion. But there were political
and national issues and sensibilities at work. While the
nobles were anxious to raise their own economic situation by
making use of the their undeveloped lands and estates they
knew that in order for that to happen required an increase
in the population. There were Serbians residing there but
they were not seen as the answer to the problem. In fact,
the area was moving backwards economically as the Serbs
refused to undertake the cultivation of the land, preferring
herding cattle.
At this point the
nobles and landlords saw that they had to take the
initiative and went as far as looking for settlers in
Hungary but they also courted others,
including Magyars, Russians, Slovaks and many others. As a
result the owner of the Ruma estate called for Serbs to
settle in 1746 in his new village of India, and then he
called for Czechs in 1825 who like the Serbs shortly
afterwards went on to other places. It was only in 1827
when the Germans arrived and soon became the majority in a
permanent settlement . By 1848 they were 65.8% of the
population of 1,500. He also settled Germans in Putinci at
that time, while other nobles established Calma, Banostor,
Cerevic and Greguerevci and Vukovar and Sotting received
more Germans as well.
Compared to the
emerging daughter settlements emerging in Srem very little
development was taking place in
Slavonia. But in 1824 Johannisberg was settled
with Germans from the Egerland. Deutsch-Derschanitz later
becoming Johannesdorf-Jovanovac was settled by Germans who
came from the Tolna in Hungary in 1836. They had been
brought specially to begin the cultivation of tobacco. In
1843 Neu Zoljani was settled by Germans from Veszprem County in Hungary.
In addition to
these contractual settlements between a landlord/noble and a
group, some individuals were simply making their own
arrangements and purchased land and houses.
To a great extent Slavonia remained a wilderness and backwoods area,
relatively untouched by an attempts at settlement. With the
emancipation of the serfs in 1848, the local population was
more unreliable than ever. The Swabian villages of Hungary and the
Batschka were overcrowded and there was now nowhere to go to
seek a living. The government in Vienna set the stage for a new settlement
movement.
The Regulation and
Decree was issued by the Emperor on December 31, 1858 and
was addressed to the Kingdom of Hungary, Croatia, Slavonia, the Serbian Wojwodina, the
Banat and the Princedom of Transylvania with a
renewed call for agricultural settlement and development of
the Dual Monarchy.
Some of the
regulations included: each settlement requires a minimum of
1,000 Joch of land; homes for at least fifty families must
be provided; all members of the community, regardless of
their place of origin must be of one nationality and
confession (religious denomination). The intention of the
decree was to provide a supply of workers for the
landholders, but the Emperor also stipulated the need for
providing incentives like tax exemptions. The government
sought to gain immigrants from other countries to strength
its population and broaden its economic base. The
would-be-settlers would become citizens of the Monarchy upon
arrival; their sons born outside of the Monarchy were free
from military service; they were guaranteed the free
expression of their religion if they were recognized groups
in the Monarchy; cattle, machinery, goods, equipment, goods
would pass through customs at no cost.
To the
consternation and disappointment of
Vienna there was no response from
Germany. The mass migrations had
ended with Joseph II and now it was the United States of America
that beckoned.
The results of the
new settlement Patent of the Emperor were hardly impressive
in Croatia and Slavonia. Only ten German settlements were established in
response to it. Three were established in 1866 by
contracting with the landowners and their agents at
Blagorodovac, Eichendorf-Hrastovac and Antunovac. The
settlers came from Baranya, Tolna and
Somogy
Counties in Hungary. In the
same year there were also settlements established in
Sokolovac and Djulaves (later Miolovicevo), but the contract
between the settlers and the noble were only officially
ratified in 1877. Dobrovac was also settled in 1866 but the
contract only finalized in 1881. Settlers from the
Böhmerwald settled in Filipovac in 1886. The village of Kerndia was already settled in 1880/1881
but a contract with Bishop Strossmayer was not signed until
1891. The last two communities were Kapetanovo Polje
settled in 1882 and Franjevac-Strizicevac in 1886 the
contracts for which were only ratified by their landlord
later in 1891.
We need to be
reminded that 80% of the land involved was heavily forested
wilderness and the chief task of the colonists was clearing
the land. The land they took over was often not very
fertile or at best marginal to say the least. They had to
pay for the house lot and garden and clear it and were given
some of the wood that they cut to use in the construction of
their homes and other farm buildings but often at high
prices. No other language group or nationality responded to
the Patent except the Germans at a time when anti-German
feeling in
Croatia was at its highest, but the
nobles made the adjustment because the Germans were
industrious and would stick to it no matter what happened.
Exactly what they wanted.
But other
settlement was taking place outside of the Patent of the
Emperor. Some of the landlords simply parceled out the
land. Groups of settlers obtained loans and mortgages to
buy land and create a settlement. But it was difficult to
cope with the elements, floods, isolation, hunger, epidemics
and frequent crop losses. Most of those who responded were
from among the poor and they overlooked the risks that were
involved because of the possibility of improving their lives
and that of their families
With the Slavic
peasantry freed from serfdom they were anxious to sell the
land and the house they had received and move on, preferably
into the towns. As a result, the price of land fell
dramatically in Slavonia
and Srem after 1848. At the same time land was scarce and
expensive in other German settlement areas, especially
Swabian Turkey and the Batschka. Selling a small plot of
land there enabled them to buy a holding
Slavonia.
The new migration
was from within the Monarchy and resulted in the
strengthening of the original settlements. It especially
had a very positive effect on the German Lutheran
communities. The Military Frontier District was an area
where this was most noticeable. The first settlers lured
their families and friends to join them in
Slavonia or Srem. As a result villages where
Germans were a minority, by 1880 had become the majority.
Banovci 64%, Gasimci 53%, Mrzovic 57%, Slatinik 60%,
Tomasanci 65%, Pisak 75%,. But the success of the German
communities led to jealousy and anti-German feelings and
subsequent actions against them.
During this
period, both in Srem and
Slavonia, Germans from within the Monarchy
settled in almost every single village and bought land and
stayed there at least for a time. For that reason it would
not be possible to note every such settlement, but only
those in which a large portion of the population were of
German origin.
Western and
central Slavonia were the locales of the most important of
these newly established enclaves: Gross-Pisanitz (1881),
Palesnik (1882), Klein-Bastei (1885), Marjanci, Colinci
(1870), Kucanci (1876) Cacinci (1908) and the vicinity of
Trnjani (1890) and Garcin (1890). According to the mayor of
Drenovac the last two mentioned communities were settled in
1875 by colonists from the Burgenland: Oberndorf, Kitzladen,
Pinkafeld, Oberschützen, Wörterberg, Althau and Sinnersdorf.
A second group of settlers from the Burgenland from the
vicinity of Güns established themselves in Uljanik by
Daruvar and some individuals went on to Kutina and Dolci.
During this settlement with the exception of Gross-Pisanitz
and Cacinci, not more than one hundred or two hundred
Germans were involved, but they were strong enough
numerically to survive and maintain their German identity
and in some places they formed the majority of the local
population some even eventually reaching five hundred German
inhabitants. These villages were also not as scattered from
one another as they were in other parts of Slavonia and the
contacts between villages were will maintained and their
ethnic identity was protected and not threatened with
assimilation as it was in other areas and included: Selci,
Satnica (1875), Pisak, Vucevci (1850), Gortgani, Gasinci,
Tomasanci, Semeljci, Kesinci, Viskorvci, Forkusevci, Mrzovic
(1858) Vrbica, Djurdjanci, Slatnik (1875) and Drenje.
The same situation
also prevailed in the following settlements and enclaves in
western Srem: Ilaca, Kukujevci, Bapska-Novak, Schider
Banovci, Nijemci (1870), Nustar, Ceric, Svinjarevci,
Jankovci, Tordinci, Vodjinci, Ivankovo, Orolik, Drenovci and
Rajevo Selo (1883).
In eastern Srem,
south of Ruma the enclaves of Nikinci, Hertkovci and
Grabovci later resulted.
This inner
migration within the Monarchy had a powerful effect and
influence on the strengthening of the German Lutheran
settlements in Croatia. Much of it was concentrated
in the Military Frontier District, which up until the
Protestant Patent was promulgated had to deal with a lot of
difficulties, which were now surmounted by the more liberal
Military administration in its interpretation of the new
laws. Enclaves would emerge in Beska and Krcedin (around
1859), Becmen (around 1860) in Surcin (around 1869) and
Obrez (around 1860). The settlement of Bezanija by families
from Neu Pasau began already in 1842. With the dispersal of
the Military Frontier District all of these settlements
received new settlers and developed new daughter settlements
in Dobanovci (1875) and Asanja.
Bosnia was finally in the spotlight
of European history in the later half of the 19th century.
It had been under Turkish rule for over four hundred years
and its population had converted to Islam to a great
extent. Austria-Hungary claimed its sphere of influence
at the Congress of Berlin in 1878 and formally annexed Bosnia in 1908.
Economically it
was a total mess. Minimal cultivation of its land was
taking place. No cattle rearing or sheep herding was in
existence. It was in need of development in every sense of
the word.
The earliest
German settlement resulted from the efforts of monks from Germany led by Franz Pfanner and resulted in the
village of
Windhorst (1869). Settlers
came from Baden, Rhineland,
Prussia and later from
Westphalia, Hannover, Oldenburg
and Holland. Other villages
were later established in the vicinity.
Franzjosefsfeld
was established in 1886 in north eastern
Bosnia, the first Danube Swabian
settlement, consisting of 91 families from Franzfeld in the
Banat who numbered 402 persons. This was a
Lutheran community later joined by others from Neu Pasau,
Tscherwenka, Schowe and other Lutheran villages in the
Batschka ans Srem. They endured floods, bad crops and
epidemics located in the heart of a vast wilderness.
Schonborn, known as Petrovo Polje was also an early Lutheran
settlement.
As the government
got involved and established “colonies” in Bosnia between 1891 and 1904 there
were 54 colonies in all with over 9,000 inhabitants. Of
these, twelve were German with a total population of 1,800
persons. But attempts were always made to put a stop to the
government colonization programme, which was finally
accomplished by law in 1906.
In 1891 the
colonies at Branjevo and Dugo Polje were established by the
government. These settlers came from Lutheran villages in
the Batschka and a few families from Srem. Dugo Polje was
established by nine Lutheran families from the Batschka and
was the smallest of the colonies.
Four more were
established in 1894: Dubrava-Königsfeld by twenty families
from Slavonia, the Batschka,
Galicia and Moravia. Within two
years only two men remained, when a new re-settlement was
undertaken. Vrbaska-Karlsdorf was established by settlers
from
Galicia. Prosara was established by
twenty-one German families from Galicia and Russia and
proved to be the worst situation in which to plant a
colony. Korace was settled by eight families, numbering 38
persons from
Galicia.
In 1895 the
government colony of Ukrinski was established with settlers
from Russia, Galicia, Slavonia, Swabian Turkey and Bukovina and other areas. There were 300 persons, half of
whom were from Danube Swabian communities. In 1937 there
was a population of 1,096 persons. Because of floods and
famine, the colony moved to a new site and took on a new
name: Schutzberg.
In 1895 another
colony was established by the government at Vranovac and
most of the colonists came from
Galicia and southeran
Russia (Black Sea Germans). In 1896
the colony of Kardar was founded on the Sava River. The settlers came from
Galicia who were later joined by others
from Slavnonia and the Banat. Also in 1896 the colony of
Ularici-Franferdinandshöh (later Putnikovo Brdo) where after
the heavily forested land was cleared the soil was found to
be marginal and sugar beet cultivation proved to be the only
economically viable crop. Later in 1898/1899 the colony of
Sibouska was formed, the only government sponsored German
Roman Catholic agricultural community. The settlers came
from Galicia
and Bukovina and maintained a close relationship with the
Lutheran community of Schützberg in order to maintain their
German identity.
The last
government sponsored German colony was Vrbovac in
1903/1904. The first settlers came from
Galicia and were later joined
by families from the Banat.
There were of course also individuals and families who moved
into Bosnia on their
own and not part of a planned settlement programme. Some of
these private settlers also came from Galica,, Bukovina and
southern Russia. Often these groups moved on
to the colonies later as they were unable to support a
German school or develop congregational life as a diaspora
group.
Some colonies
developed factories, saw mills and other businesses, while
others remained very small and lived a rather primitive,
isolated existence. In 1912 a new colony was formed at
Sitnes, consisting of settlers from the other Bosnia
colonies. On the whole, life was more difficult and the
land inferior on the government colonies.
Next:
Croatia
and the Colonization Question
